October Prayer Needs/News

October 15,  2015 View this email in your browser This trip shows how (and why) to pray! October 2nd through 4th we were driving from De Ridder, Louisiana to Fredericksburg, Virginia for a three week stay in Virginia visiting churches.  This trip really showed how and why to pray for travelerers. Pray for provision We discovered the day before we had to leave we had to buy Mike an affordable suit.  God not only provided one in our price range.  The shop owner did not wait on us, but he was listening in.  He gave us a dress shirt free, saying, "God bless your ministry!" The seamstress was able to do the alterations in the short timewe had and reduced the price because we were in ministry.  (Without being asked.) Pray for safety We discovered one of our tires began to leaking suddenly while we were suit shopping and it had to be replaced.  the inside of the tread was almost entirely separated. If it had blown out on the road it would have been very dangerous.  Pray for smooth travel  We got into a giant backup in Mississippi as a result  of a big accident.  And again in Chattanooga. And we drove through a lot of rain and wind.  We thought it was because of the hurricane but it was actually a different storm. We would up spending many more hours on the road than we had intended or expected. Pray for accommodations  We had to stay in hotels on this trip, and on our last leg of the trip it proved nearly impossible to find a decent hotel at a reasonable price.  We wound up getting one much further down the road than we wanted. We ended up driving until past midnight in a torrential rain.  We must have reserved one of the last rooms, because when we arrived there were no vacancies! Pray for contacts   Remember the clothing store owner and the seamstress above?  At one stop we also met a young girl planning to go on her first mission trip. There are always people along the way that God wants us to meet. We did get there when we planned and had a wonderful times of worship at Mt. Zion Baptist and Children of Light churches in Fredericksburg.  It is always great to worship with longtime partners in the ministry.   Fall 2015 Ministry Needs   (The full list with details is published at riggsreport.org) Let this list be your prayer strategy guide as you are praying for our ministry. Bibles for conference attendees  and for needy Christians. Christmas gift donations for poor children in the mountains who are not reached by other ministries. Projectors and laptops for conference presenters that work with us. A conference ministry coordinator to handle the logistics of a nationwide conference ministry. Camera and reproduction equipment for Skype and DVDs to expand the reach of the ministry. Furniture, equipment, and a location for our  household and ministry office in the city of Cusco. US Health Insurance Return tickets to Peru. Good health. Ability to clearly articulate the needs. Sensitivity to the Lord's leading as we talk with US churches, both new ones and longtime supporters. Mike and Tammy Riggs are missionaries to Peru who prepare Peruvian Christians to be Biblical leaders for Peruvian churches through their conference and teaching ministry. You can find out more about their ministry and how to participate in it at Facebook.com/missionarymike or at their website riggsreport.org. Donate Online>> Select Riggs, Mike and Tammy NOTE FROM MIGUEL & BECKY GOMEZ Dear brothers, sisters and friends, We want to share with you a blessing that God is working in our lives. By God's grace we will be leaving Peru for a time to go to the USA. We have been invited by a church in Texas to work with Latin Americans in their area. As a family, our desire is to serve God full time wherever He leads. We need your prayers. This is a step of faith for us as a family, and we trust that God is leading us. It will be a major change of country and culture and everything that goes with that. Pray for us: as we prepare for the trip , for God's wisdom in the decisions we make,   for our kids,   for our paperwork,   and for God's provision here and there.  We are very excited to see what God will do and also to see friends and family that we haven't seen in a while. We ask you to be part of sharing the Good News and doing God's work with us through your prayers. Thanks to all!   Copyright © 2015 World Outreach Ministries, All rights reserved. You are getting this email because you signed up for our prayer updates at our missions table or told us you would like to receive our email updates. Our mailing address is: World Outreach Ministries P. O. Box B Marietta, GA 30061 Add us to your address book unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences

False Teaching Kills

I get so mad when people ask, “Don’t you do anything useful?” 

I mean, they may put it nicer than that—as in, "Don’t you do anything to help victims of child abuse?” Or “Don’t you ever plant churches in remote villages?” But what they mean is “Why do you just teach church people the Bible?  Why don’t you do anything useful?”

So now I tell them the story of Sister Primitiva. She suffered greatly and died because of false teaching.

She and her husband were members of the church in Talavera.  We had seen them at church, but didn’t know them.

Then one day the man came to our house.  He was what the Peruvians call a “humble” man. He wore a pair of unhemmed dress pants and the rubber tire sandals that are called yanquis.  He had urgent questions and also wanted us to pray for healing for his wife.

His urgent questions were a list of Bible verses.  He had been taught, (like many others) him that these verses meant that it was a sin for a Christian to go to the doctor. And he had been taught that you should just trust God for healing, because sickness is always caused by sin.

Mike went over each verse, explaining what was happening in the context. (Remember, a text without a context is a pretext!)  The man was more and more glad to see that sickness isn’t
just a result of unconfessed sin.  And that the Bible doesn’t forbid medicine.

Soon we left to go pray for his wife, Primitiva.  The house was fairly close by.  A half hour's walk led to a cluster of adobe houses that had grown one room at a time.  These maze-like houses had dirt floors.  Clotheslines hung across some of the rooms. There were few tables and chairs, and chickens ran in and out.

All the neighbors greeted us with kisses.  The man was eager to tell them what he had found out—sickness just happens, and God loves you anyway.  It is OK to go to the doctor. It is OK to take medicine.

Primitiva was sitting outside on a step in back of her house.  Her whole body was clenched tight because of the pain in her stomach.  My heart fell when I saw her.  

“How long has she been like this?”

“Six months, maybe.”

Good free medical care had been available all this time from the German mission hospital.  If she had gone to the doctor, something could have been done. But she had spent months in needless agony.

Because of false teaching.

Her husband touched her on the shoulder to get her attention and told her the good news. "Sin brings spiritual death, not physical sickness. It's OK to go to the doctor."  But I knew in my heart that it was too late for her.  She would be having her healing in heaven.

Because of false teaching.

We prayed for her, but when my turn came to pray, all I could pray for was for a relief of pain and the promise of heaven.

They went to the German hospital.  She had stomach cancer, and it was far too late to do anything for her.  

She died a month later.

Because of false teaching.

So that’s why we “just teach church people the Bible”.

Videos Page Added!

Looking for the road video?  Look no further!  I've added a whole page of videos.  Just click on videos on the tab above, under the map of Peru.

“We got him!” | Christian History Magazine

“We got him!” | Christian History Magazine

Here is a link to story of one of our own personal missionary heroes, a man who served in the Andes of Peru, and whose legacy lives on even today.