Nafanua the Legend

Who are you really?

I have a few more comments to make before our selected passage from Acts owns the stage as promised.  After you read it, you would understand.  Here we go ...

The Samoans held and treasured many beliefs before the Christians arrived.  At the basic level, they believed that both humans and ghosts (be it ancestral spirits, demigods, spirits of animal/bird/fish, or any kind of spirit with human-like essence) occupy the same sphere of existence.  Their lives intertwine in a lot of ways according to Samoan mythologies and legends.  Some ghosts are good, respected, and loved by the Samoans; others are bad, hated and even feared.  

For generations, they survived without an organized religion despite the insistence of some who have tried to read their college influenced perception of religion into the Samoan context.  For survival's sakes, thanks to the wisdom of the tried and tested Faasamoa, the Samoan structured way of life that serves both cultural and religious interests and needs.  

Now we have a Christian Bible with an invariable claim to be the Creator's plumb line by which all human knowledge, wisdom, philosophies, ideologies, values, morals, religious beliefs and teachings, culture, ethics, and worldviews are measured.  No exception.  We just need to read the Bible, understand its teachings, apply its revealed truth, and discard the rest.  

Reason alone, when properly guided by the Holy Spirit, dictates to just blow out the candle and follow the rising "Sun".  The dark night is gone.  It's daylight now.  Is there a sane orator among us who would continue to guide his steps with a candle in the middle of a bright sunny day?  The answer is a resounding, No!  

Any man-made system of knowledge, pre or post-Christianity, that would proudly propose to make a truth claim ought to be thoroughly examined and authenticated in light of God's Word.  The Faasamoa had its day.  Borrowing from the Bible, the Faasamoa was like the Old Testament law to the Samoans, serving as a disciplinarian in business until the Samoans found Jesus, his Plumb-line, and his Church.  As the saying goes, "ua le aoga paopao, ua tuu taula manuao".  (Translation: Since the ships have ported our shores, the Samoan canoes are no longer useful).   

This may not be the standpoint of the unbelievers or of all church adherents deeply rooted in the Faasamoa, but it sure is of every true Christian, regardless of the Christian denomination. 

With the Bible in our hands, the pre-Christianity Samoans were, at least, right on one thing.  We are not alone in our sphere of earthly existence.  Being independent, alone, and entirely responsible, as the existentialists would have it, is only a fantastic dream of a misguided wishful thinker.  

The Bible makes a very clear statement that leaves no room for compromise.  We coexist with a disappointed, bitter, angry, and a ruthless army of rebellious angels, who prey on us, licking their wounds in secret with vengeful eyes firmly fixed on one mission only: as Jesus once referred to the thieves of his time, to steal, kill, and destroy.  No exception permitted.  It is that serious if the Bible is to be taken seriously.   

Revelation 12 (NKJV)

⁷And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, ⁸but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. ⁹So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

The author of Revelation introduces the enemy as the great dragon, the serpent of old, the Devil and Satan, who has no desire for our earthly tent - a dirty laundry already owned by the notorious twins of death and grave.  Satan and his cohorts are in constant pursuit of our souls.

From a different angle, generally speaking, the human race has come a long way.  For the last hundred fifty years or so, we have experienced a remarkable improvement in the area of knowledge.  This improvement has brought great benefits to both the good and the bad among us.  So much has been accomplished that we have the Creator and the ongoing development of the organized common sense of man to thank.  

Focusing on the Samoans, we are blessed to have more college-educated people today than in the last hundred years.  The Samoans ought to be proud of what they have become.  However, this post has a message, with a universal appeal, that prays for its first listener, who may have already thought about this for quite some time now.

  

In my humble estimation, the more we glorify the human choice, its responsibility, notable contribution, and intellectual influence, the more we are tempted to think of the enemy's schemes against us as nothing but an old boring joke.  Our worldview would gradually change to where we do not take Satan and his destructive mission seriously.  We would consider ourselves fully capable of assuming complete control of our own lives.  That we, not the serpent of old, should take full responsibility for the evil that's corrupting our world.  May we be reminded of the fact that the author of Revelation did not just call Satan, the deceiver of the world for no particular reason. 

Satan "is the god of this world" that "has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ", 2 Corinthians 4:4 (KJV).  He has waged "war against those who keep God's commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus",  Revelation 12:17 (NIV).

He is the commanding chief of the malevolent army of angels organized into a system of hierarchical relationships that precedes all human military ranking systems.  Jesus indirectly describes it as a kingdom that flourishes without division or inside hostility.  In terms of ranking, the Apostle Paul urges the believers to arm themselves against the rulers, the authorities, the cosmic powers of the present darkness, and the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12). 

From Daniel's recollection, the enemy organizes its princes to where each prince is assigned control of a marked territory.  In Daniel's case, Persia was said to have a prince, a very protective guardian to say the least.  Greece also was not without a prince.  The two princes supported each other in the fight against an angel who entered Persia with the intent to commit a crime (Daniel 10:12-13, 20-21).  I have no reason to suggest that what's true of Persia and Greece cannot be extrapolated to all other places around the world, including Samoa.  Nafanua comes to mind.

The author of Revelation (20:7-10) foretells the eventual imprisonment of Satan that will completely separate him for a set time from the human race.  Immediately, the world will have unprecedented peace that does not discriminate between the believers sharing the millennial rule with Jesus and the unbelievers living outside of Jesus' camp.  Ezekiel's prophecy (38:7-16) describes this remarkable change in more details.  Accordingly, the believers, presented as the rewarded Israelites, will live in cities unwalled and unprotected.  When peace reigns and when the desire for evil goes to sleep, the desire and the desperation for protection ceases to exist.  

As they say, "when the cat's away the mice will play".  The world, for the first time, continues without its god and deceiver.  His evil regime loses its power to influence. Now, excluding the believers, the world finally finds the time to relax and enjoy the peace always desired but unattained under the watch of a ruthless, diabolical god. This is unbelievable.  That even the unbelievers will find peace.  It may be temporary, but it's peace nonetheless.    

Sadly, when Satan returns home, the opposite occurs.  The mice stop playing.  Peace dies.

      

What have we learned?  

In the absence of Satan, the humans behave as though someone has just turned off the switch that releases the power to ignite the natural inclination that always favors evil.  This goes to show that humans and fallen angels do share the responsibility for the wrong that's destroying the people and the world.  The Bible, in its opening pages, spells out the situation clearly.  There was Adam, Eve, and the Serpent.  And there was God.  Those were the main characters of our stage play. 

God gave Adam his Word to keep and then left the stage.  Eve was aware of it.  Adam and Eve did well with God's Word while they were alone.  Nothing out of the perfect ordinary happened. Then the Serpent entered the stage and everything changed.  Now, we are looking at three, not just two: Adam, Eve, and the Serpent.  The Serpent deceived Eve.  Eve took the bait and was deceived.  Eve passed the forbidden fruit to Adam.  Adam ate it and began to experience the effect. 

Then God entered the stage again.  This time, he found out about Adam disobeying His Word.  

When God asked Adam what happened, Adam blamed Eve.  When God asked Eve, she blamed the Serpent.  God stopped at Eve.  No reason was given as to why God did not ask the Serpent.  It was left for us to find out later in the closing pages of the Bible what actually had happened to the Serpent before the creation of Adam.

The play ended with God issuing his verdict against all three, given in the following order: the Serpent, Eve, and then Adam.  In God's eyes, all three were responsible for breaking his Word which results in the destruction of His perfect order of creation.

At some point, the Christians began to speak more about the responsibility of man and less of Satan's.  That's the problem.  We do not even know that our failure to keep the entire Garden story at the forefront has helped the cause of Satan more than it has helped us.  His involvement in the lives of Adam and Eve at the Garden led to our demise.  His involvement in our lives today is still destroying us.  

(My discussion of Nafanua will only make sense within the context of the Adam and Eve story).      

What's the universal appeal?  

I appeal to all believers, who can reason under the direction of the Holy Spirit.  Do not underestimate the power of the enemy and his seriousness in the effort to destroy us, our families, friends, churches, our nations (East and West) and our people living around the world.  We are the underdog in our battle for survival. We are always at the disadvantage.  They possess supernatural powers from which we cannot protect ourselves.  We are pawns on their chessboard, helpless objects of their wrath, and fresh meat to be devoured.  Worse, as products of the fall, we are born with the natural inclination to lust after their sweets: manipulation, coercion, deceit, evil, violence, murder, injustice, war, adultery, fornication, sexual immorality, homosexuality, unforgiving spirit, pride, greed, selfishness, disobedience, malice, rage, addiction, alcoholism, corruption, so on and so forth.  Woe to us all!

If I have to repeat myself, I must do it both out of duty and out of love.

Satan is the god of this world, not us.  That's not a man-made statement.  The Bible states it, so it must be true.  He is angry and malevolent.  He's the epitome, if not the source, of evil in any world.  Love evaporates in his heart if he has one.  If he were a friend, we would consider him mad and out of his mind.  No sane woman would marry him if he were the last man standing on earth.  Consider him a child and you're not a father but a monster.  He's the kind of mother you would suffocate with pride and great enthusiasm.  You would rather die than to take his advice on healing. He's the pilot of a plane that saw you jump out of its window wearing a T-shirt with a logo that says, "You Idiot! I'm not that stupid!".  You would tear it into pieces if he were your favorite dress and spit it out with disgust if he were your wine.  He cannot and will not win.  

We shall stop here for now ... hopefully, in my next post, I won't have any more excuse for not attending to our selected scripture that started us on this journey.

Until next time, take care yourself ...

Acts 16:16-18

One day, as we were going to the place of prayer, we met a slave-girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners a great deal of money by fortune-telling. While she followed Paul and us, she would cry out, “These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation.” She kept doing this for many days. But Paul, very much annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour.