“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; 2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn, 3 To console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.” Isaiah 61:1-3
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Our names are James and Denese Forkkio and we are launching this blog site to allow you to follow our journey into the mission field.
There are thousands of women and girls in bondage in West Africa in the southern regions of Ghana, as well as, Togo and Benin. In these regions, virgin girls and women are forced to serve the gods worshipped in the shrines of African traditional religion. In Ghana, both the victim and the practice are called Trokosi. In this ritual servitude, the girl is used to atone for the alleged crimes of male family members or ancestors. Through her living sacrifice, the family hopes the gods may lift certain curses placed upon them at the shrine. The girl is sometimes considered a "wife of the gods," but those forced into such servitude are servants of the priests, who often use them sexually without their consent, force them to worship and serve the shrine images, deny them education, force them to work hard (in the fields) without compensation and with barely enough food to keep them alive. When the women become pregnant, the priests do not acknowledge the offspring and the victims have to fend for themselves and their children.
Our task will be to counsel, evangelize and disciple women who have been freed from the shrines. In addition, we will help them to learn skills that will accord them the ability to live independently. We are also tasked with evangelizing the shrine priests. In most cases, the women’s freedom has to be purchased. However, if the shrine priests come to Christ, they may release their slaves willingly. One of these shrine priests has already come to Christ; we are praying that many will follow. There is much fear holding both the priests and the women in bondage and darkness. They are afraid that they will be struck dead or cursed if they stop serving their idols. Please pray that as both the shrine priests and the women see others turn to Christ without retribution from their gods, they will boldly accept the Savior.
Our task will be to counsel, evangelize and disciple women who have been freed from the shrines. In addition, we will help them to learn skills that will accord them the ability to live independently. We are also tasked with evangelizing the shrine priests. In most cases, the women’s freedom has to be purchased. However, if the shrine priests come to Christ, they may release their slaves willingly. One of these shrine priests has already come to Christ; we are praying that many will follow. There is much fear holding both the priests and the women in bondage and darkness. They are afraid that they will be struck dead or cursed if they stop serving their idols. Please pray that as both the shrine priests and the women see others turn to Christ without retribution from their gods, they will boldly accept the Savior.
As we serve in this way, we plan to travel between two cities in the southeastern part of Ghana: Sogakope and Aflao. We will be joining two Ghanaian Christians, Mary and Judith, who are already serving the women. Surprisingly, Judith is herself a former Trokosi who was freed from a shrine. Truly our God is awesome!
If you have a newsletter please let me know! If not, I will continue follow the blog! Will be praying!!
ReplyDeleteThanks D. Seth! How are you guys? I know that I haven't been in touch, but we do pray for both of you. As soon as we get our newsletter going, we will be certain to include you and Sun Mi in the circulation. God bless you-always!
ReplyDeletejames and denese
We can see you guys found some direction with your future ministry in Africa. Praise the Lord. May we all be found faithful in His eyes as we struggle to obey His call. Praying for you.
ReplyDelete