Discipleship Training School

Greetings to friends, family, acquaintances, and fellow human beings: this is a blog about my life in Africa, particularly about my attending a school called the Discipleship Training School with my wife Juliana and step-daughter Marie.

We are currently living in a mud brick dirt house with a tin roof and no electricity or running water smack in the middle of a quiet farming village called Bamindoh (Mandinka for Where the goats get water), just near a town called Sanyang on the South coast of Gambia. We share the backyard bathing area with our landlords, fetch water from the well, and poop in a hole out in a field (with a palm leaf enclosure). The rainy season has begun. All the households around us are prepping and planting their fields for crops such as peanuts, cassava, corn, rice, millet...the village is filled with mango and cashew fruit tree. We have been here for almost 6 weeks.

Much more on our lives here in Sanyang in the next blog update. Temporarily we are living financially by the grace of a donor who supports our mission here. We are planning to raise funds through the work of our hands and through church support in the future. We are offering our lives to, and being led by the God of, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The All Sufficient God, El Shaddai. Adonai. Elohim. Jah. Yahweh. The Tetragrammaton. El. Elohainu. Melek Ha Olam. Baruch Atah.

Jehovah Jireh!





Beauty and the me. Happy to be back together in December 2007. That's Juliana Badjie Wilson on the right.

I arrived in The Gambia West Africa on Christmas day December 25 2007 after a stopover in England where I spent Christmas eve in a nice hotel, unlike Jesus who spent his first Christmas eve in an animal stable. I had been living in the SF Bay Area for about 6 months, some of it spent renting a room in a neighborhood called Ghost Town, after having been in Gambia the previous spring and summer, where i got married to Juliana Badjie, then 28, and became a father to her daughter Marie, then 6.5. Living in Oakland without my new bride made me feel like a ghost, so i humped it back to Africa. When i arrived in Gambia the weather was warm and dry. In Gambia the rainy season is June to October, and the dry season is November to May, the exact opposite of California.

For a peek at the blog of my last visit to Africa and England in April May June and July of 2007 click the link:

http://africainthespirit.blogspot.com/

For a peek at the blog of my walk across California and visit to Navajo land in September of 2006 click the link:

http://strollingalong.blogspot.com/




Marie Diminga Wilson soon after i arrived in the Gambia on Christmas day 2007. Today, in July, her front teeth are finally coming in straight and strong after her babies fell out in November. Christmas in July. "All i want for Christmas is my two front teeth..."

Julia, Marie, and I immediately moved into a guest house in a pleasant neighborhood called Kerr Serigne near our friends Dave and Fiona and near the palm tree lined beach while we plotted our next move. Julia had recently quit her jobs as a domestique, Marie was on school vacation, and I had just retired from the Oakland Unified School district where i had been employed as a substitute teacher for WAY WAY WAY too long. WAAAAAY.

Marie and Juliana relaxing in December.

I gathered my savings and my credit card and prayed it would last a long time as we three little family sat in the tropical sunshine enjoying our reunion. I also had with me luggage weighing 55 kilos total, plus some stuff I'd left behind on my previous journey, not the least of which was about 30 yards of fine European hemp linen fabric, a spool of hemp yarn, and a spool of raw hemp spinning fiber I'd originally taken to Africa to have made into clothes.

The 55 kilos was stuff like a 2 kilo bible, tents, sleeping pads, day packs, flashlights, water bottles, bags of food such as flax seeds, almonds, sunflower seeds, and nutritional supplements, all for family camping and good health. Mostly from Rei and Whole Foods, in other words, my traditional California hippy culture transported to the old country.

So we sat there in the sun for about two weeks praying for God to lead us. These were some of the possibilities we came up with:

1. Go to India and live in the Southern state of Kerala with my good friends Ken and Naomi and help them run their "African village guest house."

2. Immigrate to Israel, making Aliyah. As a Jewish person taking advantage of the "Law of Return" my family and i would be entitled to an all expense paid trip to the holy land and six months of living expenses while we were given language lessons etc. Julia and Marie would receive citizenship and passports, making it far easier for them to get visas and travel to the States etc.

3. Go live with Julia's Jola relatives in the villages of Southern Senegal, a region called the Casamance, despite the unrest there caused by soldiers, rebels, and bandits. Julia's parents both come from the ethnic group called the Jola. The Jola are considered the original indigenous people of this part of Africa, preceding the Fula, the Mandinka, the Wolof, the Serer, the Aku, the Sarahuli, the Balanta, the Manjago, and the Toobobs, all ethnic groups currently living in The Gambia. Btw, The Gambia uses the word "The" in its official title because the Portuguese named the area El Cambio, which means The Exchange, due to the large river which runs down the middle of the country being used as a vital trading area back in the day. When the English colonized the river the phrase El Cambio was anglicized to The Gambia.

Also btw, the word Jola, as i have come to discover, has a Mandinka root and it means "people who pay back". Pay back good for good, and bad for bad. Words to live by in a marital relationship. The name the Jola give themselves is Ajamat.

4. Go live in Dakar Senegal with my Doumbia family, the family of my soul brother Ken Doumbia.

5. Go live somewhere on the South Coast of Gambia (where we are now).

6. Rent a place nearby.

7. ?

We sought God's Word on the beach...

My wife and stepdaughter in Gambia in December.

We looked for His face in the sun...
Sunset on da beach in Gambia.

I visited my in-laws...

The children of the Badjie compound in Kololi Gambia in December. Clockwise from upper left is Awa Traore, her twin Adama Traore (twins named after Adam and Eve), Emmanuel, Moussa, Isatou Ceesay, Marie Ceesay, and Alex Kolly. Awa, Adama, Isatou and Marie are all the children of Julia's sisters.

I made new friends...

That's Michael on the left, inside Dave and Fiona's compound in Kerr Serigne.



And saw old ones from my first visit where i played a bit of drums and fellowshipped with the artists...

The Manding djembe drum and dance crew in Kerr Serigne. A couple of professionals and their students .





The two houses on the YWAM base in Fajara. Fajara is a centrally located suburb near an intersection called "traffic lights" so named because when they were first installed they were the first traffic lights in the country. The area is between the capital city Banjul to the North, the people's market town of Serrakunda to the East, the beach to the West, and the tourist strip/coastal beach highway to the South.

After two weeks at the guest house in Kerr Serigne we went to the Sunday home church meeting that Dave and Fiona host on their veranda. A friend named Jonah mentioned that the next day, January 07 2008, he would begin attending a 24 week intensive boarding school called the DTS, (the Discipleship Training School), sponsored by the largest Christian Missionary organization in the world, called YWAM, (Youth With A Mission). I asked him to ask the directors if there was still place in the school for the three of us. It just sounded right. Structure, community, learning the bible intensively...an immersion into prayer life and Christ fellowship.

The next Saturday, Jonah called and said Come and meet the directors. So i walked the sand streets to the nearby coastal highway road and hailed a communal taxi, paid 50 cent, and arrived at the traffic lights. From there i walked fifteen minutes to the site of the school. I met with Avi, the assistant director from India, and Toni, the director from Brazil. They gave us applications and we turned them in on Monday as we sat in on the beginning of week two morning lecture.

That same night Avi called and said we were accepted into the program, despite having missed the first week. We shouted for joy! Wednesday, about 3.5 weeks after i arrived in the country, we moved our stuff into a private room in the peaceful leafy neighborhood of Fajara. We were feeling blessed. We had never even heard of YWAM ten days ago, and here we were enrolled in their school program in the blink of an eye.

LINKS:

YWAM
http://www.ywam.org/Default.asp?bhcp=1

DTS
http://www.ywam.org/contents/get_tra_dts.htm





Hope springs eternal: the second week of the DTS. Eleven students, all of whom graduated.

According to statistics i read, 90 per cent of all Christians worldwide are born into Christian families. They inherit the culture but not necessarily the Spirit. Only 10 per cent of believers in Christ come from outside Christianity. In Africa that number goes down to 5 per cent. In our DTS roughly half of the eleven students came to Christ from well outside Christian culture.

Of course, some of the "MBB's" (Muslim Background Believers) held on to their religious mentality. One time we had freshly killed bush pig for dinner and one student not only wouldn't eat it, ("unclean"), she refused to eat from any of the dishes in the kitchen after that. She wanted to go home. She got over it, but it goes to show, religion dies hard. That goes for JBB's (Jewish Background Believers), CaBB's (Catholic Background Believers), ChBB's (Christian Background Believers), PBB's (Punk Background Believers), etc. Believers all have a background. It helps to know that background.

As i always tell people, don't confuse Christ with the false religious aspects of Christianity. As Gandhi said, I love your Christ, it's your Christians i have a problem with. Don't throw the baby (Christ) out with the bath water (false religious Christianity).

What is a disciple?

"disciple: a pupil or follower of any teacher or school of religion, learning, art, etc." -Merriam-Webster Dictionary.

And what is the job of a missionary? What is it to be an evangelist? Essentially this: humans are called to worship God and to share the good news/gospel about God. What is the "good news" you may ask? What exactly is "the gospel"?

For many of the Jews in the time of Jesus, the good news was that the long promised and hoped for Messiah had indeed arrived to "save His people from their sins":

"And she (Mary) will bear a son, and you (Joseph) shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins." - Matthew 1:21

Jesus is the Greek equivalent for the Hebrew name Joshua (Yashua in Hebrew Pronunciation) which means Jehovah the Savior, or the Salvation of Jehovah.

How will He save His people from their sins? By dying, being killed, as a substitutionary sin offering. The Jews had been worshipping God by offering sacrifices (as do all religious people) to atone for sin. As we learned, the universal first law of worship is sacrifice. In the case of the Jews, the sacrifice was an animal. A perfect animal "without blemish." This tradition goes back to a son of Adam and Eve, Abel. The animal was offered as a blood sacrifice acceptable to God, as an atonement for the sin of man (inherent in our being since the fall in the Garden of Eden). This went on for thousands of years.

The good news, the gospel, is that the Messiah accomplished this sin offering once and for all time by being the final sacrifice in his death on the cross. Christ has been described as the only perfect man who ever lived. He was the ultimate sacrifice "without blemish". He became the complete and final sacrifice. Our sin, the sin that has been in our spirit since the days of Adam and Eve, has been eternally washed clean and forgiven by this final sacrifice. This is called grace (the unmerited love and favor of God toward mankind). We live in a permanent universal state of grace, available and accessible to (but not chosen by) all people.

The crux problem of religion and sacrifice is the gnawing annoying perplexing question: Is it good enough? Is it acceptable to God? How will i know if i am doing it "right"? Jesus and God make it clear: He is enough. He has done for us what could never do for ourselves, and continues to do for us what we can't do. He shoulders the burden.

What burden you ask? I mean, it basically sounds as if Jesus has simply put the temple priests out of the sacrifice business. (Like all religion, it was in fact big business.) What Jesus did is far more than relieve us of the burden of having to sacrifice an animal once in awhile. He offers us a way out and up. Out of death, and up to eternal life. The Jews were hanging on for dear life when Jesus arrived. They were desperate. The nation was groaning to be set free, released, fulfilled, completed. The donkey of Israel had carried the load to the bitter end. The Messiah arrived and completed the task for which the Jewish/Hebrew/Israelite nation people were made. As Jehovah says in the book of Exodus, Israel is His first born son, holy to Him. Out of Israel the Christ is produced, the one and only first born son. The entirety of creation exhaled in relief.

"Every male who opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord" - Luke 2:23

The second point of the good news/gospel is that Jesus, being of the Spirit, was resurrected to serve as the ultimate King of the universe, having conquered the lie of death perpetrated by Satan the enemy of God. Having conquered death, Jesus the Messiah preserves a place in the eternal Kingdom for all who share his Spirit by choosing it.

The good news/gospel continues finally with the prophesy that Jesus the Christ will return to establish His Kingdom on earth before reigning as King in the New Jerusalem (heaven) for ever with the church, the body of believers, as His eternal bride, His companion, His partner.

1. He died for your sin so that you may have eternal life.
2. He resurrected and left us with the Holy Spirit as a guide.
3. He is returning to complete the narrative.

Now that is what i call good news. What passes for good news these days? Barack Obama running for prez, and the price of weed going down? Electric cars?

All ya gotta do is "believe" and let the transformation begin. The transformation begins with repentance of sin. And the first sin is to turn one's back on the Almighty. For me it began about two years ago when i finished reading the Bible for the first time, and after my "discipler", mentor, and great friend Hezekiah had been softening me up for three years by preaching the Word.

I woke up one morning and i felt the presence of someone else in the room...the presence of the living, eternal, God. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The God who sent His Son, out of perfect love for us his children, as a perfect sacrifice to cleanse us of our sin. To set us free. To offer us NEW life. "My" life has been on a rocket ship ride since then.

Walking across California, visiting Africa twice, getting married, becoming a Bible student, an artist...my life has become unstuck and unglued...i'm broke but i know it won't last. I am doing what i love, and as they say, the money will follow. In the meantime, thank you donors and contributors. You are heaven sent.

All this begs the question, how could anyone actually believe this gospel nonsense? This fairy tale? This mass hallucination? It is the last thing on earth some people can understand. It is totally and completely a mystery to many people. It is less likely to be true than space aliens running the White House.

One of the answers to how or why i accept this story is simple. Everyone has a story they accept as the best story, that they follow, that they live by. It might simply be "I breathe I eat I sleep I work, or I don't work. If i am lucky i have sexual intercourse. That is all. There is no meaning. There is nothing. There is simply breathing eating sleeping fucking working and dying. Maybe a bit of happiness, some enjoyment, or not."

Fine. That's a good story. That's your story. Or you have a different one. But everyone picks a story to live by, or at the very least accepts by default a story such as the one described above. It's not even a question of belief. Some people would say, "I have no beliefs. Today i eat and work, tomorrow i die. End of story."

Exactly. Belief is not necessary. Choice is not necessary. But there is a story, and you are living it, like it or not. So the question is, what is your story? Upon what standard to you place that story? What story is essential to your worldview? What is your worldview?

I love stories. I live for stories. Stories are life (or death). I have searched the universe over for the best stories. And i have fallen in love with the one called "the greatest story ever told". It is the most compelling, the most interesting, the most intriguing. It is the one that brings the most meaning to my life. It is the one that completes me. It is the one that makes me whole. It is the one that brings me to life. It is the one that fills me with joy.

This story consumes me. It has energized the atoms and molecules of my being, which as we learned, were created to worship. I am living the story for which i, and the story, were made.

Jesus is the good news. He is the highest standard. He is the greatest story ever told.

One practical way to look at it is this: Who offers the best deal? You've got politicians, businessmen, artists, religions, schools of thought, prostitutes, gurus, gangsters: all offering deals...who offers the best deal to live by? Jesus, by a country mile. He offers the best deal. But don't believe me. Look at the terms of the contract yourself.

I don't disbelieve in the Big Bang theory. I don't out of hand absolutely disbelieve the "theory of evolution". God is the ultimate scientist. I absolutely dig astronomy and all types of scientific pursuits. It's fabulous. There is no contradiction between the "Big Bang" theory of the "beginning" of the universe, and God. As arguments go, it's a red herring.

In Gambia I get asked who i support in the US presidential election. I tell them I have a King, i don't need a president. His name is Jesus. I'm not a republican or a democrat. I'm a monarchist.

Once my friend was being hounded for 50 grand on the phone by bill collectors. He finally asked the collector Are you a Christian? Yes. Well then you know Jesus already PAID for me! He never got called again.

We had delicious African style food almost every lunch time for 24 weeks. Such dishes as Yassa (chicken with onion and lemon sauce), Damadar (also called Mafay, meat with peanut sauce), and a fish dish with greens, always served with rice.

The program was broken into a 12 week lecture phase in Fajara, and then an 11 week outreach field trip all over the country, followed by one last week of debriefing back at the base house.

Students and teachers at the DTS base.

The DTS is run year-round world wide. It is an entry level requirement for anyone who wants to work inside YWAM as a full time volunteer, or who wants to attend a YWAM university. YWAM has no paid positions. Every single person must pay their own way. Toni and Avi had to pay staff fees to be the school directors. The DTS is also seen as a valuable experience in gaining deep insight into the messages of the Bible in general and the Way of Christ specifically.

It is a completely non-denominational organization. As the name DTS implies, the emphasis is discipleship. As one of the visiting teachers reminded us, the word disciple is mentioned in the New Testament over 250 times. However, this was the first DTS ever run in The Gambia, although a few neighboring West African countries run the DTS.

The price was right. For 24 weeks of room, food, and traveling expenses, Julia's fee was 6000 Dalasis, mine was 18,000, and Marie's was 0. A Dalasi is about 20 per 1 dollar, so the total cost of the program was about 1200 bucks. I paid more than Julia because YWAM charges according to nationality, basing the fees on national earning power. Actually, in the USA my earning power is hugely bigger than just three times that of the average Gambian, so i wasn't complaining. In fact in Gambia the average school teacher earns about 100 US dollars a month. Ouch. Public school teachers in the US make two to three times that per day. Not to mention, in the USA and Canada the cost of the DTS is about 7000 US dollars per student. It was a very good deal for us.

The school having a "spiritual breakfast" at the base.

The 12 week lecture phase saw eleven visiting teachers (not including our school staff) give us three hours of lectures every morning. Our daily schedule was this:

Up at sharp 6 (sometimes a rude bang on the door if the light was not on. Very un-Christian.)

Breakfast at 645.

Quiet time from 715 to 815. Quiet time is an hour spent by oneself devoted to communion with God. It is the time to be in the presence of God alone. My quiet times were spent reading the Bible and answering a set of questions in a journal. I decided i would read the first chapter of every of the 66 books in the Bible as my first quiet time venture, as a way to view the entire book. The Bible i used was my 2 kilo "Recovery Version" published by Living Stream Ministry in California. Avi took one look at it and suggested i read a more "standard" version. I said no thanx to that idea, my Bible is just fine thank you. The questions i answered every morning were:

1. What is the key scripture?
2. What is the basic lesson of the reading?
3. What does the lesson teach?
4. Is there a promise for me in the text?
5. What conditions are there to achieve the promise?
6. What are the elements of God's character evident in the text?
7. Is there another scripture in the Bible that harmonizes with my daily reading?
8. How can i apply the scriptural text in a personal way?

An excerpt from my quiet time journal from 03 March:

Key scripture: Zechariah chapter 1.

"Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever?"
- Zechariah 1:5

Basic lesson: The prophet Zechariah sees a vision: A man on a horse with other horses. The prophet asks the man "What is going on?" The man is described as an angel who says that "All the horses are sent to go to and fro on the earth". Having done this the horse's report that "all the earth sits still and is quiet". The angel then pleads with God, asking for compassion towards "Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah." The angel tells the prophet five things:

1. God is "greatly jealous for...Zion."
2. God is angry at the nations who afflicted Israel.
3. God says "I will return to Jerusalem with compassions; My house will be built in it."
4. God will "comfort Zion and will again choose Jerusalem."
5. God will punish the nations who have punished Israel.

Lesson teaches: God afflicts and punishes us, but always for a reason with an end of good in mind. In the end God will show us compassion, give us comfort and will punish our afflicters.

Promise for me: Zechariah means "Jehovah remembers". This is the name i was given as a child. God will remember me. He won't forget me.

Condition to meet promise: Remember Jehovah.

God's character: He is faithful to His Word. He fulfills His promises.

Harmonizing scripture:

"And he rose up and came to his own father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with compassion, and he ran and fell on his neck and kissed him affectionately."
- Luke 15:20

Application for me:

"...Return to Me, declares Jehovah of hosts, and I will return to you, says Jehovah of hosts."
- Zechariah 1:3

When i finished the 66 books, i read the entire New Testament as my quiet time during the outreach. Quiet time was my favorite activity, and now that the school is over Julia and i have launched into our own personal intensive quiet time study of the Bible. Quiet time reading the Bible is delicious. As i entitled one of my sermons, You Are What You Eat!

Our goal is that Julia reads six days a week four chapters of the so called "Good News" bible. She reads out loud as i follow along reading the same version (so i can correct her English). To see Julia so turned on to and fascinated with the Bible is pure joy for me. It's a wonderful time for us to really dig into the spirit of the message. The Good News Bible is written in easy English and not all bad (more on that later).

Four chapters a day six days a week for fifty weeks = 1200, the approximate number of chapters in the bible. In one year we will have read the whole book in a slow deliberate manner. After our out loud reading, i read the same chapters in my "Recovery Version" of the Bible. I then answer in my journal the quiet time questions for each of the four chapters. I made a longer list of questions for my own personal quiet time, a sort of self styled seminary:

1. Key scripture.
2. Basic lesson.
3. Lesson teaches.
4. Promise for me.
5. Condition to meet promise.
6. God's character.
7. Examples to follow.
8. To avoid or stop doing.
9. Commandments to obey.
10. Critical point to research.
11. Specific point in the text to pray for.
12. Scripture to memorize.
13. Harmonizing scripture.
14. Personal application.

To continue the DTS daily schedule...

830 to 930 saw us singing and praising God in worship, or performing intercessory prayer.
945 to 1 lecture time.
1 to 2 lunch.
2 to 3 small group meetings or drama practice.
3 to 430 work chores and duties.
430 to 700 free time.
700 to 730 dinner.
730 to 930 study time.
1000 lights out time.



Marie and food in the cupboard. I see bananas, mangoes, habanero pepper, carrots, cassava, cabbage, garden egg (egg plant), sweet potato...we bought our own food to supplement the DTS diet.

During our first four weeks at the DTS we escorted Marie to her not so nearby school and picked her up afterwards. But she was miserable at school because of a stifling Koranic bent to the education, students stealing her food, and the long commute, so we took her out of the school to be with us for the remaining time in the DTS. I sensed that she could afford to miss half of her first grade school year and make it up later. After all, she will be in school most of the next 11 to 15 (or more) years of her life.

We figured she could gain a unique life experience and be the better for it. She often sat in with us during praise and worship, prayer, and lectures, soaking up the atmosphere, and helping keep an eye on the two year old, Grace. She never seemed to be bored. We provided her with plenty of books and art supplies to keep her focused.

Along with quiet time journal we completed a weekly journal for each of the 24 weeks. The weekly journal consisted of

1. What did i learn from the week's teachings?
2. What did i struggle with from the weeks teachings?
3. What did i learn about Gods character from the week's teachings?
4. How was my relationship with God?
5. How was my relationship with others?
6. How was my relationship with myself?
7. What did i find out about myself?
8. What areas do i need to change?
9. This is my prayer:

Here are some excerpts from my weekly journal:

1. "I learned from this weeks teachings that my life is filled with the signs and evidences of a life not yet broken for the Lord. That i need to do alot of forgiving. That faith is not praying for a new car."
-Week 7

2. "I struggled with the idea that we are supposed to hate."
-Week 6

3. "God's character? He is the exposer. He brings to the light what has been hiding in the dark and the shadows."
-Week 17

4. "My relationship with God is getting more buddy buddy. He's like, 'Oh, so you remembered that there IS a God of Israel!'"
-Week 5

5. My relationship with others: " ."
-Week 10

6. "How can "I"
have a "RELATIONSHIP"
with "MY"
"SELF"????"
-Week 7

7. "What i found out about myself: The self if a dead man walking. The self is full of ka ka poo poo doo doo shit. The self is a big fat liar. The self is a thief. The self is a murderer. The self is self-ish. To the marrow of the bone. To the bottom of its heart. Selah."
-Week 7

8. "I need to change that i think i own my own body. I need to recognize that now that i'm married my wife owns my body. She has a say in my appearance my behavior and my activities. I need to be submissive and humble and accepting of her demands on me. With negotiation of course."
-Week 3

9. "This is my prayer: Holy One of Israel creator of all infinite eternal ONE (with a sense of humor): Big Daddy-O! Pops! Papa! Dad! Hear my prayer! Teach me to love! I shall love the Lord my God with all my heart and with all my soul and with all my mind. I shall love my neighbor as myself." (On these 2 commandments hang all the law and the prophets).
-Week 13

In addition i added a page of poetry and a page of drawing for each week's journal entry. Zax poems from weekly journal:

"Do you ever ask yourself...does God hear your prayer? Ever?"
-Week 23

"Everyone wants something."
-Week 23

"Nature is God's open book...when He inhales He breathes in the entirety of His Holy creation and when He exhales He breathes out His Holy Word..."
-Week 22

"White Wool Hair Flame Of Fire Eyes Shining Bronze Feet Sound Of Many Waters Voice Seven Stars Sharp Two Edged Sword Face Shining Sun Power Hidden Manna White Stone New Name Iron Rod Shepherd Broken Pieces Of Pottery Vessels Morning Star Clothed In White Garments Book Of Life Gold Refined By Fire..."
-Week 21

"Any man knows when the sun is shining
And when it's night.
A God man knows in whom shines the light."
-Week 20

"There are walls and ramparts and towers and citadels and moats that stand between us...There are land mines and armies and snipers and weapons of mass destruction in the path between us. There is resentment anger hatred betrayal cheating lying stealing rape and murder between your family, and mine." -Week 17

"Do you know? God has a dream..."
-Week 12

"Angels came, thousands of angels came...angels calling to each other 'come, come quickly!'...to witness such of a precious sight...the shout of triumph heard in heaven landing at the foot of the throne...people knowing truth worth gold...WHO I AM."
-Week 8

"Adam to Jesus seen with hell in between."
-Week 4

"I thought i was a poet until i read 'do not rely on your own understanding'.
I put down my pen.
I thought i had something clever to say until i read 'do not be wise in your own eyes'.
I closed my book.
How can a man write anything better than
'Vanities of vanities; all is vanity.'?
How is a poet to answer King David when he says that he has
'seen all the works that are done under the sun, and indeed, all is...a chasing after wind.'"??
-Week 3

"There were three Hebrew boys in Babylon
The King said: bow to my god or die in fire!
The boys said we choose death in fire yes!
They did not die but became forged like Christ on cross
They were the true disciples of the Lord
Their reward was so great cause they counted the cost.
-Week 2

Juliana studying the bible during lecture phase.

The DTS has developed a bit of a boot camp mentality over the years (little did we know when we enrolled). Some schools are extremely strict (we were told such as in Brasil and Ghana), and some are quite lax (we heard such as in Canada and New Zealand). Unfortunately one of the staff members was very difficult. He treated us like we were pledges during rush week. Like he was a drill sergeant. It was embarrassing for the entire school.

He harassed the student body for about ten weeks before he finally left (apparently YWAM cant "fire" anyone, so he was just "strongly encouraged" to beat it). He set a terrible tone for the school and gave me a bad taste in my mouth for YWAM. I felt like writing a letter of complaint to the YWAM global leadership team. In the beginning Julia (and therefore I) was sorry we had ever signed up.

In fact, i was quite angry. I was meditating on my anger the other day; how can i release my anger and forgive my brother? It seems an impossible task. God revealed a way as i was walking through the twilight village roads back to my home in Bamindoh. Give the anger, the bitterness, the frustration, the complaints, etc. to HIM. I felt this channel being opened up into the sky directly to God.

Just give it all to him. Let him hear it all. Don't unload it on friends and family. Don't act it out in public. With people express tolerance and patience, kindness and consideration. But when you talk to God, unload all your shit. Complain to him bitterly. Rage rage against the dying of the light! But give it all to him. Let him hear it and feel it. Lay it all at his feet. Say God, YOU handle this. God, YOU take this toxic burden from off my shoulders. My mentor told me this for years, but i just now comprehend it.

But as time went on we learned to avoid the hassles and just soak up the wonderful curriculum. It was a pleasure to just sit for hours every morning and listen to amazing guest teachers and scholars from around the world share the Word with us in so many varied ways. The Bible is an immensely deep and profound book. After all, God is an immensely deep and profound person.

Ironically, by the time this staff member was finally let go, i had developed a compassion and soft heartedness towards him. I sensed the presence of God in his being. That doesn't change the fact that he needed professional counseling more than he needed to be a DTS staff member, but it does raise fascinating questions about who God chooses to bless with his presence (and who he doesn't). Appearances are deceiving to say the least.

Question: Who is (arguably) the greatest prophet in the bible? Moses.
Question: Who is the greatest king in the bible? David.
Question: Who is the greatest apostle in the bible? Paul.
Question: What is one thing they all have in common?
Answer: They were all murderers. Stone cold killers. Homicidal maniacs.
Go figure.





As the Apostle Paul writes in a letter to his protege Timothy, a letter published in the New Testament, there are many types of prayer...

"I exhort therefore, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercessions, thanksgivings be made on behalf of all men;"
- 1 Timothy 2:1

Morning prayer at the base.

Praying is like physical exercise. You have to do it regularly if you want to get better and experience the benefits. Just like the discipline of physical exercise, you pray despite fatigue, depression, anger...It takes practice, intention, commitment. It is Worth-It.

Morning prayer at the base.

We learned that the word Worship is rooted in the word Worthy. To worship God is Worth-It. God is worthy to be praised, God is worth it to be praised. The payback we get from God is worth more than the effort and time it takes. Just like any economic exchange, we feel that the trade is worth it to us, or we wouldn't do it. When i give the orange man a 5 Dalasi note for 2 oranges, i am saying that the 2 oranges are worth more to me than the 5 Dalasis, and he is saying the equal and opposite thing. Anything we do in life can be seen this way. As i learned in Econ 101, it's a cost/benefit analysis. For those who don't experience the presence of God, to worship is not worth it. For us it is worth it. It is worship.




Sitting in the pink shirt is one of the teachers we had for a week, Pastor Bruce the math teacher from Canada, sitting next to his wife Lara. Julia was thrilled to meet them because Bruce is taller than me and Lara is shorter than Julia. Here we are all praying. Publishing this photo makes me feel a bit like the pompous guy who prays on the street corner for everyone to see him...while Jesus says don't be like those hypocrites. Pray alone in your room with the door locked.

Here is a not so brief synopsis of the 12 weeks of teachings:

WEEK 1
started with explanations of Quiet Time, Principles for Effective Intercession, the Character and Nature of God, and the identity of Sonship in relation to God the Father. The character and nature of God? Now there is a topic.

The character of God was listed predictably as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control, purity, righteousness, mercy, justice, forgiveness, compassion, humility. Later i was to learn about God's hate, anger, repentance and grief...

"you (should) hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I (Jehovah) also hate." - Revelation 2:6

"And the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Moses" - Exodus 4:14

"And Jehovah repented that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him in His heart." - Genesis 6:6


WEEK 2
continued with Sonship and went on to Discipleship and Hearing Gods voice. There are three possible voices that can be heard speaking inside of ourselves at any given time: The voice of the SELF is characterized by being reasonable, rational, and from our own ideas. The voice of the SELF draws attention to itSELF. The voices of other people are just echoes of our SELF. The voice of SATAN is pushy and drives us to make hasty decisions. It is demanding, SELFish and condemning. The voice of GOD is gentle, tender and comes with peace and confidence. It is not pushy or hasty.

To further determine which voice is actually speaking within you, ask these questions:
Does the word/vision/voice honor the character of God?
Does it line up with scripture?
Does it produce the fruits of the Spirit in our lives?

"Not all Good ideas are God ideas." -Toni


WEEK 3
began with TFOTL (The Fear Of The Lord), which was defined as "To Hate Sin As God Hates Sin". Who knew God hates so much? We continued with the concept of "Strongholds", Strongholds being walls, boundaries, opinions, beliefs, fears, offenses, comfort zones; all of which are hindrances to our having a pure undiluted relationship with God in Spirit.

Lastly we learned about the 17 Non-Negotiable Foundational Values of YWAM. Number 1 is to Know God. Number 2 is to Make God Known. Furthermore, YWAM is called to respond to God in these five ways: Worship, Holiness, Witness, Prayer, and Fellowship.


WEEK 4
was a phenomenal week of teaching about Praise and Worship that took us through the bible in detail, beginning from even before Genesis 1:1, when Satan was still named Lucifer and was the lead angel in charge of all worship of God in the heavenly realms.

The essential nature of worship is that God created everything for worship. The very atomic and molecular structure of all creation is vibrating in worship to God the Creator. Then our guest teacher took us on a journey into the inner workings and meaning of God's tabernacle in the time of Moses in the desert, God's tabernacle in the time of King David in Jerusalem, and finally the understanding that we, as believers, are the new tabernacle, the new house of God Himself. The body, soul and spirit as the temple of the Most High.

Lastly we learned a very effective 3 point technique for studying the Bible called Inductive Bible Studies: 1. Make observations about the scripture. 2. Interpret the scripture. 3. Apply the scripture to our own lives.


WEEK 5
was all about the History and Development of Bible Scripture, and Preaching. We learned that when putting together the Bible during the 3rd and 4th centuries, various councils considered these questions for around 100 years:

1. Is the text authoritative, in other words, is it written by the hand of God? Not just commentary. Is it filled with the Spirit of God and not just the voice of man?

2. Is the text prophetic? Is it written by a man of God?

3. Is it authentic? "If in doubt, throw it out".

4. Is it dynamic? Life changing?

5. Is it accepted by Gods people, using the gifts of discernment?

The councils took their time, obviously. They prayed and fasted. There were thousands of texts to choose from: testimonies, histories, gospels, poetry, prophecies, letters, charts, etc. They pared it down to 66.

Lastly we practiced our preaching in front of the school. I sermonized on John 5:39...

"You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is these that testify concerning Me (Jesus)."

In other words, Jesus is standing right in front of you, waving His hands and jumping up and down trying to get your attention. If you are reading this it might just be working.


WEEK 6
was all about the two kinds of Authority: Delegated and Absolute. Humans have been delegated authority by God. God has absolute authority. When the delegated authority of human beings is abused, we have the right to appeal to the absolute authority of God. Amen to that.

We continued on with lectures on Rebellion and Submission, and Spiritual Warfare. Spiritual Warfare is to recognize God's highest plan, purpose and intention for my life and for His creation, and to commit 100% to this plan and purpose being accomplished. Equally, it is to recognize that Satan has a lowest plan, purpose and intention for my life and for God's creation, and to commit 100% to this plan and purpose being defeated.


WEEK 7
continued with Submission and continued into Forgiveness. Forgiving, and Being Forgiven.

"And his master became angry and delivered him to the torturers until he would repay all that was owed. So also will My (Jesus') heavenly Father do to you if each of you does not forgive his brother from your hearts." - Matthew 18:34-35

We learned about Faith and Finances and finished the week with Conflict Resolution, because God has a heart for Relationship and Reconciliation.


WEEK 8
was Pastor Bruce and his wife Lara. Another great week. Bruce reminded us of our fundamental position in God's eyes. He is the King, and we are the children of the King. That makes us royalty, with all the rights and responsibilities of royalty. It reminded me of how the entire nation of Israel was called to be a priesthood for the whole human race. Priests, prophets and princes, this is our destiny, our calling, our inheritance. Nothing less.

Anything less is the plan of the enemy, who desperately doesn't want us to know our true position, to know of the existence of our true inheritance. When we find out that this is our true inheritance, and that we have been tricked out of it by the "father of lies", we have to go on a journey to find the will. We have to kick down the door, bust open the safe, unroll the scroll of the will, read it aloud in front of the assembly, and claim our inheritance. Don't you let anyone steal it from you. It's yours.

In the footnotes of the Recovery Version bible, the author named Witness Lee writes about Jacob, the son of Isaac and the grandson of Abraham:

"the purpose of God in His selecting, predestining, and calling is to transform sinners into royal sons of God who bear God's image to express Him and exercise God's dominion to represent Him. God destined Jacob to live a struggling life all his days. Furthermore, God sovereignly arranged every circumstance, situation, and person in Jacob's life and caused them all to work together for Jacob's good, so that He could transform Jacob, a supplanter and a heel holder, into Israel, a prince of God. In particular, God used Jacob's family, including his father, his mother, his brother, his uncle, and his wives and children, to deal with Jacob for his transformation. God's dealing with Jacob is a full picture of the Holy Spirit's discipline and His transforming work in the New Testament believers."

Then we got into all the nitty gritty psychological "God as father" issues...how our relationship with our own fathers affects our relationship with God. It led to some insights.

For instance, why do we as humans have such a craving for our father? The mother is the constant. We are born in her and of her. She is there from the beginning and in our infancy. But the father is the great mystery. We are inside our mothers womb wondering, where is my father? I know he is out there...somewhere. We crave a relationship with our father. And it is God who is our true father, our true and original parent. It continues deeply and richly in this vein. God hardwired into us a longing for our father as a way for us to find our way home to him. It's a lifeline.

I had two good cries this week, two more than i had for many years of my life. Very healing, very cleansing. Ever since Christ, the Anointed One, the Messiah, the one who was sent to save His people (Israel) from their sins, came into my life, my emotional life has opened up and tears flow more freely.

The word "Christ" is a Greek word for the Hebrew word "Messiah", which is pronounced Moshiach in Hebrew. As Witness Lee says, "Both (Christ and Messiah) mean 'the anointed'. Christ is God's Anointed, the One appointed by God to accomplish God's purpose, God's eternal plan".


WEEK 9
was more deep psychological insight into our pathologies and problems, all of which keep us from God. This was Celminyah, she was the dynamo teacher from Brasil who came to show us the DIVINE PLUMB LINE.

A plumb line is used by builders to construct a house. Our life has to be built on the Divine Plumb Line, or the whole thing can come crashing down in rebellion or rejection. Rebellion leads to murder, rejection leads to suicide. Heavy teachings. Weeks 8 and 9 were much more than just lectures. There was abundant prayer, the hard work of plumbing our own souls, and tears. After these two weeks the student body was plum wore out.


WEEK 10
was a refreshing teaching about the concept of the mission and its biblical foundation, and how God has a heart for all people, cultures and nations. Our teacher Kevin, the one who organized the wonderful "culture and nations night" mentioned in the text below the next photograph, took us on a journey through the magnificent book of Psalms.

Psalm 67 says... "God be gracious to us and bless us; May he make his face shine upon us; Selah. That Your way may be known on earth, and Your salvation among all the nations. Let the peoples praise you, O God; Let the peoples praise you, all of them. Let the nations rejoice and shout for joy, For You will judge the peoples equitably and will guide the nations on the earth. Selah. Let the peoples praise You, O God; Let the peoples praise You, all of them..."

Words such as these throughout the book of Psalms were written by what could be described as early Jewish proto missionaries! They are, for all intents and purposes, expressing the desire to fulfill "the Great Commission".

Kevin went on to remind us that the number one attribute to possess as a missionary is to be born anew, which is to say, to be filled with the Spirit. This is not political or religious or economic or cultural. It is to have the same dream for humanity that God has, that all human beings worship in the Spirit.

"Jesus answered and said to him, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God." - John 3:3


WEEK 11
was a survey of the presence of the Holy Spirit throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Holy Spirit is "uncreated, incorruptible, righteous, unseen..." The Holy Spirit is able to give people "gifts" such as prophesying, serving, teaching, exhorting, giving, leading, healing, being merciful, speaking in different languages to spread the gospel (the good news, the new news)...the Holy Spirit is a person. God is a person.


WEEK 12
started with evangelism, timely considering we were days away from our outreach, and continued with a lecture on transformation using Jacob (who was renamed Israel) as an example. Toni was challenging us to become transformed in order to be effective as missionaries. We finished with lectures on how to share our testimony. I suppose a blog of almost 18000 words is one way. That was the end of the lecture phase. Whew.





My favorite monthly love feast night was organized by one of the leaders in YWAM Gambia, Kevin. He asked us all to present a song or story from our own cultural or national tradition as a way to exemplify the biblical prophesy that all nations will present themselves before God in worship.

"...for all the nations will come and worship before You" - Revelation 15:4

On a large white sheet i wrote the words to the reggae song "By the rivers of Babylon" (inspired by Psalm 137), posted it on the wall, and led a sing along while playing the drum. That's my authentic hippy California Jewish national/cultural tradition for those of you who were wondering... the song is about the Bible story of the Hebrew nation being conquered and kidnapped by the King of Babylon (Iraq).

"By the rivers of Babylon
there we sat down
and there we we wept
when we remembered Zion (Jerusalem).

For the wicked carried us away captivity
required of us a song
how can we sing King Alpha's song in a strange land?"

To give you an example of the fury this conquest and kidnapping had on the Hebrew psyche, just read this line from the end of Psalm 137, written by the blood thirsty King David of Israel:

"Happy and blessed shall he be who takes and dashes your (the Babylonians) little ones against the rock!"

Here are the lyrics to one of my favorite songs from the YWAM songbook: "Light The Fire Again".

"Don't let my love grow cold
I'm calling out, light the fire again
Don't let my vision die
I'm calling out, light the fire again
You know my heart, my deeds
I'm calling out, light the fire again
I need Your discipline
I'm calling out, light the fire again

I am here to buy gold
Refined in the fire
Naked and poor
Wretched and blind i come
Clothe me in white
So i won't be ashamed
Lord, light the fire again"




Sunday church in a suburb out by the airport led by the pastor of our school director. We visited a few different churches on Sundays during lecture phase to get a taste of different services. I gave the sermon this day, entitled YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT. Amen. I based it on this scripture:

"Truly, truly, I say to you, He who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, that anyone may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he shall live forever; And the bread which I will give is My flesh, given for the life of the world. The Jews then contended with one another, saying, How can this man give us His flesh to eat? Jesus therefore said to them, Truly, truly, i say to you, Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you do not have life within yourselves. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up in the last day. For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me and I in him. As the living Father has sent Me and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me. This is the bread which came down out of heaven, not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread shall live forever. He said these things in a synagogue as He taught in Capernaum." - John 6:47-59

"To him who overcomes, to him I will give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God." - Revelation 2:7

Mmmmmmm...delish. My God is an edible God.



Godz wordz paintingz...This was one of my school art projects: a genealogy chart from Adam to Jesus. Interspersed within the chart are comments about some of the ancestors of Jesus as well as quotes from the Bible alluding to Jesus Himself. Two of the works pictured here are mock ups for the real thing when i get some proper art supplies and plot out serious workz. Along with the fire for the Word that was lit in my spirit and soul by doing quiet time everyday, an inner artist emerged from within me that i seriously had no idea existed. It was a personal revelation. And such a release. Thank you God for using the DTS to unleash my INNER ARTIST. PRAISE.THE.LORD.




Godz wordz paintingz...this is a representation of the TREE OF LIFE made by writing every book of the Bible multiple times in the six colors of the rainbow. Hanging off the branches is the FRUIT OF LIFE, which is CHRIST, represented by His many names. Living Stone, for example, or Lion of Judah. These works are nothing more than colorful works of writing, you could say poetry of a kind, but i don't consider myself a poet. A writer just finding his voice. All the color and pomp and circumstance does not change the essential nature of this work. This is writing, not drawing.




Godz wordz paintingz...this is a representation of Paul the apostle. I don't have the patience to draw, but I do have the patience to write. Hence, word paintingz such as the previous two works.

An immature example of Zax Godz Wordz Paintingz during week 8 of lecture phase.

The previous weeks of lectures had fascinated me with how often the Bible mentions what God hates, dislikes, despises etc.

"Nor shall you erect for yourself a pillar, something which Jehovah your God hates." - Deuteronomy 16:22

I had always thought about God as love, love, love...

"He who has my commandments and keeps them, he is the one who loves me (Jesus); and he who loves me will be loved by my Father (God), and I will love him and will manifest Myself to him." - John 14:21

...i was also feeling angry about the staff member mentioned earlier in this blog who was continually harassing the student body and then saying "sorry" the next day, which i took as just plain lying. So, in a pique of hostility i wrote "GOD HATES" on the classroom lecture board when no one was around, left the room, and then went back to add..."liars". I got in trouble for it, rightly so, and apologized to the entire school the next day for being a liar myself, which is to say that God does NOT "hate liars".

My writing "GOD HATES liars" was written in anger and rebellion, and furthermore it's a false statement. I repented of my behavior the next day. God may hate lying, and He may hate Satan, who is the "father of lies", but He does not hate liars. If He hated liars He would hate all people, because all people are liars. Like any parent, God hates the lying behavior of His children, but He always has love for His children. God loves people, He doesn't hate people. Let us leave aside for a moment that in Malachi 1:3 God says

"Esau (Jacob's brother) I hated."

As we learned from our lecture on conflict resolution, "separate the person from the problem". It's just Psychotherapy 101. I was also chastised for writing "GOD HATES liars" because i was told that "You won't find it in the bible because it's not there!" Except that it IS in "the" bible: the "Good News" bible.

"The Lord hates liars..." - Proverbs 12:22

We were scandalized! I suppose you could argue that "God" and "The Lord" are two different people, but i don't think so. Most Bibles, but not all, say something different. For example, my Recovery Version of Proverbs 12:22 says

"Lying lips are an abomination to Jehovah".

Here are some more scandalous verses from the Good News Bible:

"The Lord hates people who use dishonest scales" - Proverbs 11:1
"The Lord hates evil-minded people" - Proverbs 11:20
Yet there is this: "It is a sin to despise anyone" - Proverbs 14:21

And in "The Promise Study Edition" of the Bible:
"The Lord hates anyone who cheats" - Proverbs 11:1
"The Lord hates sneaky people" - Proverbs 11:20
"The Lord hates every Liar" - Proverbs 12:22
And again there is this:
"It's wrong to hate others" - Proverbs 14:21

So it's wrong for US to hate anyone, but ok for GOD, or i should say, THE LORD. Interesting. And then in the DTS we were taught that we should "Hate sin as God Hates sin." And then Jesus said "Love your enemy"...and then we find deep in the NT that our enemy is not flesh and blood, so then who is our enemy? it's enough to make your head sin, i mean spin...

Still the fact remains, God does not hate liars, so that makes the Good News Bible, and the Promise Study Edition, liars. Change the name to the "Bad News" bible. And it raises a sticky dilemma. Most "Christians" will swear up and down (even though Jesus consuls against swearing) that the "Bible" is the infallible word of God. Except when it's not.

So, translations matter. Alot. If i told a lie and then i was told that God hates me because i am a liar, i would consider that very BAD NEWS. The Koran, like the Bad News and Promise Study Bibles, hammers home the point that God hates sinners, which is simply a BIG FAT LIE. But even Kevin, a prominent YWAM leader, says he "likes" the Good News Bible. So the story continues... I may be a liar but even liars can tell the truth.

"Liar liar pants on fire..."

"...God loves Israel..." - 2 Chronicles 9:8

Fiona and Julia and me at the DTS "commissioning"

...the end of our lecture phase in readiness for our 11 weeks of outreach all over the country sharing what we learned with the people of Gambia. Commissioning is a prayer meeting to send us off on "The Great Commission"...

THE GREAT COMMISSION:
"And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you..." - Matthew 28:18-20

"Then Jesus said to His disciples, 'if anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his soul-life shall lose it; but whoever loses his soul-life for My sake shall find it'". - Matthew 16:24-25

Julia, like Marie, was my best teacher in the DTS. She has such a sense of decorum and politeness. She knows what to say and when to say it. She is a keen observer of people and anticipates their needs and moods easily. She is generous and has passed that trait on to Marie, something i encourage. Asan described her as having a pure heart, without guile. When she was speaking Wolof with the 5 Wolof fluent students she would have them in stitches laughing. Great sense of humor. Unfortunately since English is her 3rd language her sense of humor doesn't translate as well. But we are working on it.

She was my private DTS tutor. Being with her and Marie was the bulk of my DTS learning. We ministered to each other. Building our relationship was our primary focus. It was of course hard work. Lectures and quiet times were cake compared to learning how to be a good husband and partner. I joke with Julia about Hezekiah's hilarious last words to me before i left for the SF airport on December 23 2007: "And don't forget to tell Julia: I send my condolences" 42 years of independent, selfish, free spirited living...now married to a woman my mom knew instantly from a few phone conversations was "a woman with force. I like that!" You learn and grow because you have to.

The landscape not far from the villages of Sabi and Mansa Jang in upcountry Gambia.

End of the dry season. Typical Sahel, the latitudinal band of about 600 kilometers which stretches from the Atlantic Ocean almost clear across Africa to the Indian Ocean in Ethiopia. The Sahel is a forest grassland. That dry desert looking ground becomes a 1 meter high bright green forest of grass in the five month rainy season from June to October. The Fula cowherders love it.

After the 12 week lecture phase was over we hit the road and traveled 8 hours by car to the far Southeast of the country. There we landed in the traditional village of Sabi, population 5000, inhabited mostly by the Sarahuli people. By traditional I mean agriculturally based, very few cars, almost no electricity or running water, houses made by hand from mud bricks and palm leaf roofs...Once we were on the outreach the strict schedule and sense of being supervised by the hall monitors relaxed. We stayed in Sabi for one week, at the home base of a English woman and her American husband who were working as YWAM missionaries.

Elly and Eric and their infant son Asaph were living directly with the people, employing a missionary technique called "incarnational ministry" in which they learn the language fluently, live directly with the people (same food, housing, dress etc.) and make a commitment to the life of the community. Elly had been living there for eight years, and Eric for almost three. But they also had a special little YWAM house and property where the DTS team stayed. There they used solar power and wireless Internet. When Elly and Eric went to England for two months i joked with Eric by asking him if he would he be incarnating as an Englishman while he was in his wife's home country. You know, warm beer, cold sausages, tight shorts, that sort of thing. Incarnate baby.

The children at the school in Mansa Jang.

We left Sabi and traveled 5 kilometers North to the village of Mansa Jang, inhabited mostly by Fula people. There we lived and worked in the school compound run by a German missionary named Katherine (not in YWAM). The school of about 40 students had no regular teachers outside of Katherine and her missionary colleague from Nigeria. Our role was to help teach, and wander the village talking to people.

The school children came from mostly Muslim families, which made it interesting considering the "Christian" education. The curriculum was mostly the "3 r's" mixed with a standard Christian message.

I cringed at the beginning of the day when the children were required to recite the "Pledge of Allegiance to the Christian Flag" and the "Pledge to the Bible". The Christian "FLAG"? Must have been written by Americans. It was. Sung to the tune of "I Pledge Allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America". I couldn't stomach it. There was no Spirit in the recitation. It reminded me of the "Dara", the Islamic schools where children recite the Koran in rote memorization, with no Spirit or heart.

Pledge To The Christian Flag:

I pledge allegiance
to the Christian flag
and to the Savior
for whose kingdom it stands;
One Savior, crucified,
risen, and coming again
with life and liberty
for all who believe.

Pledge To The Bible:

I pledge allegiance to the Bible,
God's Holy Word.
I will make it a lamp
unto my feet,
and a light
unto my path.
I will hide its words
in my heart,
that I might not sin
against God.

Actually I rather like the pledge to the Bible as poetry per se, but you can't force people to pledge allegiance against their will, against their minds. It just creates rebellion, which we had in spades...

Catch me if you can.

It was very hot in Sabi and Mansa Jang. VERY hot. Julia, Marie and I sweated all night in our tent as we slept outside. So hot i got red heat spots on my skin, even though i spent one summer in equally hot temps in the Mojave desert of California with nary a problem. After lunch all we could do is lie down and sleep through the hot part of the afternoon. Across the road the people of one compound (they had electricity) sold ice blocks for 5 Dalasis which sold out fast. We lived to drink cold water. At night we sat outside under the stars and sang songs, prayed together, went wandering through the quiet village...except it wasn't so quiet because...

April was wedding season for the Fula and Fula weddings last one week. The music played all night. High pitched Fula violin (Riti in Wolof) and drumming, drifting through the hot savanna darkness until sunrise...music sometimes interrupted by the braying of the local wild donkey screeching and bellowing his discord into the sky...

Hagar! Your son Ishmael "will be a wild ass (donkey) of a man; His hand will be against everyone, and everyone's hand, against him; And he will settle down opposite all his brothers." - Genesis 16:12




My five students. I taught them for two of the four weeks we were in Mansa Jang before i realized i was thoroughly burned out on classroom teaching. It didn't help that the students were rambunctious, unruly and disrespectful of rules and normal standards of school behavior. It was shockingly similar to Oakland California. I loved them anyway, but i just couldn't enter the classroom. I was about to break out in hives. Left to right is Malong, Binta, Tombong, Filly, and Fatoumatou.

One day during morning prayer the children told me We don't like Jesus. I said, Ok, but what about God, do you believe in God? Yes, we believe in God, but NOT JESUS. I said, Ok, do you love God? They said, Yes we love God, but NOT JESUS. I said I am talking about God, and you all keep talking about this Jesus person! They said, Ok, but we don't want to pray like this: (palms and fingers touching, hands in front of heart, typical "Christian" style). We want to pray like THIS: (hands by the side of the head, palms facing forward, typical "Muslim" style).

I said Fine, we can pray anyway you want. We can pray standing on our heads. In fact, you can come to my house, bring a stack of Korans and prayer mats, pray all day at my house while i serve you tea and cookies, and you are most welcome. You can bring a boom box and blare Islamic singing and chanting using my electricity. I will read the Koran with you and we will have discussion. You can invite anyone you want. Bring your Marabout. Bring the Grand Caliph of Touba. Bring the high Iman from the house of Saud. Bring the chief of Mecca. All are welcome. Can i just bring a teensy weensy Bible to your house? NO!

Marie attended one of the classes in Mansa Jang for the month but it wasn't good for her as she was being dragged into the rebellious and rude behavior the students were acting out. But in both Sabi and Mansa Jang and the entire time in the DTS she was able to make friends quickly and easily. She is a kind and generous child and never seems to fight or argue with other children. All i ever see is her laughing and having fun, and playing a leadership role in mediating disputes. She has a vigilant sense of justice and right and wrong. She is a great teacher for me, and we get along very well. She is a pleasure to parent.

On outreach Julia was a shining star of a student. She took over kitchen duties to such an extent that the school leadership made her "kitchen manager". She was always shopping at the markets, planning meals, budgeting the money. She was always looking for a need to take care of. She bonded with people everywhere we went on outreach. She found out about their lives, learned their names, prayed for them. Wherever she was speaking in Wolof people were laughing. She is a natural ham, a performing artist. She loves to sing (Catholic choir growing up) and she loves working with children. Speaking of ham...when Muslim people we met tried to convince he to switch to Islam she would say: "The day you can scrape every last bit of pig lard from out of my veins is the day i will become a Muslim!"

A couple of times a week Katherine held a kids club in the afternoon after school. Julia and Mary simply dominated with leading the children in singing, playing games, and encouraging the kids to participate. On the first day of kids club Mary organized a rope tug of war match between the girls and the boys. Everybody thought Oh no, this wont work. We were right. It didn't work. The girls won every match but one, and that one the boys cheated. The boys were so embarrassed they fled the compound. Not only did the girls try harder and cooperate better, but from years of pulling water from wells and pounding food with a mortar and pestle they are simply stronger than the boys.

Traditional night time wrestling from Senegal and Gambia, in Mansa Jang. The wrestlers travel on a circuit from town to town. And that is the end of my photos of Sabi and Mansa Jang. Don't ask me why i have no photos of daily life and the villages themselves. I just wasn't doing much photography. I will have many more photos of village life in the next blog link. Photos from Sanyang so you can see traditional building styles, fields being plowed and sowed by hand...old school Africa.

Children dancing spontaneous in Soma.

After five weeks in Mansa Jang/Basse we drove half way back towards the coast West to a crossroads town called Soma. Soma was very warm, but a great relief to the super heat of the Eastern lands. In Soma we lived in an an apartment rented by Toni in a compound shared by Ghanaian Pastor Sam and his wife and three children. Julia Marie and I pitched our tent outside for fresh air.

We helped the pastor in his ministry and got to know the community for four weeks. Soma is right on the road south to Casamance and into the next country of Guinea Bissau. During a recent civil war in Guinea Bissau many people fled as refugees and settled in Soma. Pastor Sam was ministering to this population extensively. They speak Creole, a mix of Portuguese and African languages, and are part of two ethnic groups called the Balanta and the Manjago.

In five weeks of outreach I had done almost no "evangelizing". Normally in my daily life I just talk about God and Christ spontaneously, and quite often as it happens, as friends and family can attest. On the DTS outreach it felt forced, as we were encouraged "to go into the village and preach the gospel". I felt like one of those Mormons or Jehovah Witnesses you see wearing suits and handing out bible tracts. It didn't work for me.

One time in Soma we went evangelizing as a group to a local village and saw a young man wearing an ankle shackle and chain to keep him from running away. The parents said he had gone crazy so they had to chain him up to prevent him from getting lost in the woods. We prayed over him and the pastor pronounced him healed. However, we never went back to find out the result of our healing, which i regretted.

Children dancing spontaneous in Soma.

In Soma i met a young man named Ebrima and I felt an urge to share the Word with him. Ebrima age 26 grew up in Soma as a devout Muslim, practicing the five pillars religiously. He was also a totally modern person, with an interest in the world at large. He dreamed of visiting his sister in Seattle Washington, but the US embassy wouldn't give him a visa (for fear he would overstay his visa and become yet another "illegal alien").

He was working as a primary school teacher in a nearby village and had never left Gambia. I would meet him after work on the front porch of his parent's compound near the center of town and we would sit for a couple of hours brewing and sipping attaya (strong sweet green tea). Sometimes his friends would join in. I told him that on my school outreach i had rarely found anyone with whom to really share the Word.

I came to know three interesting facts about him that verified why I felt called to talk to him. One, his father is a Bambara (mother Mandinka). When i mentioned to him that the name Bambara was developed from the Mandinka root word "to resist", he smiled knowingly. The Bambara are a Mande people (Mandinka etc.) deep in the heart of Mali who resisted the Arabic/Muslim invasion/colonization/conquest of their homeland over 1000 years ago. Two, i found out that he was the first born of his mother (his mother being the second of three wives to his father). This really intrigued me, as i had just been reading and meditating on the Word that says

"Every male who opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord"
- Luke 2:23

Hence the historical value placed on a "first born son". And don't forget that the Pharaoh in Egypt tried to kill all the Hebrew first born males. The enemy has always tried to destroy what is holy to the Lord. Three, i learned that his last name was Keita. Keita is one of the names of the royal families of the Mande people. Hence Ebrima was from a line of royalty through his father. He was born of kings.

I told Ebrima these were three signs that he was being "called out" by God to enter into the good land of Christ represented by freedom, liberation, forgiveness and salvation (and i will add enlightenment for all you Eastern religion fanatics), from ALL bondage of religious/traditional/ethnic/national identity. Not to mention that he was named after the original Hebrew: Abraham. (Ibrahima, or Ebrima, in Arabic).

1. He comes from a line of people resistant to Islam (religion), the Bambaras.
2. He is called holy to the Lord by being a male first born.
3. He is reminded of his true universal position as a son of the true King, God, by being born from a line of Kings, the house of Keita.

So Ebrima came to Christ. No, not really. But only because there wasn't enough time. We left on good terms. It took three years of Hezekiah hammering on me to soften me up the truth, so i know God has his own time.

A sign in on the outskirts of Soma. "Being HIV positive does not make one less human."

Pastor Sam from Ghana with two of his three children after church in Soma. Marie made great friends with the Pastors children Kofi, Daniel and Naniah. They just ran each other ragged all over the compound and in the neighborhood with other children. Children in Africa just have so much freedom from an early age to run and play with each other all over the neighborhoods, and there are plenty of children. Julia particularly bonded with Pastor Sam's wife Francis. The two moms.





Julia working hard as usual, doing the needful. Here she is burning underbrush in Mehmeh just before the rainy season. Clearing the underbrush near the YWAM compound. Julia was always leading the charge, working, thinking about the group, considering how to make a positive impact in the communities in which we found ourselves. Always thinking of ways to help.

After Soma we continued West towards the coast to a small village called Mehmeh on the banks of the river/ocean estuary system, where we lived at a YWAM compound run by a couple of Gambians. There we helped clean up the base, taught in their little school of about 20 students, helped clean up the health clinic in town, shared the gospel in the village, and went bird watching, fishing and oyster harvesting. The children in the school here were entirely polite, well behaved, and gentle, a refreshing relief after Mansa Jang. I am not going to speculate as to why the radical difference.





Marie by the Jurunku Bolong in Mehmeh. A bolong looks like a river but is really part of a vast inland estuary system. Because Gambia is so flat, the Gambia river is salty up river, from the ocean, for about 200 kilometers (it originates as a proper river in the highland mountains of Guinea Conakry to the Southeast, in a famous area called the Futa Jallon, where the huge long Niger river originates).

The bolongs are fingerlike extensions of the river/ocean that extend to the North and South of the river which flows East to West. The bolong doesn't flow to the sea, it just rises and falls with the ocean tide. That makes it the ocean, not a river. Fresh water inflow during the rainy season makes no appreciable difference.

The bolongs are lined with a rich mangrove forest system. Canoeing the backwaters is a spectacular bird watchers paradise....the many colors of the varied species of birds reminded me of the description of New Jerusalem in the last book of the Bible, the book of The Revelation, where the city is described as having a variety of precious stones, pearls and metals. I imagined that God took into his hand all those stones and pearls and precious metals, blew on them, turned them into birds, and released them into the mangrove forests of Gambia...

"And the building work of its wall was jasper; and the city was pure gold, like clear glass. The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every precious stone: the first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, chalcedony; the fourth, emerald; the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, topaz; the tenth, chrysoprase;, the eleventh, jacinth; the twelfth, amethyst. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; each one of the gates was, respectively, of one pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass."
- Revelation 21:18 to 21

The Jurunku Bolong from the canoe.

Exploring the trees in the thick mangrove estuary forest (not swamp).

We discovered an eagle's nest, and then the eagle. A beautiful large bird feeding her young. The next day the rainy season began with a bang as a major storm moved in from the East. And i do mean a bang. Big thunder and lightning. The rain sounds twice as loud on a tin roof. Interesting how in West Africa the storm fronts come in off the desert to the East and head West towards the ocean, the opposite of California.

Making mud bricks for construction at the YWAM base in Memmeh. Not for making the tower of Babylon.

"...they said to one another, Come, let us make bricks...And they said, Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower whose top is in the heavens; and let us make a name for ourselves..."
- Genesis 11:3-4





Shell mounds just like the SF Bay Area original people had. Oysters get harvested along the bolong and shelled by the Mehmeh people. Here they call them oysters but they resemble what in California are called mussels. They would be very delicious with fresh garlic fettuccine from Pasta-Rama in Oakland California.




Cassava growing in the Mehmeh community garden. It looks like cannabis but it's not. Cassava is also called yucca.

In the DTS we read about five books as part of our school assignment. In addition to the assigned reading i read about half of "Moby Dick" before quitting in exasperation. Very impressive work of literature. A feather in the cap of anyone who can sincerely confess to reading the entire tome. Excellent and funny chapter about a preacher sermonizing on the biblical prophet Jonah (who was swallowed by a "whale"). The author exhibits noteworthy biblical knowledge and clever use of biblical names for the characters in the book. Superb first line: "Call me Ishmael." I would add that without knowledge of the Bible on the part of the reader, the full comprehension and enjoyment of Moby Dick is mitigated.

But in the end i found it tedious. Gossipy. Full of knowledge, intelligence, cleverness, and astute social commentary, but lacking...something. True wisdom? So i put it down. Instead i read some 100 pages of the German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer's amazing book called "The Cost of Discipleship". There i found the wisdom for which i was searching. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was executed by the Nazis in 1944 at the age of 39 for actively opposing the Hitler regime. He easily could have fled and saved his life. He took his stand. "The cost of discipleship." I would call Bonhoeffer the Martin Luther King of Germany (an ironic twist, as the American MLK was named after the famous German protestant Martin Luther from the 15th and 16th centuries). MLK also died at the young age of 39.

Near Memmeh is the very famous village of Juffureh, which we visited. That's us to the left, along the banks of the River Gambia. The river is quite wide here, only about 50 kilometers from the ocean. You can just barely see the other side. Juffureh is the ancestral homeland of Kunta Kinte, of Roots fame.

The author of the book "Roots", Alex Haley, traced his lineage back several hundred years to a man named Kunta Kinte who was kidnapped from this village in Gambia and transported as a slave to America. I met a man in Soma named Lamin Kinte who claimed to be a direct descendant. Kunta Kinte was a Mandinka, one of the largest and most historically relevant people groups in West Africa. As Kunta Kinte said, I am a MANDINGO!

When i was 12 years old the Roots TV mini-series came on for 3 hours every night for a week. Everybody watched it, and it changed America. The young actor Lavar Burton played Kunta Kinte and that was it for him: he was Kunta Kinte for LIFE. Sort of like William Shatner playing Captain Kirk. You never get past it.

Never again?

http://gvnet.com/humantrafficking/

From the above website:

"Human Rights Watch estimates that every year, 800,000 to 900,000 men, women and children are trafficked across international borders into forced labor or slavery-like conditions. Trafficking includes all acts related to the recruitment, transport, transfer, sale, or purchase of human beings by force, fraud, deceit, or other coercive tactics for the purpose of placing them into conditions of forced labor or practices similar to slavery, in which labor is extracted through physical or non-physical means of coercion, including blackmail, fraud, deceit, isolation, threat or use of physical force, or psychological pressure. The UN International Labor Office (ILO) reports that Asia has three-quarters of the 12.3 million people believed to be in forced labor worldwide."

We took a boat ride to teeny tiny James Island where the European powers duked it out for control of the river slave trade. The island is strategically located in the middle of the river where soldiers were able to keep an eye on boat traffic and shoot canons at passers by. They also used the island to house slaves in transition, sort of like the famous Goree Island near Dakar Senegal, which i visited last year.

My wife and i in the slave yard.

Freedom in da slave yaad!

Wall painting at the Juffureh museum.

Sculpture and wall painting at the Juffureh museum.

DTS Gambia during the last week. The students are in the same order as in the first group photo, but this time Marie and Asaph are in the photo as well.

Finally we went back to the coast for one last week of school where we talked about all that we had learned, and held a graduation ceremony.

In the end i was mostly satisfied with the nature and character of the DTS as a program and YWAM as an organization. I was not satisfied in that I got the sense that YWAM has become overly bureaucratic and rules oriented, and less Spirit filled. YWAM has 17 foundational values that we were told are non-negotiable, and number 13 is that "YWAM is dedicated to being relationship-oriented in our living and working together. We desire to be united through lives of holiness, mutual support, transparency, humility, and open communication, rather than a dependence on structure or rules".

My experience of the DTS was that value number 13 was flip flopped and negotiated. Too much reliance on rules, structure and "authority", not enough open communication and being relationship oriented. I know that Brasil and Ghana are said to be far more strict that Gambia, but maybe that just makes them bigger violators of value 13. The behavior of the staff member who had to leave is a case in point. He was in clear and obvious violation of value 13, but he was allowed to continue in this vein for two months. I strongly suggest that YWAM go back to the drawing board and rework the DTS to include value number 13 far more spiritually, with love.

Fundamentally the problem is that power corrupts, and as they say, absolute power corrupts absolutely. The DTS, and YWAM in general, gives power and authority to those in positions of leadership. Not everyone is capable or mature enough to handle this power. Even if power and authority is delegated by God, it is easily misused and abused. We saw that clearly with the behavior of the staff member who was let go. The great Hebrew prophet Moses himself was not allowed into the promised land for one simple disobedient act of anger and arrogance.

So i will just say that 16 out of 17 successfully accomplished YWAM foundational values ain't bad! To know God and to make Him known (values numbers 1 and 2), is the most important thing. In the DTS i got to know God and learned how to make Him known in a wonderful way. The DTS helped develop my spiritual life tremendously.

It must also be said that YWAM runs an extensive world wide system of programs and ministries that are phenomenally wonderful. And it is a very open minded and liberated organization, as Christian missionary organizations go. I may even end up working with YWAM in the future, why not. They have programs in the SF Bay Area and are totally open to creativity and exploring artistic endeavors. They run programs such as the School of Performing Arts, performing arts being just one of many ways to express God in all His glory.

I am grateful to the school leadership for all their hard work and dedication to the school. I am thankful to have been admitted to the school. I am very glad i was a student in the DTS. Without the hard work and vision of the leadership the DTS never would have occurred. Because of the DTS i have a whole new language and vocabulary to express God. And I regret my mistakes and occasional loss of composure. In the end, thank you Gambia DTS and YWAM.

Graduation day, June 20 2008

All the students were asked to do an artwork piece describing their DTS experience. The work was exhibited at the hall in which we graduated.

Marie's work, a solid house.

Julia's work, quoting the words from a song.

Zachary's piece. Never too late for a career change. Who knew?

Btw, what is art?

"Art is what you can get away with." -Andy Warhol

WHAT IS ART
About the Author: Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910), although best known for his literary works, also wrote various essays on art, history, and religion. This essay (originally published in 1896) and the translation by Alymer Maude (first published in 1899) are in the public domain and may be freely reproduced.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN
#24. Art, in our society, has been so perverted that not only has bad art come to be considered good, but even the very perception of what art really is has been lost. In order to be able to speak about the art of our society, it is, therefore, first of all necessary to distinguish art from counterfeit art.

#25. There is one indubitable indication distinguishing real art from its counterfeit, namely, the infectiousness of art. If a man, without exercising effort and without altering his standpoint on reading, hearing, or seeing another man's work, experiences a mental condition which unites him with that man and with other people who also partake of that work of art, then the object evoking that condition is a work of art. And however poetical, realistic, effectful, or interesting a work may be, it is not a work of art if it does not evoke that feeling (quite distinct from all other feelings) of joy and of spiritual union with another (the author) and with others (those who are also infected by it).

#26. It is true that this indication is an internal one, and that there are people who have forgotten what the action of real art is, who expect something else from art (in our society the great majority are in this state), and that therefore such people may mistake for this aesthetic feeling the feeling of diversion and a certain excitement which they receive from counterfeits of art. But though it is impossible to undeceive these people, just as it is impossible to convince a man suffering from "Daltonism" [a type of color blindness] that green is not red, yet, for all that, this indication remains perfectly definite to those whose feeling for art is neither perverted nor atrophied, and it clearly distinguishes the feeling produced by art from all other feelings.

#27. The chief peculiarity of this feeling is that the receiver of a true artistic impression is so united to the artist that he feels as if the work were his own and not someone else's - as if what it expresses were just what he had long been wishing to express. A real work of art destroys, in the consciousness of the receiver, the separation between himself and the artist - not that alone, but also between himself and all whose minds receive this work of art. In this freeing of our personality from its separation and isolation, in this uniting of it with others, lies the chief characteristic and the great attractive force of art.

#28. If a man is infected by the author's condition of soul, if he feels this emotion and this union with others, then the object which has effected this is art; but if there be no such infection, if there be not this union with the author and with others who are moved by the same work - then it is not art. And not only is infection a sure sign of art, but the degree of infectiousness is also the sole measure of excellence in art.

#29. The stronger the infection, the better is the art as art, speaking now apart from its subject matter, i.e., not considering the quality of the feelings it transmits.

#30. And the degree of the infectiousness of art depends on three conditions: 1. On the greater or lesser individuality of the feeling transmitted; 2. on the greater or lesser clearness with which the feeling is transmitted; 3. on the sincerity of the artist, i.e., on the greater or lesser force with which the artist himself feels the emotion he transmits.

#31. The more individual the feeling transmitted the more strongly does it act on the receiver; the more individual the state of soul into which he is transferred, the more pleasure does the receiver obtain, and therefore the more readily and strongly does he join in it.

#32. The clearness of expression assists infection because the receiver, who mingles in consciousness with the author, is the better satisfied the more clearly the feeling is transmitted, which, as it seems to him, he has long known and felt, and for which he has only now found expression.

#33. But most of all is the degree of infectiousness of art increased by the degree of sincerity in the artist. As soon as the spectator, hearer, or reader feels that the artist is infected by his own production, and writes, sings, or plays for himself, and not merely to act on others, this mental condition of the artist infects the receiver; and contrarywise, as soon as the spectator, reader, or hearer feels that the author is not writing, singing, or playing for his own satisfaction - does not himself feel what he wishes to express - but is doing it for him, the receiver, a resistance immediately springs up, and the most individual and the newest feelings and the cleverest technique not only fail to produce any infection but actually repel.

#34. I have mentioned three conditions of contagiousness in art, but they may be all summed up into one, the last, sincerity, i.e., that the artist should be impelled by an inner need to express his feeling. That condition includes the first; for if the artist is sincere he will express the feeling as he experienced it. And as each man is different from everyone else, his feeling will be individual for everyone else; and the more individual it is - the more the artist has drawn it from the depths of his nature - the more sympathetic and sincere will it be. And this same sincerity will impel the artist to find a clear expression of the feeling which he wishes to transmit.

#35. Therefore this third condition - sincerity - is the most important of the three. It is always complied with in peasant art, and this explains why such art always acts so powerfully; but it is a condition almost entirely absent from our upper-class art, which is continually produced by artists actuated by personal aims of covetousness or vanity.

#36. Such are the three conditions which divide art from its counterfeits, and which also decide the quality of every work of art apart from its subject matter.

#37. The absence of any one of these conditions excludes a work form the category of art and relegates it to that of art's counterfeits. If the work does not transmit the artist's peculiarity of feeling and is therefore not individual, if it is unintelligibly expressed, or if it has not proceeded from the author's inner need for expression - it is not a work of art. If all these conditions are present, even in the smallest degree, then the work, even if a weak one, is yet a work of art.

#38. The presence in various degrees of these three conditions - individuality, clearness, and sincerity - decides the merit of a work of art as art, apart from subject matter. All works of art take rank of merit according to the degree in which they fulfill the first, the second, and the third of these conditions. In one the individuality of the feeling transmitted may predominate; in another, clearness of expression; in a third, sincerity; while a fourth may have sincerity and individuality but be deficient in clearness; a fifth, individuality and clearness but less sincerity; and so forth, in all possible degrees and combinations.

#39. Thus is art divided from that which is not art, and thus is the quality of art as art decided, independently of its subject matter, i.e., apart from whether the feelings it transmits are good or bad.

#40. But how are we to define good and bad art with reference to its subject matter?

"Art is your best day ever." -Hezekiah Romans