I can scratch something off my "to-do" list...last week I had the amazing blessing of sticking my feet in the Indian ocean. We took a trip to Zanzibar, an island off the coast of Tanzania. In case any of you didn't know...I absolutely love my life. This year has just been filled with so many blessings from God.
Zanzibar was incredible. The water was so blue, the beaches were beautiful, and the time of fellowship with everyone was wonderful. But my first day in Zanzibar really just broke my heart once again for the Muslim world. The island is 97 percent Muslim, 1 percent Hindu, and 2 percent Christian. In Stonetown (the place we stayed the first day) there are 2500 buildings, 45 of them are Mosques and only 2 of those buildings are churches...one Anglican, and one Catholic church. There are 1 million people on this island...that means that 980,000 of them believe that Allah is the way to salvation and who knows what sort of understanding the rest of the people have about relationship with God.
It just makes me sad to see with my eyes how many people have no idea that they cannot earn their way to heaven. They live under such oppression and hatred, not understanding the freedom and love that comes in surrendering your life to Christ.
We spent our first day in Stonetown going through different places that were involved in the slave trades. I stood in a place where human beings were beaten, auctioned, sold, and torn from their families. I cannot even imagine the sounds that must have come from that square and the complete terror and pain that was experienced by so many.
The saddest thing to me, was that these "colonialist" were from Europe and America...both "Christian" places. I heard a story about a woman who remembered looking from the top of a hill down at her village, seeing it burn before her eyes in flames, and her mother saying to her, "look at that white man with the cross around his neck...whenever you see him, run, because he will take you away from us."
I know that those "colonialist" really were not followers of Christ. It just shows me once again how many people go through the religious motions of Christianity without ever understanding and knowing the heartbeat of Christ.
Men and women who had full access to the gospel at their hands came and went from that island, leaving devastation behind them...and now all this time has gone by, and Zanzibar is still a Godless place. I am praying for the Lord to really move on that island and just captivate the people's hearts with his light and truth.
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