SOVEREIGN GRACE BAPTIST MISSION
International – Papua New Guinea / Malawi Africa
P.O. Box 60150 Ndirande Bt. 6 Blantyre Malawi /
P.O. Box 233 – Mt Hagen (WHP) Papua New Guinea
Tanggi Mission Station – North Koroba, Hela Province, PNG
Missionary / Evangelist: Peter A. Halliman
Email: panagioite04@gmail.com  /  Website: sgbm-malawi-africa.com

Date: 21 July 2019

Dear Pastor, Church, Supporters;

Ecclesiastes 8:10–12 — And so I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of the holy, and they were forgotten in the city where they had so done: this is also vanity. Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him.

This report is being written from my home at the Tanggi Mission Station, here in Papua New Guinea. I have finally made it home — whatever that is supposed to mean anymore.

I departed Mt. Hagen on Saturday the 20th of July, the vehicle packed with food, supplies, extra fuel, and other things. Having been gone for nearly eight months, I was not sure what I would find when reaching home.

There has been a lot of tribal fighting between Huli clansmen and the carnage would be on a biblical scale. Most of you will only read of such events or hear some news from a faraway country. For me it is real — I live among these people.

The recent killings brought international condemnation from Australia, New Zealand, the UN, and various NGOs, calling for the Prime Minister — who is a Huli tribesman himself — to take effective action to bring these mass killings under control.

There is one road in and one road out from the mission station to Mt. Hagen, where I do most of my shopping, banking, and internet communications. It is this road that is often seized by these same indigenous personnel.

The one and true answer to all this is sin, unrestrained. There are numerous accounts throughout the world and history where people have had ungoverned, unrestricted, free reign to act out the natural desires of the sinful nature that all men are born with and controlled by, unless GOD performs a supernatural work of HIS grace within that individual. Judges 21:25 — In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

PNG is a land of many tribes — eight hundred and fifty — with a population just over eight million. The capital city, Port Moresby, is located on the coast with no roads from the Highlands, accessible by air only. The seat of government is far from the heart of PNG, the Highlands, and often another world away. Oil companies, embassies, the national government, five-star hotels, and the lifestyle of the developed world have settled in Port Moresby.

It has only been from the days of my father’s ministry in the 1960s that many tribal people here in the Highlands were still in the stone-axe age. Steel axes and shovels were state-of-the-art engineering for PNG. Tribal wars were common as the day, the weapons being bows and arrows, mixed with superstition, witchcraft, and the desire to rule.

The age of the missionaries, from the 1950s to the 1980s, saw most of the older generation missionaries pack it in and hand over to the indigenous people to carry on. The government changed from Australia’s rule to independence for PNG in September 1975. Were they ready? No — but for how long is a country to be nursed?

A nation of people who knew only tribal war and peace through stiff fighting was thrust into a system so foreign to them that it was bound for problems. No union of the tribes, division, jealousy, and constant suspicion of foul play were ingredients for a troubled nation.

PNG being rich in natural resources, it was a matter of time before the big boys came in — oil companies, gold mining companies, and so on. 1 Timothy 6:10 — “For the love of money is the root of all evil.”

With the absence of the older generation missionaries, the rise of business venture and capital gain, and the surge of the gold rush and copper mining, it was not long until the quest for power, money, and dominance became the mission.

A new generation of people were exposed to machinery, vehicles, electricity, plumbed water, towns, aeroplanes, sealed roads, TV, mobile phones, and finally the internet — no restrictions, no schooling, no red flags, no limits, and no prohibitions. Unrestrained free range of self-will. Whatever could be found and accessed on the internet via a smartphone was accessed.

Romans 1:21 — “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.”

Bows and arrows gave way to modern weaponry through corrupt police departments and corrupt soldiers. The firearms and munitions soon found their way into villages and indigenous personnel. Rivalry between tribal clansmen and warring tribes became unstoppable and unprecedented for PNG, on a scale never before seen. The government was unable to control or suppress the killings and destruction of property.

Therefore, over the past years, the Highlands Highway — a seven-metre-wide road, partly tarred and many miles only gravel, dirt, and potholed — became the target of much criminal activity. Vehicles were roadblocked, held up at gunpoint, robbed; women were raped; and vehicles often seized at gunpoint.

The Natives of PNG may be simple in many ways, but they are not stupid. They have witnessed for over twenty-five years how oil companies, gold mining companies, natural gas companies, and a corrupt government have collaborated to rape the land and leave the majority of the populace stranded and worse off. This has ignited a fuse for revenge and retaliation against anyone seen as a threat to their land and people.

Proverbs 29:2 — “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.”

It is only through the bold and unashamed stand for GOD’S Word, the preaching of the Word of GOD without fear or favour, and living among these people that I see the power of GOD’S WORD having an effect upon people’s lives and subduing the evil that is on every side.

2 Corinthians 10:4–5 — For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds; Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

Every day is a new day here in PNG, as are the mercies of our great GOD and Saviour new every morning. My simple request for you is that if GOD should bring to your remembrance, that you would pray with me that our LORD would bring salvation to those held captive by Satan — it is only then that peace will come to that soul.

I want to thank each of you for your sacrificial support and prayers.

In His Name,

Peter A. Halliman