Strange Performances

This woman dressed up in a mouse-suit is just one in a variety of performers who go from neighborhood to neighborhood. For $1 the performer will do a short performance to entertain young children. She had a music box she carried that gave her something to dance to.

Many of these performers have animals – performing monkeys, dogs and the like. One such performer pulled out a snake, but that was too much for several of the younger children in the audience and they burst into tears!

Stranger yet than street performances for tips are people who are trying to perform well enough to earn their way into heaven. There are many people on Sumatra who believe that their good deeds must outweigh their bad deeds in order for them to be accepted by God. The problem with a performance based salvation is that no one is good enough to merit salvation.

Pray for Sumatrans trapped in a merit based salvation system to see that the debt has already been paid in full by Jesus Christ.

Pray for believers on Sumatra not to fall into the performance trap and try to “earn” their salvation after having received the Gospel.

Pray for the Holy Spirit to reveal the way, the truth, and the life among all the peoples of Sumatra.