There is a festival held in Bolivia every year in February, started by the Catholic Church. It’s essentially anarchy during the three days leading up to Ash Wednesday. This is because it is rationalized that you can do whatever you want during that 3 day period and then repent for it on that Wednesday. This results in a lot of drinking, women being raped, and sexual actitivity, resulting in a lot of unwanted pregnancies during this time. It’s held in honor of a statue that is shaped like the devil, at Cerro Rico in Potosi, Bolivia, which means “Rich Hill”. It’s in the richest silver mine in Oruro, Bolivia. That’s where the most important events of the carnival take place. The statues throughout the mines offer the miners protection so the miners leave offerings of cocaine and alcohol. They sacrifice llamas and spread the blood throughout the mines.
The people have parades leading up to the tunnel to administer the sacrifices. So during this, what is supposed to be a sacred time, has become something much different. Something much darker. There are even human sacrifices during those 3 days. The people who are taken are people who would go unnoticed, so homeless people and people with no friends or family. During this time period, people lose all sense of morality. And this all started with the church. The Christians even avoid the chaos instead of evangelizing during this time.
God says He will come back for His perfect church, blameless and spotless. At the end of time, it is said in Revelation 19:7-8 that his Bride (the church) will have made herself ready, and she will have clothed herself with fine linen, bright and pure. Is that what we are doing? Are we living lives of purity and modeling that to others? Purity in words and deeds?
We have gotten to go to a girl’s home this month and spend time with them. I’ve loved that- loving teenagers who need love and truth spoken into them. There’s a lot of teenagers who live on the streets in Bolivia. Teen pregnancy is extremely high here because of it. So one of the girls we spent the most time with was pregnant and one had her baby living at the home with her.
During the travel day from Rwanda to Bolivia, God put the verse Exodus 14:14 on my heart, “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be silent.” What I thought at first was for me, and still do to an extent, I realized was for these girls. I want them to know that sometimes we don’t need to say a single word. Even when they feel wronged and like the world isn’t fair and that they just want to take their lives and hardships into their own hands, sitting with the Lord and receiving His love does all the fighting we need.
But these girls. These girls were the ones telling us of this carnival and the monstrocities. They recognized how horrible it was. And they knew. THEY knew that the church is not meant to represent that.
The next night, we were talking to one of the women at the YWAM base we are staying at for the month, and she had a theory that really got me thinking. This was it- Mountains were seen as holy land and now Satan comes to take away that holiness and attacks the cities surrounding them. The 3 most mountainous cities in Bolivia are the ones most crime-filled and drug-filled.
Mountains are where so many people of the Bible went to hear from God. It’s where Abraham went to sacrifice his son Isaac and learned the value of obedience. Moses encountered the burning bush on a mountain. The ten commandments were given to Moses on a mountain, and Jesus withdrew to mountainsides often for some solitude and time with the Father. There’s something beautiful and holy about a mountain. I love mountains and try to hike one every chance I get. They represent the journey to the top, and then God’s presence as the goal and the blessing.
It was on a mountain that God said to his people that they would be his treasured possession and they would be a kingdom of priests and a HOLY nation.
I think God uses mountains to talk to people because it’s peaceful, quiet, and away from people and noise as distractions. He made them, so they’re bound to say something about His character.
Martin Luther King Jr., on the night before he was killed, said, “I’ve been to the mountaintop…He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over and I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land. So I’m happy tonight…I’m not fearing any man. ‘Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.'”
And Satan, as the counterfeit of anything God does, has taken the cities near mountains and created spiritually dark atmospheres. Classic Satan. Never with the original idea. Just twists something good and makes it bad.
But we have the hope of the Promised Land. And we need to continually pray for eyes to see it. To hold onto that hope, and to show others the same. Moses saw the Promised Land from the mountaintop and so did Martin Luther King Jr. Mountains show his glory.
Pray for South America. Pray for the spiritual climate and Holy Spirit to make His home here and not anything else. Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.
Just as it says in 2 Kings 6.
When the Syrian army was looking to attack Israel, Elisha’s servant was the first to see the army surrounding the city and ran to tell Elisha. And he was afraid.
But Elisha said to him, “Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Then Elisha prayed and said, “O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see. So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
There is a spiritual world all around us. Here, in South America, it is more obvious of the darkness, but still there is the prayer for God to open our eyes to His army. In the United States, when you aren’t seeing the miracle you want to see or you feel anxiety over what seems like a mountain up against you or you’re in a constant battle with a family member, pray for Him to open your eyes. He will. There is more going on than what we can see. God is doing a whole lot more than we could ever imagine.
The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein. (Psalm 24:1)
