www.globalprayerdigest.org GlobalJune 2016 • Frontier Ventures • Prayer35: 6 Digest Mindanao: A Beautiful Island Caught Between Rebel Insurgents 9— Tuboy Subanon On the Run From Muslim Insurgents 18—Don’t Cross the Rebels, Or They Will Burn Your Home 19—Islam and Animism Blend Among the Pangutaran Sama People 25—Tausug People May Not Be Unreached Much Longer! ? 27—Yakans Use Cloth to Protect Newborns from Spirits Editorial JUNE 2016 Feature of the Month RECORDS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS Frontier Ventures Dear Praying Friends, 1605 East Elizabeth Street Pasadena, CA 91104-2721 Every time we cover the Tel: (330) 626-3361 Philippines I feel a little [email protected] guilty. We haven’t prayed EDITOR-IN-CHIEF for the unreached people Keith Carey groups in this country in 15 ASSISTANT EDITOR years. Every June we pray Paula Fern for spiritually needy people WRITERS in Southeast Asia. In this Patricia Depew Patti Ediger issue of the Global Prayer Digest we will concentrate Wesley Kawato on the Muslims of Mindanao, the most southern Ben Kluett Arlene Knickerbocker island in the Philippine nation. Esther Jerome-Dharmaraj Christopher Lane This country is blessed with a large local mission Annabeth Lewis force that is reaching the Muslims on the island. Karen Hightower Ted Proffitt We don’t hear much about all the effort being made Lydia Reynolds by dedicated believers. Jeff Rockwell Jean Smith If we publish too much about their work, we might Jane W. Sveska cause security problems. But we did find out about DAILY BIBLE COMMENTARIES a Filipino pastor, Feliciano “Cris” Lasawang, who Keith Carey David Dougherty gave his life for the gospel last year at the hands of Robert Rutz one of Mindanao’s rebel groups. The church plant- CUSTOMER SERVICE ing work is now blossoming. You will read about Dan Eddy this work on the first three days of the GPD, thanks Lois Carey to the Morning Star News. GRAPHICS Garrett Inouye There are numerous rebel groups that each have PRINTER their own wicked agenda for Mindanao. As usual, Diversified Printers , La Mirada, CA innocent people get harmed in the crossfire. Pray for safety for the people who live on this island, as WEB SITE well as for those who boldly take the gospel to this www.globalprayerdigest.org beautiful part of the world. ISSN 1045-9731 Contents of the Global Prayer Digest © 2016 In Christ, Frontier Ventures 1605 East Elizabeth Street Pasadena, CA 91104 Contents of this booklet may be reproduced if appropriate credit and Keith Carey, editor-in-chief, GPD subscription information are given. [email protected] For subscription information, call (330) 626-3361. Globalprayerdigest.org For comments on content, call (626) 398-2241. 46 Editorial Feature of the Month Pray for a Disciple-Making Movement Among Every People in Mindanao PHILIPPINES Manila Mindanao Is. Palawan Davao Zamboanga 47 To Help You Pray Better Pray for the Unconquerable Peoples of Mindanao Island in the Philippines —by Wesley Kawato ver 2000 years ago Mindanao Island was home to a black-skinned people. Then a wave of brown-skinned invaders arrived from Asia. These Onewcomers became the ancestors of the people groups that now call Mindanao their home. The invaders settled on all of the islands that make up the Philippines. They worshipped a god called Bathala, the head of a pantheon of nature spirits. This early religion lacked any moral code. Around 1300 A.D. a Muslim missionary named Tuan Masha’ika arrived on Mindanao. People flocked to hear him teach about a god with a well-defined moral code. Masha’ika, and those who came after him, won many converts to the Muslim religion on Mindanao. The worship of Allah filled the moral vacuum many of these people had felt. By 1521 Islam was firmly established on Mindanao, but there were few, if any, Muslims on the Filipino islands north of Mindanao. Background 48 Unconquerable Peoples of Mindanao Spanish Colonizers In 1521, Spanish explorer Ferdinand Magellan arrived in the Philippines. He claimed all of those islands for Spain and even won a few converts to his Catholic faith. Magellan died on the island of Cebu while trying to settle a tribal dispute. Spain used the death of Magellan as an excuse to take over all of the Philippines. Spain then issued land grants to Spanish families who went to the Philippines. These land grant recipients established the dozen or so rich families that still control the Philippine economy today. In time most people in the northern Philippine Islands adopted a form of Roman Catholicism brought to them by missionaries. Things were different on Mindanao. Spanish settlers had to be well armed because that island was ruled by a powerful Muslim sultan. There were frequent clashes on Mindanao between the Spanish settlers and the local Muslim population. Often the Spanish army had to rescue the settlers. Catholic missionaries made little effort to understand the culture of the people groups on Mindanao. Such insensitivity often led to local upris- ings. The Spanish army often had to rescue missionaries who’d gotten themselves into trouble with the local people. By the end of the Spanish rule in 1898, Spain still didn’t control all of Mindanao. The Spaniards managed to force the Muslim sultans to pay tribute to Spain, but they held very little political control. From the Spanish to the American Colonial Powers America took control of the Philippines after defeating Spain in the 1898 Spanish-American War. At first the Muslim sultans of Mindanao considered the Americans to be their friends. The Americans had just crushed some “Christian” resistance groups on the northern islands, people the sultans considered to be their enemies. But the sultans quickly learned that the Americans were just as exploitive as the Spanish. A revolt began on Mindanao. The American army crushed that revolt with the help of Muslim collaborators. A few sultans had accepted American bribes and had provided troops for the American side. They had done this as a way of settling scores with other sultans. continued on next page 49 Unconquerable Peoples of Mindanao Independence and Conflict with the Southern Muslims In 1946 the Philippines became independent, and Manuel Roxas was elected the first president. Roxas tried to unify the country, but his efforts were rejected by the Muslim leaders of Mindanao. They didn’t trust Roxas because he came from a Christian people group on one of the northern islands. People began migrating to Mindanao from the northern islands in droves after 1946. These newcomers were nominally Christian, and came from people groups who’d embraced the message of the Spanish era Catholic missionaries. The newcomers often staked out land claims before a region had been opened for settlement by the new Philippine government. On Mindanao many Muslim people groups had no concept of personal land ownership. They considered all land to be owned by the community, and assigned for use to groups by the local village chief. People receiving such land never considered themselves to be the “owners” of it. Trouble started when settlers took over land that had been claimed by nearby Muslim villages. Armed clashes became a problem. Often the Philippine Army was unable or unwilling to stop the fighting. Both sides began forming militia groups for protection. By the 1960s the situation was out of control. In 1971 efforts were made to negotiate peace on Mindanao. Peace talks were scheduled to begin in the Muslim town of Manili. But on the ap- pointed day, a “Christian” militia, not diplomats, arrived in Manili. They opened fire killing 75 Muslims, including women and children. Reprisal killings followed the Manili Massacre. The tensions on Mindanao escalated into a full-blown civil war. In 1972 a military coup turned the Philippines into a dictatorship. President Ferdinand Marcos, elected in 1966, began ruling by decree. That frightened the Muslim leaders of Mindanao. Marcos came from one of the northern island “Christian” people groups. The Muslim leaders feared the coup might be a prelude to genocide. Many Muslim militias banded 5050 Unconquerable Peoples of Mindanao together to fight the expected “Christian” invasion of Mindanao. That was how the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) was formed. But the MNLF was never able to gain the support of all Muslims on Mindanao. Many militias either left the MNLF or never joined the guerilla group when it became clear that Marcos wasn’t going to launch a war of genocide. The lack of unity prevented a successful war of secession for the people of Mindanao. In 1986 the People Power Revolution ousted President Marcos and restored democracy to the Philippines. The changed political climate restarted the peace negotiations on Mindanao. Those negotiations split the MNLF into two factions. In 1989 the hard line faction cut their ties with the moderates and formed a group called Abu Sayyaf. In 1996 a Muslim autonomous region was formed in part of Mindanao and the MNLF evolved into a legitimate political party. But Abu Sayyaf continued to commit acts of terror. In recent years ISIS has also become active on Mindanao. There will be continued unrest on Mindanao until the causes of that unrest have been dealt with. One big cause is the lack of economic opportunity. In the Philippines 10 to 15 families control most of the wealth. A second cause of discontent is cultural insensitivity. Until recently the northern “Christian” people groups in the Philippines made little effort to understand or appreciate the culture of their Muslim neighbors on Mindanao. Let’s Pray! • Pray that there would be peace on Mindanao. Peace will allow mis- sionaries to spread the message of salvation on that island.