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| - My beloved brothers, there has been a time that we were all living in darkness and none of us knew the shining light of the scriptures. When we were still doling around like lost children that can't find their way back to their huts, because our hearts didn't know the Great love, and our ears were still deaf to the words of God. The Papalagi have brought us the light. They came to us to liberate us from darkness. They led us to God and taught us to love Him. That's why we honored them as the bringers of light, as the spokesmen of the Great Spirit, the one the Papalagi call God. We recognized the Papalagi as our brothers and didn't throw them out of the country, but shared all our fruit and bread with them, like the children of one father. The white men have spared no means to bring us their scriptures, even when we behaved like naughty children and resisted their teachings. We will always remain grateful for their troubles and pains on our behalf and will always honor them as our lightbringers. The first thing the missionary told us, were the ways of God and he led us away from the old Gods, whom he called 'false' because in them the true God would not be present. So we stopped worshipping the stars in the night; the strength of the fire and the wind and looked for his God, the Great Father in heaven. Then through the Papalagi, God made us give up all our firesticks and other weapons, so we would live together like good Christians. For all of you know God's will: "Thou shalt not kill but love each other", that being his highest commandment. Obediently we gave up our arms and from that time on the raiding parties that destroyed our islands have ceased, and everybody loves the other like a brother. We experienced that God's commandments were right, because now one village lived peacefully next to the other, when before they were divided and there was no end to chaos and turmoil. And even if the Great God isn't living inside everybody we can still proclaim in gratitude that our lives have improved since we worship God as the Great and Almighty ruler of the world. Grateful and with devotion we listen to his wise and deep words that increases our love even more and also fills us more and more with his Great Spirit. As I've said, the Papalagi have brought us the light that sets our hearts on fire and fills our senses with happiness and gratitude. They received the light earlier than we did. The Papalagi knew of the light even before the eldest amongst us were born. But the Papalagi merely holds the light in his outstretched hands to let it shine on other; but he himself, his body is still in darkness and his heart is far from God. Even thought he addresses God with his mouth, the light he carries is in his hands. Nothing is more difficult and fills my heart with more grief than to have to tell you this. But we can't nor won't be blinded by the Papalagi, otherwise they will drag us down into their darkness. They brought us God's word, but failed to understand His words and teachings. With their heads and mouths they did, but not with their bodies. The light hasn't penetrated them so as to shine forth and illuminate everything around. A light that sometimes is called 'love'. They are unaware of the falseness in their own words and love. In this way you can notice that a Papalagi cannot say "God" with all his heart. When he does, he makes a face as if he is tired or very bored. But every white man calls himself the son of God and has his faith confirmed in writing on mats. Still God is a stranger to them, even if they all received the teachings and know about God. Even those that are supposed to speak about God inside their monumental huts, built for his honor, don't carry God inside of them and their words are blown away by the wind into the big void. The preachers don't fill their sermons with God and their speech is like the breaking of the surf on the cliffs; it goes on and on and nobody hears it. I can say this without provoking God's wrath, we children of the islands, we were not worse than the Papalagi are now, when we prayed to the stars and the fire. We were bad and went in darkness because we didn't know the light. But the Papalagi knew the light and are still bad and wander in darkness. But the worst thing is that they call themselves the children of God and Christians and want to make us believe that they are the fire, when they are only carriers of the light. A Papalagi seldom thinks about God. Only when a storm threatens him or when he fears that his life lamp will stop burning, then he remembers that there are powers stronger than he is and that rule him. In the daylight God interferes with his particular habits and vices. He knows that God would never condone these vices and that he ought to prostrate himself in the sand when God would be really inside of him, as he is filled with lust, hate and animosity. His heart is changed into a big sharp hook, only good for robbery, instead of it being a light that conquers the darkness and drives out the cold. The white man calls himself a Christian. A word like a beautiful melody. A Christian. Oh, if we could only call ourselves that always. Being a Christian means, loving God and your brother and only then, loving yourself. Love, doing what is right, must be part of us like our blood is part of us, it must be something like your head or your hands. The Papalagi carry the words "God", "love" and "Christianity" only on their lips. They slap it around with their tongues and let it reverberate. But their hearts and their love do not bow down to God, but to objects and the round metal and heavy paper, to lustful thoughts and to machines. They are not filled by the light, but by a gluttonous desire for time and the follies of their professions. They are ten times as eager to visit the places of pseudo-life than to take up the search for God, who is far, very far away. Dear brothers, right now the Papalagi have more idols than we ever had, provided an idol is something you worship besides God and carry in your heart as your most precious possession. God is not the most precious possession the Papalagi carries in his heart. That's why he doesn't obey God's wishes, but those of an aitu. I say this to you as a result of my thoughts; that the Papalagi brought us the scriptures as a kind of a bartering object, to exchange it for the fruit and the best and prettiest parts of the island. I think they are very well capable of that, for I have discovered many dirty sins in the hearts of the Papalagi and I know that God loves us as much as he loves them, the ones that call us savages; a word that tries to call up images of animals with fangs, lacking any soul. But God took their eyes and tore them open to make them see. God spoke to the Papalagi, you can live any way you want. For you I will not make commandments anymore. Then the white man came and showed himself in his true form. Oh disgrace! Oh terror! With blaring voices and proud words they took away our weapons and with God they said, "love each other"! And now? Have you heard the terrible news? That Godforsaken, loveless and bitter news? Europe is busy murdering itself! The Papalagi have gone berserk. One is killing off the other. It is all going down in blood, fear and terror. At last the Papalagi have admitted that there is no God in them. The light he carried in his hand has gone out. Darkness lies on their path, nothing is heard but the frightening flapping of the bat's wings and the screeching of owls. Brothers, my love for God and for all of you possesses me, therefore God gave me my small voice, to tell you all those things I said. So that we will remain strong inside and will not be seduced by the smooth and quick tongue of the Papalagi. When they come back, let us keep our arms in front of our eyes and shout at them to be silent with their loud voices, because to us their voices sound like the roaring of the surf and the whistling of the palm trees, but nothing else. And as long as they don't have strong and happy faces and from their shining eyes the image of God doesn't radiate like the sun, let them stay away. And let's take a pledge and call out to them: "Stay far away from us, with your habits and your vices, with your mad dash to richness that binds the hands and the head, your passion for becoming your brother's better, your many senseless undertakings, your curious thoughts and knowledge that leads to nothing, the aimless labor of your hands and all those other follies that hinder your sleep on the mat. We have no need for all that, we are happy with our fine and noble pleasures that God gave us in abundance. That God may help us not to get blinded by his light and that he may help us not to get lost and will always shine on our path so that we can follow his road and absorb his wonderful light, meaning, loving each other and carrying much tafola in our hearts.
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