Marshallese churches foster some very unusual beliefs. One day William Maddison, a Protestant deacon, tested Julian Aki: “In Philippians, Paul wrote that ‘every knee would bend to Christ, those in heaven, on the earth, and under the ground.’ My question is, ‘Who are those under the ground?’” (Phil. 2:10) When Brother Aki explained that they were the dead who would be resurrected, William was elated. He had been bothered by his church’s teaching that those “under the ground” were the ri menanui, “little people” who, according to Marshallese legend, came above ground only in the dead of night.

Marshallese churches also teach that hell is a large iron pot in heaven where sinners are scalded in boiling water. Sailass Andrike, like many, believed this “death in heaven” doctrine.