Thank you for continuing to pray for us here in Amdu and for the Amdu people
as we walk them through His story. The past week we got into some tough
concepts but are happy with how well everyone seemed to understand them. We
told the story of God creating Adam in God’s own image and being given the
position of ruler of the world God had made. We could see that people were
understanding the concept clearly as we talked about the fact that God
wasn’t having conversations with the pigs or the dogs that he had made.
Another spot in the lesson where we could see understanding taking place was
when we asked about Adam making use of creation. We asked, “If Adam took
some land without permission and started a garden would that be okay?”
Every group answered with an initial, “No! That would be bad.” Coming from
the Amdu perspective one can never just take land and work it without first
getting permission from the person who has authority over it. But as we
reviewed what it was that Adam had been given by God it become clear to
everyone that it was totally fine for Adam to take anything he wanted in
creation and make use of it. That was his privilege as the ruler over God’s
creation.
Another lesson we worked through was the lesson about the Tree of the
Knowledge of Good and Evil. We wanted to make sure that everyone understood
that Adam was in a position of choice. We talked about this by describing
Adam at a crossroads. One trail led to life. The other trail led to death.
After explaining things we asked audience members to come and role play, by
giving Adam their advice about what trail he should follow. We were
surprised when some of the older members of the audience jumped up to advise
Adam not to go down the road leading to death. It was precious to see
enthusiasm in their eyes. One young man also came up to give ‘Adam’ advice.
His was unclear, but the group immediately helped by correcting his error.
We’re so happy these key concepts are coming across clearly.
The last point we wanted to make sure was clear was the meaning of death.
Death doesn’t just mean the cessation of physical life. If Adam abandoned
God and went his own way and ate of the forbidden fruit his excellent
relationship with God would end. We illustrated the point focusing on the
relationship between a branch and the tree. While they remain connected,
growth and life happen. Once the branch is severed however, there is
nothing that can be done to make life happen again. The people were very
clear on this point. No matter what we described doing to try and mend the
break between branch and tree they were adamant that the branch would never
yield fruit again. This is a very key point. Everyone needs to see
themselves as helplessly and hopelessly lost before they will truly
understand God’s work of Salvation. We are very glad this point was clear
and that the illustration taught the point powerfully.
Today, we started into the creation of Eve and the fall of both Lucifer and
the happy couple in Eden. These are hugely significant stories. Pray for
understanding and for clarity in our teaching. We’re so thankful to all of
you who are supporting us in prayer. The importance of every word you speak
to the Father cannot be measured. We deeply appreciate all your thoughts on
our behalf and on behalf of our dear Amdu friends.
One last note. We have been reporting to our co-workers out in town over
the radio each week. They want to track with how things are going in here
too. One of our friends there in town has been recording these reports and
if you follow this link nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fvillagebible.church%2Famdu&data=02%7C01%7C%7C7a10ec5c62014d98903208d7f2e4113c%7C81e970b72efb4db18bd6613e99b6852b%7C0%7C1%7C6372449336657985… you can listen to
them yourself. There is much that is similar between the written report and
what we talk about over the radio, but I think some of you might prefer to
hear our voices and track with what God is doing that way. Again, we’re so
thankful for all of you for keeping us encouraged.
Benjamin and Missy