I leaned closer to catch every word the missionary was saying. “This was the reason we came to missionary training,” I thought as he continued the story of Hadebo, a young Bisorio believer in Papua New Guinea.
The missionary had asked Hadebo to explain who had provided the tasty pigs he hunted before he was a believer. He had answered, “the kowa anege”. (The Bisorio traditionally look to the kowa anege spirit beings for success in the hunt, and in return they offer food sacrifices to the kowa anege).
The missionary then asked him, “Who provides wild pigs for you now that you have trusted Christ and belong to God?” Hadebo quickly replied, “God provides for me now.”
The missionary wanted to help his brother in Christ to see the truth that as it is God who now provides wild pigs for him to eat, so it was also God who provided pigs for him before he was a believer! So the missionary gently led Hadebo in his understanding by taking him back to the beginning of God’s story. He asked Hadebo, “Who created this world and all the things in it?” Hadebo happily answered with a smile, “God did of course.” He then proceeded to tell the story of creation from Genesis chapter one to the missionary. The missionary quietly listened as Hadebo excitedly and flawlessly storied about all of God’s creative acts. The missionary let Hadebo take his time in telling of God’s testimony.
After Hadebo finished, the missionary asked him, “So then who created pigs?” “God created pigs,” Hadebo answered. The missionary followed with another question, “Who created mankind?” “God did of course. He created everything,” was Hadebo’s confident reply. “Who then gives life to all things?” the missionary asked. Hadebo wondering what the missionary was getting at thoughtfully replied, “Well, of course, it is God who gives life to all things.”
The missionary then simply said, “If God made everything and gives life to all things, then who was giving life to the pigs that you hunted and ate before you became a Christian?” Hadebo paused with a contemplative expression on his face. The missionary sat in silence. As Hadebo reflected, the missionary tenderly asked, “And who was it that gave those pigs to you to eat before you even knew of God and his Word?”
Almost instantaneously Hadebo’s mouth opened wide in wonder as the Spirit of God opened his eyes through truth, and he exclaimed, “It was God! It was God all along who provided the wild pigs for us to eat!” With tears in his eyes, Hadebo began to laugh with joy.
After sitting a while and simply marveling, Hadebo then turned to his missionary friend and said rejoicing, “That was God’s grace and mercy extended to us. What wonderful grace! Think of it. Even though we were giving the kowa anege honor and credit for providing the game for us all those years, it was God all along! And He was providing game for us in order to keep us alive so that we might hear the Gospel! Oh, what wonderful grace!”— Taken from our Animism and Folk Religion Notebook
What a joy to be here, learning how to be the most effective ambassadors and disciplers of our young brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ.
–Jevon for the Rich family
Please pray for us:
To learn the most we can and start applying it in our outreaches to local folks.
Pray for Cali. It appears she is having a reaction to the cedar spores in the air. Wayne Sharp told me he thought a cedar was on fire once because so many spores were released it appeared to be “smoking”.
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