A Broken Glass Averts A Consequence

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“Eternity in their Hearts”, a book about the tribal people of Papua New Guinea, made the point that there is a bridge to understanding the gospel built into the traditions, proverbs, and beliefs of each people group. Something that can be used to help the people understand the Gospel. It’s a very interesting concept, no doubt.

So today after our house church meeting we were talking about how one of the girls had broken two glasses. One of the new believers quickly reacted by informing me of the deeper implications of these broken glasses when he said, “Then we’ll avert two consequences.” So they taught be today that if someone breaks a glass cup then supposedly that means that a consequence (literally an evil event or problem that could or could not be the result of an action of my own) that was going to happen being sent from God will be averted. Basically that broken cup by being without fault and being broken will take upon itself the one of the consequences of my own (though not all of them).

That is a pretty loose but interesting example of how Christ was broken though he was innocent and took on his body the consequences of our sin. I shared the story from Papua New Guinea with the believers. We were all happy to have found an imbedded illustration in the culture to help people understand what Jesus did for us.

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Advise from much experience

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I recently had a great man of God visiting with us here in North Africa. He willingly came on his own funds and spent his whole time here investing in me and the young men we are training. He served in the jungles of Guyana, South America for many 10 years planting churches in some of the most isolated and physically demanding of circumstances. Praise God for the indians from the Arawak, Warawi, and the other tribe (I forgot it’s name) that have been brought from darkness into light as a result of this man’s sacrifice. He challenged all of us to reach out to those farthest from the gospel. The young men were amazed to hear stories of whole villages who had come to Christ and pastors who had been trained. We can see that hear! In North Africa, whole villages will come to Christ! We are trusting God for that.

I don’t have his permission to connect his name to his advise but I thought his advise was so universal and so helpful that all of us would benefit from it:

“#1 Devote more time and energy to your marriage.  My wife and I have a long way to go, but we have grown so much over the past couple of years.  A better marriage will enhance your ministry and your capacity to minister.  Your wife will ENTHUSIASTICALLY support your ministry wherever you take her if she KNOWS she is first and well cared for.  You have a jewel in your wife, don’t settle for getting by.  My wife and I have read good books and ordered DVDs that have been helpful.  We attended a marriage seminar last year that was fantastic.  Make the effort…it will be worth it!
#2  Set out blocks of time for your children and do not let ANYTHING intefere.  Don’t answer the phone…don’t meet with people…GET AWAY!  I was struck with the beauty of Africa and the easy access to “get away” places.  You have so much that we did have available to us in Guyana…take advantage of it.  When your wife and kids start seeing you not answer a phone on “their day” or not meet with people on “their day” they will really feel good and KNOW that they are really more important than your ministry.  Plan a trip to Spain every year…just go have some fun and enjoy hearing your children laugh…YOU WILL NEVER REGRET IT!
#3 Don’t overextend your ministry.  The seven cities plan is fantastic…but it is going to require more men to come along side you.  God is not going to punish you for waiting for the proper help…and he is not going to be more impressed with you if you just do it yourself and take on more than you should.  It might be Said or Ahmed, or it might be one of the Peruvians…but God will know when you should expand and he will give you the men to do it with.  Make sure that when you do expand that the men that are part of the team can do their share.  I have made the mistake more than once of expanding because of had men who could preach…BUT THEY WERE NOT CAPABLE OF HOLDING UP THE NEW AREA OF MINISTRY…what ends up happening is that you will be burdened down even further.  Don’t just train men to be preachers/teachers…train them to be leaders/administrators.”
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Stealing from the Richard Wurmbrand

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Last year I read in his famous book, Tortured for Christ, of how Wurmbrand’s church in Communist Romania would enter into crowds of communists during parades. The crowd was in a tizzy with passion for communism. A Christian (or any believer in God) was in danger and preaching was forbidden above all things. During these parades Wurmbrand and those from his church would pass out thousands of New Testaments. How did they do it? They printed the New Testaments in red, the color of the commies. They printed the first 3 or 4 pages of the Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx but the rest… was the Gospel of Christ. By the time the recipients would have read to the 5th page and realized that it was the gospel the distributors would have been long gone. They passed out tens of thousands of Gospels this way. 

How can we learn from this method in Muslim countries? Do you think it would do any good to get out DVD’s or Bibles using this method? Is it a waste of time? Is it unethical? Anyone willing to come over and try it? 

I’d like your response.

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