This story was told to me by a missionary friend who is serving the Lord on the front lines in Southeast Asia…
“I'm a missionary in a land far, far away. In this country there are more than a hundred ethnic groups who have never heard of Jesus. Even though it can be dangerous, I work to bring the Gospel to them. Any religion other than their local religion is frowned upon and adherents are often persecuted.
“I spent the first few years in this land learning the local language. Having gained fluency, I have sought to share more and more about Jesus these past few years.
“Some people in the country where I serve believe there are millions of spirits. If anything bad happens to someone, it is believed that somehow they have alienated a spirit(s) and are being punished by them. The only way for someone to make things right is to appease the spirits…through such means as rituals of sacrifice, gifts of food and money, dances and ceremonies, and other forms of devotion.
“Others believe in reincarnation. They strive to do enough good deeds in their lifetimes so that they can achieve “nothingness”, instead of continually being born into the suffering of this world. Yet, if asked if they have done enough good deeds to achieve such “nothingness” they reply, “NO”! Even the most religious of them reply they haven’t done enough good deeds to realize the goal either. What a miserable life - a life without hope.
“If asked, ‘Who is Jesus?’, some may say. ‘I have never been to that village.’ Any knowledge of Jesus is very rare. After years of witnessing about Jesus and His love for them to one of the tribes, a few of the people have trusted Jesus and now believe in Him as their Savior.
“As a further outreach, I planned a worship and fellowship meeting for these believers and invited them to come and participate. About twenty of them showed up.! Among those who came was a couple from another tribe. They did not know about Jesus and were not Christians.
“Nobody knows (other than God) how this couple learned about the meeting. The husband and wife had traveled many hours just to get to this gathering. They spent several days at the meeting; while there they chose to trust Jesus as their Savior and were baptized! They then travelled the long distance to return to their village.
“When they arrived back at their home, the tribal chief in their village learned that they were now Christians. He demanded that they revert to their tribal religion and renounce their new faith in Jesus. When they refused to recant, they were shunned, ostracized and eventually cast out of the village.
“When I asked them later if they regretted following Jesus because of the high cost they had paid, they said, ‘No, we have chosen the Most Right One. We would rather lose everything than lose our salvation.’
“With very little discipleship, this new believing couple trusted God through incredible difficulty and rejoiced that their salvation was worth far more than anything they had lost."
In one of GOD'S OTHER WAYS©, the Lord is bringing salvation to the remotest and unreached tribal villages of the world.
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And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Mark 16:15 NASB
So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ. Romans 10:17 NLT
For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Hebrews 4:12 NIV
So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields. Matthew 9:38 NLT
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they are available on Amazon in both paperback and Kindle format:
If you have a story or testimony that you think might bless others,
I invite you to send it by email to me (Kenneth Kersey) at godsotherways@me.com.
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