Scripture tells us that lost men and women in their sinful state are alienated from God. For instance, Paul wrote:
All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23).
You were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world (Eph. 2:12).
But how would you communicate that concept to a native living in Papua New Guinea? The Bible teachers to the Dinangat people found a unique way to do just that.
With one quick slash from the large bush machete, the branch that was once being fed by life giving sap from the tree was now separated, with no hope of being restored. Although it still looked alive — the leaves still lush and green, the branch still pliable — in truth the branch was dead, because of its separation from the tree. To illustrate the separation that happened when Adam and Eve sinned by eating the fruit, the Dinangat Bible teachers cut a branch off a nearby tree and hung it in the teaching area. When the people of the village saw this branch they were reminded that they too were cut off from a holy and righteous God because of their sin. Various ones who heard this teaching came to the Bible teachers and told them that they knew they were in big trouble because of their separation from God. The leaves were dying and falling off. The once flexible branch was becoming stiff and rigid. The death of that branch was a very tangible reminder of how they stood in relation to God — separated. An older man from the village, Mundengke, came to one of the Bible teachers named Jaspa and said, “I am just like that branch. Because of my sin I have been ‘cut off’ from God. You, Jaspa, say that there is a promised deliverer. Can you ask him to somehow join me back to God?" Excited, Jaspa told him that this is what the teaching is all about. He told Mundengke that as they continue to teach, he would learn about the Kidaak Aamna (the saving man) and would learn how to be saved and joined back to God.
It is not always easy to communicate the truth of God’s Word in another culture and language. But learning to communicate clearly is at the heart of what our students are learning at the Missionary Training Center.
We are currently in the middle of teaching our phonetics course. Please pray that our students will learn the phonetic sounds well so that they will be able to speak clearly when they learn languages in their future ministries. And pray for us teachers as we attempt to clearly communicate the principles of phonetics to our students.
Bob
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Astounding Facts about the Exodus
How many people were there?
According to Numbers 1:45-46 there were more than 600,000 fighting men. Add to that an equal number of women, plus an average of four children per family (remember, the Egyptians were afraid because the Israelites were multiplying so rapidly, Exodus 1:7-10), and the population looks like this:
Men..................... 600,000
Women................ 600,000
Children........... 2,400,000
Total................. 3,600,000
How long a column would that make?
Marching 50 abreast, it would stretch for 40 miles into the desert. At a modest pace of 2 ½ miles per hour, the people would require more than 16 hours to pass by the same point.
How much food and water did the people require?
Just to provide the minimum ration of food and water for the people (not including provisions for their animals) would take the equivalent of 30 boxcars of food and 300 tank cars of water every day of their 40 year journey.
And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Phil. 4:19
