We’re all familiar with understanding that Biblical history is really His Story. Recently an event happened in the jungles of these posts that reminded me of HIS on-going story there in the rain forrest.
The story began in a small village nestled on the bank where three rivers converge when Don Jose heard the good news of Jesus Christ and as far as we know became the first believer in that vast expanse of jungle. It was the late 1940s and though from time to to time for many years adventurers, explorers, scientists and slave traders had made sporadic contact with a few of the jungle peoples, the gospel had never been known up to that time.
The amazing story of how the Gospel became known along the rivers and inland reaches of the vast canopy of green is truly His Story as played out in the lives of the missionaries and the jungle people waiting to hear God’s Good News. The place was so isolated few people in the cities knew much about the folks living there. One famous explorer-scientist of around 1800 wrote of cannibalism still being practiced. A few years prier to the missionaries arrival the area had been ruled by a rubber baron whose reign has been described as “the longest and bloodiest dictatorship known in Amazonas”.
So when the missionaries began living among the tribal villagers, treating the people with love and kindness, word spread like wildfire on the jungle grapevine that something very good had come to the jungle. Instead of taking advantage of them the missionaries taught the people literacy and math, brought much needed medical help and made their lives better in countless ways. Eventually many of the tribes people came to Christ and dozens of churches were planted on the banks of the rivers and inland areas.
From the very beginning it was evident the tribal churches would need to connect with those national churches which could help them as they would inevitably move toward more direct involvement with their national culture and society. As the tribal young people would go to town for further education or work they would face a minefield of danger where they could be figuratively chewed up and spit out by the world before they knew what had hit them.
The importance of the involvement of the national churches became even more urgently evident when the missionaries were told to leave the jungle around seven years ago. Not even national pastors or missionaries were permitted to visit most of the area.
So when in answer to much prayer just a couple of weeks ago a small group of people including two national pastors was able to visit two ethnic groups there was cause for great rejoicing! One of the visitors had grown up among these very jungle folks and they were overjoyed to see him. They were much encouraged they had not been forgotten. Life had become increasingly more difficult for these believers and the thought that the national pastors had them in mind and were actively seeking to be there for them meant much to them.
Praise God that HIS amazing story beginning with Don Jose continues to this day in the jungles of these posts.
And just one more thing. There are still several tribal groups out there living without the Light of the gospel. The difficulty in reaching them is compounded by their ethnic hostilities, the remoteness and uncertainty of their location but most of all because the authorities have denied access to their area of the jungle. Recent events in the country seem to indicate the restrictions aren’t likely to be lifted anytime soon. But God is a God of miracles. Would you pray that these jungle peoples still living in darkness would soon see the Light of God’s Son.
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