'On the trail of Jesus'
A church planting effort in another Hewa village in Papua New Guinea has seen several people place their faith in Christ and ten new believers were recently baptized.
Almost the entire village of 45 people heard two Hewa men -- Yanis and Ken -- present a series of evangelistic Bible lessons for the past 12 months.
"The testimonies of faith that we heard prior to the baptism were rich and deep," wrote missionary Jonathan Kopf.
"Satan had me all tied up, trapped on the trail of sin," said Alimpu, the village elder. "Now that I have heard God's story from the Bible, I understand that God had a right to be angry with me and pronounce a severe judgment for my sin. I realized that I was helpless to pay for my own sin debt.
"I heard the story of John the Baptist, and how when he saw Jesus coming he said, 'Look, that's God's Lamb that takes away sin,' and when I heard that I realized Jesus had come to the ground to take away my sin debt. When I heard later that Jesus died and rose again, I realized that He died for me so that I could be clean in Gods eyes, and so that I could be His very own child.
"Now God isn't mad at me for my sin debt, but instead has made me His own child. He rescued me from Satan's trail and has now put me on the trail of Jesus. That's why I want to be baptized. I want everyone to know that I am tired of the old trail. I am now on the trail of Jesus."
Another testimony that warmed Jonathan's heart was given by Fato.
"Once a long time ago, some men came to our village and told us to build a church," Fato said. "We worked hard to make the building, and then when it was finished, the men told us to kill our pigs so they could eat them, and they told us to give them our money.
"We did everything they told us to do because we thought it would make God happy with us. They later explained God's ten laws to us and told us to obey them. Then, after we heard God's ten laws, they told us to get baptized so we did. We thought we had done everything right.
"But now we see that the trail that they had us following was just as bad as the trail we had been on earlier when we were trying to please our ancestral spirits. … Now we can see the true trail from start to finish, and we have come to understand clearly that Jesus has made it possible for us to be God's children."
Almost the entire village of 45 people heard two Hewa men -- Yanis and Ken -- present a series of evangelistic Bible lessons for the past 12 months.
"The testimonies of faith that we heard prior to the baptism were rich and deep," wrote missionary Jonathan Kopf.
"Satan had me all tied up, trapped on the trail of sin," said Alimpu, the village elder. "Now that I have heard God's story from the Bible, I understand that God had a right to be angry with me and pronounce a severe judgment for my sin. I realized that I was helpless to pay for my own sin debt.
"I heard the story of John the Baptist, and how when he saw Jesus coming he said, 'Look, that's God's Lamb that takes away sin,' and when I heard that I realized Jesus had come to the ground to take away my sin debt. When I heard later that Jesus died and rose again, I realized that He died for me so that I could be clean in Gods eyes, and so that I could be His very own child.
"Now God isn't mad at me for my sin debt, but instead has made me His own child. He rescued me from Satan's trail and has now put me on the trail of Jesus. That's why I want to be baptized. I want everyone to know that I am tired of the old trail. I am now on the trail of Jesus."
Another testimony that warmed Jonathan's heart was given by Fato.
"Once a long time ago, some men came to our village and told us to build a church," Fato said. "We worked hard to make the building, and then when it was finished, the men told us to kill our pigs so they could eat them, and they told us to give them our money.
"We did everything they told us to do because we thought it would make God happy with us. They later explained God's ten laws to us and told us to obey them. Then, after we heard God's ten laws, they told us to get baptized so we did. We thought we had done everything right.
"But now we see that the trail that they had us following was just as bad as the trail we had been on earlier when we were trying to please our ancestral spirits. … Now we can see the true trail from start to finish, and we have come to understand clearly that Jesus has made it possible for us to be God's children."