Now the Battle Really Begins....
After the battle was over, most of the people took off into the wilderness.
Just one couple of families stayed, and we were told about Jesus because the couple
in that family. Some came back and brought us news from there, some came back and
stayed, and some came back and left again. Some of us decided to join them. They
did not ask us to go, but they left the choice up to us. However, when they started
to pack up and leave, they were met by a missionary with a message that the "real
Jesus" is not the Jesus they had been looking for. They stopped to listen. By
the end of that night, twelve more people joined our fellowship. But our journey
had only just begun.
Over the next two years we had many adventures along the way, but they all added
up to the same thing-people who had listened to the missionaries all had to make
a decision that would affect the rest of their lives. If they stayed, they would
have to give up something that they believed in, or if they left, they would never
know what they had left behind. Many went back and then came back to tell us how
they had found Christ. For most of us, it was all the same. When we finally reached
Gobekli Tepe (a gigantic Neolithic site with a huge astronomical observatory built
on top of it), we met the missionaries again, and then the missionaries and the
tribal people talked together for the first time in 2,500 years. It was really quite
a shock to find out that when they left this place they took with them a copy of
a portion of the book of John, that gave a new birth for the Neolithic people,
and that they themselves had been Christians for many years. We left Gobekli Tepe
with them, and now live here in the mountains, trying to bring God's word to a
culture that was living in utter darkness at that time, and that had no idea that
it needed God. Our friends tell us that Christianity has been lost in Gobekli Tepe
until just recently.
In the last three years, a lot has happened. The missionary had a dream, and we
had a big change in thinking. The mission was not to go away and keep the gospel
away from the Neolithic people. We were going to tell the people who lived at Gobekli
Tepe the real story of Jesus, and we were going to come and tell the nonbelievers
in their world, so they would not go through the same terrible experience that we
experienced. Then another new experience came: one of the children of Gobekli Tepe
that had listened to the missionaries left Gobekli Tepe with us to come here. I
want to tell you what happened to me. In the last three years, I was a missionary
to a people that had no religion at all. They thought I was crazy when I said to
them, "I believe that Jesus Christ is our savior." They had no reason to believe
it, but we were going to tell them a new story about Jesus and they were going to
believe it.
One night the teacher of the local elementary school came into our school, and
asked, "Do you have anything to teach the students?" He said, "You don't believe
in any gods and all I teach them are things from their own mythology," and he said,
"Is there anything I can teach them that they might be interested in?" We told
him that God had brought us here to share with him the story of Jesus. He left,
and asked God to open the eyes of the students' hearts so that they could know the
Savior that they had been looking for for so long. We have watched God do a wonderful
thing over the past year. One by one, the students have been asking to learn more
about Jesus, and they seem ready for us to tell them the real story of Jesus and
God. This time we will tell them the real story and the students will tell their
fellows that will listen. You may say, "That's good enough for me."
When our friends told us that they were going to tell the tribal people about Jesus,
we thought they were joking, but when they told them, they all accepted it. They
asked them to baptize them in Jesus. They told us that Jesus is a true name for
God. They told us that Jesus loves them, and that they are God's children. If you
don't know about God's love, please come with me, and I will share it with you.
Now we have been here over three years, and we are still going strong with Jesus.
We have started another mission, and it has gone to another part of the world. We
are still in the early stages of telling people about Jesus and how to find him.
That's all I know for right now. Let me end with another one of Jesus' words, "Come
and see!"
You probably wonder what I was doing before I had these experiences. As a matter
of fact, it all started when I got a letter from a missionary who told me about
Jesus. I don't know what he said, but after he was through, I didn't feel like I
could go out in public with a message like that, so I went back to working for a
living. I met the missionaries here in Alaska, and now I am helping to tell them
that the real story of Jesus is not in the Old Testament, but in the New Testament,
and that Jesus is their Savior. Now I want you to come and see.
The Missionary and the Dream
A missionary and his wife from the state of Alaska were traveling across a remote
part of southern Turkey, searching for new areas to share the story of Jesus. It
was early spring. The missionary stopped to visit a small village that had been
settled in the area for some time. At the time, the people knew only how to live
in the material world, and were unaware of the spiritual world. The missionary shared
some of God's word with them, and as he was about to leave, the leader of the small
group asked the missionary about one of the big problems of the day.
"What is your religion?" asked the man who had shown interest in God's word. "What
do you believe?" The missionary talked with the man for some time. At the end of
the conversation, the missionary asked if there was any more that he could tell
them about God's word. The man smiled. He said that he had enjoyed hearing about
God and asked, "Can you tell me about God?" The missionary gladly agreed. He then
began to share some of God's word with the man. After sharing for some time, the
man asked, "Can you tell me more about God?" The missionary said that he could.
In fact, he had already shared much of what God had told him. "But," asked the
man, "can you give me a simple way to share what you have been telling me?" The
missionary smiled, and said that he could and asked the man to get him some paper
and a pen.
The man picked up some paper and a pen, and then sat down and listened. The missionary
began writing what he was hearing about. He wrote in the simplest way that he could
describe what he saw before him. He had the pen in his hand for a long time. When
the missionary stopped writing, the man asked what he had written. The missionary
said, "I wrote all that I have heard about God." The man looked at the paper and
said, "You know, I don't understand what you wrote. But if you will just put the
paper and pen back in my hand, I will help you write it all out." "No, it is enough
for now," said the missionary, "I can come back and talk some more later."
The man looked at the paper and said, "Can you make it larger? I cannot read what
you have written." The missionary agreed and made it as large as he could. Then
he took the paper and wrote, "The Bible is not made of words but of meaning, and
we are God's letters." Then he took the paper and wrote, "I cannot tell you more
because I have nothing more to say." As he wrote, he became frustrated with his
own words and began to scratch his head. The man watched as the missionary scratched
his head, and finally asked what he was doing. He asked, "What are you doing? Why
are you scratching your head?" The missionary thought for a moment, then said, "I
have a terrible headache. I think that I need to get some new information."
The man got some water and put it on a clean towel. He gave it to the missionary,
who washed his face and sat down in front of the man. "Take my towel and rub your
head." The man took the towel and rubbed the missionary's head. The man asked,
"What is this called?" The missionary looked puzzled for a moment, then said, "I
don't know." The man looked at the man and said, "You are supposed to know. What
is it called?" Again, the missionary was
