'I DON'T BELIEVE ALL THAT STUFF ANYMORE'
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| An Agta man visiting with John. |
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May 1, 2008
by David Bell
As missionary John Burbidge works in the Philippines to prepare Bible lessons with his Agta co-worker, Buk, he likes to ask questions to gauge the man's understanding.
After many months of working together, the two men were recently preparing lessons about the trial and death of Christ when John asked Buk, "If you were to die today and stand before God, and He should ask you 'What in the world would make you think that I should let you into Heaven?' how would you respond to God?"
Without any delay, Buk replied, "I'd say to God that you already punished Jesus in full for all of my sin, and He is my only hope of getting into Heaven. I'm trusting in what He did."
"I could not have hoped for a clearer answer," John thought, as a tingling feeling filled his heart.
On Tuesday, Buk and John talked again.
"I noticed that there was no black band of cloth around his neck," John wrote.
A black band is placed around a person's neck when there has been a death in the family, and it stays around the neck until it rots and snaps on its own. The Agtas believe that the black band will keep their deceased relatives from harming them.
"I knew that it was unlikely that Buk's band had rotted and snapped so soon, since a relative had died not three weeks before," John wrote.
John asked Buk what had happened to his black band and Buk said he had taken it off and thrown it away.
Startled, John asked if he had really, purposely taken it off and thrown it away.
Buk said he took it off because his mind had been changed by listening to the Bible and he now knew that it was worthless. He said he just doesn't believe all that stuff anymore.
"An Agta not believing that the world is full of ancestral spirits is unheard of," John wrote.
But Buk said "he now knows that demons have been fooling his people ever since the beginning of their race, manipulating them, and deceiving them, keeping their minds in darkness towards the truth about God."
Please pray that other Agtas will come to understand the truth of God's Word. John is now in the early stages of teaching another group and wrote, "Monday through Thursday I am hoping, Lord willing, to teach these same lessons to the Agtas who live an hour away from here. Please pray that nothing will keep them from listening.
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