A group of five of us from Calvary Baptist here
in Helena, MT met up with our friends Bryan and Brad from Mount Vernon Baptist
of Atlanta in a small hostel in the center of Lima, Peru. I was in Cusco for a few days prior to visit our church. Everyone was doing very well. We were all together
to teach for a week at another Reforming Peru conference in the jungle town of
Pichanaki. We took the twelve hour night bus from Lima to Pichanaki, which
involved starting on the coast, ascending a 14,500 foot mountain pass over the
Andes, and then descending a lengthy stretch of switchbacks to the heat and
humidity of the jungle.
 |
| Roric |
We partner with a Peruvian brother named Roric,
who is the pastor of a church in Pichanaki, which he planted about four years
ago. Roric is amazingly sound in doctrine, understands the Ashaninca culture,
and is one of the most capable and well-organized Peruvians we know.
After not sleeping much on the bus, we arrived
Saturday morning and spent the day resting, preparing for the conference, and
getting to know the town of Pichanaki. They happened to be having a coffee
festival for all the coffee exporters in this area of the jungle. We drank
coffee and ate chancho de palo (a whole pig roasted on a rack at the edge of a
fire).
 |
| Chanco de Palo |
I preached at Roric’s church (Grace Bible
Church) on Sunday morning, and then we discussed the conference details,
cleaned the conference building (which was an old garage) and then ate dinner
at the house of a brother named Abram. Abram turned out to be an animal lover
of sorts. After dinner he brought out a little boa constrictor snake that he
kept in a fanny pack. He threw it on the table for us all to play with. He then
brought out a sloth, scarlet macaw, and finally a 25 year old boa constrictor
that was quite large, maybe six feet. Some members of our party, especially one
man, was not fond of snakes, in fact, he was turned out to be deathly afraid of
them. As the snake came in, the fearless preacher ran out the back door, but a
big dog that was guarding the door hindered his retreat. The whole scene was
quit amusing and we all, well most of us, laughed about it for some time after.
 |
| Abram and his Boa |
Monday brought the first day of the conference.
The Ashanincas, who traveled for one or two days from the villages, arrived on
time. Each conference attendee received a book on 20 Christian Beliefs by Wayne
Grudem, a notebook, and a Spanish Bible. We had about 25 people in attendance
each day.
The conference teaching on the Local Church and Holiness seemed to be
going well. At the end of each day, for the last two hours, we had a question and
answer period where they could ask any question. The questions the first few
days are usually not about the teaching from the day but come from what they
have been struggling with for the months before the conference. For example,
one question was this:
“A man and a woman are not married, but they
have been living together for many years and have four children together. The
woman becomes a Christian and wants to be baptized but she is still living in
fornication because she is not married. She asked the father of their children,
who is not a Christian, to marry her, but he refused to do it. Should the wife
be baptized? Should she leave this man? Who should take care of the kids? Is
she still living in sin if she stays with him for the sake of the kids?”
Quite a complicated situation, yet a very
common one in Peru.
We continued teaching on the church and
holiness on Tuesday and Wednesday. The question and answer time is always my
favorite, and maybe the most useful to the Ashaninca leaders. The following
questions are only a few of the many that were asked:
- God is holy. How can I be holy?
- Who are Adam and Eve?
- What would have happened if Eve never sinned?
- Can a Christian who divorced his Christian wife become a pastor?
- Can a pastor preach on Sunday and then get drunk with his unbelieving soccer friends?
- How can I “put to death” the sins listed in Colossians 3:5?
- How many times do you discipline someone who is in sin?
- Is fornication between 12 year olds acceptable?
- Who can discipline the pastor?
- What kind of oil is used in James 5:14, and is oil necessary to heal someone?
- Do ghosts exist?
- How many wise men were there?
After hearing questions like “who are Adam and
Eve?” we decided to adjust the teachings. We realized they did not understand
so much of what we were teaching. Even though we have taught it many times over
the last 4 years, we taught again on the gospel. The last two days we taught
them what the gospel is by using four points to explain it: God, Man, Jesus,
Response. The last few days were very interactive and they seemed to get it.
The conference ended well. We learned a lot
about the Ashaninca and how we can better teach them the Scriptures. Roric will
be going into the villages every month or so to re-teach what we taught at this
conference. We were reminded again that only the Holy Spirit can make men
understand the truth of the Scriptures, no matter how good it is explained.
I know I was frustrated at the end of the third
day because of their lack of understanding something we have been teaching them
for years, but I was encouraged to press on, trust in God, keep teaching the
truth, and beg God to enlighten their understanding. I was encouraged that we
now have a conference where Ashaninca men and women will travel two days to
listen to the word of God be taught for a week. Only a short time ago we were
the first white men in these villages and we were not very welcome. God has
done so much in a short period of time and we trust in Him to complete the good
work that He started.
