"Israelitas" in Peru

Just another day on the mission field...

I let me tell you about a little on-the-fly ministry situation that happened just today. 

I was riding home in a taxi and noticed a religious-looking pamphlet on the dashboard (which is not really uncommon). As usual in these situations, I pick it up and begin to ask the drive about it. This particular tract was from a strange cult found here in Peru know as the “Israelitas.” It’s a group of Jews that claims to be followers of Christ and believe the New Testament (NT), but they also require that proselytes become fully practicing Jews according to all the Old Testament rituals and ceremonies---Yikes! And, yes, they DO perform animal sacrifices---Double Yikes! And their founder claims that in 1968 “he was taken up to the third heaven to write the Ten Commandments of the Universal Decalogue in order to unite all peoples”---TRIPLE YIKES!!! 

As we bumped along the road, dodging traffic and pedestrians, I began challenging what this group taught and pulled out my Spanish Bible to read certain verses. When we got to my door, Antonio (the taxi driver) turned off the car saying he had “time for the Lord” (!), and we began looking at various Scripture passages that addressed the Jew/Gentile question and show that under Christ the church is open to all the nations. We sat in his car for at least 30 minutes, as he read sometimes lengthy passages from Galatians 2 & 3 and Acts 10 & 11. 

Praise be to God, I was able to give him lots to think about, as well as my card with my contact information and details about where our church meets on Sundays. I invited him to call if he wanted to talk further and, of course, invited him to church on Sunday.

It'd be great if you would pray with us for the Holy Spirit (the same One who fell on the Gentiles in Cornelius’ house in Acts 10) to open Antonio’s eyes to the truth of salvation by FAITH ALONE IN CHRIST, AND APART FROM THE LAW.

Rodent encounter

Well, it was bound to happen eventually, I guess. We had our first encounter this afternoon with a real, LIVE Peruvian rat. It just came walking through the front door about 4:30 this afternoon. We leave our doors open all day for good air circulation (NO climate control here), and it must have felt invited in. Julie was sitting at the dining room table and saw it enter the living room and scuttle under a bookshelf.

All hands were called on deck (with surprising calmness), and with the help of sticks and bug spray, it was encourage to come out and fight like a man. After Scott poked and sprayed (and probably maimed it), it was decided that it was more strategic for Kevin to flush it out in Scott's direction. Nathan was manning the back door, and Julie was blocking access to the kitchen. If it came out like a lightning bolt, we at least wanted to encourage it back out the front door. Littler kids were mostly up in the swing set!

Well, it did come out, thankfully not moving with too much agility, and as planned it started coming in Scott's direction, not without a bit more encouragement by Kevin---well done, Kevin! Scott was wielding  Kevin's wooden Samurai sword and successfully delivered some fatal blows before it got away. It was a good 9-10" fellow with tail equally as long. We thought we would spare you the pictures (actually, we didn't even think about it until he was bagged and out with the trash), but maybe we can post one of the Samurai sword! Never a dull moment here in Peru!

January Prayer Update - Seth is doing VERY well!

To read how the Lord has been blessing us and answering your prayers, click on the image below to open the PDF.