When the Blacktop Ends
This morning (Friday) our team set out for our appointed rounds to visit with the village chiefs in the areas of our upcoming projects. Before visiting with even the first Chief we had to make the obligatory stop at the regional police station where we all introduced ourselves to the senior officer. After a pleasant visit in his office we were assured of his protection and security. The man even gave us his mobile telephone number … just in case.
After leaving the station we began the journey to meet with the leaders in each of the communities where we will be showing the JESUS film over the next two weeks. We drove “paved” road for a while and then we were greeting by the familiar dusty dirt roads of Ghana. We know, “when the blacktop ends” we are moving into our assigned mission field!
The time consuming and tedious task of personally meeting the Chiefs is necessary for the furtherance of the Gospel. In this area of the country there is a particularly large problem with idol worship and fetishism. In one place the Chief, after inviting us into his personal residence, explained to us that his entire place actually worshipped and feared “blood.” He said, “woman are not allowed to have children in this place, they must go outside of town to give birth.” There are no animals allowed in the town for fear that one of them might be injured and some of the blood might be shed on the ground. The children are not allowed to play soccer or any other sport whereby there may be a bloody injury. The list of prohibited activities went on-and-on. This strange obsession with blood offered us the perfect opportunity to share the Gospel through prayer.
We were careful to point out that “God demonstrated His own love for us, in that while we were yet SINNERS … Christ died for us.” And that “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of SIN.” The Chief listened carefully and openly invited us to come back and show the JESUS film in his village. We will be there in a couple of days.
On our way back we stopped to visit with the 80 year-old mother of Pastor Simon Akpoku — our dear and devoted friend with whom we have been working since 2003. While Simon is a fully devoted follower of Christ, his mother is still in the bondage of Jujuism. She is, in fact, a Juju priestess. We visited with her for a few minutes and prayed for/with her. Our team will be back in her place tomorrow morning for a “women’s conference.” Please pray for Brianna Chase as she ministers to these villagers.
There are two film projects scheduled for tonight. The preaching of the Gospel should be taking place about 3:00pm EST each day. PLEASE, please remember to pray for the preachers and the hearers in all of these events.
(On a personal note — Craig’s luggage arrived in Accra and is now being delivered to our hotel!)