QR592.PDF - Trinitarian Bible Society (Australia)

Issue Number: 592 – July to September 2010goes to those who have obtained somedegree of formal education. Year after yearwe organize literacy classes to create aconstituency that will be able to read thetranslated Scriptures. The attendants tothese classes receive a calendar as anencouragement. While visiting villages onemay be surprised to find TBS calendars ofthe last 4 years nicely pasted on the fourwalls of the parlours of the people.Depending on the time of year these may be‘dry season craggy’ or ‘rainy season mouldy’,slowly turning tobacco brownish andgradually reduced by hungry termites orother unwelcome by-passers. It may not besurprising that the ‘outward appearance’ ofthings may sooner or later fade away in theharsh conditions of coastal West Africa. Butwhat happens to the ‘inward qualities’ ofthese ‘calendric missionaries’?Once, while studying the local languagewith one of my teachers, another friendentered our study room. He saw us busyreading and glanced through the room. Hegot attracted to the French TBS calendar andCalendars distributed in Guineastarted reading the text: ‘Now then, we areambassadors for Christ, as though God didbeseech you by us; we pray you in Christ’sstead, be ye reconciled to God’. The lastportion caused him some trouble: ‘soyezréconcilés avec Dieu’. He queried me: ‘whatdoes “réconcilier” mean?’ ‘Well’, I answered,‘suppose someone intentionally ill-treatedyou. So you are rightfully annoyed with him.African wisdom is now telling him that hemust search for a mediator to get theproblem solved between you two, isn’t it?Now that is the case, the other personneeds to be reconciled with you but notwithout the help of a mediator. Because ifhe dares to come straight to you he mayonly meet your angry face and by no meanswill he be able to reach your heart (or liver,as the saying goes in our local language).Now with this understanding, read the textonce more, will you?’ He remained silent fora while before he whispered: ‘Ah, sotherefore “Isa al Masih” needed to bewithout sin. Because if He is our Mediator,He must be able to speak with God and thatwould be impossible if He was a sinnerHimself. Now I understand’.From Imo State, Nigeria:Greetings from West Africa. Four weeks agowe received a shipment of your Bibles,pamphlets and tracts. After praying overthem we felt God’s call to distribute them inHindu villages in spite of the risk of beingarrested and sentenced to prison as well asthe risk of severe persecution in the Hinduvillages. So we started to go from home tohome giving out your Bibles to each family,and trying to explain the Christian faith. Thishas not been easy, because most families27