From time to time since 1963, a rebel organization had tried to overthrow the Indonesian government. In 1976 this rebel movement surfaced again, attracting some of the young people- even children of church leaders. The youth went back to long, matted hair and to painting their faces and bodies for war. They started to make bows and arrows and spears. "We're going back to the old ways," they announced."How could you possibly want to go back to fear of spirits and the miseries of no food, of pain and cold, and of war and death?" their parents asked them.
Most who joined the rebel forces were nominal Christians, young people who had come up in the church and perhaps were even baptized but had not been born again. They thought the rebel movement offered excitment...
(from Torches of Joy, John Dekker with Lois Neely, YWAM Publishing, 1985)
We've been reading of the missionary adventures of John and Helen Dekker, and their work among the Dani tribes people in the Toli Valley of Irian Jaya (formerly Netherlands New Guinea). The Lord did amazing work through the Dekkers and other missionaries, including native converts who became missionaries, in that land. And yet, we read that indeed, there is nothing new under the sun. At some point, even the children of converts, first-hand witnesses to such obvious extremes between light and darkness, were tempted to turn back to the "old ways."
The passage caught my attention, and I lingered over it. And I continue to think about it.
Then in devotions this morning, I read a reminder of what we are to teach our children. We need to teach our kids that the Word of God is all Truth, and is infinitely more satisfying than anything the world offers. We need to help our children develop eyes to see and ears to hear and a heart to understand (Matthew 13:10-17).
And, we have to persevere in prayer, in the words of Jeremiah 6:16, for our children to "see and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is, and walk in it...," literally from the Strong's Concordance description, "the true piety and uncorrupted morals that are ascribed to the men of old."
"There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death," Proverbs 16:25 tells us. I pray for the wisdom to seek out the ancient ways, not just the old ways.
(photo credit to richj_gsy at Flickr)
