tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-65672887743469379512024-03-18T20:09:47.142-07:00Proclaim InternationalHigh school assemblies in Latin American cities on important social and science issues that encourage teenagers to make life-changing ethical, moral and spiritual decisions that create right relationships with God and man.John Buererhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14253209520645798721noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6567288774346937951.post-48310027229398003292014-12-19T09:51:00.002-08:002014-12-19T09:52:10.214-08:00Keep up with P.I. activities <html>
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</html>John Buererhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14253209520645798721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6567288774346937951.post-54285849441355295932012-09-21T12:17:00.002-07:002012-10-18T12:02:52.135-07:00Serving Christ in 'the third age' Sirviendo a Cristo en la tercer edad<table width="100%" cellspacing="4" border="0">
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The doorbell rang and, as we were expecting, an elderly, diminutive man entered from the street and greeted us. We were in the home of friends in Lima, Peru. Aldo was tired from a week of counseling and encouraging believers, and we coaxed him to eat a little, which he did carefully; in the last few years he has undergone major bypass surgery, a stroke and cancer surgery. He had just arrived from a week in the village of <i>Diez de Octubre</i>, perhaps fifty houses in the Peruvian jungle, where he helped to start a congregation three years before.
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Sonó el timbre y, como esperábamos, un hombre anciano, diminuto entró por la calle y nos saludó. Estábamos en la casa de unos amigos en Lima, Perú. Aldo estaba cansado de pasar una semana de aconsejar y alentar a los creyentes, y lo convencimos a comer un poco, cosa que hizo con cuidado, porque en los últimos años se ha sometido a una cirugía de bypass mayor, tuvo un derrame cerebral y cirugía del cáncer. Acababa de llegar de pasar una semana en la aldea de Diez de Octubre, quizá cincuenta casas en la selva peruana, donde ayudó a comenzar una congregación tres años antes.
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Several years ago Aldo docked his boat at Iquitos, Peru in the afternoon; the last deep-water port in the headwaters of the Amazon River. He was not a believer. Far from it. He challenged his adult son to a contest; the first one to find himself a girl would be the winner. That day Aldo found Sonja, a girl from the Pacific coast and thirty years his junior. Yet the relationship stuck. When they were both confronted by the Holy Spirit and the gospel, they repented and became followers of Christ. They are still married, and live in Florida. Their lives have been characterized by learning, dedication and growth in the grace of God, and they are valued members of the congregation.
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Hace muchos años, Aldo atracó su barco en la tarde en Iquitos, Perú, el último puerto de aguas profundas en las cabeceras del río Amazonas. Él no era un creyente. Lejos de ello. Él desafió a su hijo adulto a un concurso, el primero en encontrarse a sí mismo a una chica sería el ganador. Ese día Aldo encontrado Sonia, una chica de la costa del Pacífico y treinta años más joven que él. Sin embargo, la relación permanece. Cuando ambos fueron confrontados por el Espíritu Santo y el evangelio, se arrepintieron y se convirtieron en seguidores de Cristo. Todavía están casados y vivan en el estado de Florida en los EE.UU. Sus vidas se han caracterizado por el aprendizaje, dedicación y crecimiento en la gracia de Dios, y ellos son miembros valiosos de la congregación.
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A few years ago, Aldo was in Lima with his friend, Eudulio, the pastor of an Evangelical Free church, who told him about a certain lady. Once when she visited Lima, God brought a health crisis on her which he used to lead her to faith in himself. Now she was phoning Eudulio from her home in the Amazon jungle near Iquitos to invite him to start a congregation in her village, and she was offering her home for that purpose. Aldo encouraged his friend to join with him and accept this opportunity; he also bought tickets for both himself and Eudulio to fly East from the Pacific coastal desert over the imposing Andes cordillera into the immense jungle below.
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Hace unos años, Aldo estaba en Lima con su amigo, Eudulio, el pastor de una iglesia Evangélica Libre, que le habló de cierta dama. Una vez en su visita a Lima, Dios trajo una crisis de salud en la que él solía llevarla a ella a la fe en Jesucristo. Ahora estaba llamando Eudulio de su hogar en la selva del Amazonas cerca de Iquitos para invitarlo a iniciar una congregación en su pueblo, y ella estaba ofreciendo su casa para ese fin. Aldo animó a su amigo a unirse con él y aceptar esta oportunidad, también compró boletos para él y Eudulio para volar al este desde el desierto de la costa del Pacífico a través de la imponente cordillera de los Andes a la selva inmensa de abajo.
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There they led some people to the Savior and started a congregation of believers in the home of this 'Lydia' of the jungle. Pastor Eudulio arranged for men from the Evangelical Free church in Iquitos to travel to the village and preach each week. They often phone him in Lima to discuss development of the congregation and doctrine.
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Allí se llevaron a algunas personas al Salvador y comenzaron una célula de creyentes en la casa de este 'Lidia' de la selva. Pastor Eudulio arregló para que hermanos de la Iglesia Evangélica Libre en Iquitos viajara al pueblo y predicara cada semana. A menudo le llaman por teléfono en Lima para conversar acerca del desarrollo del grupo y la doctrina.
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As I write this, I am in the international airport in Callao, Peru waiting to board my flight home to south Florida after two taxing weeks that included twenty eight assemblies in high schools in three towns of Peru. By God's grace, Aldo will be on the Florida-bound flight in two more days and we will greet each other this Sunday in the Spanish church we both attend.
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Mientras escribo esto, estoy en el aeropuerto internacional que es en Callao, Perú esperando de abordar mi vuelo a casa al sur de Florida después de dos semanas fiscales que incluyeron veintiocho asambleas en las escuelas secundarias de tres ciudades del Perú. Por la gracia de Dios, Aldo estará en el vuelo con destino a Florida dos días más y nos saludaremos este domingo en la iglesia hispana que ambos asistimos.
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Aldo supports his family in Florida by helping to clean a school, and Sonya must work as well. Yet once a year, he buys the least expensive airline tickets available so he can return to help out in <i>Diez de Octubre</i> were he works from morning to ten at night, counseling and encouraging the small but growing congregation of fifty, training them to walk in the scriptures and to make spiritual decisions in each area of their lives.
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Aldo trabajo en limpieza de una escuela para mantener a su familia en Florida, y Sonja trabajar también. Sin embargo, una vez al año, él compra los menos costosos boletos de avión para que pueda volver a ayudar en la aldea Diez de Octubre donde trabaja de la mañana a diez de la noche, animando y acosejando la congregación pequeña pero creciente, de cincuenta miembros, capacitándolos para caminar en las Escrituras y tomar decisiones espirituales en cada área de sus vidas.
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South Florida between Miami and Disneyland is known for some cutting edge businesses, beaches and retirement villages. To many people, the height of life seems to be driving golf carts and playing bingo. How different from their neighbor, Aldo, a man they would hardly notice. Aldo is fourteen years older than I am, yet we are fellow travelors now on a road little traversed -- followers of Christ of "la tercer edad," "the third age" as seniors are called in Spanish, who disseminate the call of God to repent, believe and obey. Aldo would be the first to say that his days are not his own, and that a greater day is coming that will show these efforts to be worthwhile.
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El sur de la Florida entre Miami y Disneyland es conocido por algunas empresas de vanguardia, playas y pueblos de jubilación. Para muchas personas allí, la altura de la vida parece estar conduciendo carros de golf y jugar bingo. ¡Qué diferente de su vecino, Aldo, un varón al que apenas se diera cuenta. Aldo es catorce años mayor que yo, pero somos peregrinos compañeros ahora por un camino poco recorrido - los seguidores de Cristo de la tercera edad que difundimos el llamado de Dios a arrepentirse, creer y obedecer. Aldo sería el primero en decir que sus días no son suyos, y que un día mas profunda se acerca que mostrará que estos esfuerzos valgan la pena.
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</table>John Buererhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14253209520645798721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6567288774346937951.post-34553979416519498522012-06-23T08:06:00.000-07:002012-06-25T07:16:08.293-07:00Beyond divining dogs and the evil eye, God affects his plan<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<td>Felix, now 83 years old and almost deaf, grew up on a desert farm in southwest Peru near the Nazca lines.<br />
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An oddly dressed European lady occasionally walked through his village by herself headed for the hills and carrying a broom. The kids called her the witch, and couldn't imagine what she was up to. Only later, as an adult, did he recognize her as Maria Reiche, the German mathematician who was largely responsible for mapping and describing the Nazca lines. These immense pictures of animals, etched into the flat planes, are a composite of shallow troughs that eventually fill with windblown sand, and only by sweeping the sand from them with her broom could their character be clearly seen.<br />
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He was only two years old when a man rode through his village on a horse. His mind full of black-and-white cowboy films, he jumped in front of the horse, his forefingers pointing like sixshooters, and shouted "stick'um up!" Then he realized that the horseman gave him the "evil eye!" Sure enough, he began to get sick. His worried parents took him to a healer who rubbed a cur dog all over his body, then killed and opened the dog to divine how to release Felix from this curse (a guinea pig is typically used for this instead of a dog). He eventually recovered.<br />
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Now his family was entertaining the Proclaim International team for dinner, during a week of events in and around the towns of Ica and Cañete, Peru. We laughed into the evening as he regaled us with stories of his life, but I got the impression that cur dogs were never really safe around him. Archeology was the first undergraduate degree earned by Daniel Calle, the evangelical pastor and team evangelist in the room, but he couldn't help laughing along with the rest as Felix described interesting experiences robbing ancient grave sites as a young man. (There are so many real and potential archeological sites in Peru that only a fraction are investigated.)<br />
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Yet far greater things were taking place in Felix's life. God was dealing with him, and at 50 years of age he surrendered his life to follow Jesus Christ. He began to pray that his family would also come to repent before God and receive the free gift of salvation. He prayed for years; none of his family responded. As he grew weary praying, his congregation encouraged him on, and joined him in prayer. Still no one in the family came to Christ. He prayed for 32 years.<br />
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Then last year his son-in-law Moisés attended a Wednesday night prayer meeting and afterward asked to speak with Pastor José Cárdenas. But José was out of town that day, José's mother informed him, and she invited him to return. When he visited again the next week, he told José he wanted what he saw in the life of his father-in-law. José showed him the path of salvation and Moisés came to the Lord, the first of Felix's family to be redeemed.<br />
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When Moisés told his wife what happened, she was hard hearted and not interested. Yet she saw such a change in her husband that in a short time she also came to the Lord, as did his sister, Roxana. They began attending church meetings as a family with their son Fabricio, fourteen, who soon came to the Lord, and he brought his cousins, since they lived in the same large house.<br />
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His cousin Guillermo, eleven, came to the Lord, in church. Next his cousin Alejandro, thirteen, was one of two young men who responded to the gospel when I preached to that congregation. Later he led his five-year-old cousin, Rodrigo, to the Lord.<br />
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Pastor José began discipling not only Moisés, but these boys of his family. Guillermo and Alejandro wanted to be baptized during the annual baptism in January, but José told them they would need authorization by their mothers, and suggested they arrange for their mothers to see him individually.<br />
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José explained to each mother what baptism and the gospel was about, and led them both to the Lord.<br />
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The Holy Spirit has claimed this family. For Pastor Cárdenas, this is harvest time. Within a year, all nine people living in the house with Felix have come to the Lord. The family is filled with joy knowing their Savior, and happiest of all is Felix, who has seen the results of his 32 years of prayer.John Buererhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14253209520645798721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6567288774346937951.post-10974776386676055412012-06-15T14:34:00.000-07:002012-09-20T08:45:22.824-07:00In the fridge of life<table>
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In its productive days, the "barn" behind the house, open ended, shaded a tractor and harrow used to keep weeds down in the orange grove around. Now it seemed a protected place to play.<br />
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Old used things lay about. An ice fridge no taller than myself, its foot panels missing, stood by the wall. It was small, but a person my size could squeeze inside, the door solemnly closed by those he hoped to amaze by mysteriously opening it and, escaping the unthinkable dread of his fate, stepping out before his admirers. It's true. I saw it done by older kids.<br />
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Actually, I didn't find the door easy to close by myself while curled inside, but I managed it alone to avoid condescending comments from other kids, or worse, laughter if I didn't succeed in freeing myself quickly enough.<br />
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I did have a plan. I packaged myself in such a way that one hand could reach the exposed underside of the door, the only place I saw where I might reach opening mechanisms. The missing panels there admitted a faint light and air.<br />
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Believe me, I tried, but it was no use. I wasn't to escape. At least not on my own.<br />
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I considered hysterics (how deeply a four-year-old thinks), melting into its forboding pool of the unknown, but I saw no way out of the fridge in it. Choosing clarity and patience, rather, I remembered that saint of last resort, Mom. The one so naturally there. The wound tender, dream opener, rescuer, lover of kids. She would set me free, if only she could hear me. I called several times, but my pleas for salvation, muffled by the fridge, didn't reach the ear of Mom. I fancied I could hear a plate click against the sink in the kitchen, and I called again and again.<br />
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How should I think about the nature of my perdicament if it were longer term, I thought. I had air, and I supposed it was possible to keep this uncomfortable pretzelization of limbs until dinner time. I could roam the orchard or the desert across the road at will, but with Mom dinner was the final bell, when she would surely come looking for me, her little locked-in sheep. Certainly she would.<br />
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Was it the screen door opening I heard? It clapped shut. Yes! Mom was in the yard. I began to call, "Mom! I'm in the barn!" Not that she could hear.<br />
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She paused. I could imagine her quizically scanning the yard. Then the sweetest sound to a child's ears, not just his mother's voice, but her calling his name, "Johnny!" She was looking for me! I renewed my cries for redemption. Then, like a spirit, she was in the barn, calling close at hand. "I'm in the refrigerator!" I shouted.<br />
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I must have taken on its insensate metal as a new skin, sensing her hand on the door handle, and next I tumbled out to freedom and life.<br />
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My experience with the fridge has stayed with me; I've had similar thoughts and have needed to make similar decisions through life. By the measure of some epocs, I'm an old man now. Mom and I grew up in parallel streams, apart much of the time, and yet together as if, in my immature thoughts, the other six siblings were footnotes in our passage.<br />
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Against all dreams of an eternal nature, Mom aged. She languished, and we, now men and women with our spouses, children and grandchildren, laid her frail remains in the soil. Yet ocassionally I look down the dusty road she travelled, thoughts of our temporary nature unthinkable in youth now more familiar. What will it be like? How will I end my days? And without realizing it, I'm in the ice fridge once again, a little light and a little air from under the door, joints stiffer now, knowing not only that I'm locked in, but also locked out of a great exciting world to come. Then I realize how much I am waiting to hear my Creator call my name, sense his hand on the door; the Wound Tender, Dream Opener, Rescuer, Lover. And I call, and I listen and wait.<br />
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</span>John Buererhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14253209520645798721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6567288774346937951.post-57238510604214574992011-02-07T11:03:00.000-08:002011-02-07T12:19:20.668-08:00Kidney stones and repentance: One evangelist's quest to present the complete gospel<table valign=top><tr>
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"Before I was to speak, I was suffering from a painful attack of kidney stones! I was faced with two great needs: the need to find a cure for my severe illness, and the need of a solution for sin in the lives of many students in these schools."<br><br><font size=1 color=darkgray>JOSE ANTONIO DELGADO, PI EVANGELIST</font><br />
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I've participated ten years in the Proclaim ministry in Peru and during that time I had the opportunity to observe various Proclaim evangelists present the gospel more completely than I would have.<br />
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This was courageous of them because they also understood that some listeners might have taken personal offense if they felt that Proclaim was preaching another faith than their own, or was pressuring them to change their religion. And these presentations were in public, as well as in private high schools! Occasionally a school teacher or staff member evidently felt offended by the manner of our invitation to students.<br />
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<span style="color: blue;">I EXPECTED A MORE APPEALING GOSPEL</span><br />
This made me think that if I were the evangelist, I would develop a more subtle approach. Of course I thought that I wanted to present the complete gospel, but actually I was looking for ways to present it that were completely acceptable to everybody.<br />
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Thank God, Proclaim didn’t invite me to be the evangelist at that time, because I would have preached an incomplete gospel in response to social pressure.<br />
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Then I began observing the fruit of a gospel that is completely acceptable to mankind, and the results I saw were not good.<br />
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<span style="color: blue;">THE NEED FOR THE GOSPEL TO INCLUDE REPENTANCE FROM SIN</span><br />
Many times the message churches present to a lost world is "God loves you…," "God has a plan for your life…,” “God wants to bless you…." or, the most attractive, "God wants to make you prosperous…." I certainly don't mean to offend you if I have unknowingly used a favorite phrase of yours, and I confess that these would have been my approach to the gospel at one time.<br />
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However, I've become concerned about the lack of theological clarity in such invitations. For the last six years I've observed churches that do not clearly encourage repentance and that offer a "lite" gospel. Granted, some are growing rapidly, but I have witnessed that they have become filled with parishioners who are unrepentant, and yet they believe they are right with God. What is more, they expect things from him.<br />
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Today, as in Bible times, we are surrounded by people who pretend to be clean -- like Pilate when he washed his hands to imply that he was not making a decision about Jesus, but in doing so, he participated in condemning to death the Messiah of God; people who want to see miracles -- like spiritually lost Herod who hoped to see Jesus perform; people who want salvation without repentance -- like the thief crucified next to Christ who said, "Save yourself, and us."<br />
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It is true that our Lord offered a sinful Samaritan woman spiritual water that would take away the thirst in her heart. Yet even though he offered her this wonderful thing, he didn't neglect to deal with the truth of her circumstances. The Lord instructed her in the same conversation, "Go and bring your husband" knowing that she already had five husbands. As compassionate as he was, he confronted her with her sinful lifestyle, knowing all the while that what she needed was to repent.<br />
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<span style="color: blue;">MY DESIRE TO PRESENT A COMPLETE GOSPEL</span><br />
We may attract multitudes through our preaching, we may teach them some good Christian habits, and we may even influence them to be nice people, but I maintain that if we neglect to preach the complete gospel that includes repentance from sin, their lives will be like "houses that are cleaned, swept and empty."<br />
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I want the message of the gospel which I present (which is the second presentation in each Proclaim school assembly) to be attractive to students. I want it to be at least as appealing as the first presentation, given by a specialist on a critical social issue. Yet I confess to you that I have an even greater concern as an evangelist to present a complete gospel.<br />
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Why? Because I have seen that many high school students do understand and apply the truth of the gospel, leading to vital, life-changing decisions. I realize that if I present the complete gospel that includes a clear call for repentance from sin, the Holy Spirit will move some of the people who listen to make decisions about their relationships with God in Jesus Christ.<br />
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<span style="color: blue;">KIDNEY STONES AND THE GOSPEL</span><br />
Once I was the evangelist for a week during a Proclaim outreach in Santa Anita, Peru, where we held fourteen assemblies in public and private high schools. In each one, Fidel Gonzalez, a psychologist from the Dominican Republic, gave a presentation on the evils of abuse before I was to speak.<br />
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Coincidentally, at the same time he was speaking, I was suffering from a painful attack of kidney stones! I was faced with two great needs: the need to find a cure for my severe illness, and the need of a solution for sin in the lives of many students in these schools. I thought “Human advancement may help resolve my problem with these kidney stones, but it still cannot resolve the problem of sin.”<br />
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I decided to mention the problem of their sin to my teenage audience, so I asked if they thought they were mature enough to know right from wrong. They all agreed that they were. Upon further questioning, they also admitted that, in spite of their maturity and moral knowledge, many teens choose the wrong way. And yet sin destroys our relationships, damages us, and causes us to hurt the very people whom we love. Sadly many lives are shortened by sin and most will die eternally from it in the age to come.<br />
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I told them the story of how I was suffering from kidney stones at that very moment. Surgeons sometimes operate to remove kidney stones such as mine, yet there is still no surgeon who operates to remove sin. Technology, on which we have come to depend, is powerless to overcome our sin. I continued: why can't we just take an anti-lying pill? Where can one find an anti-abuse drug that would cause abusers to quit? As much as such antidotes would help, we have none.<br />
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In fact, rather than improving our lot, our progress is often accompanied by even more sin. In his presentation, Fidel mentioned that Japan is the most technologically advanced nation on earth, and yet it has the world's highest suicide rate among teenagers - the very age group to which we were speaking. The audience could not escape the fact that huge human efforts throughout history including technological development -- assumed to be a sign of the advancement of mankind -- have failed to resolve the problem of evil or to redeem us from sin. <br />
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Only the Bible gives us the solution to our need. We can only resolve our sin problem when we look to Jesus Christ.<br />
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Using this approach freed me to present the message of salvation so clearly that, at the conclusion, teachers congratulated us for both parts - the presentation on abuse and the presentation on the gospel - for being clear, applicable and important for the lives of students. Many students responded to repent and to submit their lives to the Lord Jesus Christ.<br />
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In conclusion, we don't need to renounce the central message of the call which both John the Baptist and our Lord Jesus Christ made to people who came to hear them: specifically, that there is no salvation without repentance. There is no repentance without preaching of the gospel because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.<br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-size: x-small;">JOSE ANTONIO DELGADO RECOVERED THROUGH MEDICATION. HE AND HIS WIFE, ANGELA, ARE MISSIONARIES OF PROCLAIM AND OF THEIR DENOMINATION TO SAN MARTIN REGION, PERU WHERE THEY COORDINATE PROCLAIM ASSEMBLIES IN HIGH SCHOOLS. JOSE ANTONIO IS ALSO AN EVANGELIST WITH PROCLAIM.</span>John Buererhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14253209520645798721noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6567288774346937951.post-9707839745438207312011-02-01T14:28:00.000-08:002014-12-19T09:49:08.893-08:002011: Introducing this blogHere's a start on the New Year with a blog to keep you informed of Proclaim's activities, praises and prayer requests; as well as thoughts and links to good ones as time goes by.<br />
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I hope you'll sign up to follow so we can keep you up to speed.<br />
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You may be doubly motivated to do so if you are one of those whom we love very much who pray for this ministry before the face of God, a sacrificer who supports Proclaim's ministry or one of its missionaries with your donations, a participant on your church's missions committee, a pastor overseeing your congregation's relationship to us in this ministry, or any number of other motivations.<br />
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Proclaim team members, including missionaries and specialists who speak, will find it most helpful, I think, and let me encourage you to write, share, respond, and interact on this blog. This blog is designed in English, so let me quickly apologize that it can't offer a running translation in Spanish. Never-the-less, don't hesitate a minute to share in Spanish if what you wish to say works better that way.<br />
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All for the cause of Telling Teens the Truth during our high school assemblies in Latin America. And the foundational truths concern their relationship with their Creator and the rescue he provides through his Son, or Savior Jesus Christ.<br />
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I know it's pretty cold in northern places right now, and skin challenging hot in parts of Peru at the moment, but, as they say, jump in! The water's fine!John Buererhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14253209520645798721noreply@blogger.com0