You will not surely die...

[Jeremy Gable]

Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die."

 

This was the first lie every told on earth, and yet it still holds countless people deceived.  On Friday, May 5th, Danny, Napthali, and I went to a village called Lep-lep [Lupp-lupp] about 1 hour hike from here.  There's a man who lives there who fell from the top of a coconut tree years ago and was severely wounded.  He is unable to walk except with the assistance of wooden poles (sort of like crutches).  Lately he has had some wounds on his foot that have been badly infected.  His injury from the coconut tree has left him unable to control his bladder functions as well, so there is constantly a foul odor about him, of which he is very embarrassed.  For this reason, he is not married, and his family doesn't provide a whole lot of support for him.  They take care of him somewhat, but not very much, and he's very lonely most of the time.  Because of the injury on his foot, he's been very sick for a while now, and if things don't get better, he might die soon.  For this reason, the three of us went to visit him on Friday, to clean and redress his wounds, keep him company, and witness to him as best we can.  Upon arriving there and examining his foot, we found that the wound had become significantly worse.  His foot had swollen severely and was now almost as big around as it was long.  The skin was so tight that the outer layer of it had begun peeling back.  The wound itself was a hole about an inch in diameter (more accurately, about the size of a 50 cent piece for all the Americans reading this), and was oozing pus with flies crawling on it.  Apparently, his family hadn't been doing much in regards to taking care of his foot and seeing that it was cleaned and redressed as per the instructions we'd previously given them.  Danny set about cleaning the wound and putting a new dressing on it, but it was very clear that he needed to come to our clinic as an in-patient where he could be treated regularly.  Without such, there was no question in my mind that he would die soon from the infection.  Unfortunately, because of his incontinence (spelling?) he's very embarassed to come to the clinic and it's very very hard to convince him to come.  In his current condition there's no way he could have gotten himself there, so we would have to have him carried there; if we could get him to agree to go.  I radioed back to Kemantian and let Wendy (our nurse who runs the clinic) know the situation and that we were trying to convince him to come.  At first he had many excuses why he couldn't go; he didn't have a good blanket, there's no bed for him there, he wouldn't have anyone come stay with him and take care of him, etc...  We assured him, though, that we had very good blankets there that he could have, and that there's already a bed waiting for him, and we would find someone to come and stay with him to cook for him.  Finally he agreed, as long as he had another Pelawan companion to come cook for him.  None of the people there in his village wanted to go (all of them family), but one man said his son might be willing to go.  So this man sent someone to go get his son.  While we were waiting, we continued talking to Lebas (the sick man).  We sang some hymns and prayed with him.  I also radioed Wendy again and updated her.  She was very surprised that he was willing to go, but was glad and had some medical questions to be asked of him.  So I held the radio up for him to hear, as she asked questions, and then pushed the transmit button for him as soon as she finished speaking.  Before the other man's son arrived, Lebas changed his mind about going, saying that he didn't want to go, and once again making excuses.  Knowing that it was just embarrassment, we kept working to convince him.  We also prayed several times that God would reassure him, and give him comfort and to help him trust us.  Very soon he agreed again, and even made the concession that it didn't have to be an adult to accompany him.  He would be satisfied if only a child was willing to come in order to cook for him.  He even started asking some of the children standing around if they would come with him!  Eventually the other man's son arrived, but said that he didn't want to go.  While Napthali was talking to him and some of the other men standing around, I prayed again (I was sitting around the corner of the hut where I wasn't easily observable).  Finally the other man's son agreed to come, but only for one day.  That was good enough for us.  I radioed Kemantian again and told them to send the person who had agreed to bring us the ambulance bakid [bah-kid] (A bakid is a woven-reed basket with an open back that can be tied shut, and a strap that goes around you head so you can carry it on your back.  The ambulance bakids are exceptionally big and designed especially for carrying a person.) and Napthali's hammock (as an alternative to the bakid if the trail proved too difficult for the bakid).  When the person arrived, we found that the rope on the bakid had broken and wouldn't suffice for holding Lebas in, so we improvised and used the hammock to tie him in.  It looked FAR more comfortable than being tied in by the rope, anyway.  The man who had agreed to carry him picked up the bakid with Lebas inside, and set out on the trail for Kemantian at such a speed that I had to REALLY hustle in order to keep up (and I only had my backpack with 1L of water in it)!  About 45 minutes later, we reached the clinic and after getting him into the patient room and onto the bed, Wendy went to work on him.  Shortly after she began, he suddenly went into shock.  What Danny, Napthali, and I didn't realize was that his wound had become gangrenous (spelling?), and the infection had begun spreading throughout his body.  Wendy determined that he needed to go to be taken to the hospital, and he wasn't in any condition to put up a protest.  I ran to find a few people who would be willing to carry him out on the stretcher.  By the time that I returned and the carriers arrived as well, he had come out of shock, and was now refusing to go to the hospital.  We spent the next couple hours trying to convince him.  Finally I told him, "If you don't go to the hospital, you might die.  I don't want you to die."  His response was, "If I go to the hospital, and I die there, then I'll die for real.  But if I die at my home, then I won't really die."  I realized then that we weren't going to be able to convince him this time short of another miracle.  As I turned around, I noticed several of the other missionaries already gathered in a circle and praying.  I went to the side and prayed as well.  Unfortunately, he had already made up his mind, and we know that God won't force the conscience.  He can woo the heart, but he won't force someone to do something they absolutely refuse to do.  What's more, because of his belief's, he won't change his mind unless his beliefs change first.  As soon as he said, "If I go to the hospital, and I die there, then I'll die for real.  But if I die at my home, then I won't really die," the passage flashed into my mind, "Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die." (Gen. 3:4)  Six thousand years ago that lie was first told, and Satan still repeats it today, still ensnaring people with the same lie that has ensnared people for six thousand years.  Unfortunately, Lebas is not a Christian, and even though he's a friend and we witness to him as often as we can, there is still a long ways to go before he'll be willing to disbelieve the lie, and accept the truth as described in the Bible:

 

"And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, 'Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.'" (Gen. 2:16,17)

 

"Then to Adam He said, 'Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat of it'...In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; For dust you are, and to dust you shall return.'"  (Gen. 3:17,19)

 

"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Rom. 6:23)

 

"even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe.  For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God"  (Rom. 3:22, 23)

 

Please pray for Lebas, that his foot may be healed, and that we will have time to show him the truth.  But more importantly, that however he comes to it, that he realize his need for God, and that he give his heart to the Lord, that he will be entitles to eternal life alongside Christ and all the rest of the saints in Christ Jesus.

 

 

With love in Christ,

Jeremy