The Shumaker Family's Blog

Spending three days in a small town in Burkina Faso called Pissila, (we were starting a new church) made me realize that our being here as missionaries is an absolute necessity. Pissila, like most of Burkina Faso, is very religious. There are churches, mosques, and many animists. I doubt there is one person that would claim to be an atheist or even doubt the existence of God. Everyone is Christian, Muslim or animists. Looking at the number of churches, one would think that there is no need for us to be here or start a new church, but that is not what I found.

I discovered that in this town, no one I talked to could tell me that they knew for sure they are going to heaven or tell me how biblically to get there. I don’t believe that we (Baptists) hold the key to salvation, but the Bible does. I don’t believe that only Baptists will go to heaven but all those who have been born again by the blood of Jesus.

I shared the Gospel with a lady who probably is about 30. She listened and was evidently very touched. I asked her if she would go to Heaven when she died. She said, “I don’t know.” I took her from Adam, to our sin, to the cross, to accepting Jesus. It probably took me 25 min. or so. I asked her at the end if she had any questions. She said, “I have been going to churches all my life, and I have never heard about salvation like that.” She has missed the very basis of our faith. She has heard message after message in a “Christian” church but doesn’t even know how to be saved from her sins. I wished I could say that this was the only instance such as this over those three days, but all of our co-laborers had the same stories. Pastor Gilbert, Pastor Justin, Pastor Vicente, Pastor Salif and Pastor Konaté all told me the same thing. They talked with another pastor in the town, and he quickly left without even being able to give them a clear Biblical explication of salvation.

This world needs a true revival. Pastors need to wake up. What good is a doctorate degree in theology if you can’t even tell somebody how to be born again? Churches around here claim to have miracle healings and forget that the greatest miracle is when somebody comes to Jesus (passing from death unto life). Pastors need to stop worrying about just drawing a huge crowd but making sure that those who come are confronted with the true Gospel.

Jesus saves.  Going to church doesn’t save, but Jesus saves.  Being baptized doesn’t save, but Jesus does.  A pastor, nor a priest, nor an imam can save, but Jesus can.  Being a Baptist, or Assembly of God or Catholic, or member of whatever church can’t save, but Jesus can.  Jesus saves.

John 14:6, “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 12th, 2012 at 5:27 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.