Lystra and Derbe.
During one of Apostle Paul’s missionary journeys, he stopped at a town called Lystra and Derbe. Paul, while preaching he looked intently, directly at a man who was lame from birth, filled with the Holy Spirit, Paul commanded him to stand up. The lame man was completed healed, but on seeing what had happened, the people shouted in their local language, the gods have come to us in a human form.
Most individuals still live in dark ages, for example, people in the Amazon area, Port Hardy Canada and much more, worship the sun and moon.
Most individuals in the Amazon areas do not want anything to do with the outside world, but the missionaries still find a way to preach the good news, and (The Gospel) the people are satisfied with killing and eating humans that betray villagers.
Few years ago, I traveled to Port Hardy on a mission’s trip with two other sisters. We walked around the town and spoke to individuals the love of Christ. They were invited to Church, which went very well.
The next town we visited was extremely dark, dark in the sense that they still worship the Sun and Moon, also woods and stones. These individuals were very adamant, they did not want to hear anything about Jesus or the Cross, they are okay with the worshipping the Moon and Sun that God Almighty has created.
In India, the Hindus worship rats, monkeys, elephants, snakes, caved images, stones, wood and much more because of the veil on their hearts. Most educated men before going off to work would wait for the cows to pass urine so they could wash their faces.
Question:
Do we give up on these people? No.
We must love them and persevere. My prayer is the veil on their hearts will be taken off by Jesus, that they can see the Light, the Light of the world. (Jesus).
It is just like the individuals in Lystra, who had not seen the Light, (They dwelt in darkness) so when Apostle Paul performed miracles, the people said the gods have come in a human form. But Paul tore his clothes and preached the gospel again to them.
“In Lystra there sat a man who was lame, he had been that way from birth and had never walked. He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed and called out, “Stand up on your feet!” At that, the man jumped up and began to walk.
When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in human form!” Barnabas, they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker. The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them.
When the Apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting: “Friends, why are you doing this? We too are only human, like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them. In the past, He let all nations go their own way. (Humans did what they pleased) Yet He has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; He provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.” Even with these words, they had difficulty keeping the crowd from sacrificing to them.” (Acts 14:8-18) (NIV).
God has also given us, air to bread, water to drink and bath. How awesome is our God, the only True Living God, who living things and non-living things obey, even the clouds obey His command, who commanded the fish to swallow Jonah and vomited him out at the seashore of Nineveh. Hallelujah!
What is difficult for our God? Nothing. His hands broke the depts of the sea, He stretched the clouds like a curtain, and commanded the winds to be in the treasury. What a Mighty God we serve. Amen!