Musings of a Guyana Traveler

I write this article from sunny, extremely humid, and very hot Over Winning Village in Berbice Region, Guyana, South America! Yes, by miracles, the missionaries DO have e-mail. Granted, it is a bit crude and certainly slower than what I have grown accustomed to, but it gets the job done.

On the airplane from Miami, I spent some time chatting with a business man. For work he is an importer/exporter of engine parts for heavy duty trucks and heavy equipment. He inherited this business from his father. By Guyanese standards, he is quite wealthy. On top of this, he has begun to dabble in mining for gold in the rain forest interior and is apparently just beginning to see that “pay off for himself.” This man is quite proud of his accomplishments and fancies himself a tremendous success. His spiritual background is eclectic to say the least. His mother is a Muslim, his father is a Hindu, and his wife is a Christian. He is a “nothing,” he proudly proclaimed to me. As he sees it, if all his relatives are busy praying to a God by way of three separate religions, then He must be quite confused or not really that important. After all, I am successful without God, why do I need to both with him?

There is not a question in my mind, that even though the cultural differences in this man are significant from the typical American businessman, his spiritual condition is identical… LOST!! Whether we are sinners by way of religion, or by way of supposed atheism, or by way of wanton paganism, we ARE all sinners. There is no way around it!

I asked this man if he felt he had any need to have his sins forgiven. He said, “Why do I need my sins forgiven?” From his perspective, there are no consequences for sin. Sounds pretty “American” doesn’t it? That is, at least, what I thought.

Do the following Scriptures drive home the point?

Romans 3:10

as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;

Romans 3:23

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Jeremiah 17:9

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

IN NEED… DEEP NEED!!!! That is the only conclusion we can come to when contemplating mankind and his eternal destiny. You see, we don’t just die and turn into worm food. Our sin DOES have an impact on us… literally for all of eternity!

Our message is not intentionally doom and gloom and certainly NOT the whole of the message!!! It IS, however where the message begins for fallen man. We cannot be saved, if in our feeble sin impaired desperate little minds, we don’t need to be saved!!!!