Six years ago, I worked for a private family foundation that gives away tens of millions of dollars annually to advance the Gospel.
This was one initiative I worked on 👇
Notice how the Guardian frames this as a bad thing from the get-go.
"...despite strict laws protecting Indigenous groups."
Protecting from what? Protecting them from the good news of Jesus Christ? 😂
Missionary groups are using audio devices in protected territories of the rainforest to attract and evangelise isolated or recently contacted Indigenous people in the Amazon. A joint investigation by the Guardian and Brazilian newspaper O Globo reveals that solar-powered devices reciting biblical messages in Portuguese and Spanish have appeared among members of the Korubo people in the Javari valley, near the Brazil-Peru border.
A decade ago, there was a lot of chatter and cross-pollination among ministries regarding these solar-powered Bibles. A significant amount of time, energy, and resources has gone into mass producing them - not to mention the gargantuan effort to create audio translations in local dialects. The project I worked on was, without being too specific, focused on the Indo-Pacific, but there were hundreds of such projects using these devices that were mobilizing at the same time.
Here's one video from just one ministry showing what the audio Bibles look like:
If you have not heard about these things, it's because you're focused on small subplots in human history, like the 2024 U.S. election, rather than the main narrative.
Drones have also been spotted by Brazilian state agents in charge of protecting the areas. The gadgets have raised concerns about illegal missionary activities, despite strict government measures designed to safeguard isolated Indigenous groups.
Live look at my brothers and sisters in Christ conducting "illegal missionary activities":
The devices the Guardian obtained were from In Touch Ministries, founded by Southern Baptist pastor Charles Stanley.
The first device uncovered, a yellow and grey mobile phone-sized unit, mysteriously appeared in a Korubo village in the Javari valley recently. The gadget, which recites the Bible and inspirational talks by an American Baptist, can do so indefinitely, even off-grid, thanks to a solar panel. Up to seven of the units were reported by local people, but photo and video evidence were obtained for just one. ...
A message on the device located by the Guardian states: 'Let's see what Paul says as he considers his own life in Philippians chapter 3, verse 4: "If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more".'
It's absolutely wild to me that a British newspaper is out here trying to get Christian missionaries arrested for sharing the Gospel. Imagine telling that to Hudson Taylor or any of the thousands of faithful British missionaries who gave their very lives to go to the most remote places on the planet and share the news of Jesus Christ with the world.
The Brazilian government does not permit proselytising in the Korubo's territory. Its policy, dating from 1987, stipulates that isolated groups must initiate any contact, a stance that made Brazil a pioneer in respecting Indigenous self-determination.
I swear, these post-modern secularists are really insufferable. Their only guidepost for humanity's progression seems to be Star Trek, where money will be abolished, the whole world will work for the communist good, and primitive people groups must remain primitive.
The state also strictly controls access, to protect the Korubo and other uncontacted peoples in the region from common diseases to which they have little or no immunity.
These missions groups know they need to be careful not to spread diseases. They also know that the only hope for life after death is Jesus Christ, and are compelled by their love for their fellow man to share that hope.
When Jesus said the "good news about the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, so that all nations will hear it; and then the end will come," and then commanded his disciples to baptize the nations and "obey everything I have commanded you," I don't recall Him saying, "But only if you follow local regulations and 21st-century immunology guidelines."
In fact, I expressly recall Him saying, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me."
In an interview with the Guardian, Seth Grey, In Touch Ministries' chief operating officer, confirmed that the organisation uses devices such as the Messenger and that 'it is built for functionality, solar-powered, with a flashlight'. 'Then they discover the content,' he said, adding that the device is loud enough for 20-person 'listening groups'.
Grey said he personally delivered 48 of the devices to the Wai Wai people in the Brazilian Amazon four years ago. They contained religious content in their language and Portuguese. The Wai Wai have engaged with US missionaries, who have contacted and proselytised among communities in the northern Amazon, for decades, according to anthropologist Catherine V Howard.
Imagine how proud men like Jim Elliot would be to see their pioneering missions legacy carried on in the Amazon. ✊
As a larger, public-facing ministry, In Touch denies breaking any laws. But the thing that the secular, liberal authoritarian types don't understand is that these devices are being produced and shared by hundreds of smaller, local ministries around the world. There are, after all, 3.56 BILLION people who have not yet heard the Gospel.
Government authorities can't stop the signal. Plenty of people have tried for thousands of years and all their efforts did was spread the Gospel even more.
Daniel Luís Dalberto, a federal prosecutor's office agent who monitors the rights of uncontacted and recently contacted peoples, said the key point to understanding the presence of missionaries is not how many there are in the territory, 'but rather the change in methods like those of the radios that are emerging now'.
'It's a stealthy, concealed, under the radar conversion,' he said. 'The method has become sophisticated and difficult, almost impossible to combat.'
The Apostle Peter was thrown into prison by the Jewish religious leaders for teaching the name of Jesus. He was freed from jail by an angel and commanded to keep sharing the news of Jesus' resurrection. When the Jewish leaders realized he had been freed, they hauled him and other disciples before a tribunal and "strictly charged" them to stop.
Peter's reply was the same one that Christians all over the world have said in the millennia since, often leading to their own imprisonments and executions:
"We must obey God rather than men."
P.S. Now check out our latest video 👇
