Joanne Shetler, a dedicated missionary, spent years living among the Balangao people in the Philippines. Her mission was to translate the Bible into their language and share the good news of the Savior. However, progress was slow.
One day, Ama, a man who had adopted Joanne as his Balangao daughter, picked up an English New Testament from her desk. He opened it to the genealogy section on page one of the book of Matthew and stared at it. Ama could read enough English to realize what he was seeing. Amazed, he asked Joanne, “You mean this has a genealogy in it?”
Joanne replied, “Yes, but just skip over that part so you can get to the good part.”
However, Ama’s eyes remained riveted to the page. “You mean this is true?” he asked, as he struggled through the list of names. Joanne took a piece of shelf paper and wrote down the genealogy from Adam to Jesus, from the ceiling down to the floor. Ama carried it all over the village, explaining, “We always thought it was the rock and the banana plant that gave birth to people. But we don’t have their names written down. Look, here are all the names—written down!”
The Balangaos were captivated by Matthew’s written genealogy. It provided tangible evidence that the Bible was true. Ama himself came to believe in Christ as his Savior. He became an enthusiastic evangelist, church leader, and Bible translator. When the Balangao New Testament was finally dedicated, Ama received the very first copy1.
This powerful story illustrates how the truth of God’s Word can transform lives, even through Scriptures that most of us in the Church do not pay much attention to, but they are still the inerrant, infallible, incredible WORD OF GOD!
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