Our Ayoré forefathers feared Dupade
Yocai ayoré, jnani bajade, ore todo Dupade Ecarai
Ecarai talks with Dupade:
I am asking, Dupade, that we will listen to your Words. But our Ayoré forefathers were afraid of you because they knew you were powerful, Yoque Dupade, but here I am talking to you right now. I’m very thankful that we after children know that you want us. Therefore, I can talk to you and ask you to help us right now this morning as we listen to your words, Yoque Dupade. I’m so glad that our countrymen are with don Jaime, and that they listen very well to Jaime’s teaching, Yoque Dupade. And now they know that you are merciful, Yoque Dupade. Therefore, I pray that you will really help them, watch over them, and give them strength. Give them your power so that they can be healthy every day, Yoque Dupade. And, I pray for me right now, Yoque Dupade, that you will take care of me when I return to our village. Yoque Dupade, I pray for all these things, knowing that you are the one that created everything – the food that we eat so that we can work for you and do the things you ask us to do, Dupade. I ask you for all these things in the name of your Son Jesus. Amen.
John the Baptist said: “Change your thoughts.” (Matthew 3:2)
I want to tell you about what John the Baptist said to us people in the world. He said: “Change the way you think.” John was quoting another Teller of God’s Word that wrote his words down in a book long before Dupade’s Son Jesus was born into this world.
Jaime brought you out of the jungle so that you could hear Dupade’s Words.
You have probably already heard don Jaime’s teaching about Jesus being Dupade’s Son, and saying to his countrymen: “Why don’t you examine your former ways?” This is what he asked them. “Examine your former ways and listen to what Dupade’s Words say about them, and then you will refuse to do those things anymore,” Jesus said to them.
And that is how it should be today with those of us who have Dupade’s Words. We who Jaime has placed with the Cojñone so that we can hear Dupade’s Words, we stop doing the things we used to do. It’s the same in Tobité where I teach the Ayoréos about Dupade’s Words. I tell them: “It was the missionaries among the Cojñone who took us from the people when we were still naked long ago.” But afterwards we started wearing clothing as we understood more about Dupade’s ways, and we wanted to do the things he said to do. We started serving Dupade and following the things he asked us to do. When our fellow Ayoréos do not have anything, we have compassion on them and gave him things. And we listen to what Dupade tells us about what Jesus said to his countrymen. He said: “Stop your first way of doing thing,” he said, “And do what Dupade tells you to do. That’s because I, Dupade’s Son, am coming, and I will punish this earth,” that’s what he told them.
Dupade’s Son came to earth to tell us his Father’s Words:
But what one of the first men named Isaiah wrote about was not Dupade’s punishment. This is what he wrote: “Dupade’s Son will arrive. He has a Son,” he said. And this happened, as predicted, about Jesus coming to earth. You have already heard about it because don Jaime has told you about it. He told you how Dupade’s power filled a young woman, and Dupade’s Son was inside her. She was pregnant, that young woman. And when he fell, as was predicted, he told the things his Father’s said to the people on earth. And that is why I’m telling you about this, so that you will be aware of this, and join us who want to do the things that Dupade tells us to do, for Dupade tells us about love and that we should love one another, and love others all over the world. He tells us not to have anything to do with getting angry. I know that we Ayoréos had a type of love for others in the jungle where we once lived, but that wasn’t quite the same as Dupade’s love. It’s because of Dupade’s love for us that we Ayoréos respond to it and desire to do what Dupade tells us to do; he wants us to be thankful for all the things he does for us. And therefore, I wanted to tell you the reason that don Jaime brought you to the Cojñone, it was so that in you would listen to their teaching. They will teach you how to read and when a person learns to read he will be able to read books, and he will know what they say, the words in the books, and then that person can teach his own countrymen.
I know that there is no person anywhere who learns things without being taught. Take sárode, for instance. Have you ever heard of anyone learning sárode on his own? Of course not. The men who know our medicine, they teach others about it, and then those people teach others, also. It’s in this way that don Jaime teaches you about Dupade’s Words, and if someone really listens he will know Dupade’s Words because he had a teacher.
Dupade says: “Listen to my Son and I will treat you like I treat my Son.”
And this is how it is when someone doesn’t know something. If he doesn’t know sárode. But if he has a teacher to show him all about sárode, then he will know about it. And when he knows about it, he’ll try to use it. And that is the way it is. If someone tries to use Dupade’s Words, that person will be happy with Dupade’s Words for Dupade will help that person and give him wisdom. And no longer will he keep quiet about things. You can see what Dupade said in his Word to the men who were our forefathers: “Listen,” he told them. “Listen to my Son. Listen to my prophets,” he said about those servants of his among the men who lived long ago who wrote down his Words. “Listen to my servants,” he told these countrymen long ago, “and I will treat you very well.”
Dupade punished those who refused to do what his Word told them to do:
You have heard from don Jaime’s lips how that long-ago people refused to do what Dupade told them to do, and Dupade punished them. He punished them and sent a flood to finish them off and only three on the other hand were saved because they believed in Dupade.
And this was what Dupade said about John the Baptist. John the Baptist said: “Change the way you think and then Dupade will help you.”
And it is true that Dupade hated the ways of the first men. He hated their sin. He hated that they were always fighting each other. He hated that they were always getting drunk. And that is why he punished them. And he spoke to our forefather of long ago whose name was Noah, the one who made the boat, and he said to him: “Make a boat and it will be for you and your children. You will go into it,” he said. “Because your countrymen, the Cojñone, did not listen to you, I am going to punish them,” Dupade said.
But you have already heard about Noah and how he made a boat because he believed in Dupade, and he did not doubt what Dupade said about building a boat, because he feared the punishment that Dupade said was coming. If Noah had not made the boat, Noah would have perished along with Dupade’s haters who wouldn’t listen to his Words. But Noah did believe Dupade and he made the boat. The day came, as it was predicted, when the flood came, and Dupade sent Noah, his wife, his sons, and their wives inside the boat and they entered it and lived through the punishment that Dupade sent to the world. Therefore, this is what happens when people will not listen to Dupade Words from our mouths, for one day Dupade will take us away, and it will be like when he saved Noah and his family from the punishment when he grew tired of the deaf ears of Noah’s countrymen, and sent the flood upon them to punish them.
But Dupade is going to punish this earth also when he gets fed up with the sin of the Ayoréos and the Cojñone, when we do not any long obey Dupade’s instructions and do not listen to the things he tells us.
And so it is good for us to open our ears to Dupade’s Words, and to trust Dupade for what we hear in his Word. We read that Dupade punished the men of old and sent rain down upon them. He brought springs of water from the ground and water poured out of the earth. They were in anguish, but in vain they called upon Noah for help, asking him to open the boat and let them in. But Noah said to them: “I would open it up for you, but I can’t. Dupade has shut us in. There is no way I can open it.”
They screamed, but in vain, in the hands of the flood. And it will be like this when Dupade comes back to earth again. Some of us, some of our countrymen, the Cojñone in vain will scream and cry in the hands of Dupade’s punishment when he punishes the world.
The people of Noah’s time made fun of the boat he was making. They said, “Of all things! Noah is making a boat. Has it even rained? He’s making the boat for nothing.”
But they didn’t observe the sky when Dupade sent his servant Noah into the boat that he made. Noah had told his countrymen to stop doing ugly things, for if they would stop their ugly ways then Dupade would not bring trouble upon them. Dupade would not punish them if the things they did were acceptable to him. But things went ahead as planned for Noah and he kept telling them Dupade’s Words and saying to them: “Stop your ugly ways,” he said. “If you don’t, Dupade is going to punish us, if we don’t stop what we’re doing.”
It’s the same today, both Cojñone and Ayoréode make fun of Dupade’s Words:
It’s even worse how they are making fun of Dupade now. Just like back then, the Cojñone in the world, and the Ayoréos in the world, they’re all laughing about Dupade’s Words. They say things about it: “The preachers of Dupade’s Words are just making it up.” But they aren’t just making it up. We’re telling the truth, and the men today are just like the those who lived long ago, and only when Dupade starts punishing them will they start looking for Dupade and believing in him. But there will be no more time left for Dupade to open the boat and let them in!
And just like it was then, the Ayoréos and the Cojñone they will all want in vain to go with us, and they will say: “Jesus, wait for me, I want to go with you!”
But that isn’t in Dupade’s Word at all! Dupade’s Word says: “I’m speaking through the lips of my servants while there is still time to believe before I come back.” And it’s true that right now a person can still look for our teachings about Dupade’s ways and put his faith in Dupade before Dupade comes to punish the earth. (2 Peter 2:5)
So I beg you today to remember the words of John the Baptist when he said: “Change the way you think.” John the Baptist saw Jesus and said to those around him: “Look at that young man over there. He is the one who will die for the sins of people all over the earth. He is like the lamb our fathers sacrificed to Dupade for their sins. And Dupade himself is giving his Son to die for us.”
Therefore, let’s especially let Dupade’s Words speak to us which say: “Listen to my Son, and I will treat you as well as I treat him.”
That’s all.
Key:
Dupade – God
Yoque Dupade – Our God
After children – Descendants (lit. disi ejode)
God’s Words Teller – Prophet
Jaime – Refers to Hershel Dunn who contacted the Ayoréos near Rincón de Tigre
Dupade’s Son – God’s Son
Dupade’s Words – God’s Word, Bible
Cojñone – People not Ayoré
Ayoreos – Ayoré people
He fell – He was born
Sárode – Type of native medicine that includes chanting and blowing
Three on the other hand – Eight
Deaf eared – Disobedient
Open eared – Obedient
Ecarai – Rincón de Tigre – 1960.
Transcribed and translated by: Maxine Morarie.
