Paul’s teaching is hard to understand
Yique u yoquijõrai Pablo acajnaquei Oroné
Dupade’s Word in written form was given to teach people:
From that book, people have learned about Dupade, and then they have taught us. When don Pablo taught us, he told us about what Peter said about the Apostle Paul’s teaching. He said: “What Paul teaches is hard to understand.” (2 Peter 3:16-17)
Some of us think only of getting what we want:
Ecarai told about a man that said: ‘I know that there is a Dupade in heaven. And that He made everything, but I will believe in him later when I’m an old man; and I’m not an old man yet.’
Some of us Ayoreos are like that: we know there’s a Dupade in heaven, we know he exists, but our minds are on other things. We love those things more than Dupade, so we don’t pay attention to Dupade.
Another person says he knows what’s true, he knows Dupade exists, and he knows Dupade sees everything from heaven by his power, but he, too, loves other things more than Dupade. The things we crave and want to have preoccupy us so much that we don’t do the things that Dupade wants us to do, but instead, we do what he says not to do.
Dupade wrote his words for Moses:
I am always telling you about the commandments that Dupade wrote for Moses long ago on tablets of stone. He wrote these so that Moses could tell his people about the things he wanted them to do, and the things he did not want them to do.
Dupade does not want us to not consider other things as though they were Dupade. Not make idols nor images of men. He told us not to pray to idols. Dupade hates the other things men believe in. He says: “Don’t say anything ugly about me. Don’t make fun of me or belittle me. Don’t make light of my name.”
“Obey your mother and father.” These are what Dupade wrote and gave to Moses; they were written upon tablets of stone.
We know about these commandments today, but we don’t obey them. Here are some of the other commandments: “Don’t work on the seventh day. Don’t kill your fellow human beings.” Dupade really disapproves of doing these things.
“Carefully obey what your father and mother tell you to do,” he wrote. If we do not obey our fathers and mothers, we probably will not obey Dupade either, for Dupade is our Father. And if we are disobedient to Him, then we can’t follow Him.
“Don’t desire young women, or the wives of other men.” If a man wants to believe in Dupade, he mustn’t sleep with the women who come to him. And he should not lust after other women, and women should not lust after other men and other people’s mates, we shouldn’t lust after them. To do those things is ugly.
“Don’t be a liar,” Dupade says. “Don’t covet what other people have. Don’t steal from others.”
These are the words of Dupade, but when we do not believe in Dupade, we make light of them and don’t try to obey them. Instead of thinking about these things, we are preoccupied with doing other things, the very things that Dupade hates. We think about how to fulfill our lusts, doing the things that bring us pleasure. We seek after those things, and Dupade’s Word does not interest us.
And even if we try to obey Dupade’s Word, we are unable to do so without the help of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Paul tells us about this in the book of Romans. He says: (Romans 8:1-4)
We see from what Paul wrote that we cannot obey Dupade’s commandments on our own, but only by the power of the Lord Jesus. When we believe in him, it is not hard for us to obey Dupade.
Oroné illustrates his teaching with a man who had two sons:
There was a man with two sons, and the younger one asked for his portion of his father’s things. And he asked for money. He said: “Father, why don’t you give me some of your money, so I can go away and live in another land?”
His father gave it to him and his son left. He went to another land and after a long time his money was gone, and he was hungry. So, he said: “I had lots to eat in the past, so much that I would throw the left overs on the ground. Why don’t I go back to my Father and the others I left to come here?” That’s what the young man did.
It’s just like us, all of us Ayoreos and cojñone; we started out believing in Dupade, and then we left him, just like the prodigal son. We believed in Dupade but then stopped believing. We started doing our own thing and had nothing more to do with our heavenly Father. We abandoned him and went our own way. And then, the beauty of the Lord was no longer in us. And that is how we are. We’re just like that young man. We leave Dupade, and abandon him, and end up with nothing.
Just like that young man who left his father and ended up in a strange land, we end up the same way when we abandon our heavenly Father. But when the young man came to his senses he knew what to do. And if we find ourselves like him, miserable in a strange land, we need to come to our senses and return to our Father. And some of us need to remember how powerful Dupade is and we need to turn back and follow Dupade’s Word which will lead us back to Dupade. We need to repent of our ugly ways. Leave them behind, and return to Dupade, and trust in him to help us.
That’s how that young man felt about his father, and he went back to him. And his father saw him coming and ran to meet him. He just took off running toward him. He hugged him and kissed him. He kissed his son. But his son said: ‘My father, I’ve done ugly things. My ways have been sinful. I’ve been bad to you and I’ve been bad to Dupade. So, you mustn’t call me a son any longer. Consider me a servant.’ His father was so happy he wouldn’t let him say anything more.
And we’re exactly like him, thinking we are very bad. We also may have stopped reading Dupade’s Word, and it seemed like we even stopped believing in Dupade. But Dupade is like that young man’s father who said to his son: ‘You may have left me back then, but I’m asking you to once again believe in me.’ Whoever ignores Dupade’s Word, may turn back, and believe again, and again walk in faith with Dupade. Just like that young man’s father, Dupade will not refuse you – he’ll take you back.
Dupade is like that, I may turn from him, but when I come back and honor his Word, it will make him very happy. Just like the young man’s father was happy to have his son back again. He told his servants: ‘Hurry up, bring the good clothes, and put them on him. Put a ring on his finger. Put shoes on his feet.’ And then he told them: ‘Now go and find our fattest cow and kill it and prepare the meat. We’ll make the kind of feast we eat on Sundays for my son who was gone so long it was as though he was dead. Yes, it was as though he were dead, but is now alive and with us again.
Dupade is so good, but he loves us sinners and wants us:
The father loved his youngest son, but his older son hated him. The older son was in the field when his brother returned. As he was going home he heard his father and others celebrating. He heard music being played and he asked his father’s servant who had come out to meet him: ‘What is going on back in town?’
The servant said: ‘Why, your brother has returned. Since he came back they have been celebrating his return.’
Some of us are like those that rejoiced to see the young man returning. But the older son hated his younger brother. He had the wrong attitude for he hated him. But his father didn’t hate him.
And that is how Dupade is today, he doesn’t hate us. He wants everyone to believe in him– men, women, all of us. Remember that don Pablo taught us about this and said: “Don’t wait till you’re old, but quickly turn to Dupade and believe in Him.”
Someone might say: ‘Oh, I will quickly believe when I am a grown man or older, or maybe even next year.’ But he should ask himself: ‘But what if I die before then? There’s a possibility I could die before then. What if I die in my sins and go to the lake of fire?’
It’s good that I am alive today. And good if someone believes while he’s still alive. Some people really think they will believe next year. But who knows anything about next year? We can’t know whether we’ll die before the coming year. We don’t know if we’ll reach next year. Better to pay attention to what Dupade’s Word says right now.
Dupade is an awesome Dupade, but he loves us common people. He wants us. I don’t know how long I’ll live. I could die tomorrow while some of my fellow Ayoreos have no knowledge of Dupade’s Word. We need to tell our fellow Ayoreos about Jesus so that Dupade can save them also. I don’t know when I’ll die, none of us knows the day he will die. Only Dupade knows, for he knows all things.
Closing Prayer:
Dupade, help us. Oroné has told us about your Word and we’re all happy about it.As don Len and they leave, protect them on the train trip to their village. Help Chagaide and his son, and the others in Rincón to remember us in prayer. Yoqui-Dupade, you are always watching over us everywhere on earth. Help Iguijnamúiné and his people. Help the men who are having problems with their wives. But Dupade, speak to their hearts. Help Davidé and his people to pray for us also. Help Pajei and the others to return to their wives and to not wrong them, and that the women will look to you to help them with their husbands. Yoqui-Dupade, I pray for don Fernando also. Don Fernando has mistreated the people in his town. Yoqui-Dupade, help those who are mistreating their wives to stop their ugly ways. I pray to you for some of the women who are embarrassed to participate in meetings; watch over them and help them to stop being bashful and to pray for us also. I pray for Davidé, Eruidé and them, for it’s true that they never doubt your Word. I pray for the health of Ipeyai and his people, Yoqui-Dupade. You hear us when we pray because we do not doubt you. Because we do not doubt you, do not doubt us. We are truthful with you, Yoqui-Dupade. I pray again for the men in Rincón and ask that they will also pray for us. Amen.
Key:
Dupade – God
Yoqui-Dupade – Our God
Dupade’s Word – God’s Word
Ayoreos – People of the Ayoré tribe.
Cojñone – People not of the Ayoré tribe.
Oroné – Rincón de Tigre, Bolivia – 1970.
Transcribed and translated to English by: Maxine Morarie.
