A few weeks back I finished the book Peace Child by Don Richardson. My initial thoughts -- what an encouragement in the gospel! This book built my faith and helped me step out of my western, privileged perspective of the world and the need for the gospel.

So here's the central thesis: Don is called by God to bring the gospel to a group of people in the New Guinea jungle who had never had interaction with the modern world. But there's a catch, the culture is based on cannabalism and betrayal. In other words, the heroes of this society are the ones who pretend to be the closest of friends with someone from a neighboring tribe only to betray that person to the point of a brutal and unexpected death. The community then eats the betrayed person reveling in the suprised reaction of the victim.

It takes a while but Don finally learns their language and begins to share the message of the gospel. Then something unexpected happens. When he gets to the point in the story of Judas' betrayal of Jesus the community begins to cheer loudly. They praise Judas for his role in the ultimate betrayal and view him as the hero of the story! Jesus, on the other hand, is the dupe who fell into the hands of Judas and is therefore the ultimate fool.

Obviously, this discourages Don and leads him to prayer, to ask the Lord how he can reach this group of people that seem to revel in evil and treachery. So how does the gospel reach in and grab the hearts of this community . . . I'll leave that question to you, when you pick up this book.