Get the Point?
a crass reference to the movie "the end of the spear", the story of the auca indians. you can see some of the story here: http://www.endofthespear.com
in the mid 50's 5 missionary families went to equador to minister to this savage indian tribe. they were so savage that people abandoned thier real name (waodani) and called them "savage" (auca).
after several attempts at meeting with them (and if i'm not mistaken, several meetings) the indians killed the 5 male missionaries. now, in a sense, it wasn't unexpected...they were notorious for killing with absolutely no provocation...but, tell that to 5 grieving widows and at least a couple of fatherless children.
martyrdom. real and true...several books have been written about these men and they are GREAT reads. they were faithful in spite of fear...committed despite the danger. heroes for the ages, if you ask me. would i have done what they did?--i tell myself yes, but here i sit in vermont...sometimes afraid even to talk with someone about my faith...& i don't think the abenaki are of the same ilk as the aucas.
not to slight what these saints of God did, but more (and maybe greater) heroism comes after these men died.
after a time of grieving, 2 (i think) of the families returned to minister to these indians! risking their own lives to bring the gospel to an indian tribe that has already (all to clearly) demonstrated their willingness to kill just to kill...these women (against sage advice) took thier families back and shared the living gospel with the people who murdered their husbands...if i ever thought i might be a martyr, i don't imagine i could ever do that.
but the gospel takes root and the entire tribe goes thru a metamorphosos...changed from top to bottom, from the inside out! murders no longer take place...peace begins to reign. it is a miracle. in fact, the indian responsible for killing nate saint became a surrogate father to nate's son. amazing.
but the thing is, this indian always struggled with accepting steve saint's forgiveness. i have never read how he dealt with it...he didn't have a mirror, he had the face of the son of the man he murdered to remind him of his awful sin...
but he must, we must, read the Scripture that talks about God's great forgiveness!
Psalm 51; Ps 103; paul's conversion story in the books of Acts...
who is it that tells us we aren't forgiven? it's either the enemy (the father of lies) or our own flesh...and
when our heart condemns us, He is greater than our heart.
in the mid 50's 5 missionary families went to equador to minister to this savage indian tribe. they were so savage that people abandoned thier real name (waodani) and called them "savage" (auca).
after several attempts at meeting with them (and if i'm not mistaken, several meetings) the indians killed the 5 male missionaries. now, in a sense, it wasn't unexpected...they were notorious for killing with absolutely no provocation...but, tell that to 5 grieving widows and at least a couple of fatherless children.
martyrdom. real and true...several books have been written about these men and they are GREAT reads. they were faithful in spite of fear...committed despite the danger. heroes for the ages, if you ask me. would i have done what they did?--i tell myself yes, but here i sit in vermont...sometimes afraid even to talk with someone about my faith...& i don't think the abenaki are of the same ilk as the aucas.
not to slight what these saints of God did, but more (and maybe greater) heroism comes after these men died.
after a time of grieving, 2 (i think) of the families returned to minister to these indians! risking their own lives to bring the gospel to an indian tribe that has already (all to clearly) demonstrated their willingness to kill just to kill...these women (against sage advice) took thier families back and shared the living gospel with the people who murdered their husbands...if i ever thought i might be a martyr, i don't imagine i could ever do that.
but the gospel takes root and the entire tribe goes thru a metamorphosos...changed from top to bottom, from the inside out! murders no longer take place...peace begins to reign. it is a miracle. in fact, the indian responsible for killing nate saint became a surrogate father to nate's son. amazing.
but the thing is, this indian always struggled with accepting steve saint's forgiveness. i have never read how he dealt with it...he didn't have a mirror, he had the face of the son of the man he murdered to remind him of his awful sin...
but he must, we must, read the Scripture that talks about God's great forgiveness!
Psalm 51; Ps 103; paul's conversion story in the books of Acts...
who is it that tells us we aren't forgiven? it's either the enemy (the father of lies) or our own flesh...and
when our heart condemns us, He is greater than our heart.
posted by PMike. | 16:48
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