BLOOD FLOWS IN THE BOMOKANDE

In November 1964, anarchy broke out in the Belgian Congo. Assemblies of God missionary J. W. Tucker knew he was at risk, but he stayed where God had placed him. One day, a mob attacked and killed him with sticks, clubs, fists, and broken bottles. They took his body, threw it in the back of a truck, drove a good distance, and then tossed his corpse to the crocodiles in the Bomokande River in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

J. W. Tucker had risked everything, yet he seemingly had nothing to show for it. But 30 years later, John Weidman, a close friend of Tucker’s, was in the country (by then known as Zaire) and learned how God used that missionary’s sacrifice.

The Bomokande River flows through the middle of the Mangbeto tribe, a people virtually without the gospel. During a time of civil war, the Mangbeto king became distressed with the violence and appealed to the central government in Kinshasa for help. The central government responded by sending a man called the Brigadier, a well-known policeman of strong stature and reputation who came from the region of Isiro. J. W. Tucker had won the Brigadier to the Lord just two months before he was killed.

The Brigadier determined to reach the Mangbetos with the gospel, the only way to peace. Being a relatively new Christian, he did his best to witness, but he was met with no response. Then one day he heard of a Mangbeto tradition that said: "If the blood of any man flows in the Bomokande River, you must listen to his message." This saying had been with the Mangbetos for as long as anyone could remember.

The Brigadier called for the king and all the village elders. They gathered in full assembly to hear his address. "Some time ago a man was killed, and his body was thrown into your Bomokande River," the Brigadier began. "The crocodiles in this river ate him up. His blood flowed in your river. But before he died, he left me a message.

"This message concerns God’s Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who came to this world to save people who were sinners. He died for the sins of the world; He died for my sins. I received this message, and it changed my life." As the Brigadier preached, the Spirit of God descended and people began to fall on their knees and cry out to the Lord. Many were converted that day.

And since that day, thousands of Mangbetos have come to Christ and dozens of churches have started, all because of a message from a man whose blood flowed in the Bomokande River. (George O. Wood, general secretary of the Assemblies of God)

When a seed dies, it produces many more seeds, and that’s why Jesus came. He came to die to produce the seed of eternal life in people, so they can turn around and bring more people to life in Christ.

(From a sermon by C. Philip Green, We Want To See Jesus, 4/14/2011)

Don't be afraid!

Did you know that in the United States, mountain lions are the number one predator of human beings? So says author and naturalist, Craig Childs. On one occasion, he was doing research on the lions in Arizona’s Blue Range Wilderness. As he approached a water hole from downwind, he spotted a mountain lion drinking water, but the lion did not know he was there. When it finished drinking, it walked slowly away into a cluster of junipers.

After a few minutes, Childs walked to the water hole to identify tracks in the mud and record notes. Just before he bent down to look closer, he scanned the perimeter, and there among the shadows of the junipers, 30 feet away, he saw a pair of eyes. He expected the lion to run away, but it walked into the sunlight toward him. Childs pulled his knife and stared into the eyes of the lion. He knew what he had to do. More importantly, he also knew what he must not do. He writes:

"Mountain lions are known to take down animals six, seven, and eight times their size. Their method: attack from behind, clamp onto the spine at the base of the prey’s skull, snap the spine. The top few vertebrae are the target, housing respiratory and motor skills that cease instantly when the cord is cut...Mountain lions have stalked people for miles. One woman survived an attack and escaped by foot on a road. The lion shortcut the road several miles farther and killed her from behind..."

About the incident in Arizona’s Blue Ranger Wilderness, Childs says, "I hold firm to my ground and do not even intimate that I will back off. If I run, it is certain. I will have a mountain lion all over me. If I give it my back, I will only briefly feel its weight on me against the ground. The canine teeth will open my vertebrae without breaking a single bone...

"The mountain lion begins to move to my left, and I turn, keeping my face on it, my knife at my right side. It paces to my right, trying to get around on my other side, to get behind me. I turn right, staring at it...My stare is about the only defense I have."

The amazing thing is Childs actually maintained that defense as the mountain lion continued to try to provoke him to run, turning left, then right, back and forth again and again, until it came to just ten feet away. Finally, the standoff ended. The lion turned and walked away – defeated by a man who knew what never to do in its presence.

The reward of Waiting!

ELLEN PETRAKIS 

Hi guys…this isn’t easy for me to get up here and speak in front of you. I am a kindergarten teacher and do much better speaking to 5 year olds then teenagers. But God impressed on my heart to tell you my story so here it is… I was about 14 years old, just starting high school, when I made the decision to save myself for marriage. Having grown up in church I knew that it was the right thing to do. I felt very strongly about waiting for my husband and even though all of my friends felt differently they always respected my decision. Even my guy friends respected how I felt, however they always tried to get me to change my mind As the years went by, I watched as my friends dated guys, slept with them and then broke up. I remember listening to my friend Pam as she cried her eyes out when she found out she was diagnosed with HPV, an incurable STD she got from a guy she hardly knew. I begged my best friend not to go through with her abortion when she got pregnant but she refused my help. I remember looking into my friend Rebecca’s eyes as she lay on a hospital bed at South Oaks recovering from her suicide attempt. She tried to kill herself b/c her boyfriend she gave her virginity to had broken up with her for another girl. It confirmed to me that I had made the right decision. These guys didn’t really care for these girls, mostly they just used them. It became “known” that I was a virgin and wasn’t one of those girls. I kinda liked that. It made me different from everyone else. And when people would ask me why, I would be able to tell them about my relationship with God and how he wants us to wait until marriage and how I wanted to do that for him. I would tell myself…until a guy is willing to get up in front of my family, his family and God and promise to love me forever, he didn’t deserve me. It was that simple. My mom always told me that I would be the one the guys would remember, not the 10 other girls he slept with. He would remember me b/c I wouldn’t sleep with him And I can tell you today that my mother was right. Years later when I ran into old boyfriends or even just my guy friends they would always say there was something different about you – you weren’t like the other girls. They may not have known it at the time but in a way they respected me and realized later on why. Well, high school came and went. I had boyfriends, some waited and respected my decision and some didn’t. College came and went, more boyfriends some waited, some didn’t. When I turned 25, I realized I had dated all these guys and not one was worthy, not one was the one that God had for me. I was so thankful that even though I may have wasted some time and went through a lot of heartache, I was faithful to God and did not give away my virginity. I was still waiting to give that gift to my husband. I promised God I would stop dating and just wait. Wait for the one he had for me. Well, about a year and half went by and I was still waiting. Now I was starting to get worried Here I am a 26 year old virgin Did I really wait all these years and now I’m still waiting? My patience was running out…I had read so many books on how to be single – I just couldn’t read one more book I would joke around with God and say when is he going to walk through those church doors? I can’t wait anymore Well, it was Sunday July 11, 2004 when this gorgeous guy comes walking through the church doors. As soon as I saw him I fell in love. The moment we met I just knew that he was the one. God had promised me that he would confirm it to me and he did. The very first time we hung out it was amazing. All the questions, all the doubts they just went away. I looked at this man in the eyes and I could say I waited for you You’re the one And to know that God was in it, that he had planned for this day to happen was incredible. I can tell you it is so amazing to give this gift to your husband. You loved him so much before you even knew him to save yourself just for him. I have some pictures to show you from our wedding that took place this summer. We were married on July 7th almost exactly 2 years after we met, in the Bahamas. Pastor Todd married us and this is the day that I waited for I have a prayer I would like to share with you. It is a prayer that helped me through my waiting period. When I met my husband, I showed him this prayer. He was so honored to see how much I loved him and how I prayed for him before we even met one another. I hope you guys make this your prayer tonight. “Lord God, your Word declares that if I delight myself in you—if I enjoy and seek your pleasure above mine—you’ll give me the desires of my heart (Psalm 37:4). Desiring a husband is neither evil nor selfish because marriage is honorable (Hebrews 13:4). At the beginning of creation, you proclaimed, "It is not good that man should be alone" and then you created Eve to be a suitable partner for Adam (Genesis 2:18). In the name of Jesus, I ask that you would protect the husband—a suitable partner—you have chosen for me. Because the covenant of marriage is sacred (Mark 10:9), I ask for a man of God. Please give me a husband whose love for me is only outmatched by his love for you; a man who will cherish me and build me up (Proverbs 31:28); a man who will honor me (I Peter 3:7) and our marriage vows; a man who will be a good father and provider; a man whom I will be attracted to physically, emotionally, and spiritually; a man who will love me as Christ loved the church (Ephesians 5:25). Keep me from attaching myself to another man out of desperation. I will not settle for a relationship that’s second best, convenient, or one that feeds my insecurities. Guard my purity and give me the patience to wait. And when I meet him, confirm to me that he is the one. Release from me the baggage of past relationships, and prepare me for the man You have chosen to be my husband. Free me from any hindrances to a healthy and godly marriage: insecurities, habitual sins, selfishness, and emotional hurts. Dispel my unrealistic expectations that set me up for disappointment. I place my trust in you rather than my partner. In this period of waiting, I will look to you alone to be my companion and best friend. You are the one who redeems my life from the pit, who crowns me with love and compassion, who satisfies my desires with good things (Psalm 103:4-5). I will not be anxious, but as I present my requests to you, flood me with the peace that surpasses all understanding so my heart and my mind are guarded in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:6,7). In this request, I commit myself to trust you and do good, to dwell in the land and feed on your faithfulness. I commit my way to you and trust that you will bring it to pass (Psalm 37:35). In your name, Amen.”

The result of Giving

In Ernest Gordon’s true account of life in a World War II Japanese prison camp, Through the Valley of the Kwai, there is a story that never fails to move me. It is about a man who through giving it all away literally transformed a whole camp of soldiers. The man’s name was Angus McGillivray. Angus was a Scottish prisoner in one of the camps filled with Americans, Australians, and Britons who had helped build the infamous Bridge over the River Kwai. The camp had become an ugly situation. A dog-eat-dog mentality had set in. Allies would literally steal from each other and cheat each other; men would sleep on their packs and yet have them stolen from under their heads. Survival was everything. The law of the jungle prevailed...until the news of Angus McGillivray’s death spread throughout the camp. Rumors spread in the wake of his death. No one could believe big Angus had succumbed. He was strong, one of those whom they had expected to be the last to die. Actually, it wasn’t the fact of his death that shocked the men, but the reason he died. Finally they pieced together the true story. The Argylls (Scottish soldiers) took their buddy system very seriously. Their buddy was called their “mucker,” and these Argylls believed that is was literally up to each of them to make sure their “mucker” survived. Angus’s mucker, though, was dying, and everyone had given up on him, everyone, of course, but Angus. He had made up his mind that his friend would not die. Someone had stolen his mucker’s blanket. So Angus gave him his own, telling his mucker that he had “just come across an extra one.” Likewise, every mealtime, Angus would get his rations and take them to his friend, stand over him and force him to eat them, again stating that he was able to get “extra food.” Angus was going to do anything and everything to see that his buddy got what he needed to recover. But as Angus’s mucker began to recover, Angus collapsed, slumped over, and died. The doctors discovered that he had died of starvation complicated by exhaustion. He had been giving of his own food and shelter. He had given everything he had -- even his very life. The ramifications of his acts of love and unselfishness had a startling impact on the compound. “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:12). As word circulated of the reason for Angus McGillivray’s death, the feel of the camp began to change. Suddenly, men began to focus on their mates, their friends, and humanity of living beyond survival, of giving oneself away. They began to pool their talents -- one was a violin maker, another an orchestra leader, another a cabinet maker, another a professor. Soon the camp had an orchestra full of homemade instruments and a church called the “Church Without Walls” that was so powerful, so compelling, that even the Japanese guards attended. The men began a university, a hospital, and a library system. The place was transformed; an all but smothered love revived, all because one man named Angus gave all he had for his friend. For many of those men this turnaround meant survival. What happened is an awesome illustration of the potential unleashed when one person actually gives it all away.

The Sacrifice

It was written by one of the students who witnessed this experiential sermon in a small Christian college, somewhere in the western United States. It happened during an introductory course in Christian theology. The professor who taught this course was named Dr. Christianson. Every student was required to take this course his or her freshman year, regardless of their major. Although Dr. Christianson tried hard to communicate the essence of the Gospel to his class, he found that most of his students looked upon the course as nothing but required drudgery. Despite his best efforts, most students refused to take the course, and subsequently, Christianity seriously. There was, however, one special student in his class. Steve had entered college with the intent of later going on to seminary to study for the ordained ministry, and so he took this course seriously. Steve was also popular among the student body. He was not only well liked, he was an imposing physical specimen. Even as a freshman, he was the starting center on the school football team. One day, Dr. Christianson asked Steve to remain after class in order to talk with him. Dr. Christianson then asked Steve, “How many push-ups can you do?” Steve responded, “I do about 200 every night.” “Well, that pretty good, Steve,” Dr. Christianson responded. Then he asked “Do you think you could do 300?” “I don’t know,” Steve answered. “I’ve never done 300 at a time.” “Can you do 300 in sets of 10? I have a class project in mind and I need you to do about 300 push-ups in sets of ten for this to work. Can you do it,” the professor asked. Steve said, “Well… I think I can… Yeah, I can do it.” Dr. Christianson said, “Good. I need you to do this on Friday. Let me explain what I have in mind.” Friday came and Steve got to class early and sat in the front of the room. When class started the professor pulled out a huge box of donuts. Now, these weren’t the normal kind of donuts. They were the extra fancy, BIG kind, with cream centers and frosting. Everyone in the class became excited. It was Friday, the last class of the day, and it looked as though they were going to get an early start on the weekend with a party in Dr. Christianson’s class. Dr. Christianson then went to the first girl in the first row and asked, “Cynthia, do you want to have one of these donuts?” “Yes,” she replied. Dr. Christianson then turned to Steve and asked, “Steve, would you do ten push-ups so that Cynthia can have a donut?” “Sure,” Steve said, as he jumped down to the floor in front of his desk and did a quick ten. Then he returned to his seat. Dr. Christianson then put a donut on Cynthia’s desk, and went to the next person in the row and asked, “Joe, would you like a donut?” Joe said “Yes.” And again, Dr. Christianson asked, “Steve, would you do ten push-ups so that Joe can have a donut?” And again, Steve hit the floor and did a quick ten. And so it went, down the first row of students. Steve did ten push-ups for every person before they got their donut. Then Dr. Christianson started down the second row, and came to Scott. Scott was on the basketball team, and an athlete in his own right. When Scott was asked if he wanted a donut, he responded by saying, “Well, can I do my own push-ups?” Dr. Christianson responded, “No. Steve has to do them.” Scott then said, “Then I don’t want one.” Dr. Christianson shrugged his shoulders, turned to Steve, and asked, “Steve, would you do ten push-ups so Scott can have a donut that he doesn’t want?” And in obedience, Steve started to do ten push-ups. Scott then said, “Hey, I said I didn’t want one.” Dr. Christianson retorted, “Look, this is my classroom, my class, and my donuts. Just leave it on the desk if you don’t want it.” And he put a donut on Scott’s desk. By this time, Steve had begun to slow down. He just stayed on the floor between sets, because it took too much effort to be getting up and down. You could start to see perspiration coming out around his brow. And as Dr. Christianson started down the third row, the students were beginning to get angry. “Jenny, do you want a donut?” he asked. And as sternly as she could, she said “No.” But again, Steve did ten for the donut that Jenny didn’t want. By now, a growing sense of uneasiness filled the room. The students were all beginning to say “No,” and there were all these uneaten donuts on the desks. Steve also had to really put forth a lot of extra effort to get his push-ups done for each donut. A small pool of sweat formed on the floor from beneath his face. The class could clearly see that his arms and brow were red from the physical effort involved. Dr. Christianson started down the fourth row. During his class, however, some other students from other classes had wandered in and sat on the steps along the side wall of the classroom. When the professor realized this, he did a quick count, and realized that there were now 35 students in the room. He began to worry if Steve would be able to make it, because it was taking him much longer to complete each set. When he came to the end of the last row, he asked Steve, “Do you think we should give a donut to these five, who are not members of our class? You realize that if we do, you will need to do ten push-ups for each one. Steve picked up his head, his arms now visibly shaking from exhaustion, and said, “Give them a donut. But do I have to touch my nose to the floor on each push-up?” Dr. Christianson thought for a moment and said, “Well, they’re your push-ups. You are in charge now. You can do them any way you want.” As Dr. Christianson went to those last few students, the tone in the voices had changed from defiance, and anger, to sadness and compassion – the next to last student very sadly uttering, “No, thank you.” Again, Dr. Christianson quietly asked “Steve, would you do ten push-ups so that Linda can have a donut she doesn’t want?” Grunting from the effort, Steve did ten, very slow push-ups for Linda. Then he stood before the last student, and asked, “Susan, do you want a donut?” With tears flowing down her face, she asked, “Dr. Christianson, why can’t I help him? Dr. Christianson responded, with tears of his own, “No, Steve has to do it alone. I have given him the task and he is in charge of seeing that everyone has an opportunity for a donut, whether they want it or not. When I decided to have this party, I looked at my grade book. Steve is the only one with a perfect grade. Everyone else has either failed a class, skipped a class, or offered me inferior work. Steve shared with me that in football practice, when a player messes up, he has to do push-ups. I then told Steve that none of you could come to my party unless he paid the consequences for you, by doing your push-ups. He and I made a deal for your sakes. Then he added, “Steve, would you do ten push-ups so Susan can have a donut?” As Steve very slowly finished his last push-up, his arms buckled beneath him, and he fell to the floor. Two students helped an exhausted Steve to a seat. Dr. Christianson then turned to his class and said, “My wish is that you might understand and fully comprehend all the riches of grace and mercy that have been given to you through the sacrifice of our Lord, Jesus the Christ, who gave himself up for us all. Whether or not we choose to accept his gift to us, the price has been paid. Wouldn’t it be foolish and ungrateful, to leave it lying on your desk?