For three years, John Chau, a 27 year old missionary has planned everything needed to be able to do missions on a remote Island called North Sentinel in Indian Ocean. As soon as his feet reached the island, arrows were shot in his direction. He kept walking. His neck was eventually tied for the tribe to drag his dead body away.
Look at how Daily Mail reported the incident:
There is something definitely wrong about that headline on reducing missions work to mere conversion to religion. However, the comments are harder to swallow.
Implying that the action the missionary took was so wrong and the death was a consequence.
The missionary should have not been there and the tribe was right to put him to death.
Here are more:
If he was not there, he could have avoided death.
Self-explanatory.
"For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith."-1 John 5:4.
This man of God, just like everyone who has responded to the calling of cross-cultural missions is a child of God. While it appears to the rest of the world that his death is a result of foolishness, it is not a defeat. The verse above shows that victory is through faith.
When faith is present, what happens next fails in comparison.
This was an attitude Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego showed when they were taking a stand of refusing to bow down to a golden statue. They knew the risk. Their faith was that God can definitely save them. EVEN IF HE DOESN'T, obedience to Him is much more important.
The three friends were not consumed by the fiery furnace. This missionary got killed. Faith counts more than life itself. Nevertheless, both are victorious.
From what has been a pattern in the Bible, life or death after a bold step of faith differs depending on God's purpose. In the Book of Acts, James was killed and Peter was miraculously freed.
God has full control of death. There is no such thing as a hurried one. There are no accidents in Him. Whether a believer lives or dies, God has a purpose in mind.
Jim Elliot, for example, has always hoped to serve God through missions. Without much 'sharing' of the Word happening, he was killed by a spear along with his other four friends by an isolated Indian tribe called Aucas.
I've known him and what happened through the book of his wife. Even so, it is just today that I googled what happened after his death. What I found out amazed me.
His wife and daughter, as well as the sister of his co-missionary moved to Aucas. Many of the Aucas has become Christians! Jim and Elisabeth may have had a short run on their long-awaited romance but even in the death of one, they were still a team God used for the salvation of this tribe.
Read the full story here: Jim Elliot: Story and Legacy
Our faith and obedience can be so huge it can be out of this world. It can also be the very thing that will cause us to be out it. Despite that risk, living out what we believe in pleases God. When God is pleased, victory happens either in your lifetime or after.
Disclaimer: I am not condemning people who posted the comments above. I understand that they are coming from a different point of view and that they are entitled to their opinion. The purpose of sharing the screenshots here are to provide a contrast of how they see the situation vis-à-vis what God's word says about it.
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