How Christianity changes the world
By Ada Brownell
The world has changed before my eyes during my lifetime.
I was a kid in the early 1940s when a visiting missionary stretched a snake skin over the church altar. The reptile skin was as wide as the mourner’s bench, and almost went from aisle to aisle in our little church in Fruita, Colo.
“That kind of snake hides in the trees in Africa,” my brother told me. “They drop, squeeze you to death and swallow you whole.”
The missionary showed a movie of almost-naked Africans that heard the gospel for the first time. I thought hearing about Jesus and His love was good, with them living with big snakes and all. Then my brother informed me some were cannibals.
The missionary also told how a witch doctor came to Jesus and the whole village accepted Christ, and danced with joy.
Then I read about Christian missionaries who took the gospel to remote Indian tribes in Ecuador during the 1950s.
After learning Spanish, Jim Elliot and his wife, Elisabeth, studied tropical diseases and how to treat medical problems in the jungle. Jim and Elisabeth also translated the New Testament into the Quechua language. They ministered to the Quechua Indians from their missionary station at the base of the Andes Mountains.
One day the pilot, Nate Saint, who flew in supplies, spotted Auca Indian houses. The five missionaries prayed for a way to reach Aucas with the gospel.
Saint found a beach where they could land. They prayed, traded gifts with the Indians, and Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Pete Fleming, Ed McCully, and Roger Youderian set up camp.
Three Aucas acted friendly, but on January 8, 1956, hostile Aucas speared the missionary men to death.
Yet, Elisabeth Elliot and her daughter Valerie, along with Rachel Saint (Nate Saint’s sister) went back and lived with the tribe. With the help of Dayuma, an Auca woman, Elisabeth created a written language and used it to translate the Bible. Now many Auca Indians are literate Christians.
Following Jesus has always been dangerous. In the 20th Century, Christians were among millions killed or starved by Communist dictators Mao (China), Stalin (Russia), Leopold (Belguim), Tojo (Japan), and the world has no idea how many thousands have been killed by Islamic radicals in the 21st Century.
Nevertheless, nations have been changed by Christians who teach what Jesus taught: “Love your neighbor as yourself; Do unto others as you’d have them do unto you; Love your enemies and do good unto those that despitefully use you.”
A 2011 Pew Research poll showed China now has an estimated 67 million Christians. Africa is the zone of Christianity’s greatest growth today, according to Crux, a Catholic publication. Africa is the world’s most populous Christian continent, with slightly more Christians than in North America. The Pew Forum projects that by 2050, sub-Saharan Africa will have 1.1 billion Christians, almost twice as many as its nearest rival, Islam.
Gospel light blazed from missionaries, but also evangelists such as Billy Graham. Christian organizations built hospitals, orphanages, schools, universities, and charitable agencies. Christians lift up the value of human life, equal human rights, compassion and mercy; education, marriage and family; and freedom.
My friends Ruth and Curtis Butler went to the Philippines to teach the gospel and stayed despite finding cobras in the kitchen. They weren’t harmed and served thirty-one years in missions.
Why take risks like deadly snakes to spread Christianity?
Because each person needs to know God loves him, will forgive sin, and gives eternal life. No one can be forced to believe and receive salvation. It’s a choice, but “how can they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?” (Romans 10:14).
Ada Brownell, a retired reporter for The Pueblo Chieftain, has nine published books and writes occasionally for Christian publications. Her blog: http://inkfromanearthenvessel.blogspot.com
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