This event, recently recalled by a missionary’s daughter, took place many years ago: “To celebrate the coming of Christian missionaries to a region of Zaire, a day-long event was filled with speeches, testimonies and music.
“That rally is best remembered for the way it ended. A very old man came before the crowd and insisted he be allowed to speak. He said his death was imminent, and if he did not speak now the information he carried might never be known. He explained that when missionaries first came a century ago, his people did not trust them. They were unusual and had a strange message. The tribal leaders decided to test the missionaries by slowly boiling them to death. Over the months and years that followed, these tribesmen witnessed the fashion in which death and grief were handled by the missionary families. The old man said, ‘It was as we watched how they died that we decided that we wanted to live as Christians.’
“The story was unknown for a hundred years. Those who died painful, strange deaths were never certain why they were dying or what impact their lives would have. Through it all, though, they stayed and preached their strange message.” — Leith Anderson (“Preaching Today,” tape 126)
Follow this example of consistency to influence others, and you’ll have something to smile about yourself, and so will countless others.
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