I love stories from the mission field. I came across this one while visiting the church webpage of a friend in Ohio. The attribution was to Robert Gary Lee of Maryland and I found another attribution to Murray Moerman, a church planter in Canada. This kind of illustration really brings out the power of prayer. When I used it I noticed some quizzical looks - did this really happen? I think so, but it cries out for more details. What is the missionary's name? What church is it in Michigan? What African nation did it occur in? What year? To a congregation, these are not frivolous questions when they are given a powerful story like this. Can anyone fill in the details?
UPDATE! (June 16, 2003) Cathy Holden of "Truth Miners" sent me information that is the probable source of this illustration, and it appears to be historical, though transmuted. Her site gives this information:
According to Judith Bernicchi, Librarian with the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, this story appears in a book titled "Touch the World Through Prayer" by Wesley Duewel (1986). The book refers to an incident during the Mau Mau uprising. Mr. Duewel was President of the Oriental Missionary Society (OMS). Ms. Bernicchi says, "It is easy to see how the source of this story could be heard to be OMF not OMS, particularly if the story was told in a sermon. In this version, the number of guards is 16, not 26, but we are fairly sure that it is the source of the story currently circulating." [http://truthminers.com/truth/26_armed_guards.htm]
Here is the original email version:
A missionary on furlough told of this experience while visiting his home church in Michigan.
While serving at a small field hospital in Africa, every two weeks I traveled by bicycle through the jungle to a nearby city for supplies. This was a journey of two days and required camping overnight at the halfway point. On one of these journeys, I arrived in the city where I planned to collect money from a bank, purchase medicine and supplies, and then begin my two-day journey back to the field hospital. Upon arrival in the city, I observed two men fighting; one of whom had been seriously injured. I treated him for his injuries and at the same time witnessed to him of the Lord Jesus Christ. I then traveled two days, camping overnight, and arrived home without incident.
Two weeks later I repeated my journey. Upon arriving in the city, I was approached by the young man I had treated. He told me that he had known carried money and medicines. He said, "Some friends and I followed you into the jungle, knowing you would camp overnight. We planned to kill you and take your money and drugs. But just as we were about to move into your camp, we saw that 26 armed guards surrounded you.
"At this I laughed and said that I was certainly all alone out in that jungle campsite. The young man pressed the point, however, and said, "No sir, I was not the only person to see the guards. My five friends also saw them, and we all counted them. It was because of those guards that we were afraid and left you alone."
At this point in the sermon, one of the men in the congregation jumped to his feet and interrupted the missionary and asked if he could tell him the exact day that this happened. The missionary told the congregation the date, and the man who interrupted told him this story:
"On the night of your incident in Africa, it was morning here and I was preparing to go play golf. I was about to putt when I felt the urge to pray for you. In fact, the urging of the Lord was so strong; I called men in this church to meet with me here in the sanctuary to pray for you. Would all of those men who met with me on that day stand up?" The men who had met together that day stood up. The missionary wasn't concerned with who they were -- he was too busy counting how many men he saw. There were 26.   [Kerux Database, HolwickID #19043]
FURTHER UPDATE (July 7, 2007)Â Â I received this email from Africa:
Dear Pastor Holwick,
I can remember attending a church many years ago where a missionary told us the exact same story that you have documented here. The details are exactly as I remember them except that the guards were men in white. The speaker was the actual person with whom it happened. My recollection of the number of men is 26.
It was many years ago and was likely have been about 1986. I cannot remember his name. At that stage I was attending the "Hatfield Baptist Church" in Pretoria, South Africa.
As far as I am concerned, this story is true.
Yours in Christ,
Johan van Reenen
South Africa
