A Deliverance Amidst Moslem Fanaticism
By W. A. S.
In regions where it is unrestrained by any cultured sentiment or civil order, superstitious fanaticism is a thing hard to deal with. There is no telling what the turn of a moment may bring. At Lystra it made the people ready one moment to worship the apostolic missionaries, and the next thing they were stoning Paul and dragging him out for dead. The missionary laboring alone amid such tinder-like elements feels indeed the need of the protecting hand of Providence. Speaking of these things the other day, Elder G. F. Jones, of our Malaysia mission,—now in America on furlough,—recounted an experience that brought to him anew a realizing sense of the delivering power of the living God in time of trial. Reports had come to Singapore of interest in the truth in the mountain districts of northern Sumatra, or Batakland. The mission committee asked Elder Jones to make a trip into the interior in order to investigate conditions. This is the story he told:—344 In May, 1908, I landed on the west coast of Sumatra, with Immanuel, our Batak student, and made arrangements for the journey by horse into the interior. Immanuel was to take one route and I another,—the more circuitous one,—in order to cover all the area possible in our trip. It was necessary to hire native ponies for the various stages of the journey, the owners accompanying on foot. Much of the way was through forest and jungle infested with wild elephants and tigers and large howling monkeys. The tigers often creep into the villages at night and carry off some human victim. The Mohammedans say, “It is God’s messenger of revenge for some evil done.” During the journey I often occupied the time telling the guides Bible stories, beginning with Eden, and explaining the fall of man, the working out of the plan of salvation, and the final restoration of man and the earth. They would ask many questions; and on reaching the villages they would relate these truths to the people, who in turn asked me many questions concerning Christ, and Mohammed, and the end of the world. The rajahs (chiefs) were friendly and hospitable; and finding that my diet was a restricted one like theirs, they preferred to class me more as one of themselves, different from Christians of their acquaintance. So I had many open doors among the Mohammedans, while they hailed me in every village as an alim, that is, in the Malay language, a “learned man of God.” I felt that to lose their confidence would be a misfortune. But an incident occurred which was a trial and a test. One day at noon, while we were resting and eating and the horse grazing, a large poisonous snake attacked and bit the horse through its mouth. The owner of the horse at once realized that the animal would die, as horses seldom live after such a bite from this snake. The man began to weep and moan for the loss of his means of gaining a livelihood. He condemned himself for listening to and following a man who was not a Mohammedan. The snake bite was looked upon as a sign of God’s anger against the man for allowing himself to be won over by a Christian. “Now God is punishing me,” he cried and wailed. It was an ugly crowd that gathered. The sentiment regarding my being an alim had suddenly changed. Some were running hither and thither for medicines to save the horse, which already was suffering the symptoms of the venom. I was feeling greatly distressed at this turn of affairs among a fanatical people, in a lonely country, and wondered what I would better do, when I remembered that the Lord, for his own honor, would in some way help me, and send deliverance in the trying situation. As I stood about ten yards from the excited and angry crowd, I prayed quietly, “O Lord, help me, and show me what to do.” Instantly the conviction came to me as to God’s will, and I immediately walked toward the crowd, and said, “The Lord will not let this horse die; for he hears my prayers.” Then I mounted the trembling horse and rode away at a trot, with the people staring after me in astonishment, and the guides meekly following to the end of the stage. The horse was healed, and the men returned to their homes; while I continued on my journey, praising the Lord for his loving care. “Did you ever hear any later report as to what the villagers thought of the incident of the bitten horse?” I asked Elder Jones. “Yes,” he replied. “I returned to the coast by another route, and so heard nothing on that trip. But three years afterward two or three men from that region called upon me at the Singapore Mission house. They said that their people had never forgotten the horse and snake incident, believing that surely an alim, or ‘man of God,’ had passed through their land.”