The cry of death cut
through the cool air of morning, spreading through the jungle huts and
across the rice terraces. In a remote mountain tribe of the Philippines a
hard working man, husband and father of nine had just died. Through the
heartwrenching death cries of the man’s family and tribal members, one
thought dominated my mind: did this man, in the far mountains of the
Philippines, know the Lord Jesus? Or did we come one day too late to share
the Good News of Eternal Life through Jesus Christ?
How, then, can they call
on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of
whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching
to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written,
“How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” -Romans 10:14-15
June
19, 2004 – As the morning sun warmed the air over the mountain rice terraces
of the But-But tribe, we, a mixture of Canadian, American, and Philippine
missionaries, began to transform the one room local church into a medical
clinic. We were in Northern Luzon, Philippines working with an organization
called Mercy In Action which is connected to the Vineyard Association of
Churches. Our job that day was to share the love of Christ though the much
needed avenue of medicine and prenatal care.
Just before we opened
the clinic, a local villager arrived to ask if someone could do a house call
as a man was too sick to walk. Mike, a Canadian MD graduate, and myself
were chosen to go and see what we could do for this man. As we neared the
man’s house, which was a wooden hut raised off the ground about five feet,
we hear the sounds of mourning. Rushing up the steps we discovered that the
man was not breathing and had no pulse. Yelling at me to go get Dr. Tim,
the other doctor on our team, Mike began to perform CPR.
Racing at top speed
through the maze of huts, I rushed into the now full clinic yelling for Dr.
Tim and Cathee, our Philippine leader, to come quickly. Upon reaching the
house again, Dr. Tim climbed up and began to help Mike perform CPR. As they
did so, the chanting and crying of the village women began to intensify.
Praying with my whole heart, I cried out to the Lord, “God, save this man!
Heal his body completely so that everyone may know that you are Lord.”
He died.
There was nothing we
could do. The man, most likely in his fifties, had died of a stroke or heart
attack before we arrived. All we could do now was help comfort the man’s
wife, nine children and other relatives.
It was in the moments
after the man was pronounced dead that the thoughts of his eternal destiny
cut across my heart: did he know Jesus Christ? Did we come a day too late to
share the Gospel Message? What will happen to his family? Will they ever
come to know the Lord?
The heartbreaking cry
of mourning continued to slice the morning air as my heart poured out for
these people: “Oh God, may Your hand reach down and bring this man back to
life! I know you can…I know Your Word says to pray for the sick, that we
can raise the dead for Your Glory. Oh Lord do a miracle today so that all
these people will come to know you.” (James 5:14-15; Mark 16:18; Matthew
1:8)
However, God in His
infinite wisdom chose not to raise this man from the dead that day. Instead
assured me through Cathee, who has been ministering in this village for many
years, that this man had heard the Gospel preached. In fact, several of his
children had accepted Jesus into their hearts. Now, where is this man
today? I don’t know….I don’t know if he ever committed his life to Christ
or if he rejected the Good News of Grace.
I do know one thing –
he heard. Yet, how many others have not? How many will die without ever
having the chance to choose life or death? “How beautiful on the mountains
are the feet of those who bring good news…who proclaim salvation…” -Isaiah
52:7
We must go, we must
send, we must preach – we must all share the Good News of Jesus Christ to a
dying world. We MUST break out of our comfort zones and ‘proclaim
salvation’ to everyone we meet – whether on the mission field or in our home
towns.
Yet, what about those
left behind to raise their voices in cries of mourning? What about the wife
and nine children of the man who died? How will they eat? Who will help
raise the younger children? Who will teach the kids to walk in a world of
adults? “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good
news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings…who say to Zion, ‘Your God
reigns!’” - Isaiah 52:7
We can’t do everything
for everyone. I can’t raise those children; I can’t even help put food on
the table. But I know someone who can: Jesus Christ.
Not only must we
‘proclaim salvation’, but also ‘good tidings’ of the hope we have in
Christ. Cathee told me afterwards that a lot of the mourning chants where
filled with stories about the man’s life and about the grief the mourners
felt now that he was gone. They need the hope of the Lord – the hope that
there is a heaven, the hope that life will go on, and the hope that Christ
will be there to carry them through the darkest of times.
Coming back from the
Philippines, I have thought of this day many times. The death chants of the
mourners have echoed through my mind – bringing tears to my eyes as I think
of the hopeless sound. As I look to the future, I don’t know what God has
for my life or where He will take me. But maybe I will be able to share the
hope of Christ with someone along the way. Not just the salvation message,
but whole story – the story of how Jesus cares about all areas of our lives:
present and eternal.
The words of Joshua 1:9
comes to mind as I write, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and
courageous, for the Lord your God will be with your wherever you go.” He
will be with me wherever I go. That is the hope I want to share to this
world, the hope that someone cares, that someone loves them – and with that
hope, the peace that surpasses all understanding.
Joshua S. Hopping
July 12, 2004
