A FOOL OR A MARTYR?

This past 17th of November, a 26 years old missionary, John A. Chau, was killed with bows and arrows by an isolated tribe in India that he was trying to reach to preach the Gospel. He had a call very similar to a young missionary I once met in Ywam Kona, just way more advanced, and sadly, without a team that would accompany him. 

Photograph: Indian Coast Guard/AFP/Getty Images - The Washington Post

He had trained himself for years learning about emergency medicine, studying linguistics and cultural anthropology to travel to remote North Sentinel Island to convert this tribe formed by 50 to 150 people into Christianity. The problem was that to contact the tribe's _in danger of extinction_ of Andaman was considered illegal due to the risks of visitors carrying external diseases. 

Fishermen from the area helped John by bringing him closer to the island. The last section was made by his own in a canoe. The authorities explained that the Islanders had lived isolated for almost 60,000 years and therefore had not developed an immune system to protect them from common diseases such as influenza or measles.

The activist group Survival International, which defends the rights of such communities, said that Chau could have passed germs "with the potential to kill the entire tribe".

The fishermen who helped John were arrested by the police after his death. They said to the BBC that John had previously been on the Sentinel Island North four or five times with the help of the local fishermen...

I read this news on the morning of 24th of Dic. I hadn't had the time before, but I was looking forward to knowing what had happened. While I was reading, and comparing different newspapers, comparing different perspectives and worldviews, I would hear a tiny voice inside of me saying, "this is all about Christmas, for this reason, I came. To give my life for those that don't know me. That blood that was shed from John Chau is not in vain, you will see."

I really don't want to give my opinion, I just want to share what I heard. And of course, like a mom + working in a missionary organization, I would rather promote teamwork to reach out even to the closest place. At least, two by two. Luke 10:1

It doesn't surprise me that John offended many people. That he is considered a fanatic, a fool an irresponsible. I'm looking forward to hearing more thoughts about this. I'm sure "together" we can think better, even though to choose to give your life for others is a personal choice and not grouped in reality. Salvation is similar.

"John loved people and he loved Jesus, he was willing to give his life to share Jesus with the people of North Sentinel Island," said Staver, the President of the Covenant Journey to the press.

“God, I don’t want to die,” he wrote shortly before he was killed. “WHO WILL TAKE MY PLACE IF I DO?”

[Read John Allen Chau’s journal entries]

https://cnnespanol.cnn.com/2018/11/25/misionero-estadounidense-asesinado-isla-remota-autoridades-india-recuperar/

https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-internacional-46298826

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/he-lost-his-mind-slain-missionary-john-allen-chau-planned-for-years-to-convert-remote-tribe/2018/11/27/eb13d7ad-4685-4748-951b-790d671f655d_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.1569ea13517b