In the spring of 1928, I made an extensive trip up the Logone River to Ham, Djouman, Ere and Kim. From Ere, I crossed over the low swampy country to the west, and arrived on the other side of the village of Kolong in the Kelo district.
Here lived a big African chief who called himself the King of the Banana. (The name has no relation to the banana plant, but this tribe was known to outsiders and foreigners as ‘banana’. This was because of their greetings. Whenever they met, they greeted with the word ‘banana’ which means ‘my friend’.) This chief prided himself by having a large lion in a den which he fed one goat every day.
When we brought the gospel to those people, the chiefs of lesser rank opposed the gospel because they knew they couldn’t keep on subduing and oppressing their people as they had done before. So they brought their complaint before the head chief saying that the Christians would not obey them and pay taxes. Consequently the chief put the Christians in a form of prison and they were persecuted.
When a preacher from America visited our field in Africa, I took him up to this place. There must have been more than twenty prisoners at this time. I pleaded to the chief, of course, and he released some of the Christians. But in time, he put others in prison again. This continued until the Christians finally fled across the river into another district. Here many of these groups of Christians settled down and today make up the bulk of God’s people in that district.
This we may compare with the persecution of the church in Jerusalem when people fled to Samaria and other places; and the gospel spread as never before. Not only in the case of the church of Jerusalem is this true but the whole of church history tells about the spreading of the gospel because of persecution.
We have continually tried to tell this to the national Christians, and they have been willing to suffer for Christ’s name in order that the gospel might go out to others. Persecution of the Christians has never stopped the spreading of the gospel. Many countries have been evangelized through the persecution of Christians in those localities.
The past year or so, I’ve become intrigued by the number of paradoxes that exist. I even started a list many months ago to begin keeping track of them. (But I didn’t keep track very well and am not sure where that list is... Nevertheless, I continue to notice them, and it seems my list would be pretty long by now.) The African Christians in 1928 were part of a paradox. For as they were persecuted and stopped from sharing the good news about life in Christ, the result was that the good news spread. It’s a reminder that when God’s Spirit works in hearts, and His Word is shared, not only can persecution not stop it, but it will likely advance it!
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