Imagine holding the cure for a deadly disease in your hands … and not being allowed to administer it.
That’s the position Dave and Melissa Williamson found themselves in.
They were called to the home of a little boy – about 3 years old – who was unconscious and breathing rapidly. Melissa checked his vital signs and found he had a temperature of more than 106 degrees. She began bathing him in cool water and giving him medicine to bring his fever down, while administering rehydration fluids. Dave tested his blood and found he had a very dangerous form of malaria.
Once they had his fever back down to 101, they gave him some antimalarial medication. They let the family take over bathing him and rehydrating him, and left for a couple of hours.
But when they returned, they found the rehydration fluid sitting unused. The boy had not been bathed, and his fever was back over 103. After they again instructed the family, the boy’s father took them aside.
This man, the most powerful witchdoctor in the village, said, “Now we will do our sorcery. We are scared.”
The remedy involved a pig leg bone with a vine tied around it being stuck in the floor of the house just below the boy. The man then took a piece of bark, chewed it, and began spitting on the boy. Several times he did this.
“Everyone in the house was hopeful that these incantations would appease the spirits that are making him sick,” Melissa wrote. “We just sat there praying.”
When the Williamsons came back later in the evening, more rituals were under way and the couple was not allowed near the boy.
“They basically told us that they have it all under control and that we didn’t need to come in anymore,” Melissa wrote.
Certainly, missionaries can and should provide material help to people. But that cannot be the focus, because that’s not the problem.
Because missionaries live in his village, this little boy has access to medical treatment for malaria. But his family’s beliefs are keeping medicine from him.
The problem is spiritual. The problem is a belief system that keeps the Arimtaps in bondage and fear.
Pray for the boy’s recovery. But please also pray that soon, the Williamsons and their co-workers are capable of clearly sharing God’s message of life and hope and freedom with the Arimtap people.
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