Missionary killed by isolated tribal group

[MennoSota]

US society has changed greatly. I recall how people reacted when Jim Elliott, Nate Saint and two other missionaries were killed by a hostile tribe in the Amazon.
Today, this young missionary is being castigated for breaking the law and trying to share the love of God with an island tribe.
What do you think. God-lead act of a valiant missionary or foolish act of a mislead zealot?
https://www-m.cnn.com/2018/11/21/asia/andaman-nicobar-us-missionary-killed-intl/index.html

 

[NewCreation435]

I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, his zeal to tell others about Jesus is admirable. On the other, he broke the law by traveling there and in so doing put his life at risk and others who helped him and now the people who are trying to rescue his body from this tribe are at risk. This was apparently a group that was well known to be aggressive towards outsiders for whatever reason and had killed people before. So, I would think he had to know that he was putting himself in harms way

 

[MennoSota]

I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, his zeal to tell others about Jesus is admirable. On the other, he broke the law by traveling there and in so doing put his life at risk and others who helped him and now the people who are trying to rescue his body from this tribe are at risk. This was apparently a group that was well known to be aggressive towards outsiders for whatever reason and had killed people before. So, I would think he had to know that he was putting himself in harms way

The tribe that Jim Elliott and crew were killed by was also known for its killing of all intruders.
The difference is that Elliott didn't break the law in his attempt.

 

[Arsenios]

US society has changed greatly. I recall how people reacted when Jim Elliott, Nate Saint and two other missionaries were killed by a hostile tribe in the Amazon.
Today, this young missionary is being castigated for breaking the law and trying to share the love of God with an island tribe.
What do you think. God-lead act of a valiant missionary or foolish act of a mislead zealot?
https://www-m.cnn.com/2018/11/21/asia/andaman-nicobar-us-missionary-killed-intl/index.html

You can't succeed if you don't try...

And if you try, you can fail...

God bless his soul...


Arsenios

 

[Lamb]

He was young and foolish are my thoughts. Spreading the gospel is not foolish but there are ways to go about it so you can live longer and keep on spreading it. He took the risk and it didn't fare well for him. Did he plant a seed? Not entirely sure since all he did was tell them Jesus loves them. Who is Jesus to them and why should they care? You need to build relationships, not just yell about Jesus and expect people to believe instantly.

 

[MennoSota]

He was young and foolish are my thoughts. Spreading the gospel is not foolish but there are ways to go about it so you can live longer and keep on spreading it. He took the risk and it didn't fare well for him. Did he plant a seed? Not entirely sure since all he did was tell them Jesus loves them. Who is Jesus to them and why should they care? You need to build relationships, not just yell about Jesus and expect people to believe instantly.

How do we know he just "yelled about Jesus"?
We are not this young man. We all would have been more "rational" in our actions. However, sometimes boldness isn't rational.
What purpose did/does God have in the actions of this young man? Well...for one thing...an island where sinners need the Gospel has now been exposed as an island for which Christians can pray that God breaks through their darkness. Until this incident, I had no idea that this island existed. Now I know. Now I can pray that God would bring His gracious saving faith to these people. That is significant when Christians around the world become aware and begin to pray. How else might we be made aware except that a saint be martyred?
Was it a bad decision? On the surface it looks bad...the man is dead. But, there is more here than meets the eye.
On a side note: has anyone here read the fascinating book entitled: "Bruchko"? I recommend it as a missionary journey you will not put down once you start reading.

 

[Albion]

What do you think. God-lead act of a valiant missionary or foolish act of a mislead zealot?

Could be it was a foolish act of a valiant missionary.

 

[MennoSota]

Could be it was a foolish act of a valiant missionary.

My first thought was of King Josiah. A Godly King who died in battle against Egypt when God had not ordained that he fight.
Sometimes we do things where God says "no." Yet, that action is fully in God's ordained will. God could have stopped this missionary from ever getting to the island, but in accordance with God's perfect will, God said "yes" to everything that has happened. I am intrigued to see what becomes of this.

 

[Andrew]

How was he expecting to communicate with them? This would be where the gift of tongues would be needed I assume.
We are to preach to the ends of the Earth, this is supposably the first humans from Africa that remained untouched by the outside world.
I remember reading about them years back, very interesting, they have every right not to trust outsiders because contact with them will literally kill them due to their lack of immunity to foreign bacteria and exposure.

 

[Lamb]

How do we know he just "yelled about Jesus"?

The news articles I read on this stated that is what he yelled "Jesus loves you!" The articles made it seem that he didn't have time to say much else before he was killed. Are there different articles with more information?

 

[MennoSota]

The news articles I read on this stated that is what he yelled "Jesus loves you!" The articles made it seem that he didn't have time to say much else before he was killed. Are there different articles with more information?

I don't think much is known. But, now we are aware of this tribe and we can pray that God chooses to graciously reach to every tribe and tongue.

 

[ImaginaryDay2]

...(F)oolish act of a mislead zealot?

^^This

 

[ImaginaryDay2]

How do we know he just "yelled about Jesus"?

It was in a rather lengthy report, immediately following this event, that this was what he tried to say to them in something close to their dialect