Stars that will Shine Brightly Forever

                  

       Evangelist Wandaro with his wife

On his way to the market one rainy day, Wandaro (1910-1991) had noticed a clinic erected by a newly arrived white man and woman. The white man Earl Lewis beckoned Wandaro and others to take shelter from the torrential rain. Lewis began reading from a strange book. A book brought by a foreigner! Was this what the Ethiopian prophet Asa had prophesied long ago? Wandaro wondered! He had prophesied that a foreigner would bring a book telling about the creator, whom people should worship instead of Satan.

The next week Wandaro returned for more of this news and eventually in Ethiopian language declared “I renounce Satan to follow Jesus”. Fear of evil spirits vanished and for the first time he felt joy. Wandaro longed to read more about God for himself but he had never been to school. Mrs Lewis helped him learn the 256 characters of the Amharic alphabet. Wandaro was the slowest in the group, but his love for his savior burned strongly. In 1933 he and nine others became the first wolaytos to be baptized.

Fever struck Wandaro’s baby boy. His father, the witch doctor, predicted that unless Wandaro sacrificed to Satan the infant would die. “I love my baby boy but I will not sacrifice to the demons again” Wandaro declared.  The child did die and all the Mount Humbo turned out to wail, gnashing their faces and chests. Stop! Wandaro pleaded. I miss my child, but God had given me peace in the face of death. I believe that my son is safe in the arms of Jesus.

One day a slave trader was examining his tobacco crop when a man walked up to him. Chief Dana Maja was startled as well as offended for strangers avoided him lest he captured them as slaves. But this shabby peasant did not even prostrate himself before him! And what the man was saying shocked Maja even more. “Master”, Wandaro said very simply and directly. “Someday you will die; if you do not repent and believe on Jesus Christ, you will go to hell. You will burn in the lake of fire that never goes out”.

Maja had never heard anything like this. Trembling, instead of ordering his body guards to capture Wandaro, he asked the evangelists what he meant. Wandaro explained the gospel message very simply. Later, when Italian warplanes dropped bombs from the sky, the terrified chief was certain that eternal judgment had begun. In panic he sought for Wandaro and found him at a river in the midst of a baptismal service.

When several of the new believers saw the chief, they scrambled out on the opposite bank of the river. But now the trader was seeking only the savior and Wandaro beaming with a smile the shape of a new moon, was there to welcome him into the kingdom. Maja eventually became a dedicated leader of the word of life churches started by the Sudan Interior Mission (SIM).

In 1936 the Italians took over the country. Corrupt officials, resentful of evangelical witness, saw their opportunity to get rid of foreign missionaries. One year after the invasion, in 1937, foreign missionaries were forced out, leaving only 48 believers. Tears rolled down Wandaro’s cheek as the missionaries were evicted. Through their own tears, the missionaries called back, “we are leaving you, but God is not leaving you!”

Once the foreigners were gone, persecutions descended on the believers like a baptism of fire. They were rounded out and beaten, their churches were burnt and leaders imprisoned. They worshiped in secret, hiding their precious bible portions in buried pots.  But what puzzled the invaders and their Ethiopian counterparts was the continued growth of the churches. Pagan’s bystanders were convinced as they heard the testimony of Christians being beaten for their faith and they too trusted in Christ.

Enraged by the spread of the gospel, one Amharic official decided to make Wandaro an example. He ordered him to be beaten and his church brought down. Now will you give up this religion? Dogesa shouted, shaking the evangelist by the beard. His face bleeding, Wandaro replied “never!”  Although tied up like a criminal Wandaro witnessed through the throngs in the market place “this rope is not the final judgment, it is only placed on me by man!” He called out. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be freed from sin.

The official ordered his guards to scourge him with cruel hippo hide whip. “The foreigners have all gone, they aren’t here to help you; Give up!” Dogesa taunted. “I am not serving the missionaries, but the God who sent them” Wandaro responded.  Dogesa appointed five men to take turn in beating Wandaro for three hours.  For several days Wandaro hovered on the brink of death as his family and friends wept and prayed for him. Finally he sent them a message “I think I will live. Do not weep, the Lord is with me.”

For a year Wandaro was imprisoned but he was such a model prisoner that at times the guards left him in charge while they took time off duty. Upon his release his first action was to gather believers to help Dogesa harvest his crops. Even after that, Dogesa challenged Wandaro to a debate with orthodox priests, declaring that if the evangelicals lost, three of them must die. Before the appointed day, Dogesa fell and died. The debate was never held.

When the Italian invasion ended in 1941, the authorities had to focus on other urgent matters and Wandaro continued preaching the gospel across the valleys and hills of central Ethiopia. Missionaries were allowed back into Ethiopia in 1942 and they cautiously inquired about the few believers that they had left at Walayto. They were astounded to learn that the forty eight they had left had multiplied to ten thousands with possibility of 100 churches. When they arrived at Walayto, great crowds of believers turned out to meet them this time with tears of joy.

Among them was Wandaro- his body covered with scars but his face wreathed in a familiar wide smile. “Welcome, God has sent you back to teach the new believers”. Amazed the missionaries looked up and saw believers streaming towards them over the hilly paths, singing hymns. The era of suffering would be repeated with even greater ferocity during the communist regime of the 1970s and 1980s. And, still encouraging them to stand true was Wandaro, then an old man but with the same solid faith and simple smile.

The conversion of Cornelius and his people (Acts 10) marked the opening of the church's door to the Gentiles. “The apostles and the believers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him and said, “You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them.” Starting from the beginning, Peter told them the whole story (Acts 11:1-4).

Peter did not flaunt his apostolic authority. Instead he told them about the visions and everything that happened. He said “as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning. Then I remembered what the Lord had said: ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ So if God gave them the same gift he gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could stand in God’s way?”(Acts 11:15-17).

Peter asserted to his Jewish brethren that what happened to Cornelius and his associates was precisely the same thing that happened to them at Pentecost. These Gentiles received the gift of the Spirit in exactly the same way the Spirit fell on those who had gathered at Pentecost. God did not distinguish between the first Jewish believers at Pentecost and these Gentile believers in Caesarea. How can one view Gentiles as outsiders when God has placed His seal upon them?

When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, “So then, even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to life” Acts 11:18). Sometimes ministers carry out the will of God only to be criticized because their critics do not know all the facts. The fact that the one who is criticized has a clear conscience is not always enough. He should try to explain why he thought it was the will of God. This will reduce contentions among Christians who are seeking to follow the will of God.

 “Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that broke out when Stephen was killed traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, spreading the word only among Jews. Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord (Acts 11:19-21).

Acts 11:19 represents a major turning point in the book of Acts, not only in manifesting a wider circumference for the Gospel  but also a new center for the launching of subsequent missionary efforts. Here we are taken back to Stephen’s death. This resulted in the conversion Samaritans (Acts 8:1-25) and gentiles: Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:26-40) ,Cornelius household and those in Antioch (Acts 10:1—11:30). Stephen’s death bore more fruit that his life! (John 12:24).

From this point on in Acts, the storyline will focus primarily on the spread of the Gospel to the Gentiles with occasional Jewish conversions. Christianity is finally launched on its world-wide mission. Men from Cyprus and Cyrene went about sharing the gospel with gentiles in Antioch and the hand of the Lord moved with power. They did not labor alone, the Lord was with them. It was the Lord's work, he was building his Church (Matt.16:18). His hand was with them giving them great success.

We have a monumental task to perform- to go out and proclaim the good news of salvation to the lost. God does not leave us alone in this great work. Ultimately that's his work, convert souls is a supernatural work. His hand is with us providentially directing our steps and giving us opportunities, sometimes in unexpected ways and places, to share the gospel with others. God prepares people's heart to receive the good news.

The god of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers so they cannot see the light of the gospel (2 Cor.4:4). Its only God who can enlightens the eyes of their understanding (Eph 1:18) and convince them of their need of a savior. We can do absolutely nothing of eternal value unless the good hand of the Lord empowers us. A ministry cannot turn people to the Lord unless the hand of the Lord is with them.  

But while it is His responsibility to convert souls, it is our responsibility to give the gospel. And it is clear from events in Antioch that God uses all kinds of people to do that. Not just apostles, not just noted evangelists, but regular Christians going about their business, talking about Christ. The Antioch Church, was planted not by apostles but by average members of Christ's Body who were willing to share their faith.

A major work of God was started by men and women simply sharing the gospel. Wherever they went, they saw that as their mission field. Nobody knows the names of the founders of the first gentile church. This may look like a major omission by Luke. But was it? It was God’s decision that their names are never given.  He knows the names and that is what matters most. 

God did not require the apostles and others Jerusalem Jews to lead in evangelizing to the “uttermost part” of the earth. Instead, he raised up Hellenistic Jews to carry the torch of Gentile evangelism. God has brought together in one body, the church, both Jews and Gentiles, without partiality. Jews and Gentiles are equal members in the body of Christ ( Gal. 3:26-29). This truth is so fundamental to the life and function of the church.