Sometimes I am asked if we should take the gospel to the heathen, as they are happy when left alone. Having worked 
amongst many tribes of primitive people before the gospel reached them, I am happy to give my thoughts on the subject. My experience has been primarily with the warlike heathen of the highlands of Papua New Guinea.
They have customs that are drastic, to say the least. None of the people of this area believed any death of young or old was due to natural causes or by any disease. They believed all were caused by their enemies, who were to be identified and eliminated. They have devised several methods of identifying the supposed killer and I will mention the three I have been told about. This payback applies to much of the large island of Papua New Guinea, with some variations in its operation.
When a person dies, the body is wrapped in bark and hung on a stick between two poles. Several will watch the corpse at night till a dull light appears on the body. A chosen person will then stand next to the body and call different names of suspected guilty persons. When the imagined correct person is called the body will shake violently and men will rush over to prevent the body from falling. Now that the guilty person is identified, they waylay him when he is on his own and club him to death or poison him. This latter method is usually accomplished by using the power of the witchcraft man of the village to invoke a curse on him that produces death.
Another method is for a man to sit in a hut at night and call to the spirits. They will announce their presence audibly or by a dull light. When this happens, they shoot an arrow with a burning tip high into the sky. The arrow will fall to the ground, but a light will sweep back and forth till it falls suddenly onto a hut and the owner will be declared the victim. Several men have been posted amongst the huts to identify where the light falls. Thus another victim is killed to avenge the death in the village.
Tari head-hunters standing in front of Pastor Len Barnard’s plane in the 1960s.
This method requires four men to sit around a fire in a hut at night with the local witchcraft man present. He will call for the spirits to help them. They select four special stones and as they skid one stone at a time to collide with the other stones, they call the name of one of the supposed guilty persons. When the stone shatters, the name of the person called is the “guilty” man. He is mercilessly clubbed to death or poisoned.
This senseless payback system swings back and forth relentlessly. Most deaths are due to diseases such as malaria, pneumonia, etc., but they know nothing of diseases and indulge in these revenge killings, playing a deadly tit-for-tat game that never ends. Such dealings strike fear into the heart of all villagers, who often cringe when they hear of a death in an adjacent village. With better education, these customs are dying out, but they are deep-rooted and die slowly.
While the cause for the death was for a different reason, I witnessed the result of such a killing when I was purchasing ground for a new mission station some years ago. The landowner offered me a suitable section of land. After conducting preliminary negotiations, I returned about two weeks later to continue the discussion for the use of the land. When I asked for the original negotiator, I was told he had died. I was stunned as he had been so well and happy when I had recently been talking to him. I later learned he had been killed because some of the villagers were not in favor of the mission entering their area. We had become friends, and I was deeply shocked. Such brutal murders can still mar the tranquility of villages.
My dear friend, I can unequivocally state that these people in their heathen condition live in abject fear of payback and spirit worship. One chief asked me why his people were dying, and he pleaded for help from the mission. To see the transformation by the power of the gospel from heathenism to Christianity is a joy beyond words. I have seen whole villages living in unbelievable filth, with hopeless stares on their filthy faces — turn into Christians with beaming faces, praising the Lord for the freedom they have found, and for the hope Christianity gives them. It is thrilling to see and makes me think of the words of Robert Moffat who says:
Pastor Len Barnard is a mission aviator who says he’s retired at age 89, but is still very active in advocating and fundraising for Adventist Aviation Services. He regularly contributes his missionary adventure stories and pictures to www.TheQuietHour.org/giveplanes.
This is why The Quiet Hour is requesting your support to buy another plane for the Papua New Guinea Mission, so that more benighted people might hear the gospel call and escape the tyranny and darkness of heathenism.
“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.” Romans 8:1, 2 NIV.
My friend, let us continue to support The Quiet Hour in helping these needy people who are responding so eagerly to the gospel that frees them from their fears. How privileged we are that we have this opportunity to be able to help them. So let us rally to the call for another plane to help the people in Papua New Guinea. On your response card or check memo, please note “06075,” Airplanes for the World. Or you may give securely online at www.TheQuietHour.org/donate/donations.php.
