Sent by God
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2. I will not cry if you get beaten to death |
Some parts of the Highlands of Papua New Guinea were divided between the Lutheran and the Catholic Church. Those who lived in these areas were thus regarded as either Lutherans or Catholics, even though they had not experienced any personal conversion. Sometimes when people were saved, hence got a personal faith in Christ, they were seen as enemies of the tribe because they were bringing a new mission into the association. Rather often, the leaders of the tribe turned to violent methods. The Lutherans, especially, showed strong aggression when something new came in their way. 
A family had got saved in the village of Klap. The family got a visit from a group of young believers from Keta and together they had a worship session in their house. Suddenly, four men (who later turned out to be Lutherans) rushed into their house and began to wildly wield around their axes and knives. They smashed the youths’ guitars and stabbed the young people with their knives. One of the youngsters got an axe hacked into his head. Blood was streaming out of his skull. The visiting youths fled and one of them came down to Kundi Pok in Tega at three o'clock at night. When he told the story of what had happened, Kundi phoned Sven and suggested that they should go to Klap to find out how the family in question was doing. Sven prepared himself to set off, but Marianne did not like this idea. In a very upset tone she said: |
"You can’t go! They will kill you." "You’d better pray for God’s protection over me," said Sven. But Marianne thought that a little human support was needed so she demanded that Sven would contact the police. Unfortunately, the police were not interested in joining. Now Marianne was very upset and exclaimed: "I will not cry if you get beaten to death.” Sven and Kundi still left for the family in Klap. During their travel, Sven told Kundi what Marianne had said. Kundi "was about to die of laughter" after he had heard Marianne’s exclamation. This shows the variety in senses of humor. Anyway, it turned out that the family in Klap was safe and no longer in any danger. (It may be added that when Sven tells this story today after many years, both he and his wife find Marianne’s saying amusing.) |
