IN AFRICA, years ago, an operation for appendicitis was performed in a native village under very unusual circumstances with far-reaching effects. The village had never been visited by a missionary before, but the fame of Dr. Dye, a medical missionary, had gone bore him. Arriving at the village, Dr. Dye found the natives very much excited at his coming. They brought to him a man who was very sick. After examining him, the doctor found that he was suffering from acute appendicitis. He told the natives that an operation would be necessary and described to them just what he would do. They were quite wonder-struck when he told them he would have to cut open the sick man’s body, but since they thought the patient would die anyway, they agreed to let him go ahead.
The missionary arranged a makeshift operating table of poles and branches in a little hollow, and the people gathered by the hundreds on the sides of the ravine to watch. He gave the anesthetic, and as the sick man passed into unconsciousness the people raised the shout, “The man is dead!” Then they watched the skillful physician as he made the incision, removed the appendix, and sewed up the wound. A murmur passed through the crowd: “He has killed the man — he has cut him open, taken his insides out, and sewed him up. Now can he bring him back to life?”
Sure enough, a little later, the patient revived, opened his eyes, and looked around. The natives were wonderfully excited. To them it was a miracle indeed. They sent messengers everywhere proclaiming, “Come and hear the message of the white man, for he speaks with authority. He has killed a man, cut him open, removed his insides, sewed him up again, and brought him back to life.”
Up to that time, the people had lived in fear of the witch doctor who sought to oppose the efforts of the missionary to preach the gospel there. But that operation overthrew the power of the witch doctor, and a Christian mission was begun among that tribe. The poor natives, superstitious and in darkness, heard the wonderful story of Jesus who came as “the light of the world,” so that those who would follow Him should not walk in darkness but might have the light of life (John 8:1212Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. (John 8:12)).
It doesn’t matter what color we are — white, black, red, or yellow — or to what race we belong, if we do not have Christ, we are as dark in our souls as those poor Africans.
ML-09/14/1969