Don Richardson (1)Rezensionen

In this classic Christian read, Don Richardson chronicles his pioneering missionary work among the Sawi people of Papua, Indonesia (formerly Irian Jaya).

I love that he begins his stories with the perspective of the Sawi people, and only after the reader has gotten to know them and their culture does he introduce himself and Western influences. I really feel this helps the reader to understand the significance of the differences between cultures.

This book is somewhat graphic, and I wouldn't recommend it for young readers. I love the premise so much though, that I would most certainly consider adapting the text myself if I had young children of my own. I think the story would resonate with them greatly, and help them to comprehend the Bible more completely, as it did for even me!

Richardson is big on "redemptive analogies", which he states are "God's keys to man's cultures" (p.287), and I found the many examples he gave in the book absolutely fascinating. It was so encouraging to read how God had prepared various peoples for His Word and Truth by using their own pagan traditions and legends.

This particular book focuses on the idea of a "peace child" - a child given to an enemy tribe to prove that the giver's tribe can be trusted to keep their end of a peace agreement (instead of tricking the enemy tribe and resorting to headhunting and cannibalism).

I loved Richardson's description of a Christmas day after many Sawi became Christians:

"Then Isai, now a literate Sawi preacher, rose to his feet and read a verse of Scripture that I had translated for the occasion: 'For unto us a Child is born; unto us a Son is given...' The words sank in, and were welcomed with a perception and insight perhaps rare among western Christians. I looked around at the rapt faces of believers who were intent, not with admiration of baubles, ribbon and tinsel - for such could have no meaning to the Sawi - but with adoration of the Peace Child who had been born, not only in Bethlehem, but within their own hearts as well." (p.271)

This book gave me an increased burden to pray for people groups still unreached with the gospel, and to seek out opportunities to fund missions in those places.

It took a couple of chapters before I really got into the book, but I really liked that Richardson shared the historical account from the Yali perspective first, then added in the missionary perspective. I think understanding the beliefs and customs of the Yali really helped me to see why future events happened the way they did.

My only complaints would be that there are several typos, particularly with commas (appearing where they shouldn't, or not appearing where they should, making the reading a little more difficult). Also, the chapter lengths are very inconsistent; some chapters are 8 pages, others are 30 pages - this makes it difficult to gauge how long it will take me to get through each chapter and schedule my reading time accordingly. (I hate having to stop in the middle of a chapter!)

It was worth the read, though!

Richardson shares many examples of God preserving memories of Himself in cultures around the world, readying peoples for the good news that Jesus died, was raised from the dead, and is able to forgive our sins and restore our relationship with God.

I loved all the stories of the parallels in other cultures to the Gospel message, and how so many different people groups have literally just been waiting for someone who knows about Jesus to come share what they know!

The second half of the book wasn't quite as interesting, especially the chapter Scholars with Strange Theories, which explores what secular anthropologists think about these vestiges of the One True God in various religious traditions.

Richardson does go through the Bible, as well, and shows how Jesus spent His ministry gathering "Gentiles" to Himself, and how God planned to bless these non-Jewish people all along, in an attempt to show that the "Great Commission" was not an afterthought on God's part.

There wasn't really an Introduction, which I would have liked, and the chapters tend toward the long side. In addition, the book doesn't have much white-space, so it's a little hard on the eyes.

The message, however, is a very exciting and encouraging one and continually reminds readers that God wants a relationship with people, that people desperately need God, and that we are the ones who can bring the knowledge to others of how to have a relationship with God!

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"Predawn prayer meetings in Korean churches characteristically overflow with thousands of earnest supplicants. Their main prayer request - the conversion of their brothers and sisters in North Korea from communism to Christ!

"And whenever winds blow from south to north along the demilitarized zone, Korean Christians range along hilltops and release balloons loaded with Bibles toward their brothers beyond the zone.

"Hananim [God] must have His witness there as well!" p 71

Startling evidence of belief in the one true God in hundreds of cultures throughout the world. This book contains twenty-seven incredible-but-true stories that prove the truth of Ecclesiastes, "He has also set eternity in the hearts of men."

This is a very interesting book, proving that even in the most isolated villages in the world, there was an awareness of a coming Saviour and how missionaries went to these places and spread the Word. Burma, China, India, Africa, Korea, South America, etc. The last Chapters discuss the 4000 Year Connection to the Abrahamic Covenant and also the hidden message in the "Acts" and the reluctance of the Apostles to spread the Word of Jesus Salvation to the Gentiles. This book is still sold at Koorong as revised editions today.

Borrowed

Engulfed in the darkness of Irian Jaya's Snow Mountains live the Yali, naked cannibals who call themselves lords of the earth. Yet, in spite of their boldness, they live in terror and bondage to the women-hating, child-despising gods they serve. Missionary Stan Dale dared to enter their domain and be an instrument to change their future. Peace Child author, Don Richardson, tells the story of Dale, his wife, his companions, and thousands of Yali tribesmen in Lords of the Earth. This unforgettable tale of faithful determination and zeal against overwhelming odds brings unlikely characters together in a swirl of agony and bloodshed climaxing in a dramatic, unexpected ending. Readers will find their perceptions of how God moves enlarged and inspired by this classic story. For parents and youth leaders looking for real-life role models for the new generation of young people, you will want to meet the Dales in Lords of the Earth.

This book is a fascinating read!

God prepared gospel for all peoples; likewise prepared all peoples for gospel. Melchizedek – a type of God’s general revelation to mankind (Melchizedek Factor); Abraham – represented God’s covenant-based special revelation (Abraham Factor);
Really good stuff

This was THE book to read when I was in Christian high school. It was interesting at the time. Now, I probably would be very critical of this book.

The beginning starts with a betrayal of Sawi tribal people called "to fatten with friendship for the slaughter." The tribes are cannibals and that's just what becomes of the man that was betrayed.
A dangerous environment for anyone, especially western missionaries.
The first part of the book is slow and was hard for me to get through, but well worth it in the end. The foundation of how the Sawi people live and think is necessary to acknowledge how far they come in their growth and knowledge.
Don Richardson brings his wife and young son to live among these people and teach them about Jesus. But first he must learn their language and their traditions as well as their trust.

Incredible true story of mission outreach to the Yali people of Irian Jaya.

I read this for book club. I would be very interested in a more objective rendition of the same events. I thought the writing was too biased to provide a clear picture. I would not read it again, nor would I pick up another book by this author.

Summing up in one word--disappointing. I was recommended, and really enjoyed, Peace Child and Lords of the Earth by this author. I had thought that, of his other titles, this book would be most similar in style. It was not.

The author continues his attempts to prove his theory that God has left redemptive analogies in most, if not all, remote people groups. The idea being that sharing the Gospel is part using Scripture and part connecting it with the existing cultural ideas. In his previous books, I appreciated that the author made it clear that the analogies should be used to facilitate the Gospel and should in no way change or usurp it. This is an important point that must not be over-looked. I was amazed and fascinated by some of his stories and was looking forward to further examples in this book. I accept his theory in principle, although I'm not sure that there will be useful analogies in every cultural group. God alone knows that and maybe He has chosen different methods to engage with different groups. Maybe God was being gracious to the missionaries in opening their eyes to the potential inroads for the Gospel on these occasions.

However, a lot of the material is duplicated from the other books and there was not a lot of new information. This book is more of a general summary proving redemptive analogies with a short overview of each story. Unfortunately, the author uses a lot of words where one would be sufficient. It almost feels like he is trying to 'flesh-out' the book to make it a full length novel.

Instead of keeping his focus on contemporary mission and people groups, the author returns to the stories in the Bible. He seeks to apply his theory to a lot of the well-known stories. Whilst some of his observations are relevant, I felt that he took a bit too much licence with others. He is obviously passionate about his subject (hence the excessive use of exclamation points,) and therefore feels the need to prove it using anything and everything at his disposal. I realise that it was not his intention to modify the meaning of Scripture or to read things into passages that are just not there. But that is the effect in places.

I would give this book a miss. It could do with a good editing to improve the flow and to cut out a lot of the repetitive detail. I highly recommend the previously mentioned books by this author but this was disappointing.

I received this recommendation via this blog post of top 10 missionary biographies which is definitely worth reading!

https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/10174784-my-top-ten-missionary-biogr...

This was one of the best missionary biographies that I have read. It was also the most gruesome. The author paints a vivid picture of missionary work among the cannibalistic, headhunting Sawi tribe in Netherlands New Guinea (now West Papua, Indonesia.)

An urgent request for workers was made;

"You may be called upon to make the first advance into the midst of entire tribes that have never known any type of government control, where people are a law unto themselves and where savagery is a way of life....you will encounter customs and beliefs that will baffle you but which must be understood if you are to succeed. You will try to treat loathsome tropical diseases and run the risk of being blamed for the death of the patient if you fail. You must prepare to endure loneliness, weariness and frustration with fortitude. Most of all, you must be prepared, in the strength of the Lord, to do battle with the prince of darkness, who, having held these many tribes captive these many thousands of years, is not about to give them up without a fight!"

The author answered the call taking his family to live and work in primitive conditions with this basic premise in mind

"The world just isn't big enough anymore for anyone to be left alone. It is a foregone conclusion that even if missionaries do not go in to give, lumbermen, crocodile hunters, prospectors or farmers will go in to take ....as the one who got there first to live among the Sawi, it was my aim to combine faithfulness to God and the Scriptures with respect for the Sawi and their culture. The crucial question was; would the Sawi culture and the Scriptures prove so opposite in their basic premises as to render this two way loyalty impossible? I intended to find out.

He faced various unexpected challenges

"I knew if I upbraided Mavu for nearly killing two men, he would just shrug his shoulders as if to say, "So what?" So instead I said cryptically "You have made my wife's hands bloody." The remark took him by surprise. He glanced quickly at Carol's hands and a sudden realization of the inappropriateness of the scene he had helped to create seemed to startle him. Mavu winced, fearing he had unwittingly committed some dark impropriety of cosmic consequence.

"Do dead men say konahari?" I asked quietly. After an embarrassed silence, someone said "No, dead men never say konahari." "And if Warahai's soul had been cut up and eaten by a demon, would he be looking around at us as you now observe?" "We listened to a lie." said Mahaen solemnly. "We nearly buried a living man" said Boro, staring at the wall."

"At first I sat there confused. Then the realization broke through. They were acclaiming Judas as the hero of the story! Yes, Judas, the one whom I had portrayed as the satanically motivated enemy of truth and goodness....i saw now that the Sari were not only cruel, but honored cruelty. Their highest pleasure depended upon the misery and despair of others.......treachery was idealized as a virtue, a goal of life....Judas was a super-Sawi! And Christ the object of Judas' treachery meant nothing to the men in the manhouse."

This is a unique book. The author relays events from the perspective of the Sawi (and also some of their animals at times!) The missionaries desperately needed to find an analogy from the Sawi culture that they could use to share the Gospel. But, how to overcome these seemingly impossible cultural dilemmas handed down from generation to generation....could the "Peace Child" be the answer?

I would recommend this book to adult readers. There is no bad language or sexual content but the violence/cannibalism is shocking and may disturb some readers.

I received this recommendation via this list of top 10 missionary biographies which is worth checking out!

https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/10174784-my-top-ten-missionary-biogr...

Another really great book that I found hard to put down. "Lords of the Earth" is by the author of "Peace Child" and is written in a similar style but it relates to a different tribal group. I find it incredible that the author has managed to gather so much detail for this story having not been regularly present amongst this people group himself.

The naked "Yali" cannibals lived in the darkness of Irian Jaya's Snow Mountains. They called themselves "lords of the earth." But the reality was somewhat different as they lived in terror and bondage to their spirit world, regularly sacrificing tribe members including children to appease their gods. Stan Dale an Australian Missionary entered their domain with his wife and family and things would never be the same.

Dale had been dramatically converted at a young age, it was whilst he was serving in the military that he caught a glimpse of the tribal people he would later return to live and work amongst

"The people there struck him as furtive, haunted. Their eyes lacked expression, like little holes leading to nothingness.....what was it that was lost beyond these ranges and possibly waiting for him? Perhaps hundreds of thousands of them. In hundreds of unexplored valleys. Warring and struggling to survive. Disease wracked and demon haunted.....When Jesus died on the cross was it not for them as well? When He arose from the dead, was it not to give new life to them also? And when He said 'Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature,' did He mean to exclude them?....No they are included, Stanley reasoned. But the Church of Christ had failed.....'Lord you may have better men for such a job,' he whispered in prayer. 'But if they're not willing, try me."

Dale's fearlessness and boldness won many battles initially

"Bruno prayed as Stan advanced to meet the warriors....Stan abruptly asked if they were ready to make peace with Balinga. His tone of voice by design, implied that they had no choice....But thousands of Yali, together with Bruno, doubted that this small stranger who still had no knowledge of Yali language or ways, could persuade such confirmed enemies as the two opposite alliances of the Heluk to make peace. At least not during his first 24 hours in the valley! ....The old war chiefs responded as if making peace was the very thing they had intended all along. The leaders of Balinga also assented as if they had no choice....somehow the shock of Stan and Bruno's bizarre third-person presence enabled them to see their war problem in a new light...and it would be pleasant for a change to work one's gardens without fear of ambush. In any case, it seemed very likely that these two odd beings were spirits whose command one dare not refuse."

But after his initial triumph Dale's Commission did not go according to his plan. But the plan of Another is easily discernible through the pages of this book. In our finite minds we can wonder at the loss of life/terrible tragedies necessary to win an uncivilised people group for Christ. But Dale had it right when he asked "Did He mean to exclude the Yali people" from the possibility of eternal life in heaven?... Of course not.

I highly recommend this book BUT the violence/cannibalism is extremely graphic (more so than Peace Child) and may upset some readers. The language is clean and there is no sexual content.

I was amazed how God speaks to all people in the way they would understand and be able, in turn, to respond to God. This story showed me how God is truly redemptive and significant to each culture.

From the first pages, this book not only held my attention, but occupied my thoughts when I was not reading it.

This book immerses you first into the native Sawi culture, and then adds the stories of those who arrive with medicines, modern tools, and a desire to help stop the practices of headhunting and cannibalism practiced there.

Fascinating book. Recommended.

For years, I have been fascinated with the question of how undiscovered, isolated groups of people would held accountable for their decision to accept or reject God. How could uncivilized people understand how God's message related to their lives? After reading this book, I found my answer! I realized that through what Don Richardson calls "redemptive analogies," God makes a way for ALL people to understand his loving message. Just as he ably used analogies that were particularly meaningful to the Jews and Greeks in the Bible, God is able to use analogies that are meaningful to cannibals and other isolated groups. Peace Child is Don Richardson's account of how he discovered the analogy that God had specially designed to make a cannibalistic tribe in New Guinea understand his love... and then of how he risked his life trying to share that analogy with those people.

This book chronicles one man's purposeful encounter with a group of people who had never come in contact with Godly principles. Perhaps because I'm a wife and mother of two, Richardson's decision to include his wife and two toddlers in his quest to share righteousness really made me understand his degree of commitment to God.
Richardson's powerful text outlines a sacrifice of earthly comforts for spiritual reasons and shows God's protection of the lives of people who actively seek to serve His purposes. While written by a very educated scholar, the text is very easy to follow. The careful reader will also notice that Richardson used a combination of both white collar and physical talents to convert members of the cannibalistic tribe. (To live and teach the cannibals, he was required to work not only as a carpenter and foreman, but also as a linguist and dictionary author.) That was a real revelation for me.

I want to emphasize, though, that this book is more than the masterpiece story of Don Richardson's experiences as a missionary. It is also a book that really convicts its readers to think about what their own roles should be in influencing the moral compass of people who have no social rules and no agreements about how to live together in groups - people with no Ten Commandments and no Magna Carta. There was a point at which I put this book down for a minute because tears were rolling down my face. I felt such an inward "call" to become more involved in sharing both the message of love and salvation and the principles of organized group behavior with the forgotten people of this earth, even if it meant sacrificing the comforts I am so used to. My brother-in-law read it years ago, and as a result, he started sharing the Christian gospel with prisoners in his hometown every Saturday morning. He still does that today.
Buy it and share it with your friends. It will change you inwardly and motivate you to inspire others.

The author finds startling evidence of Belief in the One True God in hundreds of Cultures, and shows how Christian missions could use this pre-belief as a means of introducing their superior Christianity.

Traces the history of the relationship between God's "general revelation" and God's "special relation" -- the Melchizadech, and the Arahamic .

Eternity in Their Hearts is based off the premise that the traditional religions of many groups around the world have some of the groundwork for Christianity built in. This is a great book for learning how to do mission work as it should be done- finding an entry point and using that to introduce Christianity instead of making native religions out to be completely false.

Fascinating accounts of how God enabled the people of different pagan cultures to understand the meaning of the Gospel.

"Startling evidence of belief in the one true God in hundreds of cultures throughout the world," is what Don Richardson's book claims to be. In fact it is not. Which is a shame as I am really interested in this subject.

Unfortunately Don makes a very poor argument, and goes way off topic for the second half of the book. The first part of the book is full of stories about animistic cultures that seem to have strangely similar beliefs to the Christian set of beliefs. Too bad he doesn't expound on them, and seems to only select stories where "white" missionaries are the heroes or messengers of the "Sky God."

The second half of the book is extraordinarily tedious to read. Richardson essentially preaches an extra long sermon about why we should all be evangelists. Thank God I'm finished with that.

I did enjoy most of the stories he told in the beginning of the book, and found the monotheistic nature of those beliefs to be fascinating. I will do some more reading on this subject in the future.

If you are looking for the same old arrogant, tired, clichéd, and just plain ignorant writing from the American Evangelical group, then by all means pick up "Eternity in Their Hearts."

Don Richardson who is a Canadian Christian missionary, who worked among the tribal people of Western New Guinea, Indonesia. He demonstrates in his writings how, hidden among tribal cultures, there are usually some practices or understandings, that he calls "redemptive analogies", which can be used to illustrate the meaning of the Christian Gospel, contextualizing the Biblical representation of the incarnation of Jesus.
The book tells the story how in 1962 Don and his wife Carol with their 7 month old baby went to work among the Sawi tribe in New Guinea. The Sawi were an isolated tribe who were known to be cannibalistic headhunters. Richardson labored to show the Sawi a way that they could comprehend the Gospel, but the cultural barriers to understanding and accepting this teaching seemed impossible until an unlikely event brought the concept of the substitutionary atonement of Christ into immediate relevance for the Sawi.
The book goes into detail about many of the concepts and customs of the people. One highly-prized ideal was the "fattening a friend for slaughter." It wasn't just enough to kill someone. The best and most highly-regarded way to murder was to first befriend a person (from another tribe or village) and get him to trust you fully. Then, after many months of friendship, the "friend" would be dramatically murdered, cooked, and eaten. As Richardson learned the language and lived with the people, he became more aware of the gulf that separated his Christian worldview from the worldview of the Sawi: "In their eyes, Judas, not Jesus, was the hero of the Gospels, Jesus was just the fool to be laughed at." Eventually Richardson discovered what he referred to as a Redemptive Analogy that pointed to the Incarnate Christ far more clearly than any biblical passage alone could have done. What he discovered was the Sawi concept of the Peace Child.
What happened was that three tribal villages one being the Sawi were in constant battle at this time. The Richardsons were considering leaving the area, so to keep them there, the Sawi people in the embattled villages came together and decided that they would make peace with their hated enemies. Ceremonies commenced that saw young children being exchanged between opposing villages. One man in particular ran toward his enemy's camp and literally gave his son to his hated foe. Observing this, Richardson wrote: "if a man would actually give his own son to his enemies, that man could be trusted!" From this rare picture came the analogy of God's sacrifice of his own Son. The Sawi began to understand the teaching of the incarnation of Christ in the Gospel after Richardson explained God to them in this way.
This is a great read and Richardson’s books have had a significant impact on missiology and ongoing Christian missionary work.

He found them, deep in the stone-age hell of Irian Jaya's Snow Mountains - the Yali. They were naked cannibals who called themselves "lords of the earth," yet lived in bondage to two recurring nightmares: the terror that they might be eaten by their enemies, or worse, commit incest, the unforgivable crime, and be slaughtered by their friends! He cared for them, 300 inscrutable fanatics who worship woman-hating, child-despising gods; who oppress their own wives so severely that many Yali women choose suicide in wild mountain rivers; who condemn their children to death even for accidental breaches of taboo. He laid his life on the line to help them, this small man with a rawhide tough body, iron will and compassionate heart. As he pursued his "impossible" 2,000-year-old mission, his critics derided him as a crank. Even his friends feared that his own tormented past would defeat him before he achieved his goal. His name was Stan Dale . This is his story and the story of the woman who stood by him, of the companions who shared his trials and of thousands of Yali Tribesmen - all swept together through a final maelstrom of agony and blood, to one of biographical literature's most unexpected endings.