Some friends of mine, whom I have been honoured and blessed to serve God alongside in the Downtown eastside are in the process of writing a book on REVOLUTION. Among other things, It looks at people the LORD has used in revolutionary ways to further HIS Kingdom. Being who I am, I have lobbied for some CAN CON in the Revolution...
Kairos. I mean (C)airos?: After previously approaching the nomadic Montagnais and Algonquians, the missionaries noticed the Huron villages on the Georgian Bay. Being settled, there was an opportunity to disciple the faithful once they had committed their lives to the LORD. It was also a gateway to the vast untouched mission fields of the west. Further, they had already been exposed to Christianity through the Recollets when our hero, Father Brebeuf, with Fathers Daniel and Davost, in 1634, "took up again the challenge of the Cross and re-established the Huron mission near the shores of the Georgian Bay."*1
Charisma: The personality and perseverance of Father Brebeuf conquered the smell, dirt and blinding smoke that typified the homes in these villages. These inconveniences were nothing, however, if souls could be won! The main challenge to be faced was the mind of the Huron whose notion of a spirit was entirely different from that of the Christian God. As the LORD raised Brebeuf to this challenge, he was greeted by a powerful adversary: the medicine-man
Conviction: The salvation of Souls, and the Great commission*2 was the motivating factor for the perseverance of this Jesuit Priest: "Don't paddle unless you intend to always paddle"*3 was his motto.
There were people out there who did not know Jesus and he would sacrifice everything to win the continent for Christ starting with Heronia! The adversary knew the role of medicine-man was a key part of Heron society and there was no place for that office in Christendom. This was a challenge that only the LORD and a strong conviction would overcome. Storms, disease and all kinds of mishaps plagued the community and they were attributed to the people holding the office of medicine-man. The unselfishness, devotion, and perseverance of the Jesuit Priest in the face of such adversity began to make an impression on the people's hearts and minds
By 1648, eleven mission posts had been set up among the Heron AND their neighbours! No less than 18 priests and four lay ministers were involved in this ministry.
Then the Iroquois attacked: "When the assault began, the two Jesuits raced among the men, shouting encouragement, urging them to pray, tending the wounded, baptizing the dying. The Iroquois prevailed. Brebeuf, Lalemant and sixty Huron warriors were captured, beaten and herded to St. Ignace. Brebeuf called on the Huron warriors to stay true to Christ to death. Stripped naked, the Jesuits were tied to stakes and tortured with fire. Brebeuf suffered from noon until four p.m. on this day, March 16, 1649. When he would not scream out, but continued to pray for the salvation of his tormentors, the Iroquois heated cauldrons of boiling water and poured it over him in mockery of baptism. They cut and hacked his body, and gouged out his eyes. Before he died, they scalped him and cut out his heart, which they ate. Lalemant died of similar tortures early the next morning."*4
Cadre: The Huron nation was now a memory. Only a remnant survived and they sought refuge on the island of St. Joseph where they were pursued by famine and pestilence. The mission, however, was not a failure: the three hundred survivors then made their way to Quebec City and later the village of Lorette. They rest were scattered (with there Christian message) throughout the nations
Father Joges, who was captured and cruelly tortured deep in Mohawk territory after the 1642 attack, escaped to France only to return four years later to try to save his former captors; he earned a martyr's crown. Eventually, however, many Iroquois souls were saved and today saints and churches are no longer foreign to the Iroquois people.
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*1 MacArthur, Duncan. History of Canada for High Schools. WJ Gage and Company. Toronto,1927.
*2 (Matthew 28:18-20) 18, NIV -
Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
*3 Ferguson, Will. Canadian History for Dummies. CDG Books Canada. Toronto,2000.
*4 http://iroquoisindians.freeweb-hosting.com/index.htm (captured May 25,2005)
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Michael Ramsay
The Salvation Army's Renew Network
www.renewnetwork.net
604 254 6144
