The Blood of the Martyrs

THE BLOOD OF THE MARTYRS

 

In the late fourteenth century a man named John Huss began a missionary movement which became known as the Moravians. They were located in central Europe and their calling was worldwide evangelism. All over the world there are believers who can trace their original roots to Moravian missionaries.

In the early 1700’s the Moravians established missionary outposts within the American colonies. It was through their witness that the Delaware Indians were reached with the gospel and many came to faith in the Lord Jesus. Because of the hostility between the Americans and the British the Delaware Indians became somewhat confused over which side to take. But those Indians who became believers slowly realized they should take neither side and true to Scripture they were neutral pacifists who lived by following the teachings of Jesus.

But some of the unconverted Delaware Indians sided with the British while some sided with the Colonies. But the British and the Americans were suspicious of the Indian converts and in 1781 the Americans forcibly removed them from their camps and moved them to a camp that they established. The white Moravian missionaries were tried for treason and found not guilty. By 1782 the Delaware converts began to starve and approximately 100 returned to their former villages and began to harvest the crops they had been forced to leave. But the Americans wanted to destroy those camps in an effort to keep the British from getting the food.

But the Indian converts had relocated and were once again living and working in those camps. The American militia told the converts that they had come to protect them and that they should gather together with their belongings. But they had lied, and although these Indian believers were well know as pacifists, the American militia made plans to annihilate them. Here is a short account:

On the evening of the 7th, the Indians spent their last hours praying and singing, knowing that their spirits would soon be in the presence of their God. They did not resist, they did not struggle. The next morning the slaughter began. The women were killed in one building, the men in the other. The old, the young and the infants were all massacred. The lists of the victims contain the names of infants and toddlers who were killed. As the victims were brought into the slaughter houses, many sang hymns, others prayed. The word of God was on their lips as the mallet or tomahawk crashed into their skulls. (source)

It is stories like this one that are recorded in heaven and which make all the modern church wrangling seem like sacrilege. Where oh where are believers like that today? These Moravian converts from the Delaware tribe were faithful to the Lord Jesus even unto death. But today’s believers must demand their rights and become entangled with the secular cesspool. But brothers and sisters, we have not learned that from Christ. And lest anyone be deceived, this nation was never formed as a Christian nation. The blood of these Indian believers still stains the ground where they were massacred.

May their martyrdom redound to the glory of God, and may it be a challenge to us all to serve the Lord with contrition and humility. He who would be first must be last, and he who is abased will one day be exalted. Amen.

FYI - In 1810, Tecumseh reminded William Henry Harrison, "You recall the time when the Jesus Indians of the Delawares lived near the Americans, and had confidence in their promises of friendship, and thought they were secure, yet the Americans murdered all the men, women, and children, even as they prayed to Jesus?"