Matumba and the old chief

I want to tell you a part of a story that Doctor Paul Long told of his experience when he was in the former Belgian Congo. I think it underscores the nature of this loneliness of faith. You do not have faith plus something else; you do not have faith plus your own props. Faith can only rely and lean on God himself.

The story is this: there was an old chieftain way back in the Congo. [The people] had to come a long way through all sorts of brush and bush in order to fetch him because he had been imprisoned for fifteen years, and was released. He had been emaciated and weak, and he was not the powerful chief that he once was. He was going to die soon, and he had called for Doctor Long and some of the native Christians with him, and they came. He wanted to know about their God, and Doctor Long said, Well, God is the Father of the new tribe, his people, and Jesus Christ is the Great Chieftain of the new tribe and he accepts anyone who follows him. My friends here, he said, are members of the new tribe and they will tell you about the new tribe and how to become a member of it.

Then Doctor Long turned it over to a fellow who was a native Christian, Matumba, who was now a pastor. The pastor had formerly been a medicine man and knew something of what this chief was going to have to give up, and so he began working on him. He said, How come you want to ask about another God when you still trust in your medicine, and he looked at the chief’s copper charmed bracelets on his spear arm. So with a great deal of reluctance, the chief slipped the bracelets from his arm and dropped them on the dust. And then he said, Tell me, teller of the Word, about your powerful God. Well, the pastor was not satisfied yet and he said, What about the war of medicine on your belt that tells you where you really look for power. And so after a long pause, the old warrior cut the small skin bag from his belt and dropped it in the dust. Then the pastor said, Now the packet on your neck. So the old chief put a trembling hand up on the thong that held this packet up to his neck. You see, that little charm and things held a protection against all his enemies and made their magic to have no power against him. But finally, he snapped the thong and that security dropped in the dirt. And then pastor Matumba said, Now your medicine of chieftainship. With that the chief turned and went back into his hut and brought out a large antelope horn that was filled with all sorts of charms and things which were said to have power, like the eye of a frog, a tooth of a lion, and all that sorts of things, and he gave that up.

This is all the protection I have, the chieftain said. But his pastor was not satisfied. He said Now get your life charm, and I will tell you about the God of the new tribe. Then the fellow started trembling, he began to sweat and from around his bony shoulders he pulled this old tattered blanket. And his three old wives—he had lost his five additional younger wives who had more strength and had run away—but he still had three old wives that were left, and those three old wives were watching from a distance and they began to give off the death wail because he was asked to give up his life charm. The old chief finally rose and went back into the house, got a little packet of skins and then came out and silenced the wailing wives and looked around at his council, and then he said this, Teller of the Word, holding up that packet of skins, you have asked for the life of me, an old chief; this medicine has protected my life from all my enemies for many years, many still alive and who hate me and have curses on my life, when I throw down this medicine all their curses will fall on me, my protecting spirits will withdraw their protection and I will die; but I am not afraid to die! He dropped the packet in the dirt and he drew himself up at full height in order to await his death.

Well, the tension grew around the circle in the seconds that followed, but the seconds were followed by minutes, and the minutes grew into more minutes. And after a long while the old chief looked at Doctor Long and the others and his lips split into a grin and he said, I am still alive! And then Matumba and the others told the old chief about the God of the new tribe and they had to answer many questions. Finally, the old chief said at the end of that discussion, I have a new Chieftain, and he will help me across the river and lead me through the dark forest and take me to his village where I can sit with his people. I now belong to the new tribe. Now the old chieftain wanted all his people to follow Chieftain Jesus and go with him to the village of God. But you see what it was that he had to learn before he could even consider giving himself to the God of the new tribe, as he called it? He had to have every prop stripped away from him before he could be brought to the loneliness of faith and nothing else; nothing else that he was leaning upon. Everything was stripped away.¹

Ralph Davis