February 2. Wilfrid Barbrooke Grubb. The biographer said that Grubb considered obstacles mere “straws to be brushed aside” and … “his appearance conveyed an impression of physical endurance and great strength of character.”
As strong as his character was his desire for the good of his South American parish—the notorious Chaco region of Paraguay. There in the wild, Grubb established the first mission at a time the natives were deep into mere straws like ritual mutilation and cannibalism.
Grubb worked with the Lengua people. His methods were quite individual. Grubb told how he won the respect of the natives, so he could give them the gospel. He said, “On arriving at a village, I insisted, as far as possible, upon all the people ministering to my comfort. I ordered one to prepare my resting-place, another to make a fire, a third to bring me water, and another to pull off my knee boots. When the heat was great or the flies troublesome, I made two sit by me with fans. When on foot, and having to cross a swampy patch, I made one of them carry me across.…”
When one of the natives shot Grubb in the back with a poisoned arrow, he recovered, having avoided the people’s practice of burying people alive and despite that as he recovered, a “roving goat” would—from time to time—sit on Grubb’s chest.
Another time, when one of the natives got angry, he strung an arrow on his bow and pressed the tip against Grubb’s chest. The missionary believed that if he showed fear, the people would lose all respect for him, but if he lived and ate and worked with them, he would find a place in their hearts. So, as the tip of the arrow pressed into his chest, he tossed back his head and roared with laughter. It must have worked, since he went on ministering to them for twenty years and past many, many mere straws. Listen to today’s story.
When evil strikes, a man can hide, or he can expose the evil and drive it out.
In October 1900, after twelve years of intense effort to help the tribes of Paraguay know who Jesus is, Grubb’s work finally thrived. He had established a missionary station and a school in the village in Eastern Paraguay. (The name of the village was twenty letters long.)
Work was underway translating the Bible, and the Lengua Christians were enthusiastically helping Grubb. He was overjoyed at this success, especially when three young men were baptized.
But the next day, the three boys, who had been christened John, Andrew, and Thomas, fell violently ill. John and Thomas recovered quickly, but Andrew only grew worse.
Within two days, he had a high fever and could barely walk. Grubb and the villagers suspected it was the work of the village witch doctors, but before they could say a word, the witch doctors incited the people against Grubb: “You are killing him. You want to kill all our friends,” they said.
The witch doctors took ten of their cronies and forced their way into the house where Andrew rested. They intended to take him away to treat him themselves. But the missionaries refused to let Andrew go.
The crowd threatened violence, but the missionaries stood their ground, and the crowd eventually departed.
But that night, Andrew died. Believing his spirit would be angry at his death, his family members fled the house.
The following night, strange things happened. Ghosts appeared to terrify the villagers; roof tiles mysteriously flew off houses; people heard blood-chilling noises.
Grubb had failed to help Andrew, and now it seemed that the forces of darkness were conspiring against him.
He could have chosen to flee the village—to cut his losses and take his work elsewhere, but he chose to stay because he loved the Lengua people. He had committed his life to seeing them follow Jesus and turn away from witchcraft.
Grubb took a deep breath and thought about what was really going on. The next morning, he leaped into action.
After carefully interviewing the villages, he discovered the culprits. In front of their entire village, Grubb gathered them together and chewed them out.
First, Grubb showed his Winchester rifle to one of the witch doctors. This witch doctor was the one who had thrown the roof tiles off the houses. Grubb promised that if he heard a roof tile fall off again, he would shoot in that direction.
No more tiles were thrown.
After this, Grubb turned to the other witch doctors. He pointed at them and laughed as loud as he could. “Just look at them. Who could possibly be afraid of them?” he said. “Look at their leader; he isn’t far from the grave; his friends will soon be getting it ready!”
Ashamed, the witch doctors slunk away.
In the evening, Grubb called the Lengua people together to decide how to punish the witch doctors. The tribe then forced the witch doctors to pay two sheep each as compensation for their evil acts. The witch doctors paid up, and the sheep were then sold, and the proceeds devoted to the village church.
Grubb didn’t stop there. He knew that the witch doctors would try to assert their control again. And he desperately wanted the people to break free of their dependency on the witch doctors. From that moment on, Grubb took every opportunity to expose their fraud.
The Lengua Christians enthusiastically supported Grubb, and within a few years, almost the entire village believed in Jesus, including most of the witch doctors themselves.
“Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” (Romans 8:17–18 NIV).
Are you prepared to stand against evil in your own life? When evil strikes, a man can hide, or he can expose the evil and drive it out.
Grubb, Wilfrid B. A Church in the Wildlands. London: Seeley, Services and Co. Limited, 1925.
Davidson, Norman J. Barbrooke Grubb, Pathfinder. London: Seeley, Services and Co. Limited, 1924.
Hunt, R. J. The Livingstone of South America: The Life & Adventures of W. Barbrooke Grubb among the wild tribes of the Gran Chaco in Paraguay, Bolivia, Argentina, the Falkland Islands & Tierra del Fuego. London: Seeley Service & Co. Limited, 1932.
Bedford, C.T. Barbrooke Grubb of Paraguay. London: Seeley, Services and Co. Limited. 1932.
Story read by Blake Mattocks