200 years later, Judson’s mission still changing world
BURMA, Asia (BP) -- Most people would have written off Ko Than Byu as hopeless, but pioneer American missionary Adoniram Judson was different from most. In early 19th-century jungles of Burma, Byu's neighbors wouldn't have been surprised to hear that the wild young man who left home at 15 had become a robber who claimed to have killed at least 30 people. Byu, history records, eventually found himself in trouble and up for sale to pay a debt. Byu's temper was considered so volatile that the Burmese Christian who bought him as a servant was glad to give Byu to Judson for the price of the debt. Something about Judson touched Byu in a way nothing else had. When Byu turned his life over to the Jesus that Judson taught, he was finally able to channel into good the boundless energy that had caused so much trouble. Byu would return to the mountains with missionaries George and Sarah Boardman and spend the rest of his life evangelizing his fellow ethnic Karen people, many of whom are now Christians. Byu was just one of many influenced by the man many consider the father of American missions, given Judson's way of inspiring fellow Christians to look beyond their borders and carry the light of the Gospel to other nations. Judson's life had a more promising start than Byu's, but it hardly felt that way to Judson's devout parents when he told them he no longer believed in the God preached by his father, a rigid Congregationalist minister. Also disturbing to his parents, Judson was heading for New York to write for the theater. Neither his father's reasoning nor his mother's tears and prayers could deter him; but God could plant second thoughts. A night that changed his life In an inn en route to New York, Judson was placed in the room next to a dying man. During the night, hearing sounds from the next room, he found himself wondering whether the man was prepared to die, and whether he himself was prepared to face the prospect of bleak nothingness. The next morning, Judson was told the man had died during the night. When Judson asked who he was, the answer shook him to the core. The man was Jacob Eames, a university friend who had influenced Judson to reject all revealed religion. That night set Judson on a fresh quest for truth, one that led him to embrace Christ and join with other young men to offer themselves as America's first global missionaries, starting a movement that continues to move forward today. On Feb. 19, 1812, aware of the danger ahead, Judson and his new bride Ann "Nancy" Hasseltine Judson sailed for Calcutta ...
Judson’s work continues in Burma
BURMA, Asia (BP) -- The groundbreaking work of Baptist missionary Adoniram Judson is still blessing Burma (now Myanmar) 200 years after Judson accepted Jesus and embraced His call to spread Christianity in the Asian country known then as Burma.
200 years later, Judson’s mission still changing world
BURMA, Asia (BP) -- Most people would have written off Ko Than Byu as hopeless, but pioneer American missionary Adoniram Judson was different from most. In early 19th-century jungles of Burma, Byu's neighbors wouldn't have been surprised to hear that the wild young man who left home at 15 had become a robber who claimed to have killed at least 30 people. Byu, history records, eventually found himself in trouble and up for sale to pay a debt. Byu's temper was considered so volatile that the Burmese Christian who bought him as a servant was glad to give Byu to Judson for the price of the debt. Something about Judson touched Byu in a way nothing else had. When Byu turned his life over to the Jesus that Judson taught, he was finally able to channel into good the boundless energy that had caused so much trouble. Byu would return to the mountains with missionaries George and Sarah Boardman and spend the rest of his life evangelizing his fellow ethnic Karen people, many of whom are now Christians. Byu was just one of many influenced by the man many consider the father of American missions, given Judson's way of inspiring fellow Christians to look beyond their borders and carry the light of the Gospel to other nations. Judson's life had a more promising start than Byu's, but it hardly felt that way to Judson's devout parents when he told them he no longer believed in the God preached by his father, a rigid Congregationalist minister. Also disturbing to his parents, Judson was heading for New York to write for the theater. Neither his father's reasoning nor his mother's tears and prayers could deter him; but God could plant second thoughts. A night that changed his life In an inn en route to New York, Judson was placed in the room next to a dying man. During the night, hearing sounds from the next room, he found himself wondering whether the man was prepared to die, and whether he himself was prepared to face the prospect of bleak nothingness. The next morning, Judson was told the man had died during the night. When Judson asked who he was, the answer shook him to the core. The man was Jacob Eames, a university friend who had influenced Judson to reject all revealed religion. That night set Judson on a fresh quest for truth, one that led him to embrace Christ and join with other young men to offer themselves as America's first global missionaries, starting a movement that continues to move forward today. On Feb. 19, 1812, aware of the danger ahead, Judson and his new bride Ann "Nancy" Hasseltine Judson sailed for Calcutta ...
Judson’s work continues in Burma
BURMA, Asia (BP) -- The groundbreaking work of Baptist missionary Adoniram Judson is still blessing Burma (now Myanmar) 200 years after Judson accepted Jesus and embraced His call to spread Christianity in the Asian country known then as Burma.
