Faith for the Family

Resources

• The Crowning Hymns
• Pastor's Book List
• Bible Study Materials
• Solid Answers Series
• Stewardship of Life Series
• Baptist Vision Archive
• The Way of Salvation
• Life and Ministry of Dr. Lee Roberson
• Brave Boys & Girls
• Teens for Christ
• Tools for Bible Study
• CrownWeb.net
• Faith for the Family Bookstore

Mary Slessor
The White Ma of Calabar

"Run, Ma! Run!" the cry pierced through the deep, dark jungle of Calabar.

Mary Slessor looked up from her work to see war-clad natives rushing towards each other, spears and shields gleaming in the African sun. Flinging her work aside, Mary raced toward the two bands of drunken warriors until she stood directly between them.

"Out of the way, Ma," one native shouted. "We fight!"

"You will do no such thing," Mary said, speaking as sternly as she would speak to a naughty child.

"We will shoot you, too!" another warrior yelled.

"Shoot if you dare," Mary challenged and grabbed one of the native's spears. Tension ripped through the air as warriors on every side eyed the red-haired missionary.

Mary stood resolute. This was not the first time the young woman had found herself in a perilous situation. Raised in the slums of Scotland by a drunkard father and a God-fearing mother, God had seen fit to bring much hardship into Mary's young life, preparing her for a missionary's life. Mary's father would often squander the family's living on his alcohol and come home in an abusive rage. Eventually, his drunkenness would take his life, leaving Mary to support her family as an eleven-year old girl.

Mary came to know Christ as her Saviour when a neighbor lady confronted her with the terrors of hell. "Do you see this fire?" the wizened lady had asked. "If you do not repent of your sins and trust Christ as your Saviour, you will burn forever and ever in hell-fire!" The words played again and again in Mary's head throughout the day like an incessant beat of a drum, robbing her of sleep that night. Finally, she could bear it no longer. Kneeling beside her bed, Mary Slessor trusted Christ alone to save her.

Once Mary became a Christian, her life began to revolve around bringing others to Christ. Though no much more than a child herself, she organized inner-city Bible clubs for children living on the streets. Some adults tried to discourage Mary from such work because of the gang members who would try to disrupt her meetings. But Mary was not afraid—even when the gang did give her trouble.

One night, as she returned home from a club meeting, Mary was surrounded by gang members. Unable to escape, Mary took a deep breath and turned to face the gang leader. "I'll fix your pretty face!" he snarled as he swung a lead weight ever closer to her face. "I'll fix your pretty face!" he repeated again, but Mary did not speak nor budge. Round and round, the sharp object swung until finally, it grazed her forehead. Warm blood trickled down Mary's face, but she held her ground. "Wow! What a great sport!" the stunned gang member said as he dropped the weight to the ground. "From now on, you are free to walk my streets. Anyone that gives you any trouble answers to me."

"I want you all to come to the Bible Club tomorrow night," Mary firmly declared. To her surprise, all of the gang members attended the next night. All that is, except for the leader.

CRACK! Mary was startled by the sound of a cracking whip just outside the door. It was the gang leader! "Get in the meeting, or else I'll whip you!" he bellowed at a poor little boy.

"Stop!" Mary demanded. "Whip me instead!" And with that she turned her back to the gang leader, bracing herself for the whipping.

In stunned amazement, the gang leader dropped the whip. "You mean you would take his whipping?"

"Yes. Would you go into the meeting?" The gang leader dropped his shoulders and headed into the meeting. God worked in his heart during Mary's lesson, and by the end of the night, he and several other gang members had placed their faith in Jesus Christ!

Mary continued to work with inner-city people as she entered young adulthood, still she longed for more. She had become a great admirer of Dr. David Livingstone, the famous missionary to Africa, and had developed a burden for the people of Africa. One Sunday, a missionary spoke in her church about a place called Calabar, located in Nigeria, West Africa.

"Calabar is the worst place in the world!" the missionary said grimly. "We call it the White Man's Grave! There is disease, war, and witch doctors." The congregation shuddered as he described the horrors of serving in that African nation, but Mary sat on the edge of her seat. God was at work, placing a burden on her heart for the people of Calabar, who had never heard about Jesus Christ.

With her mother's encouragement, Mary arrived at the mission station of Duke Town in September of 1876. She was twenty-nine years old. The Duke Town missionaries had already experienced great success in the coastal regions of Calabar, planting a church, as well as beginning a school and orphanage in the region. Mary spent her days fulfilling her teaching duties and learning the local languages. As soon as she could travel without a translator, she began to visit other villages in the area. What she found there burdened her heart. The people of Calabar worshipped skulls and believed in evil spirits. When a prominent man died, his slaves and women were killed to provide him company in the afterlife.Mary asked the missionaries working with her to let her go and reach these people, but her request was denied. "It is too dangerous," they told her.

Throughout her ministry, tropical disease would strike Mary without warning, and she would be terribly sick for months on end. It was one of these jungle diseases that sent her home to Scotland for her first brief furlough. Mary dreaded going home to Scotland because it was here she faced her worst fear—public speaking.Yet Mary learned to rely on the Lord in the face of this fear.

Upon arriving back in Africa, Mary was delighted to discover she had been stationed by herself in a remote village called Old Town. The first sight to greet her eyes was a cluster of human skulls hanging from a pole near her doorway. The people of Old Town were vile with no respect for human life. When a man died, his widow became a suspect in his death. She could be tried in one of three ways. In the first, she would be made to eat poisonous beans. If she died, she was judged to be guilty. In the second, she would have boiling oil poured over her skin. If she was burned, she was judged to be guilty. In the third, a chicken was killed. If the chicken's body flopped in a certain direction, she was judged to be guilty. Wives found to be "guilty" were executed immediately.

But Mary was especially horrified with the practice of killing twins in the villages. The people of Calabar believed one of the twins to be a demon, but were unable to determine which it was. Both babies would be left to die in the jungle shortly after birth, and the mother was severely punished. Mary began to rescue these children. She quickly became the mother of dozens of condemned twins.Often she would find them, just hours old, left on bushes or in clay pots. One dark night, Mary was awakened by the howl of a panther. Outside her hut, Mary discovered the panther with a baby in its mouth. Frantically, she grabbed a... burning torch, and struck the panther in the head, forcing it to drop the baby and run away. Miraculously, the baby was unharmed.

Mary's days were filled with treating the sick, advising the Christian chief, King Eyo Honesty the Sixth, and teaching the Bible to the natives in Old Town. The mission agency applauded her success, but Mary was not satisfied. Her heart longed to reach the fierce Okoyong tribe. In 1888, Mary announced she would leave Old Town to reach the people living in Okoyong. "Don't go, Ma!" the people of Old Town begged her. "They will kill you!" But Mary was determined as always. "If you must go," King Eyo Honesty said when he realized he could not persuade her to stay, "you must take my canoe." King Eyo Honesty's canoe was the finest canoe in all of Calabar!

Along with the men the chief had given to row his canoe, Mary left to find the Okoyong tribe. Around each new bend, the rowers became increasingly frightened and threatened to leave Mary. They had all heard of the violent Okoyong people. With little to do, the Okoyong people often got drunk and went to war with each other. Bloodshed was an everyday fact of life. Mary was not frightened, however. Her paddlers marveled. How was it that she was never afraid?

During the trip, a hippopotamus surfaced next to them and began to attack the canoe! As the men screamed in terror, Mary grabbed a tin basin and stuffed it in the animal's monstrous jaws. Realizing it bitten off more than it could chew, the hippo retreated back into the river's waters. This act of courage so impressed the people that still to this day, they reenact the story of Mary and the hippopotamus.

When Mary finally arrived at the village of Okoyong, she was able to convince the chief to allow her to build a house and mission station. Several of her children came to live with her in her new house. Life was a wild adventure in the Okoyong village. Yet God gave her a calm assurance in the face of each new danger. This was the reason Mary was able to stand in the midst of bloodthirsty warriors, even as they threatened to shoot her.

"Why do you want to fight?" Mary finally asked, releasing the spear she had been holding. Mary led them to sit down together and she listened as they argued their causes. Every now and then, she would make a comment to make certain the negotiations remained calm. When Mary was sure the men were now sober and tired of talking, she would stand up, announce the conditions of peace, and make the men agree with her peace treaty. Mary became so good at solving these bloody disputes that the British colonial government hired her to hear all the disputes in the area!

Why could Mary be so courageous when those around her were so frightened? It was because she remembered God's words in Deuteronomy 31:6, "Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee." Mary believed in her heart that God was always with her—even in deepest, darkest Africa. She knew that the Lord would not fail her in the time of danger.

God is always with you, too. Perhaps God has not called you to face wild jungle animals, tropical diseases, or fierce warriors as Mary Slessor did, but He knows what frightens you. As you place your faith in Him, you will have the courage of knowing that He will take care of you in every situation.

Mary Slessor was courageous until the day she went home to be with the Lord Jesus. She left behind many villages where the only bloodshed that was ever talked about was the blood that Jesus shed for them. For us, she left behind a shining example of what it means to live victoriously for Jesus Christ!

Mary Slessor was born on December 2, 1848. She died on January 13, 1915