Sermon Central
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God's Banana Stalk
Contributed by Hal Seed on Nov 9, 2012 (message contributor)
GOD'S BANANA STALK
One of my favorite stories in The Bible Questions is the story of the Motilone (Mow-til-oh-ee) Indians of Columbia, South America.
In the 1960s, the Motilones were Stone Age headhunters feared by all their neighboring tribes. They had killed every white man who trespassed into their territory.
Some Catholic priests tried to make contact with them, but were macheted to death. A seventeen-year-old kid named Bruce Olson tried to enter their tribe, but was shot in the leg with an arrow. For some reason, the Motilones nursed him back to health and allowed him to enter their tribe. He spent five years learning their language.
One day a tribesman told Bruce a legend about a prophet who would come carrying a banana stalk that would speak the words of God to them.
Olson couldn’t quite understand the idea behind the legend. "Why look for God to come out of a banana stalk?" he asked.
The Motilone showed him a banana stalk. Another tribesman bent down and swatted the stalk with his machete, splitting it in half. Olson said, "The two halves looked like pages from a book."
Bruce grabbed his pack, took out his Bible and started flipping through the pages. He pointed to the leaves of the pages and the leaves from the banana stalk.
"This is it!" He said. “This is God’s banana stalk!”
Within weeks, hundreds of Motilones gave their lives to Christ and Bruce taught them from "God's banana stalk."
Within five years, instead of hunting and eating their neighbors, Motilone tribesmen learned about medicine and began providing medical assistance for their neighboring jungle tribes. Today they hold positions in the Columbian government and are helping to protect other tribes from encroachment by outside forces.
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