I want to share a story that has changed the way I view compassion. If I was a Hollywood film producer, I would make a movie out of it. It is a true story about a man named Bulus Tsetu. He and his family felt the call of God to start a Bible school in Nigeria, Africa. So after they had been there for sometime, the local Muslims learned that they were Christians trying to manipulate their people to leave Islam for Christianity. So one day when his daughter was walking home from school, a group of Muslims abducted her and raped her in a park. They told her to go back home and tell her dad that if he did not leave that they would find her everyday and do the same thing.
Soon Brother Tsetu’s wife became very ill. She was taken to the hospital, but as the doctors were taking tests she was left for three days without treatment. This caused her kidneys to fail. As a result, she desperately needed dialysis five times a week, but she was only able to get about two per month because of the shortage of machines for the great number of patients needing dialysis. The missionaries who they were there with called a friend in the United States who had great success getting things donated. Within two days, he had 11 dialysis units sitting in his garage. He shipped a container over at his own expense. It arrived in record time. All the paperwork was in order. Only one signature was needed. The man was ready and waiting for Brother Tsetu to bring in the paper. The secretary to this man, however, was greedy and kept Brother Tsetu waiting for three months because he would not pay a bribe. The very day one of the machines was finally setup and ready for his wife’s use and she died.
You would think he would go back to the States, but the story continues. Some who called themselves Christians came to him and said, “Either you are for us or you are against us.” These so called Christians told Brother Tsetu that, if he did not fight for them, they would kill his family.
HE LATER SAID HE DID NOT KILL ANYONE, BUT HIS ARM WAS SO TIRED FROM SWINGING A MACHETE TO DEFEND HIS FAMILY THAT HE COULD NOT LOOSEN HIS GRIP NOR LIFT HIS ARM FOR A COUPLE OF DAYS AFTERWARD.
His fellow missionaries soon lost contact with him during the riots. After four days, he came to their compound. He had just pulled an arrow from his side. He had wrestled a knife away from his neck and his leg was cut where someone tried to cut off his foot. You might be thinking to yourself, why were the Christians so angry with him? This going to blow your mind but they knew that he was harboring Muslims in his house The man who had suffered so much at the hands of Muslims was now harboring Muslims in his house and he was paying a great price.
The people who took part in his wife’s passing and his daughters abuse were the very people he was risking his own life to protect. He was compassionate like the Samaritan. Just think how the Muslims might have felt when they realized that the missionary they wanted to kill was risking his neck for them.