EX-KIAP NETWORK FORUM

Stan Dale belonged to the Regions Beyond missionary organisation.
His report detailed below occurred late May 1968 at the top of the Balim Valley, West Irian.

Stanley Dale (52) of Tasmania and Phil Masters (50?) American - were stabbed to death on the 25th September 1968 in the same area.

Rescue Helicopter (Kennecott - Helitrans) and Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) pilots provided this information Sept 28th 1968

Stan Dale's report gives a good insight into his zeal and evangelistic policies of the day culminating the inevitable clash of cultures. I leave you to draw your own conclusions ... read on .....


IN DEATH TRIUMPHANT


The people in part of the Heluk Valley have burnt their fetishes. Within that simple statement there lies concealed a triumph and a tragedy.

From the time we first began preaching the gospel at Ninia, we Knew that ultimately we would have to deal with the matter of fetishes. These in themselves may appear innocuous. They may be almost anything, a lump of desiccated pig fat, shaped stones and smaller adzes, large flat oval stones, balls of hollow dried clay and such like. Yet these things are associated magical powers which themselves cannot unit be dismissed as sere harmless primitive native superstitions. One only has to see the power that these things hold over the lives of the people in this land to realise that fetishes are connected with a deeply entrenched Satanic system and that it is quite impossible to be wholly committed to Christ whilst still retaining these.

Upon returning to Ninia from furloughs my wife and I found that those who professed a conversion before we went home were still faithfully following the Lord. We discovered however, that none of then had destroyed his fetishes and it has been abundantly proven in this land that a complete and final break from the past is a matter of necessity as a safeguard against backsliding into old pagan ways. For weeks additional instruction on the separation of Christians from the evil was given to the little company of believers. Then on Sunday the 22nd May, as I was speaking about the duties and responsibilities of Christians, I urged those present with the fact that they had not parted with their fetishes. "I will burn mine tomorrow", replied the leader of the Christians.

The next morning a couple of other leading Christians came to me and stated that they too intended to burn their fetishes. Suddenly, like a leaping flame, the idea spread among the Christians. With excited whoops they went dancing up the mountain to their villages, dived into the meats clubhouses and started dragging out of their dark corner the bags of fetishes. Not only the Christians, but those who were receiving regular instruction with the Christian faith, joined in carrying down the fetishes to the mission station to be burned. Even the old diehard makers of the magic spells surrendered their fetishes for destruction. For two or three hours the eager group of young men ran from village to village until they had collected a great heap of magical objects. Then the Christians gathered nearby and sang some hymns of praise and offered thanks to God for release from those things which for so long had kept them in bondage. A match was set to the pile, and the flames leaped upwards they broke out again in spontaneous songs of joys.


The following day, (Tuesday) the Ninia Christians went to a string of villages on a ridge to the westward (collectively called LILIGAN) where the Gospel was preached each week, and persuaded the people there to burn their fetishes too. I went over there and witnessed this being done with spontaneous enthusiasm, then speaking to then on Ananias and Sapphira, told them that they here not doing it for men but for God, and charged them to continue faithful to the word of tied that had 1o often been preached to them.

While this was going on, some men from Ninia called to us across the valley that the people from PALINGAMA (another of our preaching posts) were coaxing over to make trouble. However, nothing came of it and the rest of the day past quietly.

On the Wednesday, the Christians and myself went to PALINGAMA, to explain to the people who were receiving regular Christian instruction, the reasons for burning the fetishes. Nearing the village there was considerable excitement, when it was reported that a group of men were lying in wait for us with bows and arrows, so I told the rest of them to wait while I went ahead to investigate I saw a few men with bows and arrows, but they discreetly disappeared as I got nearer. Then we gathered together the men who were in the village, explained that they too, like the NINIA and the LILIGAN people could be free of the power of fetishes, and urged them to destroy them. They agreed to destroy them. They agreed to do this, and they and the NINIA Christians began to collect the fetishes for burning

While this was going on we saw a large group of men gathering across the river. These people, (KAUBAK) had always been traditional enemies of the People on our side of the river, and although they were not involved in any way, they apparently decided to intervene. I could see that they were starting to work themselves into a fury, so I strolled down to the river's bank with the intention of discouraging them. It was too late. Suddenly the whole crowd of them came charging down to the river and began to shoot arrows at me, but most of them fell well short. Within a few minutes the Christians came running to my aid, and although they were unarmed a few of them managed to get across the river. This diverted attention from me so that I was able to get over too. I shouted to the Christians to keep out of the affair, and detoured through a patch of bushland, intending to come up behind our assailants and get quite close to them and reason with them. However, by the time I had emerged from the bush, I found that all the Christians had crossed the river and the attackers had retired to a steep hillside. As we approached, calling out to them and trying to establish a friendly contact with them, they commenced shooting again. About fifty arrows were fired, but the Christians quite calmly advanced dodging arrows that fell near. Three men were waiting for us as I climbed at steep rise, and began shooting, although I shouted that I was their friend and held up my hands to show them I was unarmed. By this time though, they were probably so worked up they couldn't even hear. The first arrow went just over my head, the second, caught by an updraft of air, went wide. The third man waited with grim determination until I was quite close then took aim and fired, but the arrow missed by several feet.

By this time the troublemakers had apparently become discouraged by their lack of success and were dispersing. Some made off across the river where they had come from, and the others disappeared into their villages or hid in the forest. Catching up with some of them I gave them a piece of my mind. I said, "Why did you shoot at us? I have always been your friend and I have never done you any harm. If these people want to burn their fetishes you let them, no-one asked you to burn yours. Anyway don't you shoot at anyone and in future just mind your own business."

We went back to PALINGAMA and burned the great piles of fetishes there and everyone returned to NINIA with great rejoicing. It was quite evident now to the Christians that God could and would protect them, as I so frequently told them. They were enormously encouraged by the destruction and by the Lord's protection and their faith was greatly strengthened. The Sunday meetings continued as before in the places where the fetishes had been burnt and there was a deepening desire for the Word of God in the days that followed.

About a week after the fetishes were burnt, I went across to LILIGAN and spent the night. The following morning a large crowd assembled and listened eagerly to the word of God. They were rejoicing from their freedom from fetishes and assured me that they purposed to wholly follow the Lord. They also told me that the people in the lower HELUK Valley were desirous of hearing the gospel, and wanted us to go down there and teach them. As I had been down there a few weeks previously and had had a very good reception at the nearer villages I believed in this statement. Consequently the following week I mentioned this to the Christians at our Thursday night prayer meeting and asked if anyone would like to go down there for a few days and preach the gospel to them. Two young men, JEIKWARAGU and BINGGUOK, volunteered to go and the following morning at about 10:30 set out, taking with them a large coloured chart on the broad and narrow ways which I had prepared for them. As they were late in starting I told them to sleep in the first village in the LOWER HELUK area. All that subsequently happened hinged upon the fact that they did not do this.

At about four o'clock on Saturday afternoon we heard the women in the nearest village wailing hopelessly for the dead. We asked why they wear wailing and were told that the two men had been killed. It seemed so incredible to us that a first we refused to believe it, but as further reports in confirmation of this came to us, we were finally forced to accept the tragic fact. It was too late that evening to get any help and we had to what we could to reassure the NINIA people, who were obviously expecting the murders to be followed up by an attack on their villages. We spent an almost sleepless night numbed with shook and grief, for the two young men had been so close to us that it was as if out own children had been killed.

Early in the morning we contacted MAF and asked the police to come in immediately. Within an hour the WAMENA (in the BALIEM Valley) District Officer and four policemen had arrived and I asked them to go with me to investigate the scene of the murders, find out exactly what happened and recover the bodies. When we reached LILIGAN we were informed that the enemy was waiting in ambush for us at the AELUK River so we proceeded very cautiously down the forested mountain and through the precipitous gorge that followed. There was no sign of any opposition and we came at last to a flimsy bridge across the river. At this point the District Officer, who had fallen and grazed his knee, decided to return with his police to NINIA. This was a crucial moment as I knew it would be extremely dangerous to go on without them but burdened and broken hearted over the death of the two young men I felt I could not face the Christians at NINIA again without doing all that was in my power to recover the bodies of their friends, and mine. I gave strict instructions to the NINIA boys who had accompanied us to return with the Police and then walked on alone. At first I walked slowly, carefully investigating the track in front of me before proceeding, as every bush could conceal an enemy and every thicket an ambush. Then the Lord gave me an assurance of His protection and I stepped out more briskly. I had almost reached the first village in the area where the murders had taken place, when I looked back and saw two policemen and four NINIA youths following me in the distance.

Near the, village I discovered where BINGGUOK had been cremated by some courageous LILIGAN people, who had daringly came into the area to give him their equivalent of a decent burial, but we could find no trace of JEIKWARAGU’s body so continued up the side of the valley and searched the area. There was evidence of a large body of men having been in the area and then on the side of the hill we found the sweet potato beds trampled down were the murderers had danced their victory dance after killing the two boys. By this time it was getting late and we decided to camp for the night at the village near which the lads had been killed. We had seen no one and a thick fog covered the ridges round about and it seemed possible that the killers had not even seen us entering the valley. Anyway, with the NINIA boys and a policeman searching around and another policeman with me it seemed safe for me to prepare a meal.

I had moved away from the fire in the center of the hut and was getting something from my pack near the doorway when I felt a violent stab in my right side and saw a five foot arrow embedded deeply in me. I snatched it out with one swift straight pull, hearing as I did so an exclamation of satisfaction from outside. As I scrambled from the door another arrow pieced my right thigh. We could here movements all around us. We were surrounded in a death trap, for the enemy could pour arrows into the but from every direction.

Furthermore a bright fire made us clearly visible to the attackers. Before I could extinguish it another arrow hit me in the left thigh and when I
moved around to the other side of the hut two more arrows struck me, one causing a wound in the right forearm and the other penetrated deeply on the left side, piecing the diaphragm and the bowel. There rose behind the but the high pitched, keening notes of the death wail, as the attackers triumphantly proclaimed that they had killed me. It was indescribably eerie and as by this time the wounds were beginning to trouble me, I thought for a moment they might be right.

At last the policeman who was with me, who had already fired a few ineffectual shots, saw a man creeping up on us with his bow and arrow, and shot him. The other policeman came up at the same time and commenced firing and the attackers precipitately fled.

We gathered our belongings and went back down the valley in the deepening darkness, intending to find a safer place to camp. As we did so I began to realise how serious any wounds were. Every step was an agony and the air was wheezing in and out of me uncontrollably. We soon reached the village near the HELUK River where x had planned to sleep. The NINIA boys though, had different ideas. "No", they said, "We'll keep on walking through the night. Tomorrow you will be too stiff to move”.

The six hours or more that followed bore one long nightmare. We walked in total darkness at first, thinking the enemy might be following us, but later lit a lantern. Even with its light though the track ways faintly illuminated, and the track was rough. Sometimes we had to wade along the edge of the rushing river, sometimes we clambered over the slippery rocks high above it, when a slip would send us plummeting down into the torrent below. Fallen trees and hidden pot holes made the way more hazardous, and time and time again I fell. Every time great waves of pain swept over me, threatening to blot out consciousness. Twice I gasped,"leave me alone, I'm dying." "Oh, my father," replied the boys "come on”. And gently they took are by the hand and led me on. Then the Lord's own word came to me, "I shall not die but live, and declare the works of the Lord.", and I clung to the promise like a staff, as we came out of the gloomy gorge and commenced to climb the mountain beyond. It was hard enough to climb in daylight, for a man who is strong and well. At night and for someone in my condition it seemed impossible, but God brought me through. Then at last we were walking along the mountain top to LILIGAN, to rest and partial relief of pain.


Early next morning, the local men made a litter, and carried me with wonderful gentleness down the steep mountainside and up the father ridge to NINIA. There the M.A.F. plane was waiting, ready to take me immediately to KARUBAGA, where at last I relaxed. No words could describe the skilled and loving attention that was lavished upon me in the days that followed, as the dedicated hospital staff fought for my life.

Now several weeks have gone by, and as I daily gain more strength I look back in thankfulness to all that had helped me; the lads who lovingly led me through the night; Dr Long and his medical staff; the hundreds of Missionaries and many thousands of native Christians who fervently prayed in the critical days, for through the combined efforts and the mercy of God I was brought back from the dark valley of the shadow of death to the light and life and love of family and friends. But for BINGGUOK and JEIKWAROGO there was no return. In their love and loyalty they gave the last limit of sacrifice all that they had ... themselves.

It was not until a week or so after they had died that we were able to get all the details of their death. They had not slept in the first Village on the Lower HELUX as I had instructed them, but they had gone on an extra hour and camped at another place called ILIA. The next morning they had conducted a service and were eating a meal, when the local people warned them that the enemy were waiting and advised them to go home. They ran down to the valley below, but a large number of the enemy were waiting in ambush for them, and they found themselves surrounded. Bingguok was killed almost immediately apparently without any pleas for mercy. Jeikwarogu dived into some bushes and hid but straight away bounded out shouted, "I am a child of God why should I hide? Shoot me and shoot Jesus too." I cannot remember having taught him, but evidently in that moment the Holy Spirit brought to his heart the truth that "In all our afflictions He is afflicted" and he was not alone when he faced the savagery of his attackers. The next moment he was shot through the chest and fell. In this manner they died, the first two martyrs of the TALI tribe, as " all the trail. a sounded for them on the other side."

What will be the outcome of the tragedy? To the killers it has no doubt been a triumph of the power of fetishes over the power of God. The NINIA people are still jittery, fearing further attacks. The faith of some Christians, especially that of the relatives of the martyred boys has been severely shaken, while others have come through the time of testing triumphantly, their faith and courage strengthened. From our little group of tested Christians we have lost two of our most outstanding, for both were preachers and Jeikwarogu especially had a real gift in this regard, while Binggok taught literacy classes and Jeikwarogu taught Bible lessons. We ourselves have last two boys who were not only our sons spiritually but were like our own sons in fact. Even the death of our own first child was not a greater blow to us than the death of these two whom we had learned to love. Why should they be taken when they are needed so badly? The tempter comes with his age old slander, "to what purpose was this `waste?"

We do not pretend to know all the purposes of God in this affair, but we do know that God who created countless millions of stars in the Universe,
and set them each one whirling in its appointed orbit will not be frustrated by the puny opposition of man. We know that, "The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to pulling down the strongholds, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God." We trust that these strongholds of Satan still remaining in the HMUK Valley and the surrounding areas will yet be smashed by the hammer of the Word of God; from this baptism of blood there will rise a sacrificial sanctified church; that from this dark and dreadful tragedy will yet shine in glory and the triumph of his grace.

Pray for us, for we have just returned to NINIA and will continue to preach the Gospel and build up the Church here. A corn of wheat has fallen to the ground and dried. May it bring forth much fruit in the days ahead.

Stan Dale