Adoniram Judson
When Britain declared war on Burma in 1824, no western foreigner in this Asian nation was safe. The Burmese treated all foreigners alike. The men were arrested and imprisoned. Among them was the American missionary, Adoniram Judson.
He found himself in what was now called the death prison. The guards were the infamous ‘Spotted Faces,’ so named because their crimes were tattooed onto their faces. Fifty prisoners, mostly foreigners, shared the same cell. There was no water, no toilet and no privacy. Their feet were in iron fetters attached to a bamboo pole. Each night the pole was lifted a metre from the ground. The pole was lowered through daylight hours but each prisoner only had 10 minutes without fetters. They could walk outside into the sunlight but once the time was up it was back inside to be shackled again.
The stench of rotting flesh and human waste was excruciating. No food was provided. Those without some outside connection starved to death. Leaves that fell into the compound were quickly grabbed and eaten. Day and night the prisoners could hear the screams of other foreigners being tortured.
After some months eight prisoners, including Adoniram, now all sick and emaciated, were separated and forced to walk toward another village. Each collapsed and was thrown onto a makeshift cart to finish the journey. But in this new prison they faced a new horrific fear. A caged lion was brought into the compound. Everyone knew what was coming. The lion had not been fed to make it ravenous. But then as they all prepared to die, overnight it was the lion that died – from starvation.
It took another few months but each of the eight was finally freed, including Adoniram. He would go on to translate the entire Bible into Burmese and leave behind 100 churches and 8,000 converts.
Where are men and women of God like this today?
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