(Note: This is a guest post written by “Berean Crossroads” who blogs here and his audio Bible recording can be found here. I am currently away and thank the brother for this guest post. If you have thoughts and questions, feel free to comment and when he has time he will respond.)
Mission To the Burmese People
Amazon: To the Golden Shore – The Life of Adoniram Judson
“But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. And when they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted. And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to keep all that I commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”” – (Matthew 28:16-20 LSB)
Burma is the ancient name for the current country of Myanmar whose official name is: the Republic of the Union of Myanmar. Geographically, the country:
Stretch[es] from latitude 10° N to about 28° 30′ N, Myanmar is the northernmost country of Southeast Asia; it is shaped like a kite with a long tail that runs south along the Malay Peninsula. The country is bordered by China to the north and northeast, Laos to the east, Thailand to the southeast, the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal to the south and southwest, Bangladesh to the west, and India to the northwest. Its total length from north to south is about 1,275 miles (2,050 km), and its width at the widest part, across the center of the country at about the latitude of the city of Mandalay, is approximately 580 miles (930 km) from east to west.[1]
In the book, To the Golden Shore, we learn about the life of Adoniram Judson who became the first American foreign missionary when he went to Burma at the age of 23 in 1812. Not only would Adoniram and his wife Ann whom people called Nancy be infants in language and life upon arrival in Burma but they would be in a land totally unlike their own in America. As a young seminarian, Adoniram being influenced by God to become a missionary, he
“devoured with great greediness every scrap of information concerning Eastern countries. In this pursuit he presently came across a book entitled An Account of an Embassy to the Kingdom of Ava. It had been written by Michael Symes, a British army officer who had been sent in 1795 by the Governor General of India to the mysterious empire of Burma. It began provocatively, “There are no countries on the habitable globe, where the arts of civilized life are understood, of which we have so limited a knowledge, as those that lie between the British possessions in India and the empire of Burma.”[2]
Never forget bloggers, something you might write or communicate could have such a profound impact upon someone that a God-given dream could be birthed within them to reach others for the Lord Jesus Christ.
Burma was totally dominated by Buddhism (even 87% today) and other pagan religions like Hinduism, Islam, animist or other smaller religions. Despotic rule from Ava (i.e. the capital) along with corruption abounding at all levels including persecution from Buddhist priests if you invaded their religious territory was the darkness into which Adoniram and Nancy entered to proclaim the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Fear and suspicion ruled the hearts of the people. As an example:
King Bagyidaw had become insane. In 1837, the “Tharrawaddy prince” (“Sarawady”) had deposed him. Tharrawaddy in turn became sadistically insane and died in confinement in 1846. He was succeeded by his eldest son Pagan Min, a debauched tyrant atop a crumbling central administration riddled with gangster dacoits.[3]
Life is difficult for missionaries but especially hard in the early years. “It had taken Adoniram and Nancy nine years to baptize eighteen native converts.”[4] They toiled in learning languages and Adoniram worked on a grammar, dictionary, tracts and translation of the entire Bible (i.e. both OT and NT). The Judson’s built a zayat not far from the mission house but along a road (i.e. Pagoda Road) that many people traveled especially during Buddhist festivals. Additionally challenging, in Rangoon, Burma where the Judson’s began their mission is the Shwedagon Pagoda. It is a gilded stupa and the most sacred Buddhist pagoda.
Here Adoniram could speak to passersby, invite them in to hear sermons, attend school along with a host of other activities. In time, God’s grace burst forth into Burma. What a joy the first convert brought to the Judson’s hearts and those back home in America. If you are a born-again believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, here is the story of one of your brothers in Christ who has gone before you into heaven and awaits your entrance into glory.
Adoniram and Nancy, putting on their shoes and returning to the mission house, had to admit the Buddhist service had a decorum and even a beauty they had not achieved in their own zayat.
The next Sunday Adoniram tried again. More people came than the week before and they behaved with more order; but it seemed impossible to get their attention and hold it. Afterwards he confessed, “I never felt so deeply the immense difficulty of making a first impression on a heathen people.”
Nevertheless, his audience grew slowly. Toward the end of the month, when the stairs leading from Pagoda Road were finished, he took to sitting on the porch every day and hailing passers with a “Ho! Everyone that thirsteth for knowledge!”
Soon the zayat had such a stream of visitors that Adoniram had no time for study. Some were openly, even virulently, hostile. The majority were half curious, half indifferent. But with[in] a week a visitor came who aroused Adoniram’s highest hopes.
The important visitor had walked in off the street one Friday, the last day of April, and for several hours had sat silently on the zayat veranda listening to Adoniram debate with various inquirers. His name was Maung Nau. He was about thirty-five years old, poor, without family, a man who had to work hard for a living. There was nothing remarkable about his appearance or manner, and he seemed to have no special abilities. That first Friday Adoniram would scarcely have noticed him except for his attentiveness and for the fact that he was unusually reticent for a Burman.
Saturday, he came again. This time he hesitantly asked a few questions. His manner was that of one sincerely looking for information, not leading the teacher on into one of those hair-splitting metaphysical arguments the Burmese men enjoyed so much.
Sunday, he attended service, which was attended by about thirty people. By now Adoniram had come to think of him as “the quiet and modest Maung Nau.” Maung Nau really listened. Of the others, Adoniram thought, “Very few paid much attention, or probably received any benefit.”
Monday and Tuesday Maung Nau visited Adoniram several times and Adoniram realized that the man had “a teachable and humble spirit.”
By Wednesday, the fifth of May, 1819, Adoniram was almost afraid to record the conclusion to which he was coming:
I begin to think that the Grace of God has reached his heart. He expressed sentiments of repentance for his sins, and faith in the Saviour. The substance of his profession is, that from the darknesses, and uncleannesses, and sins of his whole life, he has found no other Saviour but Jesus Christ; nowhere else can he look for salvation; and therefore, he proposes to adhere to Christ, and worship him all his life long.
It seems almost too much to believe that God has begun to manifest his grace to the Burmans; but this day I could not resist the delightful conviction that this is really the case. PRAISE AND GLORY BE TO HIS NAME FOREVERMORE. Amen.
It was really happening. After six years, day by day Maung Nau grew in grace. At the next Sunday’s worship in the zayat he openly professed himself a believer in Christ in the presence of at least thirty people.
Maung Nau worked for a timber merchant. Monday, he had to leave on a trip for timber – probably teak, much prized for ship-building, which grew upriver, but he told Adoniram he hoped he could be baptized when he returned.
By now all the missionaries and their wives were excitedly talking about Maung Nau. Even Wheelock, so low that it was obvious to everyone but Eliza Wheelock that he could not live many months, was interested. Nancy spent hours by his bed telling him all the details of the conversion of the first Burman…
No one had expected to see Maung Nau for several weeks, but he showed up in a few days. He had discovered the timber merchant to be untrustworthy, thrown up his job and abandoned the trip. He was not out of work long. The next week he was offered a job in Ava with a boat owner. Ava was several hundred miles up the river. If he took the job, he would not see the missionaries for a long time, perhaps a year. He asked Adoniram what he should do. He did not want to go to Ava, but he had to have work.
The missionaries did not want him to go either, not while he was in his present interesting situation. If he were away for several months, there was no telling what might happen to his new conviction. On the other hand, they did not like to tell him to stay. After discussing the matter with Nancy and the Colmans, Adoniram finally invited Maung Nau to stay at the mission with the missionaries. They would pay him ten ticals a month for making himself useful copying pamphlets, which they had no way of getting printed now that Hough was gone. When Maung Nau accepted, the missionaries heaved a sigh of relief. They were positive that a few days in the mission would make him fit for baptism.
They did. On the sixth of June, a Sunday, only a little more than a month after first appearing at the zayat, Maung Nau bashfully presented Adoniram with a letter. That evening, after communion, all the missionaries but the dying Wheelock assembled to listen to it. Adoniram translated it, aloud:
I, Maung Nau, the constant recipient of your excellent favor, approach your feet. Whereas my lords three have come to the country of Burmah, not for the purpose of trade, but to preach the religion of Jesus Christ, the Son of the eternal God, I, having heard and understood, am, with a joyful mind, filled with love.
I believe that the Divine Son, Jesus Christ, suffered death, in the place of men, to atone for their sins. Like a heavy-laden man, I feel my sins are very many. The punishment of my sins I deserve to suffer. Since it is so, do you, Sirs, consider, that I, taking refuge in the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ, and receiving baptism, in order to become his disciple, shall dwell with yourselves, a band of brothers, in the happiness of heaven, and grant me the ordinance of baptism. It is through the grace of Christ that you, Sirs, have come by ship from one country and continent to another, and that we have met together. I pray my lords three that a suitable day may be appointed, and that I may receive the ordinance of baptism.
As it is only since I have met with you, Sirs, that I have known about the eternal God, I venture to pray that you will still unfold to me the religion of God, that my old disposition may be destroyed, and my new disposition improved.
No one in the mission doubted that Maung Nau had experienced the grace of God, and it was agreed that he should be baptized the following Sunday, after which he would be received into church fellowship. The “church” had consisted of six members – the two Judsons, the two Colmans and the two Wheelocks. Now it would number seven, but in the eyes of the other members the seventh was the most important. For the seventh would be the first Burman ever to become a Baptist.”[5]
While some plant and others water, God gives the increase. Over time, more conversions occurred.
“…in the first five years after the war, Adoniram was to report in a few months, 242 natives had been baptized, plus 113 foreigners. From the beginning in 1831, therefore, the total number of baptisms stood at the end of 1831 at 373, of which 217 had been made during this one year. If the missionary forces continued to grow at this rate and if they worked as hard in the past as they had recently, they might look forward to years when they would make thousands of converts – and perhaps even in some distant future to the Christianization of Burma.”[6]
And today, we can see the goodness, mercy and grace of God. In a country with approximately 57.2 million people as of 2021, there are around 3.3M to 3.8M Christians.
Promise Proclaimed:
“The people who walk in darkness Will see a great light; Those who live in the land of the shadow of death, The light will shine on them.” – (Isaiah 9:2 LSB)
Promise Fulfilled:
“THE PEOPLE WHO WERE SITTING IN DARKNESS SAW A GREAT LIGHT, AND THOSE WHO WERE SITTING IN THE LAND AND SHADOW OF DEATH, UPON THEM A LIGHT DAWNED.”” – (Matthew 4:16 LSB)
The Providence of God carrying out His Decree to bring in His elect continues:
“but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to THE END OF THE EARTH.”” – (Acts 1:8 LSB)
Soli Deo Gloria.
Note: Click here to see the translation of the entire Bible by Adoniram Judson.
[1] https://www.britannica.com/place/Myanmar
[2] Anderson, Courtney, To The Golden Shore The Life of Adoniram Judson (Valley Forge: Judson Press, 1987) 54.
[3] Anderson, Courtney, To The Golden Shore The Life of Adoniram Judson (Valley Forge: Judson Press, 1987) 475.
[4] Anderson, Courtney, To The Golden Shore The Life of Adoniram Judson (Valley Forge: Judson Press, 1987) 403.
[5] Anderson, Courtney, To The Golden Shore The Life of Adoniram Judson (Valley Forge: Judson Press, 1987) pp. 221-224.
[6] Anderson, Courtney, To The Golden Shore The Life of Adoniram Judson (Valley Forge: Judson Press, 1987) 403.
I hear about a war in Myanmar and today there are Christians there some who probably owe their knowledge of God through the pioneer work of this man and his
and his wife
Amen!!! Nancy was an amazing woman and excellent to see how God used her gifts in Myanmar. The book is quite excellent from beginning to end.
Amen Jasmine! The legacy of Christianity in Burma does start with the Judson family. It is sad about the war but the country has a long history of unrest between tyrants. Let us pray for peace to come to the country and that Christianity may abound. God bless you!
Thanks for this interesting and edifying post brother Michael!
Amen brother Tom! I got so excited when Maung Nau was born again! God’s goodness, mercy and grace and His so great salvation among the Burmese people brought tears to my eyes. Gods bless you brother! 😀✝️✝️✝️📖
Thanks for writing this guest post
Anytime brother Jimmy! Praying for you. 😀✝️✝️✝️📖
I like how you linked Isaiah 8:2, Matthew 4:16 and Acts 1:8 together at the end.
Thank you brother Frank for reading all the way to the end! 🙂 I appreciate the comment and the work you do on your blog.
Thanks for the inspiring and insightful article. Blessings from mighty King Jesus.
You’re welcome brother Michael! Thank you for reading and taking the time to comment. Jesus is the King of kings and Lord of lords!!!