04/27/2024
WHO IS THIS? From David Jones
M. G. and Blanche Griebenow lived and worked on the edge of a Tibetan Buddhist monastery, Labrang, not far from the Chinese border from 1920 to 1949. The monastery had more than 3,000 monks and 22 “living Buddhas.” The whole region was permeated with spirits, mostly bad.
Amazingly, the religious leaders of Labrang permitted the Griebenows, C&MA missionaries, to live where previously no outsider, especially Christian, had been permitted. Their first living quarters were very simple, in a seedy section of the “commercial” area where Muslims and Chinese businesses sold their goods to the Tibetan pilgrims coming to receive blessings from the monks and perhaps glimpse one of the holy ones who lived there.
Tibetan, a tongue-tying, consonant-clogged language, if there ever was one, required years of study and practice. Not having any kind of school to acquire it, M. G. and Blanche had to hire local teachers, using the few books available, a newly-translated New Testament, and much drilling with a tutor.
Akku Dgom Chock turned out to be the best of all their teachers. It happened that he was a monk-sorcerer, of the sect that never cut or washed their hair, which was twisted into a rope-like braid that wound around their head covered by a black cloth that also looped around the head and tucked in. On seeing Akku Dgom Chok, it normally appeared that he was wearing a big black hat, but in reality, it was his Tibetan dreadlocks, generally at least five or six feet long.
Akku was a real stickler when it came to pronunciation and would read a verse from Scripture and then have M. G. read it, correct him, and Blanche would do the same, with more repetition. In this painful way, the couple worked their way through the Gospel of Matthew. Often they had to repeat many times to get the glottal stops and elusive labials just right for his tender ear.
One day as they neared the close of Matthew, they read the last verses: “ Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” (Mt. 28:19-20) Upon finishing the last verse, the young missionaries sat waiting for Akku to tell them what to repeat until they got it right - - but nothing, no comment.
They couldn’t understand what was wrong with him, or was it their pronunciation. He just sat quietly, deep in thought. Finally, M. G. asked what was wrong. Akku came out of his reverie and asked sharply, “Who is this that has promised to be with you always?”
The towering young missionary from Minnesota said, “Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Creator of heaven and earth. He has commanded us to go all over the world and tell all people about His great love and the power of salvation and He has promised to be with us wherever we are.”
Akku Dgom Chok, the friendly sorcerer monk, remained silent for a few minutes, and they could see that he had been deeply impacted by what they had read and the explanation M. G. gave him. Finally, he broke his silence: “Now I know the answer to a very puzzling problem. When I came to your house, I made a vow to not mention it, but now I will tell you. If this Creator of heaven and earth is protecting you, that explains everything.”
He then went on to tell a strange story. “When you first came to Labrang, we thought you wouldn’t stay long because it is not easy to live here; life is hard and your little house is cold and drafty; you had no friends nearby. We thought you would pack up and move soon. But you stayed. You took care of our sick and wounded people, much better than our doctors. You visited people who had problems, prayed for them and were kind to them. Nomads came from miles around to your humble house to ask you to pray for their sick ones, and many were healed. When you preached about Jesus, they listened. And worst of all, you stayed!
“We were afraid that you were getting too popular in Labrang and thought it was time for you to go before you caused us trouble. So, we sorcerers decided to gather in our temple and chant curses on you. We kept it up day and night. But when we sent someone to see what happened . . . nothing happened! You, Uncle Doctor, were out in the market preaching to a crowd of our people, or your wife was visiting women in the town. Your house didn’t burn down; your horses were fine and didn’t get sick. In fact, nothing happened at all!
“We know the evil spirits and they know us. We call those demons up and they do what we tell them to do: make people sick or even die, cause their crops to fail, their animals to die. Bad things always happened before because we work for them and they work for us.”
By this time, M. G. and Blanche looked at each other and wondered, now what? They were shocked at the mater-of-fact manner their “kindly sorcerer” described how he and many others, even from other monasteries, had spent weeks calling down curses on their heads. And the whole time, they knew nothing. Demons had been attacking them unbeknownst, but they had been protected.
“But now,” Akku said as he nodded his head in thought, “I know why our curses never worked on you. You are protected by a great power that we did not know about. Apparently, demons cannot prevail against the Creator of heaven and earth!” And with that, class was over and their monk left meditating about this “great power that we did not know about.” That “great power” was and is our Great God, who always, everywhere is with us, often unaware, but He is there. And M. G. and Blanche spent their lives telling Tibetans about that “great power” in His care. No evil shall befall you, Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling; 11 For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways. Psalm 91:10, 11
