How the Karen People were prepared for the gospel
THE KAREN OF BURMA (Chapter 2 of the book, "Eternity in their Hearts," by Don Richardson, 1981)
Near Rangoon, Burma, in the year 1795, an encounter took place in the following manner:
“If the inhabitants of that village are not Burmese,” asked a sun-helmeted English diplomat, “what do they call themselves?”
“Karen,” replied the diplomat’s Burmese guide.
“Carian,” mispronounced the Englishman. The guide left the mistake uncorrected. A Scotsman could have duplicated the Asiatic flipping the tongue on an r but the guide had long ago given up trying to persuade Englishmen that the difference was worth mastering.
“Very well,” said the Britisher. “Let’s see what these ‘Carianers’ look like.”
The “Carianers,” it turned out, were even more interested to discover what the Englishman looked like! This first encounter with a European’s white face electrified people in that village. Drawn like moths to a lamp, they converged upon the diplomat, who recoiled slightly as wiry brown hands reached out to touch his arms and cheeks.
The Burmese guide, meanwhile, spoke disparagingly of the Karen: “Be careful! They’re just wild hill people given to stealing and fighting,” he scoffed.
It was not entirely true. The Karen were in fact the most progressive of Burma’s many tribal peoples. Burmese, however, had abused and exploited the Karen for centuries, making such descriptions self-fulfilling.
Nor could Burmese Buddhists forgive the Karen minority for stubbornly adhering to their own folk religion in the face of unremitting attempts by the Burmese to make Buddhists of them!
The Englishman, in any case, was no longer listening to his guide. Cheerful Karen voices now charmed his ears. Every man, woman and child around him glowed with radiant welcome. How refreshingly different, he thought, from the usual Burmese crowd’s aloofness toward foreigners.
A Karen man who could speak Burmese explained something to the guide.
“This is most interesting,” the guide said. “These tribesmen think you may be a certain ‘white brother’ whom they as a people have been expecting from time immemorial!”
“How curious,” replied the diplomat. “Ask them what this ‘white brother’ is supposed to do when he arrives.”
“He’s supposed to bring them a book,” the guide said. “A book just like one their forefathers lost long ago. They are asking—with bated breath— “hasn’t he brought it?’”
“Ho! Ho!” the Englishman guffawed. “And who, pray tell, is the author whose book has power to charm illiterate folk like these?”
“They say the author is Y’wa—the Supreme God. They say also … ” at this point the Burman’s face began to darken with unease, “… that the white brother, having given them the lost book, will thereby set them free from all who oppress them.”
The Burman began to fidget. The nerve of these Karen! This English diplomat was part of a team sent to arbitrate a dispute between Britain and Burma—a dispute which Burma feared might give Britain pretext to add Burma to its empire. And now these wily Karen were practically inviting the British to do just that! Who would have guessed, he fumed, that simple tribesmen could be capable of such subtlety?
Sensing the guide’s displeasure, the Englishman also began to squirm. One word from the guide and Burmese authorities might descend with swords and spears against these humble villagers.
“Tell them they’re mistaken,” he ordered, hoping to set the Burman at ease. “I have no acquaintance with this god called Y’wa. Nor do I have the slightest idea who their ‘white brother’ could be.”
Followed by the guide, the diplomat strode out of the village. Hundreds of Karen, palled with disappointment, watched him leave. They intended no political ploy. They had simply repeated in all sincerity a tradition which had haunted them as a people since antiquity.
“Could our forefathers have been mistaken?” asked a young Karen.
“Don’t worry,” responded an elder, managing a hopeful smile. “One day he will come. Other prophecies may fail, but not this one!”
Returning to the newly established British embassy in Rangoon, the diplomat reported his strange experience in the Karen village to his superior, Lieutenant Colonel Michael Symes. Symes in turn mentioned it in a manuscript entitled An Account of an Embassy to the Kingdom of Ava in the Year 1795, published 32 years later in Edinburgh, Scotland.
*****
For the next 175 years, occasional browsers in Symes’ report paid scant attention, if any, to this curious reference on Karen tradition. Its anecdotal nature effectively screened its historical significance. Nineteenth century Britishers, moreover, were not generally interested in approaching Asians as a “white brother.” White master was a role more to their liking. Indeed, beginning in 1824, Britain launched a series of attacks against Burma and eventually became, for about one century, rulers of that exotic land.
Even before the first British invasion, however, history recorded a second foreigner’s encounter with the Karen people’s lost book tradition.
In the year 1816 a Muslim traveler happened to enter a remote Karen village about 250 miles south of Rangoon. The Karen scrutinized him carefully as they had scrutinized all foreigners who ever came their way— especially light-skinned ones—looking for their “white brother.” Well, the Muslim was not very light-skinned, but he did have in his possession a book. And he said the book contained writings about the true God.
Seeing intense fascination with the book, the Muslim offered it as a gift to an elderly Karen sage. Later the people said he told them to worship it, but it seems unlikely that a Muslim would give that kind of advice. Perhaps he simply urged them to take good care of it until one day, hopefully, a teacher would come who could interpret it for them.
The Muslim continued his journey, and never returned.
The sage who received the little book wrapped it in muslin and placed it in a special basket. Gradually the people developed rituals for venerating the sacred volume. The sage adorned himself with ornate garments befitting his role as keeper of the book. He carried a special cudgel as a symbol of his spiritual authority. And, most poignant of all, he and his people kept constant vigil for the teacher who would one day come to their village and open the contents of the sacred book to their understanding.1
But that is not all. In perhaps a thousand or more Karen villages of Burma, men called Bukhos, a special kind of teacher representing not demons but Y’wa, the true God—yes, the Karen actually esteemed them as prophets of the true God—kept reminding the Karen that the ways of Y’wa and the ways of nats (evil spirits) were not the same. One day, these Bukhos affirmed, the Karen people must return fully to the ways of Y’wa.
Karen prophets actually taught their people hymns passed down from generation to generation by verbal communication alone. Like Pachacuti’s hymns to Viracocha, Karen hymns to Y’wa reveal how astonishingly clear the concept of the one true God can be in a folk religion! By means of these hymns, awe and reverence for Y’wa, the true God, were kept alive in the hearts of Karen people so that they would not lapse into Buddhism with its idolatry. One such hymn extolled the eternity of Y’wa’s being:
Y’wa is eternal, his life is long.
One aeon—he dies not!
Two aeons—he dies not!
He is perfect in meritorious attributes.
Aeons follow aeons—he dies not!2
Another hymn extolled Y’wa as Creator:
Who created the world in the beginning?
Y’wa created the world in the beginning!
Y’wa appointed everything.
Y’wa is unsearchable!3
Still another hymn conveyed deep appreciation for Y’wa’s omnipotence and omniscience, combined with acknowledgment of a lack of relationship with Him:
The omnipotent is Y’wa; him have we not believed.
Y’wa created men anciently;
He has a perfect knowledge of all things!
Y’wa created men at the beginning;
He knows all things to the present time!
O my children and grandchildren!
The earth is the treading place of the feet of Y’wa.
And heaven is the place where he sits.
He sees all things, and we are manifest to him.4
The Karen story of man’s falling away from God contains stunning parallels to Genesis chapter 1:
Y’wa formed the world originally.
He appointed food and drink.
He appointed the “fruit of trial.”
He gave detailed orders.
Mu-kaw-lee [Satan] deceived two persons.
He caused them to eat the fruit of the tree of trial.
They obeyed not; they believed not Y’wa …
When they ate the fruit of trial,
They became subject to sickness, aging, and death… . 5
An author named Alonzo Bunker, who lived among the Karen for 30 years during the late nineteenth century, describes a typical late-evening teaching session in the jungle led by Karen Bukhos near Toungoo, Burma:
It is quite impossible to describe the solemn and reverential manner in which these white-haired elders recited the attributes of Y’wa, and with what awed attention the children listened … they were drawn as a magnet to this council of elders. For a while there was silence, save the crackling of bamboo and brush in the fire. And then the old prophet of the village … arose and extended his hands, as if in benediction, and said:
“O children and grandchildren, formerly Y’wa loved the Karen nation above all others. But they transgressed his commands, and in consequence … we suffer as at present. Because Y’wa cursed us, we are in our present afflicted state and have no books.”
Then a great hope seemed to light up his face as, looking toward the stars, … he exclaimed: “But Y’wa will again have mercy upon us, and again he will love us above all others. Y’wa will save us again. It is [because we listened] to the language of Mu-kaw-lee that we suffer.”
Then followed … [an] impassioned recitation in the lyrical verse of his ancestors.… The old man … spoke with a native eloquence which can be felt, but not described:
“When Y’wa made Tha-nai and Ee-u, he placed them in a garden … saying, ‘In the garden I have made for you seven different kinds of trees, bearing seven … kinds of fruit. Among the seven, one tree is not good to eat.… If you eat, you will become old, you will sicken, you will die… . Eat and drink with care. Once in seven days I will visit you … ’
“After a time Mu-kaw-lee came to the man and woman and said, ‘Why are you here?’
“ ‘Our father put us here,’ they replied.
“ ‘What do you eat here?’ asked Mu-kaw-lee.
“ ‘Our LordY’wa has created food for us, food without limit.’
“ ‘Show me your food,’ said Mu-kaw-lee.
“ … They pointed them out, saying, ‘This one is astringent,this sweet, this sour, this bitter, this savoury, this fiery, but [as for] this tree, we know not whether it is sour or sweet. Our Father, the Lord Y’wa,said to us, ‘Eat not the fruit of this tree. If you eat, you will die.’
“ … Then Mu-kaw-lee replied, ‘It is not so, O my children. The heart of your Father Y’wa is not with you. This is the richest and sweetest… . If you eat it, you will possess miraculous powers. You will be able to ascend to heaven… . I love you, and I tell you the truth, and conceal nothing. If you do not believe me, do not eat the fruit. If you will each eat the fruit as a trial, then you will know all… . ’”
In paragraphs that follow, the man, Tha-nai, refuses the enticement and walk saway. The woman, Ee-u,lingers,succumbs to temptation,eats the fruit and then entices her husband, who also eats. Alonzo Bunker’s translation continues:
“ … The woman returned to Mu-kaw-lee and said, ‘My husband has eaten the fruit.’
“[Mu-kaw-lee] laughed exceedingly, and said, ‘Now O conquered man and woman, you have listened to my voice and obeyed me.’
“The next morning Y’wa came to visit them,but they did not follow him with the singing of praises as usual. He drew near to them and said, ‘Why have you eaten the fruit of the tree that I commanded you not to eat? … Therefore you shall grow old, and you shall become sick, and you shall die.’
“ … When Y’wa had cursed man, he left him… . In course of time sickness began to appear. One of the children of Thanai and Ee-u fell ill. Then they said to one another, ‘Y’wa has cast us off. We cannot tell what to do. We must go and ask Mu-kaw-lee.’
“So … they went to him and said, ‘ … we obeyed your words, and ate. Now our child is ill… . What will you advise?’
“Mu-kaw-lee replied, ‘You did not obey your Father, the Lord Y’wa. You listened to me. Now that you have obeyed me once, obey me to the end.’
Then the old prophet related, still continuing in the ancient verse of his people, how Mu-kaw-lee instructed them in the principal offerings to be made [for] various kinds of sickness. These offerings were to be made to his servants the nats [demons] who presided over certain diseases, as well as accidents.
He also told how Mu-kaw-lee instructed them to divine by the bones of a fowl, which became to these hillmen the guide to almost every act of life.
Alonzo Bunker also quotes a Karen “Song of Hope,” expressing their longing for the eventual return of Y’wa:
At the appointed season Y’wa will come
… Dead trees will blossom and flower …
Mouldering trees will blossom and bloom again.
Y’wa will come and bring the great Thau-thee.
[“Thau-thee” seems to be the name of a sacred mountain.]
Let us ascend and worship.
A second song of hope speaks of a king who will return:
Good persons, the good,
Shall go to the silver city, the silver town.
Righteous persons, the righteous,
Shall go to the new town, the new city.
Persons who believe their father and mother
Shall enjoy the golden palace.
When the Karen king arrives,
There will be only one monarch.
When the Karen king arrives,
There will be neither rich nor poor.6
Karen prophets, in spite of the ever-present and pervasive influence of Buddhist idolatry in Burma, constantly fortified their people against idolatry through proverbs such as the following:
O children and grandchildren! Do not worship idols or priests!
If you worship them, you obtain no advantage thereby,
While you increase your sins exceedingly.
Honoring one’s parents was also a sacred obligation:
O children and grandchildren! Respect and reverence
your mother and father!
For when you were small, they did not suffer so
much as a mosquito to bite you.
To sin against your parents is a heinous crime.
Prophets of God among the Karen also emphasized man’s duty to love God and one’s neighbor:
O children and grandchildren! Love Y’wa, and never so much
as mention his name [lightly].
If you speak his name [lightly],
He goes farther and farther from us!
O children and grandchildren! Do not be fond of
Quarreling and disputing, but love each other.
Y’wa in heaven looks down upon us.
And if we do not love each other,
It is the same as if we do not love Y’wa.
Karen who violated the code were called to repentance with a promise of mercy from Y’wa:
O children and grandchildren! If we repent of our sins,
And cease to do evil—restraining our passions—
And pray to Y’wa, he will have mercy upon us again.
If Y’wa does not have mercy on us, there is no other one who can.
He who saves us is the only one—Y’wa.
The importance of prayer was not overlooked:
O children and grandchildren!
Pray to Y’wa constantly By day and by night.7
The Karen people thus present a striking anomaly to theologians. Jesus, as far as the Gospel record tells us, commended the religious awareness of a comparative handful of Gentiles: a Roman centurion, a Syrophoenician woman, the Queen of Sheba, Naaman the Syrian, the widow of Zarephath, the people of Nineveh. Likewise Peter was startled by the unexpected piety of a Gentile called Cornelius (see Acts 10:34). The Karen race, however, confronts us with hundreds of thousands of individuals whose awareness of basic spiritual facts may have matched that of history’s average Jew or Christian!
The piety of the pagans mentioned in the Bible, moreover, seems traceable in each case directly to Jewish influence. In two cases, the ministry of Jesus Himself was instrumental. But the Karen live 4,000 miles from Jerusalem. Granted, their name for God— Y’wa—suggests influence from the Jewish Yahweh, but no equivalents for Abraham and Moses, the second and third most important figures in Judaism, have been reported by compilers of Karen tradition. Surely Jewish influence would have emphasized Abraham and Moses.
Likewise, if Karen traditions trace back to, for example, Nestorian Christian influence of the eighth century, or to later Roman Catholic missionary contacts of the sixteenth, seventeenth or eighteenth centuries, one would expect some mention of an incarnation or a Redeemer dying for man’s sin and rising from the dead.
Again, I have found no such concepts reported by students of Karen tradition.
And if we theorize that Jewish and/or Christian influence touched the Karen, but so fleetingly that only the basic concepts of God, creation and the fall of man registered with them, then we face a difficult question. How could so fleeting an influence leave such a deep and lasting impression on an entire people, especially when Buddhism and their own tribal spiritism so strongly opposed that influence over long periods of time?
History teaches that only very strong or very protracted influences can instill new religious concepts across cultural barriers, especially when other influences—Buddhism and spiritism in this case—are so contrary to those concepts.
Could it be that Karen beliefs about Y’wa predate both Judaism and Christianity? Did such beliefs spring from that ancient root of monotheism which characterized the age of the early patriarchs? The answer is almost certainly—yes!
By far the most amazing aspect of Karen monotheism was its frank acknowledgment of its own incompleteness. And in view of the natural worldwide tendency of most peoples to dislike and even distrust foreigners—especially if their color is different—the Karen anticipation that completeness would come to them via “white foreigners” is almost equally amazing. One of their hymns stated:
The sons of Y’wa, the white foreigners,
obtained the words of Y’wa.
The white foreigners, the children of Y’wa,
obtained the words of Y’wa anciently.8
During the 1830s, a Karen named Sau-qua-la gave an address before the English governor-general of Burma. He said that Europeans, the “white foreigners,” were originally younger brothers of the Karen people! The Karen, as older brothers (rascals that they were), negligently lost their copy of Y’wa’s book. The white brothers, on the other hand, carefully preserved their copy. As a result white people became “righteous” and are known as “guides to God.” They also learned to sail in ships with “white wings,” crossing oceans.9
Alonzo Bunker summarizes the tradition as follows: “The Deliverer [of the Karen] … was to be a ‘white foreigner,’ and was to come across the sea from the west with ‘white wings’ [sails] and bring Y’wa’s ‘white book.’”10 Some versions of the tradition said the book would be of gold and silver.
The Karen nation was thus poised like an 800,000-member welcoming party, ready for the first unsuspecting missionary who approached them with a Bible and a message of deliverance from God. Whoever he proved to be, he was destined to enjoy one of history’s greatest privileges!
Before we discover who the favored fellow was and what it took to get him on his way, let us scan the horizons of Burma and surrounding countries to see who else was waiting with bated breath for a message from the Almighty …
THE KACHIN
In the far north of Burma, another half-million red-turbaned, fiercely independent people called the Kachin also acknowledged their Creator. In their folk religion the Creator is called Karat Kasang—a benign supernatural Being “whose shape or form exceeds man’s ability to comprehend.” Sometimes the Kachin called him Hpan Wa Ningsang—the Glorious One Who Creates, or Che Wa Ningchang—the One Who Knows.11
Dr. Herman Tegenfeldt, Ph.D., who lived among the Kachin for about 20 years and learned their language, wrote: “Kachin animists do not offer sacrifice to Karai Kasang, for as one Kachin put it, ‘Why should we? He never did us any harm.’ Nor is there any custom of worshiping him. However, in times of extreme need, when sacrifices to the spirits have brought no relief, Kachins are known to cry out to this distant Great Spirit.”12 And the Kachin, like the Karen, believed that Karai Kasang once gave their forefathers a book which they lost. Kachin beliefs did not specify how the lost book would be returned to them, but apparently they were open to the possibility that it would one day be restored.13
Who would restore that lost book for the Kachin?
---
In 1817,a devout American Baptist missionary named Adoniram Judson disembarked near Rangoon, Burma, after a long sea journey from America. He had a Bible tucked under his arm, to be sure, but he possessed not the slightest inkling of the incredible significance that book held for more than 3 million people living within 800 miles of the dock on which he stood.
Judson found lodging in Rangoon. He learned the Burmese language with extreme care. At length, dressed in a yellow gown similar to those worn by Buddhist teachers in Burma, he ventured out into marketplaces and preached the gospel to Buddhist Burmese. Alas, Judson found little response. Often he struggled against an almost overpowering feeling of discouragement. Only after seven years of preaching did Judson find his first convert among the Buddhist Burmese!
All unknown to Judson, Karen people were passing daily by his home.27 Often they were singing, as their custom was, hymns to Y’wa— the true God. If only Judson could have learned their language too, he would have been startled by the content of those hymns! And he almost certainly would have found more response for the gospel among humble Karen people than his fondest dreams could anticipate. All unaware of the awesome potential of the Karen, an often disconsolate Judson turned increasingly to the task of translating the Bible into Burmese, since he had so few converts to occupy his time with counseling.28
As it turned out, Judson’s translation of the Bible into Burmese became foundational for all that his later-arriving colleagues were to accomplish among Burma’s many minority peoples. If Judson himself had been caught up in a Karen-type response, he might never have found time to complete that translation!
Then, as Providence arranged, a rawhide-tough Karen man came to the very household where Judson stayed. He was looking for work to help him pay a debt. Judson arranged employment for him. That man was Ko Thah-byu. He had a violent temper and estimated that he had killed about 30 men during his former career as a robber!29
Gradually Judson and other members of the household introduced Ko Thah-byu to the gospel of Jesus Christ. At first the Karen man’s brain seemed too dense to grasp the message. Then a change took place. Ko Thah-byu began asking questions about the origin of the gospel and about these “white strangers” who had brought the message—and the book which contained it—from the West. Suddenly everything fell into place for Ko Thah-byu. His spirit received the love of Jesus Christ like dry land absorbing rain!
Around that time a newly recruited missionary couple, George and Sarah Boardman, arrived in Rangoon to assist Judson. George Boardman opened a school for illiterate converts. Ko Thah-byu had never dreamed of attending school. Now he quickly enrolled, for he was determined to learn to read that Burmese Bible as fast as Judson could translate it! To the amazement of Judson and Boardman, Ko Thah-byu manifested a total preoccupation with the Bible and its message.
For it had already dawned upon Ko Thah-byu that he was the very first among his people to learn that “the lost book” had actually arrived in Burma! Accordingly, he also accepted his own responsibility to proclaim the good news that virtually every Karen was waiting to hear. So when George and Sarah Boardman announced plans to launch a new mission in the city of Tavoy, in the panhandle of southern Burma, Ko Thah-byu said eagerly, “Take me with you!”
They took him. As soon as they arrived in Tavoy, Ko Thah-byu begged Boardman to baptize him. Boardman complied, and Ko Thah-byu set out immediately on a journey into the hills of southern Burma. Each time he came to a Karen village, he preached the gospel. And almost every time he preached, virtually every Karen within earshot responded with wonder! Soon hundreds of Ko Thah-byu’s listeners came flocking down to Tavoy to see the “white brother” who had arrived at last with the lost book!
George and Sarah could barely believe their own eyes and ears! The entire hill country beyond Tavoy seemed to come alive with excitement! Soon Boardman found himself besieged with invitations from Karen villages to come and supplement Ko Thah-byu’s ministry with more detailed teaching from “ the Book of Y’wa.” Meanwhile Ko Thah-byu kept on breaking new ground. Fording rivers, crossing ranges of hills, braving monsoon storms and bandits like those with whom he himself once roamed, he sought out one Karen village after another and proclaimed the good news! Finally he heard of the very village which—12 years earlier—had received a reportedly sacred book from the Muslim traveler. Ko Thah-byu urged Boardman to travel to the village and inspect the long-revered volume—to see if it was really a book about God. Mrs. Wylie’s account, published in 1859, describes what happened when Boardman arrived in the village:
With a long train of followers,the chief appeared, bringing with him the sacred relic. The basket was opened, the muslin unrolled, and taking from its folds an old, tattered, worn-out volume, he reverently presented it to Mr. Boardman.
It proved to be the Book of Common Prayer and the Psalms, of an edition printed in Oxford. “It is a good book,” said Mr. Boardman. “It teaches that there is a God in heaven, whom alone we should worship. You have been ignorantly worshiping this book.That is not good. I will teach you to worship the God whom the book reveals.”
Every Karen countenance was alternately lighted up with smiles of joy, and cast down with inward convictions of having erred in worshiping a book instead of the God whom it reveals … [After hearing Mr. Boardman’s subsequent teaching] the aged sorcerer who had been the keeper of the book for twelve years … perceived that his office was at an end. He relinquished the fantastical dress he had worn, and the cudgel which for so long had been the badge of his spiritual authority, and subsequently became a humble believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.30
“As the result of Ko Thah-byu’s indefatigable labors,” Mrs. Wylie wrote in another place, “many … Karen from … villages scattered over the mountains of Tavoy flocked in from the distant jungles, with curious interest to see the white teacher, and to listen to the wondrous truths he taught. Mr.Boardman found that notwithstanding their rude exterior they possessed minds susceptible to the most lively impressions, and remarkable teachableness of spirit.”31
“When Mr. Boardman was able to visit the Karen in their own villages they received him with joy and respect, and hailed him as the one who, they believed, would show to them a more excellent way. From this time we find constantly in his journals entries like the following: ‘A good number of Karens are now with us, and Ko Thah-byu spends night and day in reading and explaining to them the words of life. It seems as though the time for favoring this people [has] come.’”32 Alleluia!
Meanwhile Jonathan Wade, also one of Adoniram Judson’s newly arrived colleagues, was being swept off his feet by another explosively jubilant Karen response 200 miles north of Tavoy! Almost as quickly as Karen were converted and baptized, they became missionaries to spread the good news still further among their own people. Some of these Karen missionaries went to a place called Bassein—300 miles northwest of Tavoy—and preached there. Later when American missionaries arrived at Bassein, they found 5,000 Karen converts ready to be baptized!
Buddhist Burmese were amazed. “What,” they kept asking, “is Christianity’s secret? We Buddhists have tried for centuries to win the Karen to Buddhism—without success. Now, Christian missionaries are accomplishing in a few decades what we could not accomplish in centuries!”
Ko Thah-byu, meanwhile, left Tavoy—where he had aroused virtually the entire Karen population with the gospel—and cast himself like a firebrand into the midst of other tinder-like Karen populations in central Burma. Scarcely ever taking time for adequate rest, Ko Thah-byu burned himself out in a few years and died from his labors, but the fires he ignited in the midst of his people still blaze in Burma a century and a half later.
Still another of Judson’s colleagues, Francis Mason, called Ko Thah-byu “The Karen Apostle” and wrote a book in his memory under that title. Mason’s book ought to be reprinted for the edification of Christians in our day.
By 1858, tens of thousands of Karen Christians awakened to the realization that they were responsible to proclaim the good news of “the lost book restored” among other ethnic minorities of Burma besides themselves! Karen Christians from Bassein led the way into this new cross-cultural phase by sending teams of Karen missionaries—with an occasional American missionary as part of the team—to the 500,000 Kachin people living in Burma’s northern hump.
The Karen missionaries were startled to find the Kachin also in possession of their own name for the Almighty—Karat Kasang—and not only that, the Kachin also believed that their forefathers had once possessed Karai Kasang’s sacred writing! Like the Karen, the Kachin had rejected Buddhist idolatry for centuries on the grounds that Karai Kasang would not approve. Also like the Karen, the Kachin responded to Christianity as the fulfillment of their own beliefs about Karai Kasang.
Within the next 90 years, some 250,000 Kachin people were added to the church of Jesus Christ!
