Overcome Evil With Good
A loving husband, a great man of God,
Few people would dare to walk the path he trod;
Came to spread the Good news of the Bible,
Left his own country to live among tribals;
Came to serve the poor with a great vision,
A friend of lepers, he did a great mission;
His heart was full of love for the dying,
But some of the people thought he was lying;
They did not understand his message, but
They sadly thought that he was there to convert;
Two little sons, unaware of all this,
Ready to meet their dad, saw nothing amiss;
They had come to him for holidaying,
And they were going home after a meeting;
On the way, wanting a warm place to sleep,
The man and his young sons laid down in their jeep;
The silent night was startled by loud cries,
When fifty men came with evil in their eyes;
For no fault of theirs, three kind souls were killed,
For loving lost people, their own lives were stilled;
On that fateful night, evil did smother
Three men of her family, killed together;
It was the worst blow his wife ever had,
But she forgave the killers. Good conquered bad;
They were killed in a murder cold-blooded,
Brutally those three were incinerated;
The missionary work went on to thrive,
Though Graham Staines and sons had been burnt alive.
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--R I--
-- U N L V --
--- B T A E ---
STAINES AND HIS SONS
(_) (_)
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5.7.16
{Graham Staines was an Australian missionary who was burnt alive in Manoharpur village (Keonjhar district, Odisha, India) on 23rd January,1999 along with his two young sons, Philip (10) and Timothy (6) by a mob of about fifty for allegedly 'converting' the villagers to Christianity. After his death, his wife, Gladys, continued his work among the lepers until she returned to Australia in 2004. In her affidavit before the Commission on the death of her husband and two sons, Gladys Staines stated:
"The Lord God is always with me to guide me and help me to try to accomplish the work of Graham, but I sometimes wonder why Graham was killed and also what made his assassins to behave in such a brutal manner on the night of 22nd/23rd January 1999. It is far from my mind to punish the persons who were responsible for the death of my husband Graham and my two children. But it is my desire and hope that they would repent and would be reformed."}
Copyright © Joanna Daniel | Year Posted 2016
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