Isaiah 9:2 “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned.”
John 1:1 – 5 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made, and without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
Prior to 1957, Ghana was the British colony called the Gold Coast. Assemblies of God missionaries came in from Burkina Faso in 1931, starting the first Assemblies of God church in Yendi among the Dagomba people. The war – like Konkombas were one of the neighboring tribes, and a few Konkombas first heard the Gospel from those missionaries in Yendi. In 1938, Pastor Homer Goodwin rode into the Konkomba town of Saboba guided by Akonsi, Bilateeb and Beso, three early Konkomba Christians who were desperate for their people to hear the Good News of Jesus Christ. The same day that Homer and his guides made the trip in by a road close to the River Oti, the Yendi British District Commissioner and a band of soldiers attempted to go to Saboba through Wapuli and were repulsed by Konkomba warriors. The Commissioner suffered a wound from a poisoned arrow and was forced to take his men back to Yendi without reaching Saboba; meanwhile, Homer was staying with the chief in Saboba. After that, Homer made several trips to Saboba over a period of nearly 7 years, staying with his friend, the chief, each time. But there was a major problem.
In those days, the British had carved up the Gold Coast into districts with British government workers manning all the head positions. The new British District Commissioner at that time was a Scot who hated Christianity and Christians. This man who was an anthropologist by training believed that the Konkombas were one of the more primitive people in Ghana and he wanted to preserve the Konkombas in that state so that he could carry out his studies undisturbed. To further his studies, in 1946 this District Commissioner began building a home in Saboba, fashioning it as an elongated oval structure to mimic the local round rooms.
On Homer’s next trip to Saboba, he stopped to greet this District Commissioner, only for the official to tell him that this trip would be Homer’s last visit to Saboba because he, the D. C., wanted to preserve the Konkombas from all outside influences of any kind. Homer was distraught as he returned to his family in Accra.
Two AG lady missionaries, Pauline Smith and Adeline Wichman, were then working in Yendi. We later became friends with these two ladies, and they told us about riding their bicycles from Yendi to Saboba and peeking in the windows to see how the District Commissioner was arranging the house. But the District Commissioner became furious and posted signs at the edge of Saboba saying, “Missionaries keep out!” It was at that point that God began to move.
Two things happened nearly simultaneously: Smith and Wichman complained to their British government friends in Yendi about the bizarre behavior of the District Commissioner. At the same time, Homer Goodwin was in Accra and took his family to Labadi Beach to swim the Saturday after his encounter with the District Commissioner. While at the beach, Homer met a British man and found himself recounting the story of this District Commissioner who was more interested in anthropologic studies than he was in the good of the people. The British were already fully aware that tribesmen who converted to Christianity were far less likely to prove troublesome than those who continued to follow traditional religions, so from the pragmatic standpoint of maintaining peace, it would be beneficial were the Konkombas to embrace Christianity. God is very wonderful! The man to whom Homer was talking proved to be the Secretary to the Governor of the Gold Coast, a very important man indeed. This man requested that Homer meet him in his office the following Monday.
When Homer arrived, the Governor’s secretary informed Homer Goodwin that this District Commissioner’s ideas were strictly against British Colonial policy. Next, this man proposed that the British would allow the Assemblies of God to enter Saboba if Homer could promise that the Assemblies of God would establish a clinic there. Rolling his eyes heavenward, Homer gulped and agreed. Then Homer had to communicate with the Division of Foreign Missions Springfield Assemblies of God Headquarters that he had committed them to building a mission clinic in Saboba.
Fortunately, all these events took place just after World War II, when the U.S. air base in Accra was being dismantled. Homer had been functioning as a chaplain for the air base and so was able to get two Quonset huts, a jeep, several beds, and all the medical equipment that was in the clinic there. The Governor ordered the District Commissioner to pack and leave Saboba immediately. The very day that this man was leaving Saboba, Homer was traveling into Saboba in his jeep with the mission vehicle loaded with the equipment from the air base following him. The road was so small that the District Commissioner had to pull off into the grass to allow Homer and the mission vehicle to pass. The British completely withdrew this man and sent him back to Scotland.
Meanwhile, the British government realized that they did not need that house in Saboba, so they traded that house for one owned by the AG’s in Yendi. The net result was that the house built by the horrible District Commissioner became the home of Mel and Marita McNutt, the first AG missionaries, who arrived in October 1948. (The photo above comes courtesy of the McNutt family.) The McNutts built a small Quonset hut clinic, and soon 2 missionary nurses who were former military nurses arrived. The outreaches from that clinic helped convert so many people that at least twelve churches were established due to the work of that clinic. (Note: This information is not second – hand. We were friends with Homer and Thelma Goodwin, Pauline Smith and Adeline Wichman, and Mel and Marita McNutt. We were also friends with Ozella Hagar Reed and Charlese Spenser, two of the missionary nurses who worked in Saboba. We have also received a great deal of information from Reverend John Goodwin, Homer’s son, and his wife Amonna Sue Goodwin.)
APPLICATION: Sometimes, it’s easy to get caught up in all the trappings of Christmas to the extent that we lose sight of the fundamental message. The world lay in darkness, bound by sin. Mankind was caught in an endless downward spiral; no sacrifices were sufficient to remove that sin or to give hope. God sent His Son Jesus, the Messiah, to live as a sinless man and to die a cruel death as the ultimate blood sacrifice for the sins of the world. Because of the power of God, Jesus arose from the dead and is alive forever more.
Ephesians 5:14 sounds out the call, “Awake, you who sleep. Arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.” Today, we are much better dressed than were those Konkomba tribesmen when Homer Goodwin rode into Saboba. But are our hearts any cleaner?
Ephesians 5:8 – 11 tells us, “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light(for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.”
Christmas is not merely about how many gifts we can collect; it is also about what we can give to the Lord. The best gift we can give God is to humble ourselves before Him, recognizing that we are sinners and that we neither deserve the light or can earn it. Only God can bring light into our spiritual darkness. Today, why not celebrate Christmas by giving God the best gift of all, the gift of a surrendered life?
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, we confess that we are sinners and that by ourselves, we can do nothing to make up for our sins. But You have sent Jesus as the ultimate Sacrifice for our sins. Lord, we beg You to forgive our sins. We promise to follow Jesus as our Savior and Lord for the rest of our lives. Please flood our lives with Your light. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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