Bruce Olson - Bruchko and the Motilone Miracle

Acknowledgments

I wish to thank Merry Anderson for generously making available her collection of my newsletters and other material gathered over a period of more than forty years; Sandra Green, for her assistance in Spanish translation; Jennifer Barrow, for editorial comments; Linda Hohonshelt, for tape transcription; and the entire team at Charisma Media, in particular Stephen Strang, Barbara Dycus, Debbie Marrie, and Dottie McBroom, for their help with this book and for their longtime support of my ministry.

The freshness of Christs Spirit breathes through the jungles of the Catatumbo. He articulates in the hearts of men and women how peace can reign through the resurrection of His Son.

BRUCE OLSON
MAY 25, 1992

Contents

by Rolland and Heidi Baker

T he word Motilone comes from the Spanish word motilar, meaning cut hair. Spanish settlers arriving in Venezuela and Colombia in the early 1600s were the first to call the indigenous peoples of the Catatumbo region Motilones because of their short hair, but this word does not exist in the tribes vocabulary. Instead, they call themselves Bar, which means we the people.

In preparing this book for publication, our publishing house wanted to show respect for this ancient people group and not use words that would disparage them in any way. After careful consideration and consultation with people who work in the South American region, we agreed that since the Motilones are accepting of the fact that people call them by their Spanish name, and also of the word Indian, we use these terms to identify them in this book.

However, we do make one exception. When the speech of a Motilone is quoted, we use the word Bar in all references to their people, since a Motilone would never use any other word to describe himself or his tribe.

A s I write, I am on an airline flight heading south across Mozambique in east Africa. Below are some of the poorest and most isolated communities on Planet Earth. In the bush they are living as they have lived for centuries, without electricity, running water, or modern communication at all. Most are illiterate, dont use money, and have never seen a teacher, doctor, or policeman. Soon I will be maneuvering a four-wheel-drive truck over rough roads to a remote town where we will hold another of our bush conferences, preaching Jesus to pagans and animists who have never seen the power of God.

Two weeks after our May wedding twenty-six years ago, my wife, Heidi, and I took off from Los Angeles and headed for Indonesia to begin our missionary lives. We had one-way tickets and thirty dollars in our pocketsand a word from God that we would be in Indonesia, working with Mel Tari, by summer. We have been running the race all these years, fighting the good fight of faith, and enduring trials we never imagined we would face. And during all this time, one testimony has stood out in my heart and memory. The Holy Spirit has used this testimony to encourage me and keep my perspective clean and simple. The testimony is Bruce Olsons incredible story, as told in Bruchko.

Bruce Olson was a forerunner for me, a hero of the faith who proved the gospel by his faith and choices, so rare in the Western world. I am a third-generation missionary who grew up listening to my grandfathers stories of revival in old China, but Bruces stories were recent and taught me just what the Holy Spirit knew I needed to hear again. Bruce was radical, and radically simple. That was the thrill of reading him. The Truth is utterly powerfulif we believe it simply and humbly like a child. The gospel is all true! And the simplest people on Earth can partake of it freely until their lives become monuments to the grace of God.

The Holy Spirit directed my grandfather to take my grandmother to China and lean entirely on Him for support. I also longed to serve God freely, without care, trusting in Him for everything. Could we possibly demonstrate to the poor and suffering that the gospel is sufficient in all circumstances and that we can live the Sermon on the Mount in this world? We dont have to be like unbelievers, always worried about food, clothes, and self-preservation. Bruce Olson simply left, still a very young man, following the leading of the Spirit in his heart, without concern for the usual gauntlet of obstacles to missionary service through traditional channels. I was excited by his example, and my faith mounted.

Bruces story showed me again just how much love the Holy Spirit is able to plant in a human heart for others, even those very unlikely to capture or command any affection from the outside world. Bruces whole life is a story of the love of God, pouring out in purity and overcoming power through one person for an entire people group considered for centuries as unreached and unreachable. Today, Heidi and I are reaching out to the four million Makua of Mozambiques northern province of Cabo Delgado, a people group that has also been tagged by missiologists as unreached and unreachable. Bruces history has helped to keep me on course again and again as today we are bringing in Jesus Makua bride, whole villages at a time, as He wins their hearts through us as only He can.

I am probably most stirred by Bruces accounts of how simple hearts in the jungle, unhardened by years of resistance, responded with wide-eyed wonder and sobs of grief and joy at the story of how God Himself came to Earth to die for their sins. What a perfect model of how all of us who call upon the name of Jesus should be thrilled beyond measure by the most fundamental foundations of our salvation. Never should we be tired or bored with what God has done for us or unimpressed with His promises for our future. Never should we become so sophisticated or sidetracked in our spiritual journey that we lose sight of that which sustains all our hope and joy!

Bruces story has been an ongoing one of progress for the Motilone Indians, a saga of Gods total concern for a peoples welfare and an instilling of His values in every corner of Motilone society. That the Holy Spirit has held Bruces hand all these years and kept his heart singularly focused on the welfare of his chosen people is a miraculous record that again helps Heidi and me. From every page of Bruces book we learn perseverance and attention to goodness, excellence, and detail that are necessary for the long-term guidance of our people in Africa. And Bruces history with his beloved Motilone people shows that he has shepherded them with a supernaturally imparted sensitivity to their culture, honoring their ways in every way possible in the limitless love of God.

May the heart of every reader of this book be imprinted with the same pure and simple love of God that shaped Bruces many years in the jungle where he so delighted in a rich taste of the life of heaven itself. And like Bruce, may we all overcome every obstacle to finishing the course set before us so that we may be able to enjoy and glorify our God as we live our lives among the people He has so strongly put on our hearts.

ROLLAND AND HEIDI BAKER
IRIS MINISTRIES
PEMBA, MOZAMBIQUE

I t is a beautiful October morning in the equatorial jungle of northeastern Colombia. Slivers of sunrays filter through towering palm trees, striking the abundant green fronds near the jungle floor and sending tendrils of steam skyward. I am walking with fifteen natives of this region, members of the Motilone Indian tribe. In a few minutes we will board a dugout canoe on the bank of the Rio de Orothe river of goldto travel downriver to Saphadana, the site of a Motilone trading post. I savor each step, relishing the company of the Indians and the tumultuous chorus offered by the exotic birds, monkeys, and katydids that live in the lush greenery around us. I am in no hurry to leave. This is a place of enchantment. Some would even call it paradise.