From “Voice of the Martyrs”
As a teenager, John Chau sensed God calling him to take the gospel to the people of North Sentinel Island. For nine years, he prepared himself to go to the island, live among the people, learn their language and share Christ with them.
John knew the risks. He knew the Sentinelese had been violent toward visitors before, but he also knew God had called him to go.
“I believe that the measure of success in the kingdom of God is obedience,” John said shortly before his death. “I want my life to reflect obedience to Christ and to live in obedience to him. I think that Jesus is worth it. He’s worth everything.”
On Nov. 15, 2018, John went ashore on North Sentinel Island for the first time. On Nov. 16, 2018, he went ashore on North Sentinel Island for the final time.
On the afternoon of Nov. 14, before boarding a fishing boat and heading toward North Sentinelese Island, John wrote this prayer in his journal: “Thank you, Father, for using me, for shaping me and molding me to be Your ambassador. … Holy Spirit, please open the hearts of the tribe to receive me and by receiving me, to receive You. May Your kingdom, Your rule and reign come now to North Sentinel Island. My life is in Your hands, O Father, so into Your hands I commit my spirit.”
The next morning before dawn, John went ashore and buried two cases of supplies for his stay on the island. Later that morning, he kayaked along the shore, hoping to show his good intentions by delivering fish and other gifts to the islanders. “My name is John,” he called out. “I love you, and Jesus loves you.”
The first islanders to appear carried their bows with unstrung arrows. Later, when they strung arrows in their bows, John paddled out of range and back to the boat. He approached again that afternoon, delivering more gifts and getting close to an islander before a young Sentinelese launched an arrow that lodged firmly in the waterproof Bible he was carrying.
On his second contact attempt, John got out of his kayak, hoping to appear less threatening. But when islanders, one with a bamboo knife, got between him and the kayak, he had to leave it behind — with his U.S. passport inside — and swim back to the boat. After that eventful day, he poured out his heart in the pages of his journal, which the fishermen later delivered to Christian friends.
The plan now is to rest and sleep on the boat and in the morning to drop me off by the cache and then I walk along the beach toward the same hut I’ve been giving gifts to. It’s weird — actually, no, it’s natural:
I’m scared.
There, I said it. Also frustrated and uncertain — is it worth me going on foot to meet them? Now they have attached me to the gifts … Lord yet you will be close. If you want me to get actually shot or even killed with an arrow, then so be it. I think I could be more useful alive though, but to you, God, I give all the glory of whatever happens. I DON’T WANT TO DIE! Would it be wiser to leave and let someone else continue? No. I don’t think so — I’m stuck here anyway without a passport and having been off the grid. I still could make it back to the US somehow as it almost seems like certain death to stay here. Yet there is evidenced change in just two encounters in a single day. Will try again tomorrow.
John’s journal also includes sociological and linguistic notes; he tried to learn as much as he could from each encounter with the Sentinelese. Later that evening, John added another entry.
Watching the sunset and it’s beautiful — crying a bit … wondering if it’ll be the last sunset I see before being in the place where the sun never sets. Tearing up a little.
God, I don’t want to die. WHO WILL TAKE MY PLACE IF I DO? … Why did a little kid have to shoot me today? His high pitched voice still lingers in my head. Father, forgive them if they succeed.
Lord strengthen me as I need Your strength and protection and guidance and all that You give and are. Whoever comes after me to take my place, whether it’s after tomorrow or another time, please give them a double anointing and bless them mightily.
On Nov. 16, 2018, John went ashore on North Sentinel Island for the last time. When the fishermen returned the next day, according to the police report, they saw “a dead person being buried at the shore which from the silhouette of the body, clothing and circumstances appeared to be the body of John Allen Chau.”
Nothing is known about what happened between John’s arrival on the beach and his death. The young man who would later be ridiculed as a “colonizer” had approached the Sentinelese without a weapon — even after being shot at — clearly willing to give up his own life. John’s body was never recovered; he had requested that if killed, his body be left on the island.
Following his death, a storm of vitriol was unleashed on John, his family and, at times, anyone who would dare to think of sharing the gospel with another human being. The fishermen who took John to the island were arrested, as were other Christians who had spoken with John in the Andaman Islands.
Many news reports and opinion pieces implied that John had been foolish to contact a people group known to be violent toward outsiders. What they didn’t know was that John had prepared for years to reach the Sentinelese with the Good News of Jesus Christ.
The end of John’s life on earth should not be viewed as the end of the whole story; we know how that story ends. In one of John’s last journal entries, he wrote, “The eternal lives of this tribe are at hand, and I can’t wait to see them around the throne of God worshiping in their own language, as Revelation 7:9–10 states.”
Perhaps in eternity, we will see John standing among the Sentinelese gathered around the throne, crying out in a loud voice with them, “Salvation belongs to our God!”
New Life Narrabri 