Evangelical missionaries in this part of Africa have a long history of capitalizing on personal salvation and the assurance of an eternity in heaven, above all else. There is concern for physical needs as is evidence in the establishment of many health facilities. But these facilities sometimes are little more than bait stations to get clobbered with an appeal for personal salvation.
Personal salvation happens by praying a prescribe prayer inviting Jesus into one’s heart, stop going to dances, stop drinking and a short list of other behavior modifications. After that it’s learning right doctrine.
Let me give you a story that illustrates the fruit of that kind of salvation theology:
One of the hazards of being a toddler in an impoverished family here in Guinea Bissau is the risk of being seriously burned by falling into a cooking-fire pit or getting dumped on from a precariously balanced kettle of boiling water. I can’t tell you how many little ones have been brought here with extensive 3rd degree burns.
Our procedure is to cover the burn in Vaseline or other special burn preparation. Then the area is wrapped with sterile gauze and in a few days the destroyed outer layer of skin can be removed and new skin begins to reappear. Antibiotics are also needed to fight infection.
We had just such a case a few days ago. The mother brought her two-year old with a large burn from sitting down on a fire pit. The burn occurred a week previously and since he wasn’t getting any better she decided to seek help at our clinic. Right after the burn happened she got treatment at the local witchdoctor which included covering the burned area with ground mandjandja leaves mixed with rabbit hair.
