Hemonioi 1 & 2

I want to tell you a story about a man named Hemonioi. He was from a tribe called Toabaita. He lived on an island. The Toabaita people were very fierce fighters. They killed many people and they would eat them. Other people feared them because they were so bad.

On other islands there were cocoanut plantations. Young men often went to work on these plantations. They wanted money to buy clothes, knives, axes, and special types of foods, salt, etc. Hemonioi left his village. He had to go in a boat to get to the plantations. Traveling on the water they could see a big storm in the distance. Lightning was coming down from a very large black cloud. A Christian man said to Hemonioi, "Do you see this lightning come down from the sky? One day God will destroy this world with fire. People who trust Jesus will go to heaven. Unbelieving people will go to a fire place." Hemonioi did not know anything about God or His book; so he did not say anything. But he could not forget those words.

After six months Hemonioi returned to his village; then he went to the mission school. In his heart he wanted very much to learn God's book. In school he learned the story about the Two Roads. One broad road ended in the fire place. Most people walk on this road. The other road was narrow. It went to God's place in heaven. To get on this road we must ask Jesus to forgive our sins and be our Master. Hemonioi understood this lesson. He asked the Lord Jesus to take away his sins and be his Master. He knew God heard his prayer because he felt clean inside and God's peace had come to his heart.

Hemonioi went to school for two years. Then he went to the mountain people to preach the gospel. Their food and ways were different than his because he was from the coastal lowlands. But in Hemonioi's heart was a burning desire to tell the unbelievers about Jesus Christ.

But the mountain people did not help Hemonioi. First, he built God's house. He cut all the timber and leaf by himself. When the church was finished he made the benches with his machete. Afterwards, he made his own house. Hemonioi had a piece of iron he used as a bell, calling the people to church. When the people came home from their gardens he would strike the iron many times, but no one would come. Only the village cat would come to church! When the cat heard the clang of the iron it would go sit on the front bench. Hemonioi thought this way, "If God only sends a cat, I will speak the good news to him."

When the people heard Hemonioi talking in the church they asked each other, "Why is he talking? No one is there!" Some were curious. They went near and listened from outside. They heard that his words were good. Soon all of the people came to church. In one year all the mountain people in this village came to trust in Christ. Hemonioi got an indigenous pastor to come take his place and teach the people. He went to other unbelieving villages. In three years Hemonioi won three villages to Jesus Christ.

HEMONEOI II - LIFE BEFORE THE GALLOWS

Hemoneoi was a Christian tribal person saved from cannibalism in one of the wildest parts of the islands in the South Pacific Ocean. After years of missionary work amongst his own people he began working for the British government as a prison worker. His boss was Captain Turner, a man who had no time for God and the Christian message. For months he taunted and ridiculed Hemoneoi about his faith but he only radiated the joy that was in his heart. Little by little the Captain was becoming impressed by the consistent life Hemoneoi was presenting.

One day he said to Hemoneoi, "Go and try your gospel on those four murderers in the condemned cell."

For weeks he would report to the Captain. "They don't want Jesus yet." But one day with a happy smile on his face Hemoneoi reported, "They have taken Jesus now!"

Captain Turner went down to the cell and immediately knew that something had happened. Before they had been unresponsive to his questions, but now in their simple way they told what they had done. "We killed a man and it is true we will die but we have Jesus now. If we die we will be with God. We will go to heaven."

After leaving the cell, Captain Turner said, "I was convinced that these natives had something real. In the face of death they had a peace that was not natural."

The Captain tried his best to get a pardon for the men but after a few weeks the answer came back from the high commissioner that the men would have to die. When the execution day came, Captain Turner was at the gallows to meet the victims. Instead of being dragged to the noose by four or five men, they walked calmly to their position. The Captain placed his hand on each man's shoulder and asked them, "How is everything?" The confident reply from each was, "We go straight to be with Jesus." When the captain left the execution he said, "I will seek this thing whatever it costs until I find it."

A long time later Captain Turner was working on another island where he attended a meeting of believers. The pastor presented a clear explanation of the Gospel and gave an invitation. Immediately this military captain stood to his feet and declared, "I'll accept Christ." From that night his life was changed. Later he sent word back to the islands where he was known as a hard man who wanted nothing to do with God. "Let all the native people in the Solomons know that I too have found Christ. Moreover, I also want you to let all the people with whom I associated know that I am now a Christian."

This is how God used and multiplied the life of Hemoneoi, a simple, humble tribal member who was not afraid to tell others about Jesus.