Pacific Islanders Accept Jehovah

With missionaries freely using God's name, it is not surprising that those to whom they preached started to accept Jehovah as their God. The book Missionary Adventures in the South Pacific describes a large meeting held on one northern Pacific island after the arrival of the missionary ship Morning Star. The book said that the islanders "voted by a show of hands, most of them raising both hands and keeping them up a long time for emphasis,that they would forsake idolatry and worship Jehovah. Moreover, they would provide for all the needs of the teachers. A piece of land was set aside and dedicated to Jehovah for a church and parsonage."

Describing the conversation of Malietoa, a high chief in Samoa, the book Willamu - Mariner-Missionary - The Story of John Williams says: " Malietoa made a long speech to his people, publicly promising to become a worshiper of Jehovah, and to erect a church for his worship. he ordered the people who were remaining at home to begin to learn about Jehovah and Jesus Christ."

All this activity had a lasting impact on the lives of many Pacific-island communities. Even today in countries such as Fiji and Samoa, it is not uncommon to hear Jehovah's name mentioned on the radio or to see it in local newspapers.

But the impact does not stop there. In her book Treasure Islands, first published in 1977, Pearl Binder describes the importance of Jehovah's name to the Banabans. These people originally lived in Kiribati but were later resettled on the island of Rabi, in Fiji. Binder writes: "The missionaries who came to Banaba had given the Banabans more than they knew. . . Their belief in Jehovah has been the central core of their lives, has held them together as nothing else could have done, through seventy years of increasingly agonizing tribulations, and still today keeps them alive in spirit. Without the white man's Jehovah (whom the white man himself increasingly disregards)the Banabans would have been lost.

Next time: God's Name In Bible Translation