Angels, Yes, I Think It Was Angels

by Steve Saint
January 30, 2002
I have concluded that my Dads death was not the result of random circumstances. I believe it was a
carefully orchestrated plan. It was a premeditated act of violence desined to shoc! the emotions.
"he #unle warriors who drove barbed spears throuh Dads body were not the masterminds behind
this plot. "hey were incapable of even imainin the affect their dar! act of hatred and the ensuin days
of aoni$in silence and wonder would have on t he %civili$ed world&.
'fter years of investiation and searchin for details, I have had to conclude that (od planned my
fathers violent death. I am convinced )e orchestrated it to elicit a response that only such a shoc!in
event, surrounded by mystery and uncertainty, could evo!e * almost fifty years later.
"his is a masterfully written story that perple+es and continues to surprise even those of us who are a
part of it.
,ast wee! I was eatin boiled fish and mon!ey meat from a common pot with the men who !illed
Dad. -y son who dipped from the same pot loo!s so much li!e Dad that even these men who only met
Dad in that one short and deadly encounter see the resemblance. Jesse calls one of those men
%(randfather&.
I love these people. "hey are family. .ot because I have adopted them but because they have adopted
me. "he foriveness, reconciliation and transformation of this incredible tale have almost a miraculous
power to capture and move men and women/ youn and old.
It is somethin very different, however, that causes me to wonder0 %how could a lovin (od do
somethin li!e this to )is own people, his very own children1&
2efore ta!in offense at this 3uestion as some will want to do, or aruin with it, which others will do
* let me both defend and e+plain what I mean.
"o those of you who will want to challene my assertion that (od could possibly have planned and
orchestrated the death of five men who loved and trusted )im, I have a simple defense. ,u!e, an
'postle, asserts in 'cts 2 verse 23 that 4hrist )imself was, %delivered up by the predetermined plan
and fore!nowlede of (od,& was %nailed to a cross by the hands of (odless men and put5 to death.&
"o those who buy into the popular but historically unsupportable idea that a lovin (od could not do
anythin unlovin and who miht thin! that by my 3uestion I am in areement, I wish to immediately
set the record straiht. -y 3uestion is not an assertion of inconsistency between (ods lovin nature
and a horrible act, which I believe )e planned. -y 3uestion is one of wonder, that (od would sacrifice
the lives of five lovin sons and the security of five stoic and faithful women for a handful of
%savaes&.
(od doesnt owe us an e+planation for )is actions. 2ut as a lovin 6ather, the 2ible tells us )e is
swayed by our petitions and our yearnins. 6or thirty eiht years, from the ae of five when Dad was
!illed until 7889 when I buried his only sister, my dear 'unt :achel, less than a mile from his rave out
in the ;cuadorian 'ma$on #unle * I wondered what really happened on that little beach named for the
palms that bordered its ede that fateful day in January 78<=. "hat day chaned my life and that of
thousands of others. I have heard the %why& as thousands of people from all wal!s of life have told me
how this story has been a catalyst for ood in their lives. In .ovember 7889, (od ave me the %how&.
'fter we buried 'unt :achel, the survivin warriors who !illed Dad, Jim, ;d, :oer and >ete told me
how they !illed the five %cowodi& ?foreiners@ and what led them to do it ?see %Did "hey )ave to Die&,
4hristianity "oday, Sept. 788=@.
,ast wee! (od ave me another to!en of )is love. It reminds me of the poem by Ailliam 4owper
which beins, %(od wor!s in mysterious ways&. In it, 4owper says %)is purposes will ripen fast,
unfoldin every hour, the bud may have a bitter taste but sweet will be the flower.& It is mans curse to
wish to control his own destiny. Ae are so ready to arroantly assert, %I am the master of my fate, the
captain of my soul&. Ae ma!e the day sweet and life becomes bitter. "he fundamental difference when
we let (od ta!e )is rihtful place at the helm is that the day may be rievous but life becomes an
adventure, full of hope and a sense of sinificance even under the most tryin circumstances.
.one of us is free from pain or rief. 2ut our hope can be invested in eternity. Bnce in a while (od
ives us a limpse of that mysterious and wonderful world that will very soon be our home.
' number of years ao Blive 6lemin ,iefeld and her second husband Aalt visited the site in the
;cuadorian #unle where Blives first husband >ete had been speared to death, alon with ;d -c4ully,
:oer Couderian, Jim ;lliot and my father .ate Saint.
6lyin into a remote #unle airstrip they were met by my fathers sister :achel. 'unt :achel and
several members of Aaodani tribe led Blive and her husband down to the sand bar my Dad named
>alm 2each.
Seein the place where her husband had been !illed for the first time brouht 3uestions bac! to
Blives mind. Duestions that had one unanswered for over thirty years. 'nswerin her 3uestions with
'unt :achel translatin was Dawa, wife of one of the attac!ers who was present durin the attac!.
Dawa, still a teenaer at the time, hid in the dense cane borderin the far side of the river, opposite
>alm 2each, afraid to actually watch or ta!e a more aressive role..
's Dawa reconi$ed Blives interest in what had happened that memorable day, a day that shoc!ed
and transfi+ed much of the world, both 4hristian and non, she bean to volunteer information that she
thouht miht be of interest.
In the middle of her commentary she pointed to a place above the #unle canopy borderin the ride
#ust south of >alm 2each. %"hat is where we heard the cowadi ?foreiners@ sinin&, she stated matterE
ofE factly. 's 'unt :achel translated Blive stopped her/ %Ahat does she mean she heard foreiners
sinin above the trees1&
Dawa said they were dressed in cloth li!e she saw a roup of 4owadi do who san in a church she
visited with :achel in the F. S.
Blive, Aalt and 'unt :achel wondered if it could possibly have been a choir of anels. Ahat a
wonderful and humblin tribute that would have been from a racious (od who had #ust had five sons
!illed, their spearEriddled bodies dumped unceremoniously in the river by the beach where they had
#ust two days before had an e+citin and completely friendly first contact with two women and one
man from the same villae where their !illers lived.
Blive wanted to include this account of anel visitation in her boo! %Fnfoldin Destinies&, so she
as!ed me to as! the three survivin Aaodani warriors who had been part of that fateful !illin party for
verification.
"he opportunity came when I flew to ;cuador to help members of the tribe bury 'unt :achel after
she died of cancer.
Bne by one, each of the three men told me that they saw what appeared to be lihts in the same place
where Dawa had said she saw the heavenly choir. "hey were further away, but which miht e+plain that
what they saw was different. 2ut all of them said that they heard sinin. .evertheless, they were
somewhat tentative in their description.
Ahen a pro#ect was initiated to ma!e a feature film and a docuEdrama about the %'uca Story& very
recently, the script writers wanted to include the %anels sinin over the G>alm 2each martyrs.& 's I
reviewed the script I felt uncomfortable includin any detailed reEenactment of somethin that I was
sure had ta!en place but which had only been vauely described.
In January 2002 I was as!ed to ta!e the documentary film team to ;cuador to interview the Aaodani
who are the other half of this story. In the interviews with four of the < reamin Aaodani survivors who
too! part in the >alm 2each attac! in which my Dad and his four friends were !illed, I tried to elicit
more definition to what I had been told previously/ but without success.
"he day after wrappin up the filmed interviews with the Aaodani the film roup and I were #oined
by tow friends of ours, Hevin -c'fee and Steven 4hapman. "hey had flown out to #oin us to do
filmin for Steves upcomin tour which will feature the %'uca Story&, as well as to film some footae
for the documentary. Steven and I were sittin in the coo!in house tal!in while Himo, one of the
warriors I had #ust interviewed, was tryin to communicate with a member of the film team.
I was startled to hear music comin from the thatched lonEhouse immediately behind us. "hen I
reali$ed that Hevin was #ust chec!in out the sound e3uipment he had brouht.
Suddenly Himo turned toward the music and listened intently . 'fter a minute he commented,
%manami ihindabopa& ?#ust li!e I heard it.@
I didnt understand what he was referrin to until I put toether the obvious fact he was referrin to
the music and remembered that I had recently as!ed him about what he had heard at >alm 2each.
Himo resumed his sin lanuae conversation. Suddenly he turned toward the music once aain and
very specifically affirmed %I have heard that before, lon ao. "hat is what I heard, #ust li!e that, when
your father died.&
I e+plained to Steven 4urtis what Himo was sayin, then called to Hevin to hold the music at that
spot. It was clear that Himo was referrin especially to one motif in the music as bein what he
remembered.
I invited Himo to enter the lon house with us. Fnfortunately Hevin could not tell us specifically
where on the 4D the music Himo was referrin to was located. Hevin started playin various pieces on
the soundtrac!. I couldnt remember enouh of what it sounded li!e to identify it. 's the fifth or si+th
piece started to play, Steven 4urtis said, %I thin! this miht be it.& 'lmost simultaneously Himo said, %I
saw lihts li!e stars and that is what I heard.& "hen he added, %Ahen I heard that lon ao, I didnt
!now what it was. I was afraid. )earin it I !new we had done a bad thin there. .ow, no loner livin
anry and hatin, I see it well that you have returnin brouht this ?they dont have a word for
instrumental music that I !now of@ bac! to us.& "hen he ot up and lefty the lon house.
Hevin pulled out the 4D to find the title of the piece Himo had identified. %Cou wont believe this %
Hevin e+claimed. %,oo!,& and he pointed at the 4D, it is cut IJ.
Jesus told us %(o into all the world and ma!e Disciples of all the .ations.& -y father and his four
friends #oined the ran!s of thousands of %(od followers& who have iven their lives to fulfill that
commission.
"he title of the sound trac! Himo reconi$ed as bein what he heard after !illin my Dad and Jim and
>ete and :oer and ;d/ a piece written specially for the Documentary film ?bein made to tell the story
of (ods plan to reach a tribe of people off in the 'ma$on #unle who were insinificant in almost
every way e+cept that (od loved them and wanted them to !now they could become )is children
throuhout the sacrifice of Itota %(ods only child, a son.&@ is %;very "ribe, ;very .ation.&
(od has entrusted %)is very ood carvins& to usK 2ut only the uninitiated or e+tremely unobservant
are wont to believe that )e doesnt still have )is hand in seein that )is messae reaches every tribe,
every nation, every tonue and every people.
I have never 3uestioned (od riht to use my fathers life. Dad turned his life over to (od as a youn
boy. I have never as!ed for an apoloy from the men who !illed him, and I have never received one. I
have never foriven them either. It never occurred to me that I should forive them for somethin
which, thouh they meant for evil, (od very clearly intended for ood.
2ut as a father, I have aoni$ed over what I have thouht must have been oin throuh Dads mind
as he lay dyin out in the middle of nowhere/ betrayed by the very people he and his friends had so
carefully and methodically befriended. )is failure would leave -ar#orie ?my sweet -om@ a widow. )e
would never teach his two little boys to fly. )is little irl would never sit on Daddys lap to hear
another oriinal bedtime story. )e would never aain fly sic! Indians to the new hospital he and :oer
had been wor!in so hard to complete. )is passion for sharin the messae that had set him free with
people who had never heard was suddenly ended.
I have imained all these years that this must have been the pain of Dads last conscious minutes of
life. 2ut now I believe that I was wron. If Dawa, Himo, Cowe and -incaye heard an anelic choir
from the world beyond, I have no doubt that Jim, ;d, >ete, :oer and Dad were made even more aware
of their presence. "hey didnt die alone. I do believe, now, that (od sent a reception committee to sin
for them and to escort them into )is presence.
's I listened to music, #ust written, which Himo clearly asserted he had heard at >alm 2each, my
heart swelled with a sense of wellEbein. (od too! what five men could not !eep and e+chaned it for
somethin they can not lose. Its our turn now, to ma!e the same deal and ive our lives awayK