8/13/2019 Fulton Rick Coretha 1987 Ghana

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AFRICAN MISSION EVANGELISMRICK CORETH FULTON MISSION RIES

MUD, BLOOD, AND KEROSENEBeing a Pa t r i o t i c American, th e Fourth of Ju ly has always meant something spec ia l tome. Slthough I grew up dur ing a t ime in Amer ica s h is to ry when being Pa t r i o t i c wasno t v er y p op ula r among many young people , I can hones t ly say t h a t I n ev er sh are d anyo f th os e n eg ati ve fee l ings toward my count ry . I am g lad to see t h a t the Pendulum hasswung back the other way and young people are once again proud of the i r nat ion . Butt h i s i s n o t in tended to be an a r t i c l e abou t Pa t r io t i sm o r the USA. t j u s t happenst h a t th e events t h a t I am going to re la te to you took p lace on America s IndependenceDayin a la nd ve ry f a r away from the United Sta tes , both geographical ly and cul tura l ly .t was 11:00 on a Thursday morning, Ju ly 4 th to be exac t . We were in the l a s t weeko f c lass here a t Ghana Chr is t i an College. I had j u s t f in i shed a tw o hour Psychologyc l a s s and dec ided to t ake a f ive minute b re ak b efo re s t a r t i n g my theo logy c l a s s . Iused t h i s t ime to run back to my house fo r a minute to see how t h ings were . I don tnormally do th i s , but on t ha t par t icu la r day I did. For Benjamin Kwesei Boateng, itproved to be an important departure from my normal rout ine . As I walked the shor t d ist ance from th e c ol le ge to my house I saw a g r ea t crowd running a t th e end o f the s t r ee t .They were screaming and waving machetes, axes and clubs in the i r hands. I quicklyducked into my compound and asked the guard what the commotion was and he told me tha ta t h i e f was being chased and beaten by the mob. After informing my wife and the o thermissionar ies and mak ing sure t h a t the chi ldren were a l l sa fe ly ins ide , v i s i t i ng miss ionary , Charly Bing, and I went outs ide to see what was happening.Some people in the crowd were f ight ing among themselves, but most of the were nowfol lowing and b ea tin g th e al leged t h i e f as he s t ruggled to walk down the muddy s t r e e tin fron t o f my house. He did not walk far . In f ac t , he collapsed r i gh t in f ron t ofmy house. lie-had several- cuts and bruises on-his face and head, including an axewound on h is fo rehead t h a t was abou t 4 inches long and a deep machete wound on th e backo f h is head t ha t was about 5 in ch es lo ng . He was lo s ing blood f a s t and was in a semi-cons i c i ous s t a t e . I found ou t l a t e r t h a t th e man had been chased from a p l ace abou t2 mi l es from our house. Why d id he f i n a l l y co l l apse in f ro n t o f my house?As he l a i d there Char l ie and I pushed our way through the crowd to where he was. AsI kne l t down beside him I could see and smel l t ha t h is e nt i r e body was soaked in kerosene. I then rea l ized how grave the s i tua t ion was. You see , there i s a prac t i ce amongsome Ghanaians t h a t when a t h i e f i s caught , he i s beaten to dea th o r to the po in t o fdeath , then h is body i s se t on f i re and l e f t to burn in the s t r ee t . Usually an oldt i r e i s placed around him and he i s soaked in gasol ine i poss ib le , o r kerosene ands e t on f i r e . Th i s i s what th e crowd was p lann ing t o do nex t .I would l ike to say t h a t I immediate ly ac ted wit ho ut r eg ar d fo r my own sa fe ty to saveth e man, bu t t h a t would no t be th e t r u t h . What I d id do was pan ic , bu t only fo r asecond. I was to rn between doing th e noble t h i ng , th e th in g t h a t God wanted me todo, and giving in to the demands o f the angry mob, which by t h i s t ime numbered wel lover 50 people wi th knives and c l ubs . I did no t he s i t a t e l ong , however , fo r as Iwas searching the crowd for a f r iendly face to ca l l on for help , the man lying on theground grabbed me by my leg and spole four words t h a t burned into my sou l , White man,s a v e me /I knew a t t h a t po in t t h a t there was only one th ing to do. I announced to th e mobt h a t had enci rc led us t h a t I was t ak ing him to the hosp i ta l . That was no t my dec i s ion ,it came from a higher au thor i ty . I s tood there w aiting fo r the crowd to turn on me,bu t something s t r ange ha ppe ned . A lthough they pro tes t ed loud ly , not one o f them madea move aga ins t me or t r ied to s top me. I r ea l i zed , somewhat ashamedly, t h a t thecrowd was nothing bu t a bunch o f cowards. Their only secur i ty was in the anonymityof numbers. Nobody was wil l ing to s tep forward and chal lenge me. I know t ha t Godwas pro tec t ing me, but I a l so know t ha t he was t eaching me something.As it happens, the man whose name i s Kweisi, i s now recovering from h is head woundsa t a nearby hospi t a l . I reported th e in cid en t to the pol ice , main ly becau se I to ldth e crowd t h a t I would . I wan ted t o show them t h a t th e r e a re l aws and t h a t th e l awsare to be obe yed . Nobody has bothered to press charges agains t him, though, and Idoubt that anything will come of i t . (Continued on back)

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As I re f l ec t back on the incident , severa l things come to mind. Fi r s t of a l l , I amreminded of the f ac t t ha t no t one of those people in the crowd was blameless , andne i the r am I . Yet they a l l acted as if they were somehow s in l e s s , and t h i s man wasn o t . I am a l s o r em ind ed o f how J e s u s m ust ha ve s u f f e r e d a s he c a r r i e d t h e c r o s s t oGolgotha. Was the crowd t h a t mocked and jeered him as bad as the on e outs ide myga t e? Did they th ink t h a t they were ac t i ng ou t o f ri gh te ou s wrath a l so? As the manwas ly ing on th e ground, he begged fo r wate r . His face was a mass o f b lood , and h iss t reng th was a l l bu t gone. Have I eve r seen a c l e a r e r p ic tu re o f Je sus? And l a s t l y ,th e q ue stio n t h a t Jesus answered in th e p ara ble of th e Good Samari tan , Who i s myneighbor? , has taken on a much d i f f e r en t meaning.I came to Ghana to t e ach o the r s abou t se rv ing Chr i s t . I don t th ink I could everconvey in any o f my c l a s s e s , the p ie rc in g lesso n t h a t I l e a rned from God t h rough theevents o f t h a t day . And t he re are so many unanswered ques t ions . l hy d id I go home?Why d id the man run 2 miles only to c ol la pse in f ron t o f my house? Why d id th e mobchoose to pursue him t h a t f a r , e sp e cia ll y in broad day l i gh t ? (This k ind o f mob ju st i c e i s usua l ly ca r r i ed ou t a t n igh t . ) His ways a re t r ul y b af fl in g .The Four th o f Ju ly has a lways mean t something sp ec ia l to me,but will never b e the s am e .

It w i l l still be s p e c i a l .

RECENT LETTER EXCERPTS

October 4 Stephanie j u s t l oves schoo l . The only th ing i s t h a t she has to ge tup a t 6:00 M to ge t o f f by 6 :45 . Sara does r e a l l y w ell w ith ou t her around .Sh e j u s t goes next door to play with Fai th o r p lay s here in th e house.

January 11 We a l l had a good t ime with o th er f rie nd s and missionar ies (Christmas)Had a b ig tu rk ey d in n er Ch ri stm as d ay . 14 adu l t s and 11 kids a t Couches ' house .We r e a l l y en joyed th e f e l l owsh ip .We're a l l doing ok. Nobody's been sick in awh il e, e xc ep t fo r Stephanie who i sstill on an t i b i o t i c s fo r an ea r infec t ion . Sara go t a gamma gobulin sho t l a s tweek so maybe she 11 be ok f or a wh ile .School s ta r t s again soon I 'm ready for it The time does seem to be going by

fast

December 2 . . . The gi r l s a re doing wel l . Fina l ly got Sara out of the baby bed andin to a twin bed. Stephanie s f i r s t term i s over next Friday. She 's in book 3 in r ead ing .

FROM THE FORWARDING AGENTS

In the correspondence from Ghana, Rick and Coretha j u s t c an no t say enoughabout how highly they re gard you as t he i r supporters . Continue to keep themin your t hough t s and prayer s .They are anticipat ing a t th is time staying through December of th is year, andpossibly extending it into the spring of 1987. We will do a better jo b ofkeeping you informed about t he i r work, a t l eas t with what we know. I f youever have any quest ions, feel free to contac t us. We wil l do the bes t wecan in answering them. Another newsletter wil l be going out in a few weekswith informa tion to bring you more up to date and also a 1985 f inancial report ,On b e h a l f o f th e Fu l t o n s , Thanks .

TO CONTACT THE FULTONS BY MAIL, SEND TO:Ghana Chr i s t i a n Col legeBox 5722Acc r a , GhanaW. Af r i c a

Tim Debby Hanze8 0 0 Oak P l a z aKingston, Tenn. 37763Phone: (615) 376-5395