Paul Dye’s Testimony:
I am very happy to be here with you today. My wife’s name is Patricia, and she sends greetings to you.
My friend Cadui has already told you that Ayoreos killed my father in 1943 when I was only a little boy. I don’t remember my father at all, and I never think about him. I lived in Tobité when I was a little boy and I really liked living there. It was the Ayoré of Bolivia that killed my father. They didn’t only kill my father Cecil, but they killed my uncle Robert, too. Not only them, but they killed three other men as well named David, George, and Eldon.
The first time we went into Tobité‚ my mother, my sisters, and I had to ride oxen. As we were arriving, we were met by my father’s killers. When they heard that the wife of one of their victims was coming into camp, they wanted to go out to meet her. When they met her, they said to my mother: “We are very sorry for the sorrow we have caused you. If we had known then what we know now, we would never have done it.”
My mother answered them: “That is all right. I see that you are now peaceful.”
Many other missionaries have come to your villages who know God. Think how much has changed since they came to you. It’s all because of God’s love. First John 3:18 says: “My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.”
There are many people who say, “I love my fellow men.” But you see in God’s Word that it says, “Your love should not just come out of your lips.” It is easy to say, “I love you,” but that isn’t enough. The love that is real love is shown through our actions, and it is when we help others or counsel them. When we are doing things like that, others see that our love is real.
That is how God loves us. God didn’t just say how much he loved us down here on earth, he showed it by sending his son to die on the cross for our sins so that he could make us a part of his family.
My father and his companions went to the land of Bolivia. They didn’t just talk about how they loved the Ayoreos, but gave their very lives trying to reach them. That is because the love they had for the Ayoreos was real.
God’s Word tells of his great love for us in 1 John 4:10: “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
God doesn’t just do things, He does them with love. I Peter 1:8 says: “Whom having not seen, you love; in whom, though now you see him not, yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.” There is none of us who has seen God face to face, and yet we love him.
It is only a year ago that guerrilla fighters took me captive. I tried to talk to them about the love of God, but they said to me, “There is no God.”
But I said to them, “I have never seen God, but I’ve read in his Word that he loves me. He is the living God, and without him there would be nothing in existence.”
I said to them, “According to your reasoning, what you can’t see, doesn’t exist. So I guess you don’t believe wind exists. For you don’t believe in anything that you can’t see. Well, try as you will, you’ll never be able to see the wind, but only feel the effects of it.”
They couldn’t answer me. But finally they said, “But we see what the wind causes.”
I said to them, “That is right, and we also see what God has done. Look at the trees, the tall trees. The fact that you live and exist is also evidence of the God who created you.”
I was with these men four days. Do you know how I escaped from them? I escaped in the night, found the plane, pushed it to the airstrip, and with fog so thick I couldn’t see a thing, I took off. After I was in the air I discovered I only had enough gasoline in the tank to fly for one hour. I ran out of gas and had to land while it was still night, but God found a place in the middle of the jungle for me to land; he was in control all the while and helped me to land without incident. And here I am safe and sound!
Many people were praying for me. I have received letters from all over the world telling me about their prayers. These letters say: “We constantly held you up in prayer while you were in the hands of the guerrillas.”
The Ayoreos in Tobité were praying and asking: “Where is Paul?” And when they heard how I had escaped, they rejoiced. We have a wonderful God. He is the one who created us. He made everything we see in this world. His love is seen in all that he made, but is seen most of all in the sending of his Son to earth to die for our sins.
I thank you so much for praying for me, also.
Paul Dye – Campo Loro, Paraguay – 1985.
