"How is it that the monkey slapped me?" Patole
thought. "Even the animals knew I was doing
wrong." |
India
The day God sent a monkey attack
As Patole beat his wife, a
monkey jumped down from the tree and headed his
direction.
by Dorothy Watts Associate Secretary, Southern
Asia Division Shakuntala came from a very
poor family. Her husband, Patole, made idols out of
mud and sold them in the market for his living.
One day, Patole asked Shakuntala to take all of the
mud idols to the market. On the way there, she
stumbled and fell, shattering the idols. Afraid of
what her husband would say, she gathered the broken
pieces into her basket and sat weeping under a tree.
When Patole passed by on his way home, he found his
wife still sitting under the tree. "Why are you
crying?" he asked. Then he saw the basket with the
broken idols. "You worthless woman!" he shouted at
her. "Now how will we eat?" He continued to shout at
her, beating her with a stick and dragging her in
the dirt toward their home.
As Patole beat his wife, a monkey jumped down from a
tree and attacked him, baring his teeth and striking
out at him. Patole was shocked. He dropped the stick
and said to his wife, "Bring me some water."
Shakuntala ran to the house and got a glass of water
for her husband. As Patole drank, he thought, "How
is it that the monkey slapped me? That monkey was
trying to rescue my wife. Even the animals knew I
was doing wrong."
Patole then looked at the basket of broken idols and
thought, "How is it that the idols broke? If the
spirit of God is in them, they should not break. I
have always believed in those idols, but now I think
they cannot be the true gods."
Not long after that, the Seventh-day Adventist
pastor heard Shakuntala's husband talking about the
broken idols and wondering if there was a god
anywhere that would not break.
"Yes, I know of such a God," the pastor told him. "I
will come to your house and tell you about Him.
Bible studies followed. As the result, Patole and
Shakuntala were among nearly 1,500 people who joined
the Seventh-day Adventist church in Mumbai last
year.
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