Marked for Death: Adoniram and Ann Judson
By David Burnette
“Divine providence indeed marked him for death, while also making him a messenger of life.” (13)
Our featured resource this month is Danny Akin’s 10 Who Changed the World. Dr. Akin gives us a snapshot of the ministries of ten missionaries whom God has used to change the world, with an accompanying brief exposition of a portion of Scripture that fits each account. If you haven’t already, you’ll be introduced to the following individuals:
William Carey, Adoniram & Ann Judson, Bill Wallace, Lottie Moon, Jim Elliott, George Leile, David Brainerd, Eric Lidell, John and Betty Stam, and James Fraser.
In chapter two, Akin introduces us to Adoniram and Ann Judson.
Adoniram was the father of the American Baptist missionary movement. Judson labored in Burma for nearly 40 years. He translated the Bible into Burmese, spent 21 months in a brutal prison, and buried 2 wives and more than 5 children. In the end, however, God gave the Judson’s an amazing harvest of souls. They would live to see about 7,000 people baptized in Burma, 63 congregations established under 163 missionaries, native pastors and assistants. Today the Myanmar Baptist Convention has more than 600,000 members in 3513 churches!
To get a flavor of Adoniram Judson’s life, read this letter to his future father-in-law asking for Ann’s wife in marriage:
“I have now to ask whether you can consent to part with your daughter early next spring, to see her no more in this world? Whether you can consent to her departure to a heathen land, and her subjection to the hardships and sufferings of a missionary life? Whether you can consent to her exposure to the dangers of the ocean; to the fatal influence of the southern climate of India; to every kind of want and distress; to degradation, insult, persecution, and perhaps a violent death? Can you consent to all this, for the sake of Him who left His heavenly home and died for her and for you; for the sake of perishing, immortal souls; for the sake of Zion and the glory of God? Can you consent to all this, in hope of soon meeting your daughter in the world of glory, with a crown of righteousness brightened by the acclamations of praise which shall redound to her Savior from heathens saved, through her means, from eternal woe and despair?”
(15-16; cited from Edward Judson’s The Life of Adoniram Judson, 20).