Memory Verse: “God our Saviour; who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” 1 Timothy 2:3,4
Abraham Manygoats had been a Navajo medicine man, and he told his story as follows: “I was once a medicine man and very deep in sin. Now I am a child of God, saved and ‘kept by the power of God.’ "
“As I was often at the mission, I began to believe the gospel, but I did not give up any of my Navajo ways. I went to all the Indian ceremonies and dances; I gambled, and did everything else to divert my mind from my sinful condition and my need of the Saviour. I was like a man suffering from thirst who could find nothing to satisfy that inner craving.
“Recently, I have accepted the gospel, and now know the Lord Jesus as my personal Saviour. My heart has at last found rest and peace. My fifty-four years of sinning have been wasted, but now I am in the fold. Now I am not afraid of owls, evil spirits, medicine men, or even death. I am afraid only of sin. Even in my sleep I am afraid sometimes of sinning, for when I dream now of using tobacco or drinking whiskey, or of giving way to acts of impurity, I seem to remember that I have given all that up and shrink back from the least suggestion of it.”
“But what about the old Navajo ritual with its prayers and ceremonies?” someone asked.
After thinking a moment Many-goats replied, “It is like a dead horse that smells. I am learning to read the Scriptures in my own language so that I can go out and tell the wonderful story to my own people who are still in darkness.”
Manygoats lived for almost fifty years after he was saved. He was much used by the Lord in the conversion of many of his own people.
“The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Luke 19:10.
“Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.” Heb. 10:17.
Manygoat’s Dogs
After Abraham Manygoats, former Navajo medicine man, was saved, he found there was often a struggle going on inside him. When he wanted to do right, he found there was also the strong desire to do wrong.
Then as he began to study the Bible, he found that he had within him two natures—an “old man” and a “new man” (Eph. 4:24; Col. 3:9,10; Rom. 7). These two natures were just the opposite. The “old man” loved to sin, but the “new man” hated it.
Once Manygoats was asked to tell about his experience with these two natures. He explained: “Before I became a Christian, a black dog lived within my heart. Then one day Jesus came and He saved me. Then a white dog came into my heart.
“Before the white dog came, everything all quiet. After I was saved, black dog and white dog fight. White dog on top—everything all right; black dog on top—everything go wrong.”
“But how do you overcome a problem like that?” he was asked.
“Feed white dog; starve black dog!” replied Manygoats.
ML-06/10/1979