This Day in Baptist History Past
March 29, 1828 – Ko Tha Byu was chosen to accompany Missionaries George and Dana Boardman to a new field of operation. Finally on May 16, Ko Tha Byu, the former murderer and slave, was baptized; immediately, he entered into a ministry of reaching his people for the Lord. He had been described as “one of the most effective pioneers in the Karen mission.” With great enthusiasm Ko started off for the nearby villages. His witnessing was rather limited, but his excitement in his newly found faith gave him entry. Two men followed him home to learn more in the first village. One was the brother of the chief. On the 2nd visit, ten men followed him home, including the chief himself, and on the 3rd visit there were 40 new believers who followed him home. In the days that Adoniram Judson took the gospel to Burma, The Karens were the lowest class. However, the Karen’s had an ancient legend that someday, people from across the sea would bring a long lost book written by the great Creator God. Ko was born into the Karen tribe in 1778 and from a young age he was incorrigible and ran away from home when he was 15. By his own confession he murdered or assisted in the murder of at least 30 people. At 50 years of age he decided to settle down and went to work in a print shop run by a Baptist missionary, but he plunged into a life of crime again until he found himself on the slave block because he owed 12 rupees. A Baptist believer saw him & redeemed him, took him home and contacted Judson who in turn paid the believer his rupees and took Ko to his home. In time he accepted the truth and received Christ as his savior and Lord. Condensed by Greg J. Dixon from: This Day in Baptist History II: Cummins and Thompson, BJU Press: pp. 172-73. [Maung Shwe Wa, Burma Baptist Chronicle (Rangoon, Burma: University Press, 1963), pp.
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