Tuktuk: A nother side on Christianity in Toba Hinterland

I was told this story by Pdt. Bonar Lumbantobing, a professor at STT HKBP Siantar. It is interesting to see how the Holy Spirit has been working for Batak people. This another side of the story was not likely known by many of us. So here is the story.

Long years ago, Toba hinterland was a secret paradise. A map of Sumatera made in 1805 by the British pictured the Sumatera we know today except one thing: there was no Toba Lake there! At that time, the surrounding tribes like the people of Aceh, Melayu and Minangkabau have been adherents of Islam but no people have introduced any religion to the pagan Bataknese. It seemed that the Toba hinterland was absolutely isolated and the people who lived there loved the fact.

The Batak people really admired their living place and did good efforts to kept it unknown from outsiders. Anyway, Junghun, a Dutch adventurous anthropologist was one of the first foreigners who found the way to enter the paradise. He studied Batak cultures, including the traditional letters. He documented his research and got out of the area.

We move to Minangkabau. Imam Bonjol was a strong ruler at the time. He had a mission to islamize all Sumatera and he planned to bring his indomitable troops to conquer the beautiful land of Batak which has been known since Junghun. He did it ruthlessly. Many people were killed and many women were raped by the Bonjol soldiers. They built Sigumpar as the center of prostitution, Sipoholon as the center of weapon logistics, and Pearaja Tarutung as the place for keeping salt. The three formed the power of Bonjol: women, weapons and salt. Not long they suffered from cholera and many Bonjol men died of it. This made them resigned to Sibolga. It was said that they abused Batak women to carry their materials by running to Sibolga in Eve's costume! After the retreat of the Bonjols, the kings of Batak, led by Sisingamangaraja, gathered and made and oath to kill anyone trying to enter their land to preach any kind of religion. They closed themselves from the outside world. People at Sibolga heard about this and they were afraid.

Now we move to USA. A Baptist church in the United States searched maps for places in the world whose people have never heard the Gospel. They found out a newly disclosed territory in a map produced by Junghun where Batak people lived. They sent two young missionaries, namely Munson and Lyman to go there. Apparently they arrived not in Sibolga, but in Barus, an old port city in the west coast of Sumatera. No people in Barus was aware of the political changes in the land of Batak. So, both young agents of God directly marched to enter Toba hinterland. Had both of them landed in Sibolga, they must have been warned about the great danger they were to face. Munson and Lyman came to a village called Lobupining. Knowing their mission and the oath, the villagers then catched and brought them to an open village fair. The two young men were killed. It was said that the villagers bite (not eat) their flesh as a lethal reminder to anyone who thought of trying the same thing the missionaries did.

The terrible news was finally heard by the church who sent them. They cried on hearing the story, especially the two mothers of the young martyrs. One of them prayed, "O God, if I had another son, I would sent him again to the Batak land." The prayer was heard by God and not long after the tragedy, a son was born, but not in the USA. He was born for a Christian family in Germany and he was named Ingwer Ludwig Nommensen.

The next story about Nommensen can be read in books about him and his ministry among the Bataknese.