Interesting Jesus encounters during Magellan's journey in the Philippines

Here are something interesting excerpts I found while reading the book Over the Edge of the World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe by Laurence Bergreen. Magellan has been known for some pretty bad things. He had his dark moments and his forced conversions. But, he also had some interesting interactions with the Filipino natives. Check it out:

Magellan inquired about the islanders' religious beliefs. "They replied that they worshiped nothing, but that they raised their clasped hands and their faces to the sky; and that they called their god 'Abba.'" Magellan indicated that their god sounded reassuringly familiar, "And, seeing that, the first king raised his hands to the sky, and said that he wished it were possible for him to make the Captain General see his love for him (Bergreen 252).


Magellan was troubled by signs that the conversions were incomplete and might be undone. Despite his orders,for example, they had failed to burn their idols; in fact, they continued to make sacrifices to them... In their defense, the islanders explained that they were propitiating the gods to aid a sick man; he was so sick that he had been unable to speak for four days. He was not just any man, he was the prince's brother, considered the "bravest and wisest" on the entire island. But Christianity could not help him, for he had not been baptized.

Magellan seized on the illness to demonstrate the healing power of Christian faith. Burn your idols he commanded, believe in Christ, and only Christ, and if the sick man is baptized, "he would quickly recover." Magellan was so adamant that if the sick man failed to recover, he would allow Humabon to "behead him, then and there." ... Magellan was convinced that his life depended on the outcome of the baptism, and it did. If the sick man failed to recover, the cause of Christianity would lose all credibility, and Magellan, undone by his fanaticism, would likely lose his head.

He prepared carefully for the ordeal, relying on a show of power and a display of ritual to preserve the sick man's life... "we baptized him and his two wives, and ten girls. Then the Captain General [Magellan] asked him how he felt. he spoke immediately and said that by the grace of our Lord he felt very well. That was a most manifest miracle... Before five days the sick man began to walk. He had an idol that certain old women had concealed in this house burned in the presence of the king and all the people... (Bergreen 274)"


Just thought some of these things were pretty interesting. Despite all the craziness and havoc that Magellan wreaked in the Philippines, he did plant the first cross there and apparently saw some crazy miracles. I'm not really sure what to think, but Magellan's coming to the Philippines was definitely a very influential date in Philippines history. The presence of God showed up in a profound way despite the fact that the name of Christianity was misused at times. This year has been 490 years since Magellan first arrived in the Philippines. I pray that God would turn all things for good and redeem his healing power amongst the Filipinos once again. I pray that this would be a year in which revival and reformation sweeps through the Philippines ending corruption and establishing righteousness in the government.