Wednesday, October 15, 2025

It is the 15th of October 2025. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

For today’s show, we leave the world of Reformation polemics (that is, debating and arguing for one’s preferred side) and head to the island nation of Madagascar off the East coast of Africa.

Perhaps your knowledge of Madagascar is best remembered from the adventures of Alex and Marty, Melman, and the other animals from the New York Zoo that get washed ashore on the Island and have to adjust to living in the wild…except, they’re animated, and that’s the plot of DreamWorks’ 2005 film Madagascar… And we do well, especially on a show that tries to draw in the breadth and depth of Christian History to go to foreign places for unfamiliar stories (even if the names are pronounced with the heavy tongue of a native English speaker).

Today, we remember the miraculous story of Rainisoalambo and his encounter with Christianity in the 19th century. We’ve visited the 4th largest Island nation before- it became a hotbed of evangelistic activity in the early 1800s from various English Evangelicals, Norwegian Lutherans, Anglicans, and Catholics despite attempts to repress the faith by the likes of the infamous Queen Ranavalona. The Island country in the Indian Ocean found itself between Portuguese Jesuit missionaries and Islam in the early modern era, later recognized formally by the British and then annexed by the French in the late 1800s (and it is a large nation- apologies for telescoping a complex people and island on a brief show!)

Today we remember Rainisoalambo, born in the 1830s in or near the Ambalavato region in the East Central region of the Island. He came from a line of diviners- religious men who served the royalty. Rainisoalambo would come to be the chief of the royal guard and was the public voice of the crown, known for his oratory skills and wit.

Despite his success amongst the princes, when he was around 60, he decided to strike out on his own and earn a living in agriculture.

It was then in the village of Ambatoreny that he came across a church and school run by the London Mission Society. Rainisoalambo saw that the men who worked there were well-dressed and respected, thinking he could become like them. He would learn to read and write from them, using the Bible as their source (it had been translated into Malagasy by the Society in the 1830s). Rainisoalambo was baptized and began work as a teacher, but it was unpaid work. Discouraged, he left the mission and went back to agriculture and divining.

But the late 1890s saw increased tension not only amongst the French, who were recently given the region as a protectorate and were making it eventually into an official colony. This coincided with tensions amongst the local tribes, sickness, famine, and death. Rainisoalambo’s family was decimated, as were their cattle. As he himself fell ill, sores covered his body, and he was unable to work. And then it was on the evening of the 14th of October in 1894 that he had a dream- he was met by a man who appeared in blindingly white clothes. He told him to abandon his diving ways, to destroy his diving tools, and give to the man “his identity as a diviner”.

And so it was on this, the 15th of October, when Rainisoalambo awoke, he told everyone in his village to destroy their pagan idols and tools and to follow Jesus, the man he believed he had met in his dream. He was soon back to health and gathered the villagers to read the Bible with him and to distance themselves from their pagan backgrounds. The village became a center for healing and prayer, and with the assistance of Lutheran missionaries, he formed the group “the Disciples of the Lord”. They evangelized and came up with ways to dissuade the people, especially the new converts, from following pagan customs regarding food and funerals- this would serve as an economic boon for those who had been forced to sacrifice animals at funerals at their own expense. Furthermore, he encouraged home farming practices that benefited the poor, all while preaching the love of Jesus to them.

Amidst the political strife, he moved to Soatanàna, and it has been the center of revival and Christian activity ever since. Rainisoalambo would live in that farming community until his death in 1904. Today, we remember his conversion, dream, and leadership of an indigenous revival movement on the island nation of Madagascar.

The Last word for today comes from the daily lectionary and an appropriate text from Matthew 10:

5 These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. 6 Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. 7 As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 15th of October 2025, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man who found the plot of Madagascar 2, with Alex’s newly found royal heritage a bit of a stretch… he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who can now spell “Rainisoalambo” and will be performing that trick at parties… I’m Dan van Voorhis. 

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.