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When the Bolivian Ex-President Hernando
Siles Reyes Accepted Christ
By Walter Manuel Montaño
…the Roman Catholic Church has
been in a most favored position in Latin America for over four hundred years,
and yet during these centuries has produced so very little in the way of
morality and social uplift. What Latin America needs is the Gospel of Christ in
all its power and beauty, the Gospel which presents Christ as the only Savior
and Mediator.
This is the reason that
Protestant Missions have gone into Latin America to make the Savior Himself known,
to preach Christ to the multitudes, who, like the great President of Bolivia,
Hernando Siles Reyes, have waited so long to hear of Him.
"If anybody with greater strength
than I should try to force me to take an interest in religion,” said Dr. Siles,
"I would rather jump from the tower of the church and kill myself.” Was this
the language of an agnostic or the expression of an atheist? No! It was only
the cry from a distorted heart – the voice of a great soul in anguish. Dr.
Siles, the patriot who loved his country as very few did, who sacrificed
everything, even his life and the security of his family, trying to bring
happiness to his nation, was not a coward or a weakling to speak this way. It
was only his natural reaction when I mentioned to him the singular value of
Christianity, and was just beginning to tell him that the real happiness could
only be attained in Christ as the only Savior of men.
On one occasion, Dr. Siles wanted
to spend the day with us in a country town outside of Lima, Peru, where he was
sent as Bolivian Ambassador after he finished his presidency. Again, when I
approached him with a spiritual message, his reaction was the same – that "religion”
had been the greatest deception in his life.
"As president of universities,”
he said, "I used to advise the students to take religion seriously. When I was
elected President of the nation, the religious leaders were visiting me all the
time – I knew all the bishops and archbishops. Document after document of their
procedure would come to my presidential desk; through their actions I saw their
hearts … no honest citizen would become a tool in their hands
The Church did not receive
special favors from me, and when some of their unjust requests were not
granted, at their instigation fanatical mobs were prepared to burn my house;
furious as wild beasts, they attempted even to pluck out the eyes of one of my
children.
The high Roman Catholic authority
who spoke to the people: ‘God’s destiny is immutable. This man is a curse to
the nation. He must be put out!’ was the same ecclesiastical authority who
during my presidency spoke to the same people using the same words: ‘God’s
destiny is immutable. This man is God’s choice for the nation. Let us follow
and keep him.’ ”
As Dr. Siles finished telling us
his experiences, he reiterated: "If anybody should force me to be interested in
religion, I would prefer to commit suicide.”
God used us to bring that great
man, not merely to religion, but to the loving arms of the living Christ, who
came to this world to heal the brokenhearted. For the first time, Dr. Siles
discovered the message of Christianity. From that day on, many times he
telephoned us from the palace of the embassy: "Will you come to visit me? Bring
your wife and your children. I just finished having my diplomatic reception. I
am tired. Let’s have another talk. Do not forget to bring the Book (the Bible).”
Our visits would invariable end
with the reading of the Scriptures. While Catholic religion brought to Dr.
Siles’ heart that bitter spirit, the Gospel that works a transformation brought
him peace.
In my study there is a photograph
showing Dr. Siles standing between my daughter and me. This picture was taken
soon after this wonderful experience came to him and produced such happiness. This
man of Universities who was so familiar with the American legislation that he
wrote over fifteen volumes of Latin American Legislation, is smilingly
expressing in his wondering eyes the joy of being a different man.
What a change would have come to
Bolivia, humanly speaking, if Dr. Siles had lived longer. One day a letter came
from General Enrique Peñaranda del Castillo, President of Bolivia (Peñaranda's
cousin, Nestor Peñaranda, was a well-known Methodist Evangelical missionary who
worked among the Indians of La Paz), in which he said that Dr. Siles was the
only man who could bring peace to a nation in unrest and asked him to go to
Bolivia for that purpose. Dr. Siles called me and some of his friends for
consultation. He knew that my interest were not political, but he wanted to
have advice from a Christian man in this case of emergency. At a sacrifice to
himself, but in imperative service to the nation, he accepted the leadership of
the government, while thousands of people were waiting in Bolivia to give him a
great reception. But… on his way back to La Paz, at Arequipa, Peru, he took ill
and was sent back to Lima by plane. Just before his plane landed, Dr. Siles
passed away. A Mr. Sanjinés, who accompanied him all this time, said to us and
to others: "The calm, the peace that Dr. Siles showed up to the last moment indicated
that he was not afraid of leaving this earth, because a better world beyond was
prepared for him.”
At the request of Mrs. Siles, we
spent the following days before the burial service at the palace of the embassy
receiving visitors and doing everything possible to make things easier for her.
The body of Dr. Siles was lying in state in one of the reception rooms of the
embassy. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Peru and his wife came to present
their condolence to the family. As they entered the room, the Foreign Minister’s
wife, of the strongest supporters of the Roman Catholic Church, said in a loud
voice heard by all present, "Well, there lies an atheist. Too bad that he was a
renegade to the faith.” A little later, we brought her aside and explained to
her the meaning of true Christianity. She said: "But I heard that he never
wanted to recite the rosary, that he used to say: ‘While it takes you years to
contact God with the rosary, it takes me one second to come to God.’ What an
heresy!”, she said. We answered the Foreign Minister’s wife, "That was the
language of true Christianity; Dr. Siles was a real follower of Christ.”
At a time like this, when Mrs.
Siles was suffering the greatest sorrow of her life, there was also comfort for
her. When many times she would ask us: "Do you think that I can ever see him
again in eternity?” we answered with the fourteen chapter of John. Dr. Siles
trusted in Christ, we told her, and by the grace of God and the forgiveness of
his sins he was saved. If you do the same thing, the same faith will make you
heir of the promise: "Where I am, there ye may be also.”
Yes, there is hope beyond the
Purple Curtain. As long as men and women open their hearts to the love of God,
there will be transformation, power, and life to make them new creatures!
Reference: Montaño, W. M. Behind
the Purple Curtain. Chapter XIII – Blood in the Curtain. Cowman Publications, Inc., Los Angeles, pp. 189-193. 1950.
Regarding his offspring: "Hernando
Siles’ older son, Hernan Siles Zuazo, became himself Constitutional President
of Bolivia, ruling from 1956 to 1960, and again from 1982 to 1985 (Siles Zuazo
is the one that brought to justice the prominent Nazi Klaus Barbie). Siles Reyes’
younger son Luis Adolfo Siles Salinas was acting President of Bolivia for a few
months in 1969 (Siles Salinas was respected for his steadfast stance in defense
of democratic principles).” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hernando_Siles_Reyes
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