Bruce Olson

PROLOGUE: NINE MONTHS IN CAPTIVITY —from the book, Bruchko.

The jungle echoed with the calls of birds and the screeching of monkeys. In the background the monotonous drone of katydids sometimes appeared to drown out everything else. Smoke from morning campfires filtered up through the dense foliage overhead. Guerrilla members huddled in groups, eating or discussing the events of the day ahead, occasionally glancing at their prisoner Bruce Olson. 

This was to be a special day—the day Bruce was to be executed before a firing squad for “crimes against the people.” His capture by the guerrillas had not come as a surprise. 

The leaders of the ELN (Ejército de Liberación Nacional), or the communist-inspired National Liberation Army, had worked for years to gain a following large enough to enable them to overthrow the government. The twenty-plus Indian tribes who lived in the jungle had not been considered citizens until members of the Motilone tribe, with whom Bruce had lived and worked for twenty-eight years, had begun to take their place in key government circles. Now, as a result of his school programs, the Motilones had emerged as powerful spokesmen for all jungle tribes. The ELN perceived Bruce to be their key to the Motilones. They had asked him to join forces with them several years before. When he pointed out that he could not as a Christian, they decided to capture him, hoping to persuade him through forceful indoctrination.

One day in October 1988, along with a group of Motilone companions, Bruce headed down the Rio de Oro to visit one of their Motilone food cooperatives. In all of his travels he was cautious to steer clear of the guerrilla camps. As they approached the landing, however, he suddenly saw two guerrillas emerge from the jungle with rifles in their hands. The confrontation proved brief since Bruce and the Motilones were unarmed. Bruce’s Motilone friends were allowed to go, but he was bound. Placed between armed guards, he was herded from the clearing at the landing to a camp high in the mountains on the border between Colombia and Venezuela. Now, ostensibly on the last day of his life, his arms were bound to the tree behind him and a swarm of insects drew blood from his body. He watched the guerrillas move about the camp.

Nearly nine months had passed since Bruce’s capture. They had been little short of gruesome. Hour after hour he was interrogated. But he never argued as other captives did. Rather, he explained that as a disciple of Jesus Christ he could not become a part of an organization or movement that used force to achieve its goals.

The indoctrination process employed torture in many forms, mental as well as physical. Many of the guerillas’ captives had broken under the unspeakable indignities to which they were submitted. But the Lord enabled Bruce to consider it a part of His program of demonstrating to his captors the love of God as He had to the Motilones during his many years with them.

But as Bruce had observed the guerrillas in their activities during his months of captivity, he began to feel a compassion for them. He still did not agree with their philosophy of using force to achieve their goals. But he could see how limited they were in their claim that they wanted to better the living conditions of the poor people of Colombia.

So he began quietly to offer suggestions he thought would be helpful to them as individuals. He showed the cooks how to make tasty dishes of jungle fruits, berries, and grubs. When the camp nurse saw that Bruce had medical knowledge, he asked him for help with choosing and administering medicine and maintaining dental hygiene in the camp. Bruce was especially grateful to God for those who had attended discussion groups that the leaders of the camps asked him to conduct. The subjects had included health care, politics, history, reading, and writing.

A few months into his captivity Bruce had been allowed to have a Bible. As the guerrillas saw him reading, many had asked for an explanation of it. He told them that must be reserved for Sunday, knowing that as citizens of a Catholic country they might have a greater respect for it on a Sunday. When they returned on Sunday with questions, he was able to show them God’s love for them that prompted Him to send His Son to earth to die in their place for their sin. He was astonished to see more than half of them respond—demonstrating in their daily lives that they had truly received Him as their Savior and the Lord of their lives.

Life in a guerrilla camp is not easy. Bruce had been held in twelve of them—probably moved about for security reasons. His captivity had come during the rainy season. Hence his clothes were constantly soaked. Most of the time he was under heavy guard, especially at night, and often his arms were tied behind his back. Sickness is an ever-present companion of jungle living. Bruce had experienced his share of it, especially with malaria. Through the years he had instructed the Motilones in the use of medical treatments for it as well as the often-recurring epidemics of measles, hepatitis, and other ills that plague all who live in the jungle.

Shortly before his scheduled execution, however, he had become critically ill at one of the camps. This was the lowest point during his incarceration. He tried his usual tactic in such times of imagining himself outside the pain of his body. His real self, he reasoned, was hidden with Christ in God and was impervious to physical distress. But several weeks earlier he had suffered a severe attack of diverticulosis and had hemorrhaged badly. One night the pain became so intense he could not separate himself from it.

Weak and exhausted, he suddenly became aware of the hauntingly beautiful song of a mirla bird. But why now? he wondered. Mirlas simply don’t sing at night. Whether Bruce was delirious or not he did not know, but that song continued through the night in which he passed in and out of consciousness. What puzzled him most was why the melody appeared so familiar. Then it occurred to him that the mirla was mimicking the minor tonal chant of the Motilones as they sang of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Swinging in his hammock slung from the rafters of the longhouse, he had often marveled at the love of God in revealing His plan of salvation so beautifully to these aborigines, now his brothers and sisters in Christ.

The song of the mirla carried him through the horrible pain of the night. The next morning the guerrillas had even talked about the strange performance of the mirla bird that had kept them awake during the night. One of them even suggested it might have been an angel for their prisoner instead of a mere bird. Bruce wondered, too.

Now he could see the commanders calling the men to assemble as witnesses of his execution. Many men hung back, especially those who had participated in the discussion groups. But the commanders were adamant. All guerrillas must be aware of what happens when anyone refuses to respond to the dictates of their leaders. But despite the ominous atmosphere of the situation, Bruce was overcome by a quiet sense of peace, a peace that only God could provide.

Bruce had to admit that the guerrilla leaders had done the best they could. He had been subjected to hours of painful indoctrination. Clearly they were convinced that if they could persuade him to join forces with the ELN and serve as leader of all the Indian tribes in their revolutionary cause, success would come for the National Liberation Army. When the guerrillas finally realized that their indoctrination tactics were not working, they became desperate.

They switched his status from “political prisoner” to “prisoner of war.” The charges they rigged up against him were ludicrous. Their accusations included involvement in the drug trade, the murder of thousands of Motilones, using the Indians as slaves, and working for the CIA—all “crimes against the people.”

Three days earlier Bruce had been given the ultimatum: either join with them or be executed. He had been forced to witness half a dozen of these killings. They were not pleasant to see. Most of the poor victims died crying for mercy and pleading their innocence.

Over the past twenty-eight years, on a number of occasions his faith had been tested almost to the point of death. In those times the Lord had sustained his confidence in Him. Bruce had come to the jungles of Colombia because he believed He wanted him there. So long as he remained obedient to that vision he had to believe that Lord would provide for whatever his needs would be.

But he’d never faced execution before. As Bruce could see the commander handing rifles to the men who were to be his executors, curiously the memory of the ineffable message of the mirla came back to him. Had this been why the Lord had given him the mirla bird on that fateful night? It certainly seemed possible. After all, Jesus said He would never leave or forsake him. There was no way he could not believe Him now.

Bruce could only smile sadly as he looked at the guerrillas in their shabby uniforms. Many had been present in his discussions on the Bible. More than half of these guerrillas had made some sort of profession of Jesus Christ as their Savior. Bruce felt sorry for them. Had they refused the order to participate in this execution they themselves would be shot. Cartridges were handed out, and he could hear the click as they were slid into the chambers of their guns. At the commander’s orders, the guerrillas slowly raised their rifles. Then came the command: “Fire!” Bruce waited for the thud of the slugs in his body. None came. The shots were blanks. The commander never explained. But later, when the guerillas released Bruce, the commander simply said it had been a mistake to capture him.

Bruce thought that the mock execution was their last attempt to convince him to join them. Then he learned that through the media the Motilones had roused the people of Colombia so that the whole nation had become his defense. As a result, the ELN leaders discovered they were fighting a lost cause. The public had demanded his release. Bruce later noted how logically God had orchestrated his release. After all, it was Bruce who introduced the Motilones to freedom through faith in Jesus Christ. And it was the Motilones who restored Bruce’s physical freedom through their media campaign.

As you read the rest of Bruce’s story you will begin to understand the deep, deep relationship that exists between him and the Motilone people. It is a relationship forged in the bitter realities of jungle life and Colombian politics. But it has brought forth the sweetest fruit. 

—Robert Walker 

Robert Walker founded “His” magazine and served as assistant professor of journalism at Wheaten College. In 1973 he became editor of “Christian Life” magazine, which later merged with “Charisma” magazine in 1987. He launched the Christian Writers’ Institute in 1945 and in 1956 Christian Life Missions, a nonprofit ministry that has raised more than $100,000 for Bruce Olson’s mission in South America.

Information contained in the Prologue was taken from the following sources: “The Missions’ Mainsail”, a publication of the First United Methodist Church, November 1988; newsletters from the Motilone-Barí Council of Colombia, an organization comprised of the natives with whom Olson worked, April 1989 to January 1990; article, “El Tiempo” [“The Times”], Bogotá, Colombia, June 11, 1989; article, “The United Methodist Reporter,” August 4, 1989; newsletters from Bruce Olson to supporters after his release from captivity, August 21, 1989 to May 31, 1990; article, “St. Paul Pioneer Press Dispatch,” Minnesota; press release from Christian Life Missions, Lake Mary, Florida; speech given by Bruce Olson at a prayer breakfast in Lake Mary, Florida, April 3, 1992; and articles, “Charisma & Christian Life” magazine, November and December 1989.

You can purchase the book on Amazon here. It is titled Bruchko: The Astonishing True Story of a 19-Year-Old American, His Capture by the Motilone Indians and His Adventures in Christianizing the Stone Age Tribe . 

Additional Material: https://christianlifemissions.org/bruce-olson/