Water hyacinth has been sold as a decorative plant in many countries, but it is now a global curse—an intrusive weed. In its native Amazon jungle, it is a harmless and beautiful flower. Its rapid growth is kept in check by annual flooding of the rivers and lakes in which it grows. Introduced into the waterways of the rest of the world, however, it becomes a destructive intruder. In Africa, governments don’t have the resources to properly control the plant, and it chokes rivers and lakes, altering life and culture. In some areas, fishermen have lost their livelihood because they are no longer able to get their canoes out into the water past an impenetrable mesh of water hyacinth.

At the same time, water hyacinth is also a great resource for those who know how to use it. In controlled quantities, it purifies water in polluted lakes and streams, and its fiber is useful for making baskets, furniture and many other items. It can be used for cattle feed. Mixed with manure and water, it produces biogas for generators.

Water Hyacinth is a mixed blessing, an invader from another world that can be destructive or useful. It is impossible to exterminate because a single small cutting left in water will soon fill a lake with dense green vegetation and purple flowers.

Now let me tell you about another type of Hyacinth. Hyacinthe (pronounced YA-cint) Tianati is a man who lives in the village of Boukoumbe an hour from Natitingou. To the kingdom of darkness, he is as an invasive weed—a threat to the polluted rivers and lakes of human wretchedness in the culture where he lives.

Although Hyacinthe is a native of the Boukoumbe area, he is really an invader from another world. Because he has been born again by a miracle of God, Hyacinthe Tianati is a citizen of heaven. The enemy of man, who reigns in this area, does not want him around. Hyacinthe is a Spirit-filled man of God who is threatening the very existence of Satan by his aggressive evangelistic efforts.

Raised in darkness and superstition, Hyacinthe was nevertheless open to the influence of the Spirit of God from an early age. As a young teenager, he began to have spells of crying, weeping uncontrollably for reasons he did not know. His heart was longing for something more than the fetishes and superstition his father taught him. He was searching for the Way, the Truth, and the Life without knowing anything of Him.

In high school, Hyacinthe began attending various churches, but his longings were not satisfied. His cravings for truth only intensified as he experienced emptiness in various congregations.

One day, Hyacinthe noticed his brother Sidoine (pronounced SID-wan) was spending time with a white missionary, Linden St. Clair. Hyacinthe was first curious and then concerned when he learned the missionary worked for the Seventh-day Adventist Church, which was surrounded by evil rumors. Various people had told Hyacinthe that Adventists cut off people’s heads for sacrifices. He took every opportunity to mock Adventists from a safe distance. He wanted nothing to do with that church, and it took Sidoine months to persuade him to attend Sabbath School. Even then, Hyacinthe would sit close to the door, ready to run at the slightest hint of danger, and he would leave before the church service started to avoid being lured into any gory rituals.

Hyacinthe was no dummy, however, and in time he began to see that, despite the rumors, this church was actually teaching the truth he was longing to know. He began to see that the Seventh-day Adventist Church was based on the Bible. His fears of becoming a human sacrifice subsided as he realized that the kind, honest people he met there were nothing like the rumors. After some months of study, Hyacinthe was baptized and has remained a faithful member of the Boukoumbe Church ever since. He went from being the scared visitor sitting near the door, ready to flee at the slightest hint of danger, to being the leader and pillar in that congregation.

Hyacinthe married Elizabeth who soon became another invader from the kingdom of light. Together, they looked forward to starting a family, but their plans were frustrated. In a culture where children are the primary purpose for marriage, Hyacinthe and Elizabeth endured the shame of childlessness. In Otammari culture, childlessness is more-than-sufficient grounds for divorce, but Hyacinthe refused to leave Elizabeth.

Sidoine, who had been pivotal in bringing Hyacinthe into the church, married a while after Hyacinthe did. He and his wife, too, were childless. The two childless brothers were faced with a choice. Their family and society insisted that the solution was to perform animistic ceremonies invoking spirits and ancestors for fertility. The pressure was intense. For a time, both brothers wavered in indecision. Then they each made their choices.

Sidoine returned to his home village and performed the ceremonies the fetisher prescribed. He returned to the kingdom of darkness, seeking help from the demons he knew to be his enemies. No pregnancy resulted, and Sidoine’s wife soon left him. She became pregnant by another man, but Sidoine claimed the child was his. Sadly, that child died in infancy. Sidoine took another wife and did apparently manage to have a child with her.

Not long after that, Sidoine became ill. As he grew sicker and sicker, the doctors could find no cause for his illness. In the last days of his life, he asked Hyacinthe to remove the charms he had all over his body. Other than that, he never gave any sign of repentance or faith in the Lord he had rejected. Sidoine’s child from his second wife now lives with Hyacinthe and Elizabeth. Sidoine’s life is an example of what can happen when we know the truth and then turn from it back to the darkness we have been rescued from. Tragically, Sidoine saw in the life of his younger brother what could have happened to him if he had only held onto Jesus. A few months before Sidoine died, Hyacinthe became a father.

This crisis seems to have been the point at which Hyacinthe became truly dangerous to the kingdom of darkness. While his brother chose to honor the devil and his ways, Hyacinthe remained faithful to the Lord and His church. Year after year, while their family, friends and neighbors mocked and ridiculed them for not performing the fertility sacrifices, Hyacinthe and Elizabeth remained faithful to Jesus. Watching Sidoine’s life fall apart only confirmed them in their resolve. After 11 years of prayer, waiting and shame, the Lord manifested Himself on their behalf. Merveille, a beautiful little girl—a miracle child—was born to them in late 2009. Elizabeth is now pregnant with their second child.

Instead of being mocked as childless, Hyacinthe is now revered as a godly man, and many non-Christians seek him for prayer and help. Because of God’s miraculous provision for Elizabeth and him, animists are questioning the value of the ceremonies and sorcerers that have held them in bondage for so long. The living testimony of Hyacinthe and his family infects them with a desire to experience holy power in their own lives.

Hyacinthe has a weekly radio program in which he shares about the grace and power of God in the heart language of the Otammari people. He is a living testimony to the power of a life that has its source in another world. He sees his prayers answered, and the Church is growing.

Hyacinthe worked for the Church for a few years, but when he was pressured to baptize people who were not fully ready, he chose to leave his job rather than compromise his convictions.

Our teammates, Suzy Baldwin, Uli Baur and Eric Anderson, invited Hyacinthe to work with them on their Otammari culture research. He spent hours with each of them, sharing what he was learning about his own culture. He invaded the darkest parts of his territory, interviewing old and young alike, learning as much as possible about the worldview of the Otammari people. Like a waterborne weed, he traveled around from village to village, spreading seeds along the way.

As the team studied Otammari culture, looking for the best ways to reach people with the Gospel, Hyacinthe began to understand much more about evangelism than ever before. He had the opportunity to attend AFM’s Phase-two Training, which was held in Togo shortly after we arrived in Africa last year. There, as Suzy translated into French for him, he learned a lot about effective approaches to evangelism. When he returned home to Elizabeth and Merveille, he began to put his learning into practice. Although he had not been able to bring anybody to the point of readiness for baptism with the methods he had used previously, just nine months after the training in Togo, he was able to bring five precious souls to the Natitingou Church
for baptism.

The church in Boukoumbe is growing. As Hyacinthe continues his ministry, I pray that he will become more and more like Water Hyacinth, invading enemy territory with unstoppable persistence and sheer force of life. The message he carries in his teaching and example is potent enough to transform his culture and eventually his country. The vitality of God thrives in Hyacinthe, and the devil surely trembles as this simple yet powerful man quietly spreads the words of truth from house to house, from village to village. Satan has certainly marked him for destruction as he did his brother, but Hyacinthe cannot be overcome until the Lord decides to let him finish his race, or until he chooses to reject God’s will and protection.

Hyacinthe is an inspiration and an encouragement to me. Visiting with him is always a high point of my week. I am thankful for the opportunity to know him. I pray for him daily, knowing he is constantly exposed to supernatural dangers, and God rescues him over and over again. He and his family often struggle with sickness, but the Lord restores them to health each time.

Please join us in praying for Hyacinthe, Elizabeth, Merveille and their unborn child. Let us pray that, just as water Hyacinth has spread all over Benin, that one day we will be able to see the results of the life of Hyacinthe Tianati throughout this country as well

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