An Amazing Fact: For nine months, between 1898 and 1899, the two infamous “man-eater lions of Tsavo” terrorized workers employed in the construction of a railway bridge in Africa. As the death toll rose, construction was brought to a virtual standstill. Workers refused to continue until protection could be provided.


In March 1898 the British started building a railway bridge over the Tsavo River in Kenya. During the next nine months of construction, two male lions stalked the campsite, dragged workers from their tents at night, and devoured them. Crews tried to scare off the lions. They built campfires and thorn fences around their camp to keep the man-eaters out. It didn’t work.

The construction on the bridge came to a dead halt. A hunter named Colonel Patterson was hired to set traps and tried several times to ambush the lions at night from a tree. He failed many times but finally shot the first lion on December 9, 1898. Three weeks later, the second lion was found and killed. The first lion killed measured nine feet, eight inches from nose to tip of tail. It took eight men to carry the carcass back to camp. The construction crew soon returned and completed the bridge in February 1899.

How many people were killed by the lions? Over the years, Patterson gave several different figures. He once claimed there were 135 victims, but recent research speculates that the number was probably closer to 35—that’s still a large number!

The Bible says, “The king’s wrath is like the roaring of a lion, but his favor is like dew on the grass” (Proverbs 19:12). Satan is described like a roaring lion looking for people to devour (1 Peter 5:. He is driven by hatred and revenge. But Christ is also described as “the lion of the tribe of Judah” (Revelation 5:5) whose messages can be like a roaring lion (Revelation 10:3).

God is not driven by hatred. When we choose Christ as our Savior, we need not fear the roar of the lion.

KEY BIBLE TEXTS
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Ephesians 6:12