Imagine what it would be like to be suddenly swallowed by a 4,000 pound wild animal in the water — a Hippo! It almost seems hard to believe that anyone would survive, but it happened to Paul Templer (the hippo guy) 17 years ago. This is how he describes his shocking encounter:
“There was no transition at all, no sense of approaching danger,” he recalled of the mauling. “It was as if I had suddenly gone blind and deaf.”
A 27-year-old river guide at the time, Templer had a group of tourists and apprentice tour guides just a half mile from Victoria Falls when the 4,000-pound hippo attacked the kayakers …. “I was aware that my legs were surrounded by water, but my top half was almost dry,” he recalled. “I seemed to be trapped in something slimy. There was a terrible, sulphurous smell, like rotten eggs, and a tremendous pressure against my chest. My arms were trapped but I managed to free one hand and felt around – my palm passed through the wiry bristles of the hippo’s snout.
It was only then that I realized I was underwater, trapped up to my waist in his mouth….” ( http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/man-swallowed-hippo-lives-tale-article-1.1335235?print )
Jonah in The Great Fish
Paul Templer’s testimony of being swallowed by a hippo has some similarities to Jonah in the fish. This is what happened to Jonah:
But the LORD provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights. From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the LORD his God. He said: “In my distress I called to the LORD, and he answered me. From the depths of the grave I called for help, and you listened to my cry.” (Jonah 1:17-2:1,2)
The engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head. To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you brought my life up from the pit, O LORD my God. When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, LORD, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple. Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs. (Jonah 2:5-8)
In Jonah’s case, the fish spit him out and he went to Ninevah to deliver God’s message. In Paul Templer’s case, besides his other wounds, he lost an arm! They were both in a watery situation which seemed like sure death, yet they survived. It wasn’t their time to die. Their life wasn’t over yet.
BTW, Jonah set the record straight for those who have ears to hear. He said, “Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs” (Jonah 2:8). Popular heretics of our day contradict that truth of God and say grace can’t be forfeited and once a son always a son. The truth is God won’t spare anyone who turns to unbelief. Such teachers are commonly called eternal security teachers and more dangerous than a hippo in the natural because they are destroying souls!
