The story of this song, “No Turning Back” is covered in the book by Dr. P.P. Job. It comes out of an incident with a tribe in India known as head-hunters. The more heads a man collected, the more successful he was considered.
One Welsh missionary succeeded in coverting a man, his wife, and two children in this village. This man’s faith proved contagious and many villagers began to accept Christianity. Angry, the village chief summoned all the villagers. He then called the family who had been converted and demanded that they renounced their faith in public or face execution. The man instantly composed a song which bcame famous down the years.
He sang, “I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back, no turning back.”
Enraged at the refuasal of the man, the chief ordered his archers to arrow down the two children. As both boys lay twitiching on the floor, the chief asked, “Will you deny your faith? You have lost both your children. You will lose your wife too.” But the man sang these words in reply:
“Though no one joins me, still I will follow. No turning back, no turning back.”
The chief was beside himself with fury and ordered his wife to be arrowed down. In a moment she joined her two children in death. Now he asked for the last time, “I will give you one more opportunity to deny your faith and live.” In the face of death the man sang the final memorable lines:
“The cross before me, the world behind me. No turning back, no turning back.”
He was shot dead like the rest of his family. But with their deaths, a miracle took place.
The chief who had ordered the killings was moved by the faith of the man. He wondered “Why should this man, his wife and two children die for a Man who lived in a far-away land on another continent some 2,000 years ago?
There must be some supernatural power behind the family, and I too want that supernaural power.”
In a spontaneous confesssion of faith, he declared, “I too belong to Jesus Christ.” When the crowd heard this from the mouth of their chief, the whole village accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior.
This is the power of God through the demonstation of faith. Can we too sing in the strength of our trust in Jesus, “No Turning Back, No Turning Back.?”
Max Speaking 