Khmer Rouge
“We fought each other. We were at war and I was in the Khmer Rouge and General PG had joined the Vietnamese.” Said general KK about a fellow Cambodian general (I'm using KK and PG so as to not use their names in this writing). As Paul Bradley of Cadence, General KK, and I sat eating our breakfast noodles in a Phnom Penh restaurant, I could not help but shake my head as history unfolded in this Cambodian general's story. War and all the horrors it brings was lived and created many times by General KK. PG was another Cambodian who joined the Vietnamese to overthrow KK's group, the Khmer Rouge, and who led operations against KK and his village troops. “That all ended in 1979. I did not see my enemy again until 2000 when I realized we were in the same room at a training session,” KK told us.
Cambodia Today
Cambodia's government is now communistic, and the multiple opposing armies have been integrated, or at lease there is the surface appearance of that, into one Cambodian military. Men from fighting forces who used to do everything they could to kill each other; the Khmer Rouge, the Kings Party, the communist Party, as well as numerous small factions, are now told to work together as one Cambodian military.
“During that training session General PG did not look at me and, because he out-ranked me, I avoided him. We knew who the other was...there were many strong emotions.”
God's amazing work
As I sat listening to the story, what amazed me was not the past, but the present in light of the past. Because just yesterday afternoon, these two generals who fought against each other and who viewed the other as a traitor and their mortal enemy, were now sitting side by side at the bible study Paul and I were holding at the hotel.
KK told us that the next time he met General PG was at a leadership development class put on by Paul and his group from Cadence at an English Camp, yet another bridge building event by Cadence. It was here KK and the other general decided to talk to each other, and where they found out they were both Christians. In a few short weeks they would find themselves sharing a room together, in an American Christian's Thailand home, where they spent the weekend in bible study, praying and getting to know the others story. Each of these men was lead to the Lord by someone risking all to tell them the Gospel. KK and PG's stories are just two of many incredible testimonies to the power of Christ to over come evil and to change even the very heart of man.
“Our Only Hope...”
After spending the week together, General KK invited us back to one of his northern bases. “I want you to tell my men and their families about Jesus.” He said, “There is every reason for General PG and me to be enemies. We spent years trying to kill each other...and we killed each others friends. The only reason we are sitting together at the same table is because of Jesus...Jesus is the only hope my country has.”
Invitations like this are rare, and even when given by the rank of General, are given at a real and tangible risk for those who offer them.
Silent Suffering
My time in Cambodia was filled with stories and encounters of men and women to have gone through events and hardships that most of us will never know. It is hard for me to stop thinking about one major and his wife. The Major was present at our Bible study sessions, and on the last day he brought his wife and 7 year old son. He stood, and in an un-Cambodian way, shared very openly about his past in front of the group. For most of his life he was a very angry man. Hurt by his father, by his country, and by his friends. He used his military power to help control his unpredictable world. His wife had become a Christian and he hated that. “I would beat her often with a large stick I had,” he told us. His wife then told us, “At night, when he slept, I would put my hand on his head. I would draw the cross on his head, I would pray for the demons to go and for God to save my husband.” “And Jesus answered her prayers,” he told us with a smile. “A number of people from the church would help me, and while that was part of the reason I came to Christ the real reason was my wife...she never complained...I knew her faith was real so I too wanted to know this Jesus.”
Spirits in the Night Sky
And then there is our good friend, Interpreter and coordinator Sareth, a Cambodian by birth who grew up without his parents. They were killed by the Khmer Rouge along with many other adults. As a child Sareth was forced to work in the rice fields. He would answer to other children who were put in charge of him because they were “unstained” by the ideas of misguided adults. These children overlords would work the others hard, some to the point of death. Sareth told us, “At night I would sleep in the low water of the rice paddies. The water would keep me warm...most of the time the snakes would not bother you.” “One day I was accused by another child of stealing,” Sareth told us as he relived his experience as a 6 year old, “I was beaten with rods, tied up and left in a sewage pit as punishment...its just the way things were.” Sareth also told us of tangible spiritual warfare, “Many times at night I was the most fearful...not of other people, but at all the spirits we would see flying around our village at night. When they would come it was too terrifying to sleep...it was to only time I would see the Khmer Rouge afraid.” But God is alive and at work everywhere.
What does one even say in light of such things? The world is so dark, evil and lost, but Jesus has overcome the world and in Him there is perfect light, goodness and hope. Many times I think of how much I have grown to hate this world and struggle to not conform to its image.
Jesus is at work everywhere, in the darkest of countries, and in the darkest of hearts. Let's keep praying that God will send laborers to go and plant the seeds of His kingdom. And together, let's keep going. | |
