Torture is something that we as human beings don’t want to experience. In most situations it’s avoided at all cost.
Torture is defined as anguish of body or mind, something that causes agony or pain?, the infliction of intense pain (as from burning, crushing, or wounding) to punish, coerce, or afford sadistic pleasure, to cause suffering, pain, or distress
The combination of the letter S and the number 21 never meant anything to me till I came to Cambodia.
Who knew that a combination of letters and numbers could represent something so horrifying and dark?
Before we get into S21, Id like to give you a little bit of a history of Cambodia during the 70’s
From 1975 to 1979 2 million people were murdered during a mass genocide led by a man names Pol Pot (In the photo below). About quarter of Cambodia’s population was slaughtered and executed in some of the most horrific ways possible.
When Pol Pot first became the new Prime Minister, they welcomed him as the new man in charge of the government. They had no idea on his intentions for the nation.
Pol Pot was a very racist man towards many different people groups. He resented those who didn’t use their hands to work. Education was not important. Those who worked in the fields who were considered the “lesser” people were seen as great in his eyes. He wanted the entire country to return to a farming community. Anyone who had a job other than farming was forced out of their home and either made to work in the fields or murdered. He wanted them to grow rice and build dams for the revolution. Darker skin was good because it meant you worked in the field and were a part of his movement. People of lighter skin were targeted, tortured, and murdered. The people who did survive were forced to work 16-18 hours per day in the fields or on the dams. Some recall working in the field and having guards come and shoot the person next to them for no apparent reason. Many victims were beaten to death but starvation claimed most lives.
These were horrifying times in the country of Cambodia. If you ask some Cambodian people alive today they know the exact amount of time. They will tell you “3 years, 8 months and, 20 days.” It was only 40 years ago. It’s something that many of the Cambodian people don’t want to talk about. I think at this point, many of them are trying to move on.
All this to bring you to what my blog is really about. S21.
Before 1975, S21 was a school. A place of innocence and learning was then turned into a residence of darkness, torture, and death. Men women and children were brought there because they were “suspected” of being against his revolution. Pol Pot said that it was better to kill 10 innocents and one guilty than to let that one guilty person get away. That’s exactly what he did. He killed everyone. Even some his guards and soldiers were tortured and killed because they either didn’t get the confessions he wanted, or they tortured the people too much and they died before gaining the forced confessions. Out of the 14,000 to 17,000 people who went in, only 7 came out alive (The 7 survivors are in the photo below).
While I was in Cambodia I was able to visit to the genocide museum S21. From the outside looking in, it looks like a regular old school building…
till you get inside and see the barbed wire that turns the school into a prison. They had to put barbed wire on the windows so the prisoners wouldn’t be able to commit suicide.
One of the victims was a painter, and the fact that he could paint saved his life. He was then forced to paint pictures of the different types of torture and they are now mounted on the walls of S21.
While walking through the rooms and seeing photos on the walls of the torture that was done to these poor innocent people, my heart began to fill with hatred towards the people who committed these horrific acts of torture. The victims had done nothing wrong and they were being tormented as if they committed hideous crimes. There was still blood on the floors in some of the cells.
Every person that came into S21 was photographed. There were thousands upon thousands of photos all over the walls. Room after room of faces that look so helpless. Each face was a cry for help. They didn’t deserve this.
Walking from room to room became overwhelming after a while. The thought of an innocent child being beaten to death made me sick.
By this time, my heart was beating with disgust and animosity towards the people who did this.
And then God spoke to me……
He showed me three things.
The first thing he showed me (as hard as this is to accept) was that the people who tortured these innocent people, and Pol Pot himself, are STILL GOD’S CHILDREN, and just the same, they are loved.
The second thing he showed me was even harder to accept than the first thing.
He said “JoAnna, don’t you realize? This torture you see in these photos is what you deserve by being a sinner”…..
It’s true. As a sinful person, I deserve hell.
There are a few verses in the bible that talk about hell. It’s described as a “lake of fire” a “gloom of utter darkness” a “second death” and a place of torment.
The photos on the walls and S21 are nothing compared to Hell, but it was enough for me to get the picture that God was trying to show me. Then God showed me one more thing.
Those people that I hated for torturing the innocent Cambodian people………..I was one of them. Every sin I committed tortured Jesus Christ as he hung on that Cross for MY sins. For JoAnna Moore’s sins. I’m no better than the people who have committed these acts of torture because of my wickedness and sin.
Some people might think I’m a good person. I’m not. The fact is that I am a sinner. If you knew my sins you would probably think differently of me.
But
There is Grace.
Yes I’m a sinner, and
Yes I deserve to go to hell
BUT
I have been saved from that torture. I have been made new BECAUSE of Jesus Christ. I will not be tortured BECAUSE Jesus was. He took my beating upon himself. He took my sins and carried them to the cross so that I wouldn’t have to. Through HIM I am forgiven, and it is because of him that I don’t have to ever feel the pain and torture of being separated from God or Hell itself.
And if that was all, it would be enough, but God is a GRACIOUS God and has not just given me a ticket out of eternal torture. He has given me a free gift of eternal life.
Hell is described as a second death. An eternal death. But in 1 Corinthians 15:55 Paul wrote
“Death is swallowed up in VICTORY. O Death, where is your victory? O Death, where is your sting?”
Matthew wrote in Matthew 16:18 that the gates of hell are NO MATCH for the followers of Christ!
Death HAS NO STING!
Death and everything death represents has been defeated through the Cross.
And if that isn’t enough, God has taken us and made us into new creations. He calls us Sons and Daughters of Christ. We are not only his children, but his heirs. (Romans 8:17, Galations 4:7, Galations 3:29)
He said you are NO longer a slave. You are my son! You are my daughter! You are my family!
We have been saved by Grace, through Faith. (Ephesians 2:8)
I have always known there is a Heaven and Hell, but after S21 I received a small glimpse of what eternal life is like without Christ.
I don’t know who all is reading this, or if you got this far in my blog, but if you are reading this, please know that everything I said was not intended to scare anyone, but instead to be an encouragement because Christ has overcome the grave, and WITH Christ, you can too.
If you have any questions please feel free to contact me at any time.
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In Christ
Just Jo
