The Khmer Rouge rule in Cambodia left a fingerprint on this country that is still visible today. Growth has been rapid but there are still massive income and population gaps. There are also an incredible amount of stories from the period and people are generally willing to share. This is the story of a man and his community of believers:
The other day I had the opportunity to visit a man who was a pastor during the reign of Pol Pot, leader of the Khmer Rouge. Sitting in the area beneath his stilted farm-house, the conversation started slowly. Have you lived here your whole life? How many people are in your family? What ages are your kids? During his response to the last of these generic questions, the pastor offered the incredibly interesting interjection that he had met Pol Pot, ruler of the Khmer Rouge. He began his story.
It was the early 90’s and the pastor had been a Christian for a few years. He claimed that once he met God, he knew he had to share God, so he became a pastor. As is the case for pastors during most oppressive regimes, this pastor had to keep his profile low, discipling in secret. His efforts were effective until one day, he was summoned to a meeting with the ruler. He spoke about the meeting where he was, as he said, ‘advised’ to either stop preaching, or be killed. I asked him what he thought was going to happen to him, how scared he was, and how he prepared for the meeting. He said he, “thought he was going to be killed, was terrified, wore his best clothes and spent as much money as he could on a gift of linens to present to Pol Pot, but knew that God’s hand would be on the meeting.” Pol Pot was surprisingly reasonable and fair during the meeting. He took what he calls, “the advice,” and left the meeting with no beating or physical harm.
Since his faith was literally all he had, he boldly ignored the warning, and kept pursuing. He kept sharing the love of God with people and created an underground community of believers. Throughout the 90’s, this community survived in secrecy, cautious but firm in their faith. When the rule of the Khmer Rouge ended in 1998, freedom came. The church had nothing, but it’s members were able to practice their faith freely.
As I visit in 2011, I am blessed to see that the church community that started with believers willing to risk their lives for their secret faith is now the congregation of a brick and mortar church. The church sits across the street from the house we conversed in and glancing across in its direction I realized, “it stands, because love wins.” Regardless of what our current circumstances are, God’s picture is whole, God’s victory is sealed. It’s always wonderful when he blesses us with the opportunity to see his victories.
Thanks for reading!
-Jeff
