Southeast Asia is one of the hubs for human trafficking but it is also a place that is slowly being infiltrated with ministries and programs to help the women, men, children, and ladyboys being bought for sex. Though they may exist, I have yet to find a ministry that works as diligently to minister to the men doing the buying. While many Christians who minister to the bargirls admit that they do believe that the men who are doing the buying are also manipulated and victims of evil, it’s honestly hard for most people, even Christians, to see them as anything other than perverted, undisciplined men, who won’t control their sex drives.
I want to tell you the true story of one such man, a Christian man, who not too many years ago, bought women for sex regularly, even though he was a husband and a father.
Let’s start with 30 seconds of silence again. Leave every expectation and thought behind. When I first met the man whose story I am about to tell, I had no idea of his past. I thought, and still think, he was as close to a saint as they come on this earth and I hope you will be able to see the beauty of God in him as well.
Four of us World Racers headed out to the jungle one day to meet this pastor we heard about who was spreading the gospel to indigenous tribes who had little or no contact of the outside world. The moment we met him, we all felt it; we felt God’s Spirit so tangibly around this man that I knew, if I wanted to, I could just reach out and touch it. There was so much love and joy in his eyes, and his smile immediately calmed my anxieties and welcomed me into his home, into his life.
We sat down, introduced ourselves, and he did the same. His name was Pastor Levi*, he was 70 years old, (but looked much younger) and not only did he speak impeccable English, but since he spent several years in the West, he understood sarcasm and our Western humor, a rarity during our travels that we greatly appreciated. After a bit of small talk and one of the best meals I have had all Race, we finally compelled him to tell us his story.
Pastor Levi told us that he was once a rich and successful chemical engineer and businessman and that for the majority of his life he didn’t believe in God. In the first few years of his marriage, he gambled and drank constantly and stayed out all night with other rich businessmen who also loved money, alcohol, and sex. He admitted that he and his friends would frequently buy women for their own pleasure and entertainment, even though they had wives and children at home. He impregnated several of the women he bought and forced them all to get abortions because he didn’t want to be responsible for them or their children. At one point, one of his wealthy friends, whom he described as his “partner” in that lifestyle, became a Christian and stopped gambling and buying women with him. Pastor Levi was furious with his friend, he admitted that he felt alone. What irritated him even more was that his friend would still come by the club at night but instead of gambling and sharing women, he talked with Pastor Levi and then causally read a book while the others drank. Pastor Levi, hated the contrast between himself and his friend but didn’t see a real reason to change, not even the threat of divorce.
One day, just months away from his divorce being final, Pastor Levi’s 4 year old son (by his wife), declared “Daddy I want you to go to church.” He looked at his son in anger and confusion. Then he remembered that there was an ice cream parlor next to the church and thinking his son needed an excuse to get ice cream, he said laughingly, “You just want ice cream. We don’t need to go to church for that.” His son replied, “No dad, I want you to go to church.” Pastor Levi told his son, “Don’t worry, I’ll get you some ice cream.” His 4 year old son said emphatically, “ I don’t want ice cream! I want you to go to church!” Now Pastor Levi was very angry. He was angry with is son for speaking to his so disrespectfully. He was angry with his friend for becoming a Christian. He was angry because he had gone to church 2 times before, and found that people were preaching about miracles than never happened and the people in the churches didn’t act much differently then he did. At this time Pastor Levi was 45 years old, and not particularly happy with anything in life. So he gave church one more try.
When he got to the church building with his son, he looked for every excuse not to walk in, but at the door he encountered another wealthy businessman/friend who also once lived the life of gambling and womanizing, but had left it behind when he became Christian. That friend took Pastor Levi and his son and led them to a seat near him. Pastor Levi was not really impressed or moved by anything for much of the church service, but a moment came when he felt the weight of his sin and he began to cry. Then he felt a light come over him, beginning with is head, that eventually covered him down to his toes. While in that light, he saw heaven, he felt joy and peace. His tears became tears of joy and he was laughing and crying hysterically. He forgot about his life, his son, his friend, everything. He just wanted to stay in the light, in heaven, in the presence of this God he hadn’t ever known before then, forever. Eventually he felt his son tugging at his hand crying, “Dad! Dad!” He fought against the intrusion but soon the light was gone, and he was on earth, in church, standing next to his son, and friend.
God asked Pastor Levi to walk away from the life he was living and to give everything he had to God’s people, including his time and resources. So Pastor Levi, at the age of 45, left it all behind, and used his money to build the ministry in the jungle, that has established 19 churches, holds weekly Bible studies, trains pastors, sponsors the education of the children in the jungle so that they can go to government schools, and helps the parents fight for their property rights/inheritance of their children against businesses that want to take away their land and build on it. He is threatened frequently by government officials who would profit from the selling of the land, and who do not like Christianity because they see it as a religion of the West, and a threat to their power. Still, in faith, with his wife (they reconciled after he became Christian), son, and other incredible men and women from all over the world, he persistently shares the gospel with the motto, “Freely we have been given, so freely we must give.” He hasn’t worked in years, but God constantly provides donors to their ministry who are often not Christian, allowing them to feed the people meals after church service weekly.
I spoke about Pastor Levi for weeks after that meeting to anyone who would listen. I have vowed to go back and help his ministry. Ironically, I didn’t make the connection between him and the johns that bought women until I did bar ministry in Thailand, some time later.
I have never met anyone like Pastor Levi. He inspired us, prayed for us, blessed us. Three out of the four of us (including men) cried while he was speaking about the Lord, because we had never before been in the presence of that kind of unmovable faith and joy in the Lord. Yet he was once a womanizer and supporter of human trafficking. Still, God found a way to use him for so much good. Jesus saw past his sin and found something beautiful. Can we do the same for someone else?
Stay tuned for Part III about my friend who still finds himself in the bar, looking for women, every weekend.
*Pastor Levi’s name has been changed to protect the security of his ministry.
