I still remember walking through the prisons cells where innocent Cambodians were tortured by inhumane leaders of Pol Pot regime known in history as the Khmer Rouge. The cells still had the marks of blood drops of the people tortured inside the prison. As to how they were tortured you wouldn't want me to describe because it's more than cruelty--it's too evil that you might throw up. The torturers even managed to take photos of their innocent prisoners their numbers pinned to their skin. They even allotted killing fields in different places in Cambodia where they take the prisoners and kill them. We also visited the killing fields and saw thousands of people's skulls, bones, and ripped clothing throughout the field. I cannot imagine how the relatives, friends, and even co-citizens during the Khmer Rouge in 1975. My heart joined the tortured hearts of the Cambodians who were victims or family-members of the victims. This could not only be a simple heart ache but is a torture to the hearts of the Cambodians maybe even till the day they die. With tortured hearts how can it be possible to forgive such an inhumane act?
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| Toul Sleng Prison, Pnom Penh, Cambodia |
Finding out that most of them do not know Christ made my heart sank even deeper. The Khmers having experienced so much mind, heart, and physical torture--for those who were killed need to find hope. They need someone to tell them about the one who was innocent of all sins yet tortured and crucified to death--Jesus Christ. He who died from physical torture did not remain dead but rose again to give us hope. Whatever pain, no matter how hard the suffering was, no matter how tortured our hearts and minds are Jesus is here to set us free because He already paid for those sufferings. He who experienced for Himself the meaning of inhumane torture can set the Khmer free from the enslavement of anger resulted from the Khmer Rouge. He can heal them from the wounds of the past that stayed in their hearts for the longest time.
"But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our
iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by
his wounds we are healed." -Isaiah 53:5
You can be an instrument to let them know about Jesus Christ.
