COLOMBIA - Pastors targeted as armed groups lose recruits to Christians
30/08/05 - Lives once committed to murder and vice are now devoted to love and God's ways
Brave and courageous Colombian Christians are seeing thousands of their people giving their lives to Christ every year, even from amongst the battle-hardened members of violent, armed groups. The price Colombian Christians have to pay is often counted in terms of their lives, their homes and their livelihoods; but through Open Doors, Christians around the world are strengthening them to continue to spread the Gospel.
“Kill the pastors and burn their churches” declares the leader of an illegal armed group in Colombia, as seemingly the evangelical church is a far greater threat to them than any army.
One leader explains, “Our worst enemy is the evangelical Christian church, because when they go to a town where we have influence, we lose 300-500 sympathisers as they become Christians too.
“When they bring Bibles to our troops, 20% of guerrillas leave.
“Other paramilitaries or the Colombian army may kill three or four men when we have a battle with them, but the evangelical church does far more harm to us than the army.”
Over the last three years in Colombia, 300 churches have been closed and more than 100 pastors murdered as a result of this policy.
Two Methodist ministers, Rev Andrew Kingston, from Northern Ireland, and Rev Roger Faulkner, from Oxfordshire, were part of an Open Doors team who went to visit Colombian believers earlier this year. They recount some of the stories they heard:
Gabriel*, an Open Doors co-worker, told the Open Doors team how he first got involved with Open Doors, ten years ago. A worker from one of the illegal armed groups had threatened to kill the pastors in his hometown because too many potential recruits were becoming Christians instead of joining them. Six close friends of Gabriel who were pastors were killed in just a few months. One of his closest friends was beheaded by one of the violent groups, and his head was used as a football by his murderers.
In 1995, Gabriel was about to flee the area when some Open Doors workers found him. They assured him. “You are not alone and within a few days people all round the world will be praying for you.” Gabriel was given renewed courage to stay.
In 1995 there were 30 pastors in Gabriel’s area. Over the following year ten were killed. Today, there are more than 150 pastors in the region, most of whom are being strengthened by Open Doors’ training programme entitled ‘Standing Strong through the Storm’.
Gabriel has been particularly strengthened by the care and support that Open Doors has provided to pastors’ widows. He said, “It is a privilege to weep with those who weep, but it was so good to see Open Doors workers come and take their turn to weep with the pastors’ widows and their families and also to help them.
“However, it is sad that so many Christians in Colombia are too afraid, or unwilling, to come and help us.”
Gabriel’s response to the danger is, “We never know when we leave home if we will return, but if they kill me and cut me into pieces, every part of me will cry out to Jesus.
“Without Open Doors to walk alongside us, we would not have survived or had the courage to continue.”
Stories such as Gabriel’s are echoed by many of the pastors working with Open Doors throughout Colombia. One couple, Juan and Christina have been working with the Persecuted Church for the past 15 years. In that time, they have distributed thousands of Bibles to illegal armed groups and seen 4,500 guerrillas come to Christ through their ministry.
“Many who accept the Gospel or receive Bibles are killed however. One brother who led 100 guerrillas to Christ was found murdered shortly afterwards. Others are forcibly kept within the ranks and many are too afraid to declare their faith publicly. However, some do manage to escape. One young woman who was a leader of a guerrilla group is now a Bible School leader and leads a local church.
On one occasion, 120 fighters left their armed group en masse, after they received some Bibles from Open Doors.
Several months earlier, Fernando* a Colombian pastor had delivered nearly 100 copies of the Bible to a group of more than 100 insurgents. At the time, he knew it would be impossible to follow up with them, due to the restrictions imposed by their commanders.
Later however, Andreas*, one of the group, came looking for Fernando. Andreas told him that, since the day the pastor gave them the copies of the “sacred book,” they had studied it, their interest gradually growing. He explained, “Our minds were no longer the same, and then our hearts began to change.” The desire to fight was replaced by an insatiable appetite to question one another about the Bible stories. Eventually he and his 119 fellow fighters deserted the rebel ranks.
After the desertion of such a large group of fighters, the commanders forbade visits by evangelical Christian ministers to the camp.
Such decisions do not discourage pastor Fernando: “We know what God has done for decades – that no matter how hard man tries to close them – the doors continue to open for the Gospel.”
In another instance, the government had negotiated a ceasefire and the handing over of weapons with one of the armed groups; and they gave Open Doors permission to distribute Bibles. This is their story:
Nine hundred and sixty battle-hardened fighters, dressed in combat fatigues and with weapons in hand, assembled on the northern Colombia field. They watched the pastor approach to address them.
“Just as the Bibles we are delivering to you today speak of how Jesus came to reconcile us to His Father, they also invite us to forgive one another,” he said. “It is very tempting to pursue vengeance, but forgiveness is the path to reconciliation.”
With this, the pastor began the delivery of more than 500 Bibles and nearly 1,000 copies of James Dobson’s book, When God Doesn’t Make Sense, as part of a ’Guns for Bibles’ demobilisation ceremony. As the fighters gave up their weapons and re-entered civilian life, each received a Bible or the Dobson book.
The state governor said, “It is great that you are delivering these Bibles and these books, so the people can straighten their paths.”
Another military commander commented, “This book by Dobson looks better than a weapon!”
Some officials lamented not receiving copies of both books. One police officer said, “I will have to attend another demobilisation ceremony in order to receive my book as well as this Bible!”
One of the demobilised paramilitary bosses, upon seeing the book’s title, summed up the moment beautifully when he smiled and said, “It should rather read: ‘When God Does Make Sense.’ That is precisely why we are here.”
The ceremony was another of the seemingly closed doors that God has opened over the fifty years since the founding of Open Doors. However, the lives changed as a result of faithful Christians walking through these Open Doors tell the most exciting story. In this instance, men and women whose lives revolved around murder, kidnap, rape, extortion, running drug cartels and armed robbery are now living lives devoted to peace, in love and harmony with their creator and their fellow men.
This testimony from a former combatant sums up just how the Bible has the power to cut through darkness and change a person’s life in a way nothing else can do:
“I do not remember what I read the first time I ever opened the Bible. What I do remember is the intense pain I felt for what I was doing – the killings, the hatred in my heart. I would like to remember that first verse I read; however, I am now memorising many verses so that, in future, I will not forget what God says to me.”
To find out more, call Open Doors on 01993 885400, email info@opendoorsuk.org or go to the UK & Ireland website at www.opendoorsuk.org.
* names changed for security reasons.
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Open Doors strengthens persecuted Christians in over 45 countries across the world by
1. Training Church leaders and Christian workers
2. Supplying Bibles, hymnals, Sunday School materials and other Christian literature
3. Providing livelihood training and self-help opportunities
4. Visiting, comforting and encouraging those who are suffering
5. Raising awareness of the difficulties persecuted Christians face and mobilising prayer for them throughout the western world.
For other articles/press releases on the Persecuted Church, go to:
http://www.opendoorsuk.org.uk/press/articles/
http://www.opendoorsuk.org.uk/press/releases/
http://www.opendoorsuk.org/media_photos/world_watch_list_pics/html/index.htm