This week, I am writing from Cambodia, not far from the “Killing Fields”.
Having been a frequent visitor to this country, I have discovered much cause for hope for the future of this land in spite of its sad history.
The story of Pol Pot’s infamous right-hand-man, Comrade Duch, head of the Tuol Sleng Prison, during the Khmer Rouge, was responsible for years of cruelty perpetrated on over 18 000 inmates, many of whom died while facing his dreadful tortures. After the liberation of Cambodia by the invading Vietnamese forces, he encountered the “Good News” of the Gospel of Christ, and became a fervent believer.
As such, he realised his responsibility for his life of atrocities and cruelty, he went to the authorities and confessed in detail what he had done. This led to his conviction and imprisonment for life. His astonishing conversion was widely publicised in the media.
Our son befriended a prominent University lecturer in Phnom Penh, who had escaped and survived the Khmer Rouge.
Having given him a Bible, he read the New Testament, and commented that he found it difficult to comprehend that God could forgive Comrade Duch for all the evil he had done during his years of cruelty.
Our son assured him that, as a Christian, God could forgive him, because of the love of God expressed by sending Jesus, His Son to die for the salvation of all people, including those just like Comrade Dutch.
At this Christmas season, we celebrate the coming of Jesus, God’s Son to earth as announced by the angels as the evidence for The Almighty’s “good-will toward mankind”. It is amazing to realise that God’s love for you and me and even the likes of Comrade Duch shows the measure of His good-will.
It is remarkable that Jesus earned Himself the reputation of being “the friend of sinners”, not just those of the religious hierarchy.
Think of the woman taken in adultery, the demoniac of Gadara, also Saul of Tarsus, who made it his life’s ambition to kill and persecute Christians. Jesus chose and transformed him into the famous Apostle Paul, who went on to blaze a trail of evangelism across the known world of the day.
This graphically illustrates the nature of the Gospel. This Good News is not just for the squeaky-clean religious, but also for the most undeserving of society. Thank God, Christ’s invitation is for all of us!
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