Our team of pastors in Myanmar had just left to travel from village to village, teaching and evangelizing, when we received a panicked phone call. They had all been arrested!
At about 11pm, armed police had kicked open the door of a house where they were gathered and ordered them to get down on the floor. On suspicion of civil disobedience, they were put in hand-cuffs and taken to jail. When the churches heard what had happened to their pastors, they sent messages throughout Thailand and Myanmar, asking for prayer. We were urged to delete the pastors’ names from our social media accounts, as the soldiers had taken their phones and were checking for evidence that might link them to the Peoples Defense Force. There would be none, but we knew exactly what the military was capable of doing to people suspected of this: interrogation, intimidation, torture, death.
We asked God to give our men courage and faith. Finally, after four days, pastor Moe Aung was allowed to pay a fine to get his pastors out of jail. We expected them to be frightened and angry, but instead they were praising God! They told him that two men sharing their cell had falsely accused some of them of being with the Peoples Defense Force, and one pastor and his son had been led away for interrogation, leaving the other pastors sick with fear. Besides being afraid, the pastors were also very angry at these two cellmates, but as they prayed, they heard the Holy Spirit say, “Can’t you see how scared these two men are? When are you going to tell them about me?” Convicted of a lack of compassion, one of the pastors immediately started to share his testimony about meeting Jesus in a factory in Thailand. Their accusers listened intently.
After a short time, a guard came in to tell the pastors that they would all be released the next day. Even as they breathed a huge sigh of relief, the Spirit said, “Don’t stop now! You only have one more day!” And so, they continued to share the Gospel with their cellmates, knowing that this opportunity was from God. By the time they were released the next day, the pastors were full of joy. The police may take our money, phones, and freedom, they said, but they cannot take away our testimonies!
Cellmates
|
