Francis Chan: Korean missionaries wish they were still imprisoned by Taliban
By Mark Ellis, Senior Correspondent for ASSIST News Service
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA (ANS - June 9, 2017)
-- A decade ago, 23 South Korean missionaries were captured and held
hostage by the Taliban in Afghanistan. Some now say they miss their
captivity, because of the unusual intimacy they experienced with God
during that time.
The hostages attended Saemmul Presbyterian Church in Bundang, a commuter town south of Seoul.
They
“felt the presence of Jesus” in such an unbelievable way in prison,
they wish they could return, Francis Chan told The Bridge 2017
conference, according to a report by the Gospel Herald.
The
missionaries were taken hostage when the Taliban captured their bus
traveling between Kabul and Kandahar. Church leaders said the Koreans
were in Afghanistan as volunteers to help doctors in the hospitals and
teachers in schools.
One
of the missionaries told Chan: “’These women that were in these camps
with us, they come to me and they say, ‘Pastor, don’t you wish we were
still imprisoned by the Taliban?'”
“They
tell me, ‘When I was surrounded by these soldiers, I felt the presence
of Jesus in there with me. Now that we are back in Seoul, I am trying to
experience that intimacy with Him but I can’t. I fast and I pray and I
don’t feel it. I would rather be back there because of the intimacy I
had with him.'”
Martyrs
for the faith – beginning with the Apostles and extending throughout
church history – felt this same peace, Chan told the conference.
When
Nebuchadnezzar threw Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego into the fiery
furnace, Jesus was there in their midst, protecting them, he noted.
As
Stephen was about to be stoned to death, God comforted him with a
heavenly vision, Chan said. “Is there a special fellowship that we share
in that suffering that we will miss out on because we just think
comfort is everything and we just want to pull everyone into our comfort
and into our civilian affairs rather than joining in their suffering
and losing our life so that we can actually find something so much
better?”
Chan
was shocked to learn that two of the South Korean missionaries even got
into a squabble over who would have the honor of being martyred first.
“He
talked about how they got into this argument because they found out
that they were going to be killed one at a time. This man I was having
dinner with was saying to this other guy, ‘Look, I know they are going
to kill us one at a time. I die first,'” Chan recalled.
About the writer: Mark Ellis is Senior Correspondent for the ASSIST News Service (www.assistnews.net), and is also the founder of www.GodReports.com,
a website that shares testimonies and videos from the church around the
world to build interest and involvement in world missions. Previously,
Mark co-hosted a TV show called “Windows on the World” with ANS Founder,
Dan Wooding, aired on the Holy Spirit Broadcasting Network (http://hsbn.tv/), which is now co-hosted by Dr. Garry Ansdell, Senior Pastor of Hosanna Christian Fellowship in Bellflower, California.
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