Acknowledging Christ in a Suffering World (Urbana 81)

by Major Eva den Hartog

Unless you and I commit ourselves to concrete plans for increasing our giving, I'm afraid God will come one day and find that we have all died from suffocating luxury.

Luke 9: 23-24 says, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it".

More than a year ago I was reading in a newspaper that students of the University of Texas had to characterize their own time. The words that were the front-runners in their essays were: Apathy, dead, dull and crises. Nobody spoke of hope and the joy of living. One of the students who was facing his own unemployment in the future suggested that either mankind would annihilate itself or we would have to look forward to lives of increasing bureaucracy, dull jobs, government interference, a lower standard of living, and what he described as: "Being packed in ever smaller boxes."

A professor of the University said, "It takes but one glance at my students to see that they are not happy and that they are in a certain sense empty. They have: No ideas - no passions - no dreams - and no vision."

Yes, we live in a very depressing time, and nobody can promise you a decent job, the end of inflation, or better TV programming. We live in a world of evil passions. We live in a world of racial hatred, jealousy, selfishness, envy and greed, mistrust and suspicion, the threat of a third world war. Every hour the world spends 30 million dollars for weapons and defense.

We live in a world of pain, suffering and desperation. A world where two thirds of the world's population has not enough to eat. This same two-thirds has 15% of the world's income. And we have 80% of the world's income. We live in a world in which more than 20 million people - mostly children - die of starvation each year. Millions of small children become mentally retarded and physically handicapped due to lack of food and protein. For millions of people, life is short; hunger is daily; disease is rampant, and hope is in short supply.

Being here in this part of the world where I am well looked after, my thoughts are going to the many refugee camps in the poorest parts of our world where I worked myself the last 20 years. In my opinion we are living in heaven and many millions who are living in inhuman conditions are living in hell.

We say today in the United States that there are no more slaves in our world. The millions of people who are living as rats and animals, dying of starvation, dying of diseases without any medical care, are in my opinion the millions of slaves without names. And it is my personal experience that it is easier to write about and to speak about a hungry world than to satisfy a hungry world.

On the Thai-Cambodian Border

Let me tell you a little bit about life in a refugee camp. For many people, those who live in refugee camps in Thailand, for example, the situation is desperate. There is unbelievable suffering in the refugee camps. I have been utterly horrified by the conditions in which the people were living. I could not understand and I cannot understand today how man's inhumanity to man could be so extreme. I have seen refugees living in tents, in the streets, in the railway stations, in the open air; people dying of starvation, dying of communicable diseases, dying of great epidemics. I remember refugees begging for food, mothers sitting on the roadside or walking with their skinny children lying limp in their arms. I will forever think of children going blind, covered with sores that will not heal due to a lack of vitamin A and other vitamins.

I think of the babies I have delivered under trees, in a railway station in Calcutta, in the refugee camps in tiny pathetic shelters.
I can never forget the lonely children whose fathers and mothers committed suicide. My mind remembers the fathers digging little graves for their children; or Cambodian children shaking with fear after seeing their mothers and fathers killed and tortured before their eyes.

I will never forget the boys and girls who came to our house in Bangladesh during the famine when millions died. They came offering themselves for adoption because they knew that we were adopting babies. They were shivering and shaking; they were fearful of being sent back into the streets to beg for food. There were people standing in line for hours in the pouring rain and in the tropical sunshine for a cup of watery milk or a little bit of rice or some water. Do you know what it is like to have no water at all during the day? Once in Cambodia I saw in one village some pathetic little plastic bottles with a bit of dirty water, and it was all the water that these people had.

In Somalia in the refugee camps there are three to twelve liters of water a day for the people if the truck that brings it has not broken down. And that three to twelve liters of water is for everyone's washing, bathing, drinking and cooking. In the United States and Western Europe, in all the rich countries, we have all the water we need-not just enough for drinking, washing, cooking and bathing, but extra. Are you counting your blessings? One by one? They are many. Yet millions of people are dying of starvation, living in tiny little shelters built of rags, old blankets, iron, plastic, anything that can be found. Outside these little shelters there is a stench of cholera, open latrines, dysentery.

Christian mission is not only a spiritual mission, but also a social one. Feed the hungry and not the full. Clothe the naked and not those who are well dressed. Give the shelterless shelter. Heal the sick; protect the oppressed and help them to help themselves. That is our mission.

But how do we do this? Some young people asked me if in my faith I was always on a mountaintop. Let me tell you, there is no missionary in the world who has not been in the valleys. I have been there often. My faith has been on trial many times. I've felt spiritually depressed, lonely, doubtful. One morning while standing in the pouring rain looking on a mass of suffering people, seeing mothers sitting on the roadside covering with their naked bodies the babies on their laps, protecting the babies from getting cold, not realizing that they would probably soon be dead of starvation or cholera, I said to myself, "Does God really care? Is there a living God? And is there a God of love in the world? Is God in the Far East? Is God in the refugee camps? Is God in the concentration camps? Why is God not doing something about it? Why do we have so much and they have nothing?"

I came one day to the conclusion that good was only imaginary. I was in despair, spiritually depressed. There were moments for me when I came to the end of myself and moments when I came to terms with Jesus Christ. I was facing forces that were too difficult for me to understand. And I learned in a tragic way that trusting Christ is not only believing, but also obeying: doing his will in my life. He wanted me to be there.

My question to you who call yourselves born-again Christians is, "Can you see beyond the barrier of your comfortable, luxurious lives? Can you be more aggressive as Christians to meet the tremendous needs in the world?" Many of us are deeply touched by everything we hear, by the tremendous suffering of the people in refugee camps. We are shocked when we hear stories of Christians who have been tortured and killed because they confessed that Jesus Christ is Lord of their lives. But I wonder, are we really deeply touched, have we shed real tears for the suffering in the world?

We who live in countries where there is freedom of religion, freedom of expression, political freedom, find it difficult to understand what it means to be unwanted, without a country, without a future, forced to live in refugee camps in inhospitable surroundings.

There are countries where an open profession of Jesus Christ may lead to loss of work, loss of country, loss of liberty, loss
of loved ones or even loss of life itself. People today in many parts of the world, not only men and women but even boys and girls, have faced death for a refusal to deny their Lord. In one of the refugee camps on the Thai-Cambodian border where I was with my medical team, there were Communists and non-Communists herded together in pitiful conditions. That caused many problems. Non-Communists were faced with the destroyers of their country, the killers of their loved ones. Many of them felt traumatized by the cyclone of murder that had swept through their country. Many showed signs of despair. The stories they brought were horrifying, and the expressions on their faces and in the eyes were shocking. They showed fear, hate and despair.

And did you hear about the child soldiers in Cambodia? Young boys and girls in their early teens made up part of the army. Once I was stopped by some of these young soldiers when a television man who was interviewing me called me "major." And the children asked, "What are you? Are you a major of an army?" And I had to explain that I was a major of an army of peace and that I was coming to help them. But these boys and girls, who were carrying guns, rifles, antitank explosives and cannons, were interested only in protecting themselves and the people in the camps. If you ask these children why they are killing, do you know what they say? "They have destroyed our country. They have killed our loved ones. If we do not kill them, they will kill us." These few years of fighting have made of these boys and girls young men and women without any warm, loving feelings.

The members of my team in Thailand were all Christians and in spite of our different backgrounds, we were determined to put God's love in action. We came from the Salvation Army, the Assemblies of God; we were evangelicals, Southern Baptists, Baptists. You could not name a group that was not there. We never mentioned our church background; we focused on preaching the gospel, putting God's love in action.

It was a wonderful thing to see thousands of people coming to Christ; Communists and non-Communists coming to Christ and forgiving each other. They did not even think of the possibility of being killed by other Communists. They started going out to preach the gospel to other people, and they brought people in and asked us to pray with them. It was a miracle. It was also a tremendous experience to see doctors and nurses who were not only giving medical care, but also spiritual help. I once saw a doctor in my team kneeling in the mud and dirt near someone who was dying, praying with the dying person.

When Jesus Christ came into the heart and lives of these Cambodian people all their fear was gone. They knew that with Christ they could pick up the pieces of their broken lives and start anew. What an experience to see frightened, broken-hearted, despairing people changing to exciting, happy, smiling people.

If I was ever unsure of the truth of the living Savior in my life, I was sure of it as I saw it in the change that came over these newly reborn refugees. There was a change in their eyes, voices and faces. I think of Danny. Forty-six of her relatives were brutally killed or died of starvation. When she came into camp she said, "As long as I live, I will cry." Danny not only found Christ, but was moved by the Holy Spirit to dedicate her life to preaching the gospel and teaching the Bible. Forgiveness stood central in her life from the moment she became a Christian.

How was this possible? Because the love of God was overflowing in her heart and in her life. Where love is, there is no place for hate. Love is never going without giving, but love is never going without forgiving also.

In many parts of the world there are weak Christians. Two of the biggest reasons for this are the absence of forgiveness and the lack of unity. Booker T. Washington once said that we must fear more the weakness of the Christian than the strength of the Communist. And Ghandi said that if Christians had lived as the Bible tells us to we would have won India for Christ.

These newly reborn Christians in Thailand realized that the Bible was not written for sightseers but for those who were tired of the wrongs in their own lives, in the lives of others and even in the lives of their enemies. They taught me that where there is forgiveness for each other, there is love for each other. They realized that burning love must be the ruling passion of their lives - not a cold, half-hearted love, but a changeless, quenchless, burning love, because love, only love, can save the world from more disasters.

In Zaire

Let me tell you one of my personal experiences in Zaire. One day I was asked by the authorities to go to an area outside Kinshasa. It was during the struggle for independence. I was a little scared to go, but they gave me papers and said everything would be all right. Smallpox had broken out in one of the villages where the Salvation Army had a mission school. I departed early in the morning, and I promised my leaders I would be back before dark. It was only thirty miles out of town. In the morning the soldiers were very nice to me, and I got to the station early.

We worked hard. In the afternoon I started back in my car. I went through the first four check points and then came to the fifth. A soldier came and stopped the car and said, "Your papers!" So I gave him my papers. And he said, "You are arrested. Your papers are not in order." He was holding the papers upside down. But I couldn't tell him he was wrong because he might get excited.

On the other side of the road were fifteen soldiers. Their beer bottles (it was Western beer) were empty. And they had smoked a kind of opium, and their eyes were popping out. They were not in their senses. I was sitting in my little car, and the soldier came with his rifle and said, "Don't move! I shoot!" I was trembling with fear. I was so scared, and I think I was in such a panic if I had had a gun in my car .... As I was sitting there a little hate came and then there came more, and I thought, "Those guys have killed so many people; they've killed so many fine Africans and missionaries and now theyre going to kill me."

And then I imagined someone saying to me, "Hey, You hate them, you who are preaching as a Salvation Army officer, as a missionary, with the S on your collar. You are preaching that you want to serve God. You love your enemies. But you are not loving your enemies now."

So I sat in that little car and I prayed, "Oh God, please forgive my sins. Give me that love, that burning love, and I will go where you want me to go and I will do what you want me to do. I will work with these violent people or I will go somewhere else if you want me to. Lord, if they want to kill me please let them not rape me. Please let them not torture me. Let them shoot me straightaway. I am scared."

And as I was sitting in that little car and praying it was as if somebody came to me with peace. I felt the rifle of the soldier. The fear was not gone, but I was not alone. I felt that I was in a dark tunnel, but there was someone with me and I could sing, "He walks with me and he talks with me and he tells me I am his own." Sometimes after a church service when I speak the people come and shake my hand and say, "Oh, that was tremendous. God was with us."

And I always wonder, God was with you? Where was he before and where is he after the service? Is he not there? He lives within us and walks with us and talks with us along the narrow road. And that day I felt that I was in a dark tunnel, but at the end of the dark tunnel was God's glorious light: maybe it was the chance to do a better job with my life or to be in heaven.

Suddenly I heard a jeep stop behind my car. Two heavily armed soldiers with stars on their collars came out. I knew they were officers. One went to the soldiers on the other side of the road and one came to me. And he said to the soldier, "Go away, I want to speak to the lady." "What are you doing?" he asked me. I said, "I'm arrested." And he said, "Do you know what that means?"

"Yes, sir. That means being tortured, being raped and being killed and I'm scared."

He said, "Don't panic, don't panic. I will go to the soldiers on the other side of the road." So he went to the soldiers on the other side and told them that missionaries are good people. He came back with my papers in hand and gave me my papers through the little window of my car. "Here are your papers, he said. "Nobody will kill you. They will first kill me."

"Sir, thank you. you saved my life." He looked at me, and I said, "God bless you." A big smile came across his face and he said, "When I was a little boy in the bush of Africa there was a woman missionary who taught me to write and read and speak French (which he did beautifully), and she said to love God, love my neighbor, love my enemies, love everybody. Today I feel that God is putting my faith to the test, and I am putting my love for God in action."

The faith of that soldier influenced his thinking, determined his actions and shaped his whole life. When I think of that soldier I still see in his eyes the light of God; I hear in his voice the authority of God, and I know that in his soul was the passion of God. The faith of that soldier was implanted in him by a woman missionary. (I'm proud that it was a woman. The founder of the Salvation Army said, "My best men are women.")

That man became a man of very strong convictions for which he was prepared to live or die. He was certain that the God in whom he believed would stand by him, whatever the cost may be. God was able to steer the hearts of the rebels.

In these years of ongoing disasters the reputation of Jesus Christ is at stake. His reputation is in your hand and in mine. During my years of Christian service, I have become a woman with very strong convictions. I know that behind me is a power that nobody can take away from me, even the devil. That is the power of the Holy Spirit. We who call ourselves Christians are all being watched, observed. Everything we do is of tremendous importance in the world today. The situation in the world is our concern. Time is desperately short. We must act now or be prepared to witness-many greater disasters than ever before in world history.

What to Do

We should ask ourselves, "What can I do to make the world a place in which everyone can live in peace? What can I do?" What can I do to save someone from starvation? We should start in our own communities. I read once in a pastor's manual that there are more barmaids than college girls. There are two liquor stores for every church in America. A hundred thousand young boys and girls enter "white slavery" (prostitution) every year in the United States. We want our boys and girls to have pure, intelligent minds, yet we allow millions of filthy magazines to be published in this part of the world. And our young people read them. They should be reading their Bibles, committing themselves to God's rules and God's love.

Do not make the mistake by feeling guilty because you live in a rich country. Living in a country of abundance is not a sin. God said in his Word that Jesus' ministry was to heal the sick and feed the hungry. But what else does he say? He said he would give his people a land of milk and honey and affluence if they kept his commandments to love him, love their neighbors, love the unloveable.

The unloveable are found even in your surroundings. Don't withdraw from them. Love them. Pray for the world situation. Pray for the people who are hungry and for those that have to work in that situation. That's what you can do.

You can also change your lifestyle. Arthur Simon says in Bread for the World, "Lay aside your pattern of living. Consume less, waste less, eat less, drink less, drive less, air condition less." And I tell you: fast once a week and give that money to an organization or church that is involved in effective world hunger projects. In short, live more simply so that those who are dying of starvation and disease may receive food, medical care and life itself.

Christians in the Western world still have a chance to show our compassion for our neighbors by significant actions. But unless you and I commit ourselves to concrete plans for increasing giving I feel that God will come one day and find that we have all died from suffocating luxury. Our giving should not be giving out of our surplus, but sacrificial giving.

Ask yourself, How can my life be used to the glory of God? and for the good of humanity? It is not just some of your money that God wants. It is not some of your time, not some of your talents, not some of your possibilities. It is Yourself. All you have and all you may become. That is sacrificial giving. God does not promise you an easy time or freedom from suffering, disappointments, misunderstandings or danger. But you will never carry your burdens alone. That is my experience. You never face anything alone if you are committed to the Lord.

Our Bible reading was about losing our lives for Jesus' sake. Are you and I ready to do that? If each of us here today has the courage to acknowledge the love of Jesus Christ in this suffering world, we will be able to deal with a suffering, dying world, to pray for a suffering, dying world, to give to a suffering, dying world and to go to a suffering, dying world to preach the gospel of love in words and in deeds because God's love can save the world from disasters.

And if men and women will submit to his rule, God will break down the barriers between classes and races, between the rich and the poor. God can stop wars and create racial equality, economic justice, political freedom and, what is most important, a world of peace. And we can be his instruments. May God bless us with his task.

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Acknowledging Christ in a Suffering World (Urbana 81)

God's Word

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December 27-31, 2009