This account is the third from the same area as the previous two. The villagers intended to kill them all. This could have been one of the worst atrocities against Christians in recent memory. But because of supernatural deliverances, the death toll was kept at five. It could so easily have been over 100.
- Roy’s brother ran into the bush. He was met by a five-year-old girl dressed in white. She took him by the hand and he followed, eventually ending up safely in a distant village. She disappeared as soon as he arrived, and it was later calculated, as others of the party arrived, that he had made a 12-hour trek in two hours.
- Other children ran into the sea. They swam for hours in shark-infested waters. No one drowned or was attacked by a shark.
- Others ran into the forest, and they made it across the mountains to another region after a day and night’s hard walking.
- When villagers prepared to beat the youths, they grew afraid because the blades of their machetes kept turning in their hands and they could only strike with the blunt end. Eventually they ran away, frightened at this power.
- The young women were lined up to be raped, but they cried out, “Oh, the blood of Jesus; Oh, the blood of Jesus” over and over. They were not touched or harmed.
- The organiser of the retreat, a university lecturer, was struck in the neck by a machete. She fell down in a faint. Her assailant noticed her gushing blood and gave her up for dead. When she woke, she fingered her wound and testified “that there is just the faintest scar. My wound had been closed by the Lord.”
Eighty-seven of the group did not manage to escape, and were taken hostage. Villagers led them out to a field, planning to kill them after nightfall. But when they returned with torches, they could not find them. Members of the group testified that a light descended upon them and protected them. They could not run into the jungle at night because that would be too dangerous. Again the villagers came back with torches to hunt for them, but even though the Christians were right in front of them, they were never seen.
There is still another kind of miracle to go along with the way Christians die and the way they are delivered. Read the next God Story in this series along with Pastor Marty’s* comments. This may be the greatest miracle of all.
Source: Withheld and name changed for security reasons*
[martyrs, persecution, Asia, God’s deliverance, miracles]