“Love your enemies.” That is a powerful statement, and one that defines us as Christians. If a person were asked to describe a Christian, one of the first things they would probably say is that “They have to be nice to everybody.” While that’s not exactly what Jesus said, it certainly does drive home the point for us. No other religion on earth calls for its followers to do this, probably because on our own it is an impossible task. But we serve a God that delights in making the impossible, possible, and God himself shows us how. 1 John 4:19 says, “We love because he first loved us” and Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
We were redeemed from a life of sin by a God who showed us love when we didn’t deserve it, when we were his “enemies” (Romans 5:10). And now that we are redeemed, we are called to be like Christ and do the same. We are called to love our enemies so that they might see Christ and be saved by Him.
While focusing on Colombia this Sunday at S.U.B.M.I.T., we watched Alex’s story. It is an incredible testimony of loving your enemies. Here is a short clip from it.
Even when you are surrounded by those who want to kill you, to have your last thoughts be that you want to tell them about Jesus is incredible…or is it? Is it only incredible to us because we live in a society where Christians are content for the most part to focus on God’s grace and love for themselves and forget that we are supposed to be showing Christ to a lost world? It certainly calls me to account and to reexamine my attitude and life. Do we in America have a “form of godliness” but are “denying its power” in our lives to be truly transformed? I don’t know, but it’s certainly a question I ask myself when I hear the testimonies from Colombia. Rescue the Captors is the story of missionary Russell Stendal who was held captive by FARC guerrillas for 142 days. During his time in captivity, he began to see God’s hand in his situation and he realized that he had a unique opportunity to show Christ’s love to his kidnappers. Now that he is free, he is leading the evangelism effort in Colombia to reach the very people who had terrorized him and held him captive. Hear what he has to say about how he sees what most people would view as the enemy.
The potential that is in every person for Christ…now that is what’s truly incredible. I pray that as we remember Colombia this month in our prayers, that God would drive home to each and everyone of us what it really means to love our enemies. And that we would see the image of God in every man and know that we are called to love because Christ loved us first.
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Colombia
Population: 45,013,674 (2008 est.) Population Below Poverty Line: 49.2% (2005)
Total Area: 1,138,910 sq. km, bigger than Texas, but smaller than Alaska
Ethnicity: Mestizo (European/Indian) 58%, White 20%, Mulatto (African/European) 14%, Black 4%, Mixed black-Amerindian 3%, Amerindian 1%
Religion: Christian 95.45% (about 80% Catholic and 15% non-Catholic), non-Religious 2.72%, Other 0.82%; The Colombian constitution guarantees religious freedom. Catholicism was the official state religion in Colombia until 1991, when the new constitution stated that the country was "not atheist or agnostic, nor indifferent to Colombians' religious sentiment." Religious groups are readily able to obtain recognition as organized associations. However, a poll in recent years showed that 60% of all Colombians say they do not practice their faith.
General Info: Lowlands and plains cover more than half of Colombia, but the rest is mountains. There are three mountain ranges that run north to south through the country, and Colombia is also part of the Pacific Ring of Fire. In 1985, a volcano erupted and the ensuing mudflows killed 23,000 people.
Government: Colombia’s government is similar to ours in that it is a presidential representative democratic republic with judicial, legislative, and executive branches. The executive branch dominates the structure of the government. It is also responsible for managing the defense of Colombia, with the President commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The Ministry of Defense exercises day-to-day control of the military and the Colombian National Police. The current president, Álvaro Uribe, has taken a hard line on security issues in his past two terms and enjoys a 91% approval rating. However, he is constitutionally barred from reelection in 2010.
Violence: Colombia has a violent history and is still considered one of the most violent countries in the world today. During La Violencia (1948-1958), several members of the Liberal and Communist parties organized self-defense groups and guerrilla units, which fought both against those of the conservative party and amongst each other throughout the countryside. This time was especially cruel and violent, and because guns were scarce, killings were frequently carried out with machetes and other crude implements. Torture and rape were common, and groups developed unique and horrific forms of corpse desecration as their signatures (such as decapitation and severed limbs). Most of the armed groups were demobilized during the amnesty declared by General Gustavo Rojas Pinilla after he took power in 1953. Some of the groups did not surrender to the government, which caused intense military operations against them in 1954. FARC (Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colombia) and ELN (National Liberation Army) emerged later out of this chaos. Paramilitaries are people fighting to keep power away from the guerrillas, but like the guerrillas, they operate outside of the law. The Colombian army fights against both the guerrillas and the paramilitaries.
Crime: Colombia has become notorious for its illicit drug production, kidnappings, and murder rate. In the 1990s, it became the world's largest producer of cocaine and coca derivatives. Amnesty International summarizes in its Annual Report 2006: “Although the number of killings and kidnappings in some parts of the country fell, serious human rights abuses committed by all parties to the conflict remained at critical levels. Of particular concern were reports of extrajudicial executions(assassinations) carried out by the security forces, killings of civilians by armed opposition groups and paramilitaries, and the forced displacement of civilian communities. More than 3.5 million civilians out of the country’s 40 million people have been displaced during the last two decades, according to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre.” More than 55 percent of those displaced are women. It has also been said that violence in Colombia is so high that there are four kidnappings and 73 murders every day. In Bogota, the capital city of Colombia, someone is murdered every hour.
Persecution: While it is no longer the official state religion, Catholicism still holds special status in the country and other religious groups are occasionally mistreated by authorities. For example, Protestants are sometimes required to pay a local tax, whereas Catholics are not. Also, marriages are only legally recognized if they are performed by either a Catholic church or by one of the 13 non-Catholic religious organizations approved by the state. The largest inhibitors of religious freedom are guerrilla and criminal groups. Today, Marxist guerrilla groups like FARC and ELN demand “war tax” money from churches, kidnap people, threaten missionaries, and force Christian schools and churches to close. Guerrillas persecute both Catholics and Protestants. Their violent acts are funded by the transporting of illegal drugs and the money they receive from ransoms. They especially target Christian leaders who actively oppose the drug trade and other corruption in the country, and pastors and youth leaders are targeted since their influence on young people makes it difficult for Colombian Marxist and paramilitary groups to recruit them into their ranks. In areas under their control, churches often face curfews, and in some areas, public religious activities are completely banned.
Evangelism to the Guerrillas: Russell Stendal, a missionary who was held captive by FARC guerrillas for 142 days, now leads the efforts of evangelizing the guerrillas. He and others attach Bibles, other literature (including his own account of being held captive, Rescue the Captors), and solar powered radios to parachutes and drop them out of airplanes over guerrilla controlled areas. He also leads a family oriented radio ministry in Colombia that is allowed to operate due to his connections with his former captors. Many of the guerrillas live and hide out in such remote areas that they can only be reached by the radio ministries, like Stendal‘s. Stendal is also allowed to go into places that no other missionary is permitted because many of his former guards now have prominent positions within FARC and his story of captivity precedes him.
This article is licensed under the <"http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html">GNU Free Documentation License. Material from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colombia" Wikipedia article "Colombia". Material also taken from VOMC.
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Guerrilla Fighters
ELN stands for (Ejército de Liberación Nacional) National Liberation Army. They have approximately 3,000 to 5,000 armed combatants and an unknown number of active supporters. The territories under ELN influence include cannabis and opium poppy growing areas. Some ELN units raise funds through extortion or by protecting drug laboratory operations. Some ELN units may be independently involved in limited cocaine laboratory operations, but the ELN appears to be much less dependent than the FARC on coca and cocaine profits to fund its operations. The ELN expresses a disdain for illegal drugs, but does take advantage of the profits available where it controls coca producing areas. Their activities include kidnapping, hijacking, bombing, and extortion, and they have minimal conventional military capability. Annually, they conduct hundreds of kidnappings for ransom, often targeting foreign employees of large corporations, especially in the petroleum industry. They derive some revenue from taxation of the illegal narcotics industry and they frequently assault energy infrastructures and have inflicted major damage on pipelines and the electric distribution network.
FARC stands for Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia). FARC is Colombia’s oldest, largest, most capable, and best-equipped Marxist insurgency. The FARC is organized along military lines and includes several urban fronts. A guerrilla company consists of three 26 man squads, plus the company commander and control officer for a total of 80 men. The company commander and control officer share dual leadership. The commander is in charge of military operations and the control officer is in charge of squad discipline. (Discipline is so severe that even arguing is not allowed in camp. First time offenses are punished by no cigarettes, no trips to town, extra guard duty, etc. Punishment for habitual or repeat offenders is death. The person is shot in front of the rest of the troops to discourage similar behavior.) Eight full companies make up a battalion. The battalion commander and his staff make up an additional platoon, which makes the standard total of a guerrilla battalion 666 men. The FARC claim that they have over twenty battalions in Colombia, but they have several thousand more supporters, mostly in rural areas.
Although the Colombian government has given the FARC political status and has attempted to negotiate in order to stop the recruitment of minors, the FARC has refused. The Colombian government's Family Welfare Institute estimates that at least 30 percent of the FARC's fighters are younger than 18 compared to about 15 percent a decade ago. However, international and Colombia agencies that track the use of child fighters now think the numbers may be higher. The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) estimates that there were about 6,000 minors serving in the FARC and AUC terrorist groups last year. Also, about 30 percent of FARC guerrillas are female.
When a recruit joins the FARC, he is sworn in on Simon Bolivar’s sword. (Simon Bolivar is Colombia’s equivalent of George Washington; incidentally, the sword was stolen from a museum.) Each member takes an oath of allegiance to the international Marxist ideology that ends with the phrase, “We will fight unto death against the Yankees, the enemies of all mankind.” Anyone who wishes to leave the movement is seen as an ‘oath breaking traitor’ and is free to be hunted down and killed. Most guerrilla fighters see themselves as ‘freedom fighters’ struggling against a corrupt government. Corruption, kickbacks, and blackmail are a way of life in a country where corrupt politicians steal a high percentage of the money destined for roads, hospitals, and schools. Corrupt policemen extort money from drug farmers and anyone who passes through their roads blocks. It is estimated that less than half of the people’s taxes are collected because most people cheat on their income taxes. One estimate says that 20% of the women in Colombia have been involved in prostitution at some time in their life, and illegitimate children make up over 50% of the births. (Coincidentally, rank guerrilla fighters are not allowed to marry, only high ranking commanders are allowed). There are thousands of street children who roam eating out of garbage cans. When they get older, many resort to stealing and armed robbery. Wages in general are very low and it is difficult to find jobs. This is what they see in their country, and they believe that corrupt capitalism is responsible for all of their trouble. Their leaders teach them that capitalism is from the United States, so they blame all of the Third World problems on the U.S. In their minds, they see a “huge, powerful monster nation exploiting all the Third World countries and ripping off all the natural resources. They are thoroughly convinced that the world would be a decent place to live in if they could only get rid of the United States.” They are shown Hollywood movies, like “Apocalypse Now”, and are told that it is a documentary of the Vietnam War. Many other Hollywood movies depicting drugs, alcohol, sex, violence, etc are shown to the guerrillas as depicting normal American life.
They believe that education is the answer to all of man’s problems, and each guerilla is on a continual study program at whatever level he has attained. All forces are required to attend daily ‘classes’ where Marxist ideology is ingrained for 2 hours. Marx wrote in his Communist Manifesto, “The Communists despise making a secret out of their opinions and intentions. They openly declare that their aims can be reached only through the violent overthrow of the whole existing social structure” and “There is only one method to shorten the murderous pains of death of the old society, the bloody birth pains of the new society; only one method to simplify and concentrate them, that is revolutionary terrorism.” It is no wonder then that FARC is involved in bombings, murder, mortar attacks, kidnapping, extortion, hijacking, as well as guerrilla and conventional military action against Colombian political, military, and economic targets. They believe that they need to endure discipline, hardship, and ‘necessary evil’ for a short time, until they come to power and communism takes control.
Although the FARC-controlled safe haven -- which is situated between two of Colombia's largest coca cultivation areas -- is not considered a major area for coca cultivation or drug trafficking, many FARC units throughout southern Colombia raise funds through the extortion of both legal and illegal businesses, the latter including the drug trade. Some insurgent units raise funds through extortion or by protecting laboratory operations. In return for cash payments, or possibly in exchange for weapons, the insurgents protect cocaine laboratories in southern Colombia. Some FARC units in southern Colombia are reported to be directly involved in drug trafficking activities, such as controlling local cocaine base markets. However, the individual members of the organizations are prohibited from using cocaine. So, in essence, it is fair to say that America’s drug market is financing the war in Colombia.
This article is licensed under the <"http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html">GNU Free Documentation License. Material from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colombia" Wikipedia article "Colombia"; Marx and Satan, Rescue the Captors
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Here are some more videos to give you an idea about life is like in Colombia.
A Kidnap Victim Speaks Out (A VOM worker shares his thoughts about his captors after his captivity)
Hostages Re-enter Life After Colombian Raid
Colombia Frontline
Witness - Peace Communities-Diary of a Massacre
Luis Interview (A teenager discusses evangelism in Colombia)
