The God Who Hung On A Cross

In her book The God Who Hung on the Cross, journalist Ellen Vaughn retells a gripping story. The story takes place in the 1970′s when the Khmer Rouge, that brutal, Communist-led regime, took over Cambodia, destroying everything in its path. When the soldiers finally descended on one particular rural, northern village, they immediately rounded up the villagers and forced them to start digging their own graves. After the villagers had finished digging, they prepared themselves to die. Some screamed to Buddha, others screamed to demon spirits or to their ancestors. But, one of the women started to cry out for help based on a childhood memory—a story her mother told her about a God Who had hung on a cross. The woman cried out to—prayed to—that unknown God on a cross. She thought, surely, if this God had known suffering, He would have compassion on their plight.

 

Suddenly, her solitary cry became one great wail as the entire village followed her example and  started praying to the God Who had suffered and hung on a cross. As they continued facing their own graves, the wailing slowly turned to a quiet crying. There was an eerie silence in the muggy jungle air. 

 

Slowly, they dared to turn around and face their captors and when they did they discovered that the soldiers were all gone.

 

Back in September of 1999 Pastor Tuy Seng (not his real name) traveled to Kampong Thom Province in northern Cambodia as a missionary. Throughout that isolated area, Seng discovered that most villagers had cast their lot with Buddhism or spiritism. Christianity was virtually unheard of and most people were not open to him sharing the Gospel message. But much to Seng’s surprise, when he arrived this one small, rural village the people warmly embraced both him and his message. When he asked the villagers to explain their openness to the Gospel, an old woman shuffled forward, bowed, and grasped Seng’s hands as she said, “We have been waiting for you for twenty years.”  And then she told him this story of the mysterious God Who had hung on the cross. Of course Pastor Seng was more than happy to do exactly that.