Die With Us!

This morning I was reminded of this story, and it shook me to the core ... again.

Haim and his family
Cambodia
1970s

All during the night, the members of Haim's family comforted each other. They knew they only had a few more hours to live on this earth. The Cambodian Communist soldiers had tied them all together and forced them to lie down on the grass.

Earlier that day, Haim's whole family had been rounded up for execution. Because they were all Christians, the Communists considered them "bad blood" and "enemies of the glorious revolution." In the morning, they were made to dig their own graves.

The killers were generous. They allowed their victims a moment of prayer to prepare themselves for death. Parents and children held hands and knelt together near the open grave. After his family finished their prayers, Haim exhorted the Communists and all those looking on to repent and to receive Jesus as Savior.

Suddenly, one of Haim's young sons leapt to his feet, bolted to the nearby forest and disappeared. Haim was amazingly calm as he persuaded the soldiers not to chase the boy but to allow him to call the boy back. While the family knelt, the father pleaded with his son to return and die with his family.

"Think my son," he shouted, "Can stealing a few more days of life, as a fugitive in that forest, compare to soon joining your family forever free in paradise?" Weeping, the boy walked back to his father, as his father comfortably wrapped him in his arms and walked him back to their waiting family.

Haim said to the executioners, "Now we are ready to go." But none of the soldiers would kill them. Finally, an officer who had not witnessed the scene came and shot the Christians.

(Taken from Jesus Freaks, by the Voice of the Martyrs)