The Rev. Sam Om, 57, was sent to the Cambodian killing fields. (Photo: TODD SUMLIN - tsumlin@charlotteobserver.com)Sunday, Apr. 04, 2010
- Favorite Bible verse: Gospel of John 3:16. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but have eternal life."
- Where he'll be this Easter Sunday: Conducting the 11 a.m. service at St. John's United Methodist.
By Tim Funk
tfunk@charlotteobserver.com
Charlotte Observer (South Carolina, USA)
It was the mid-1970s. Sam Om had been sentenced to a slow death in a Cambodian work camp run by Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge rebels.
As a soldier on the losing side of a civil war, he worked from sunrise until dark, digging ditches and planting rice. He had little to eat. And he slept in the fields wrapped in a rice sack.
The law of survival was to shut up and do what you were told. Those who violated it were forced to dig their own graves, then beaten to death with a bamboo stick.
One day, he refused to get up.
Why are you so lazy? the guard screamed. Others are working!
Sam cursed him, then said: Kill me now.
The guard walked away.
Sam was sure he'd be executed after dark. But the night passed. Then another, and another.
Days later, Sam, a Buddhist taught to believe in reincarnation, had an epiphany: If I'm going to die, let it be outside Cambodia. That way, in my next life, I will not return to these killing fields.
Accepting Christ in the Philippines
In late 1978, when Vietnam invaded Cambodia, hundreds of thousands of refugees - including Sam and his mother and sisters - made their way to camps in Thailand.
While there, Sam's sister visited a Christian church and brought back a Bible, translated into the Khmer (Cambodian) language, for Sam.
He ripped out some of the tissue-thin pages to roll cigarettes. But he also read a lot of it.
One passage in the Gospel of John changed him. "God so loved the world that he sent his only son ..."
This God, he loved me, Sam thought. He loved not just humankind, but me.
At a Baptist service months later in the Philippines, Sam stepped forward to accept Christ.
Listening to that inner voice
Sam reached the United States in 1981. His new ambition: Get rich.
But an inner voice whispered: I brought you here for a reason. Tell your people how much I have done for you.
Sam sensed the voice leading him - to Bible school in New York; to Syvany, his wife of 26 years; to the ministry.
Survivor preaching to other survivors
Now 57, he's pastor of St. John's United Methodist Church on Monroe Road, near some of Charlotte's Asian neighborhoods.
His 80-person congregation is mostly made up of Cambodians. Many of them also survived the murderous regime of Pol Pot.
As a soldier on the losing side of a civil war, he worked from sunrise until dark, digging ditches and planting rice. He had little to eat. And he slept in the fields wrapped in a rice sack.
The law of survival was to shut up and do what you were told. Those who violated it were forced to dig their own graves, then beaten to death with a bamboo stick.
One day, he refused to get up.
Why are you so lazy? the guard screamed. Others are working!
Sam cursed him, then said: Kill me now.
The guard walked away.
Sam was sure he'd be executed after dark. But the night passed. Then another, and another.
Days later, Sam, a Buddhist taught to believe in reincarnation, had an epiphany: If I'm going to die, let it be outside Cambodia. That way, in my next life, I will not return to these killing fields.
Accepting Christ in the Philippines
In late 1978, when Vietnam invaded Cambodia, hundreds of thousands of refugees - including Sam and his mother and sisters - made their way to camps in Thailand.
While there, Sam's sister visited a Christian church and brought back a Bible, translated into the Khmer (Cambodian) language, for Sam.
He ripped out some of the tissue-thin pages to roll cigarettes. But he also read a lot of it.
One passage in the Gospel of John changed him. "God so loved the world that he sent his only son ..."
This God, he loved me, Sam thought. He loved not just humankind, but me.
At a Baptist service months later in the Philippines, Sam stepped forward to accept Christ.
Listening to that inner voice
Sam reached the United States in 1981. His new ambition: Get rich.
But an inner voice whispered: I brought you here for a reason. Tell your people how much I have done for you.
Sam sensed the voice leading him - to Bible school in New York; to Syvany, his wife of 26 years; to the ministry.
Survivor preaching to other survivors
Now 57, he's pastor of St. John's United Methodist Church on Monroe Road, near some of Charlotte's Asian neighborhoods.
His 80-person congregation is mostly made up of Cambodians. Many of them also survived the murderous regime of Pol Pot.
14 comments:
One passage in the Gospel of John changed him. "God so loved the world that he sent his only son ..."
This God, he loved me, Sam thought. He loved not just humankind, but me.
But an inner voice whispered: I brought you here for a reason. Tell your people how much I have done for you.
THIS MAN IS WEIRD! OH WELL... THAT'S HIS RIGHTS!
1:26PM if you meet Sam Om's Living God you too will be just as "weird". and i hope you will too one day.
This guy has been lying . Kmher Rouge rules, you dont have to tell them to kill you , they will kill you if you dont take oder from Angka. I think he is a fake Christian .. going to church to get help so he will have a better life .
5:50PM
100% I agree with you.
ដូនពេញ
Cambodian religion today is so weak and corrupt that it's time to convert again. We had been traveling from Hundu to Bhuddism and the future needs to be Christianity. Why? because only monks, none and a small percentage of Cambodian are practicing Bhuddism truely. The rest of the society could careless. There is no use and no moral whatsoever in our society. It's the reason why we had been thru hell on earth and continue endlessly.
5:50OPM & 7:59PM
I like your ideas and i agree with you.
9:14PM,
Cambodian religion (Buddhism) has never been and will never be weak and corrupted. It is the immoral and indecent people who are corrupted, caused by some well-educated Khmer Rouge leaders. And no one has the capacity to change Buddhism. Those who think Buddhism is the religion of supperstition are dumb.
9:14,
So, if we all convert to Christianity, this will heal Cambodia? Get a life dude! What you're saying is...your God only take cares of his believer and fuck every body else? You need to ask what kind of God is he/she?
Or, is there such thing?
When ever he (God) decided to reveal himself to me, in person....otherwise, Science is my God. They're the only one thus far, that have proven to me what's real and what's not.
DON'T TRY TO GET ANY CHAIR FROM POL POT SON HUN....MAKE UUUU NOT SUPPORT POL POT FOR ANY $$$$ CHAIR......
5:50PM, 7:59PM and 9:36 PM,
I am with the three of you.
I think Sam became a Christian for convenience!
To 10:09 PM,
If you don't accept Jesus Christ into your life and repent yourself, you will not be saved. I suggested you should do that now!
Jesus Rock!
FUCK OFF RETARDED JESUS
Hi,
This is great post on Bible Download
I am stubborn, greedy, corrupted, discriminated, racist and envied. These are the reasons that made me not able to find peace in my heart and my country not to mention for someone else.
Khmer majority.
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