Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge were responsible for the deaths of millions of Cambodians between 1975 and 1979.  Their last stronghold was the town of Pailin near the Thai border.  Pailin would seem inauspicious ground for Christian ministry, but nothing is impossible with God.

Phannith Roth, a missionary who grew up half-starved in a labour camp, admitted that he was terrified when his congregation in the town of Siha-noukville begged him to go to Pailin to spread the Word.

“I was scared because there are landmines everywhere, malaria is rife and because of the Khmer Rouge, who everyone knows are cruel,” he said.

“But it was the Lord’s will.” Now his Pailin Bible Presbytery Church has about 40 former Khmer Rouge worshippers. “One was a hopeless drunk who told me he would have committed suicide if he had the courage,” Pastor Phannith said. “He had been forced to machinegun 100 villagers to death and had recognised his own sister among them. After that he couldn’t face his family.

“But now he has found Jesus. He has something to live for; he has stopped drinking.”

Pastor Phannith said that many chose Christianity because they did not find forgiveness in Buddhism, which teaches that a soul must pay for its sins during lives to come.

Several churches in the town have Khmer Rouge converts in their congregations.