He Witnessed to his Kidnappers
We met Brother J in Jordan, a soft-spoken man whose gentle demeanor belied the incredible story that he told us.
His father was kidnapped first, a terrible, but not uncommon, situation for Christians in their home nation of Iraq. The kidnappers called Brother J, pretending that they wanted him to go pick up his father for rescue from their evil. When he went, though, they kidnapped him as well - and that was only the beginning. They subjected him to unbelievable torture. Masked militants held a knife to his throat and threatened him with death. They strapped him down, attached wires to his bare flesh, and ran electric shocks through his body.
These kidnappers held him for three weeks, subjecting him to this brutality. While all human expectation would be for him to give up, or to become bitter and angry, Brother J did none of those. In fact, as he showed us pictures taken shortly after the experience - legs covered with massive bruises from the beatings and electricity - and explained that he still could not walk without pain, he constantly referenced his gratefulness for the love and faithfulness of our God.
All of this torture, he told us, actually brought him closer to God, and taught him to truly pray. Even more than that, he said, he even had a chance to witness to his kidnappers! Imagine that - being chained to a chair, being brutally tortured, and witnessing to those evildoers of the eternal plan of salvation!
What a testimony.