By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries
BOGOTÁ, COLOMBIA (ANS) -- Last May, evangelical pastor Juan Carlos Villegas was kidnapped and held for 12 days by the National Liberation Army in war-torn Colombia. They forced him to walk for many hours each day so that neither the Colombian Army nor the paramilitaries could find them. Several times they threatened him with death.
According to a story released by ICPress in Spain, Villegas read his Bible out loud to help him and discovered, to his surprise, that many of the rebels listened with emotion as he read.
"In fact they told him to continue reading out loud, and to pray for them, and he was able to answer many of their questions about Christianity," said the ICPress story. "Finally, he was set free and he is persuaded that a key factor in the guerrilla commander's acceptance of a Bible from him, were the prayers of many believers around he world."
LEARNED HOW TO DEPEND TOTALLY ON GOD
"The kidnapping has taught me a valuable lesson on how to depend totally on God," he said after his release.
Meanwhile, evangelical growth continues in this nation blighted by civil conflict, said the ICPress story.
It continued, "As a proportion of the population, they have grown from 0.43% in 1960, to between 5% and 10% today. They are active in efforts to find a peaceful solution to the country's problems, through non-governmental organizations, groups in favor of human rights, and through participation in the Permanent Assembly of the Civil Society for Peace."
Sources: Bibliopress/SBE
Editing: ICPress.