His name is Chum Sok,* but to many people, he\u2019s known as Lazarus.<\/p>\n
Lazarus, similar to his namesake in the Bible, shared how he went from death to life, literally. As a result, he said, God took this modest and elderly Christian and turned him into a bold witness for Christ.<\/p>\n
Today, Lazarus is hard to track down. He has a calling to share Jesus with his own people. Every week, he spends at least two days going out to evangelize, traveling on Sundays to a village far away to share the Gospel and teach. He and fellow believers gather to study the Bible every night, often hearing of someone who is sick and going to pray for them until they are better. Lazarus\u2019 experience not only impacted his life but stirred a strong response in his village, where there are now more than 80 people attending church.<\/p>\n
Lazarus remains thankful to God. \u201cNow villagers understand that Jesus can save,\u201d he said, choking back joyful tears.<\/p>\n
In a village where Buddhist neighbors once criticized Lazarus and fellow Christians for believing in the foreigners\u2019 God, they now call on the Christians to pray when someone is sick.<\/p>\n
The darkest day<\/p>\n
Though he\u2019s been a Christian for many years, Lazarus\u2019 faith started out weak. \u201cI used to be embarrassed,\u201d he said. \u201cI would hide my Bible in my shirt when I went to church. I prayed for God to help me not be ashamed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lazarus and others shared how God answered his prayer in a way no one could expect. As the sun began to set one evening, he started having trouble catching his breath. Soon it became alarming as he began gasping, unable to breathe. His tiny, elderly wife, Mean Sary,* rushed to find a car to take her husband to the hospital.<\/p>\n
She and their son managed to get Lazarus to the main public hospital. By the time he arrived, Lazarus\u2019 organs were shutting down. The doctors soon lost his pulse. That\u2019s when Mean Sary, who was not a believer at the time, began to pray. \u201cI had no hope,\u201d she said. \u201cMy husband was always praying, but he couldn\u2019t. So I cried out to God for him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lazarus\u2019 pulse returned and he remained on a ventilator for the next six nights with no improvement and no clear diagnosis. Eventually doctors told Mean Sary to take her husband home to die. A few times, Lazarus regained consciousness long enough to write, \u201cPray.\u201d Then he would slip back into his comatose state. Feeling defeated, Mean Sary began the journey home in the ambulance with Lazarus, who by that time had begun to look black and lifeless.<\/p>\n
From death to life<\/p>\n
Lazarus\u2019 home was filled with friends and family, both Christian and Buddhist. Mean Sary collapsed once she made it home, unable to be consoled. Meanwhile, International Mission Board missionaries and friends, William and Nancy Potter,* and local believers from Lazarus\u2019 church helped Mean Sary get Lazarus onto a bed and prayed for the family.<\/p>\n
As the believers prayed, Buddhists mocked them saying that Lazarus was being punished for being a Christian. They wanted the Christians to leave so they could prepare a proper Buddhist funeral.<\/p>\n
As believers prayed, William urged people to take the ventilator out of Lazarus\u2019 mouth so he could die with dignity. When they did, a miracle happened — Lazarus began to cough. The Christians all got down on their knees and began praying for God to heal Lazarus, to give him his breath back. Gradually, Lazarus began to show more signs of life — regaining his natural color. \u201cThat\u2019s when I started having hope and faith,\u201d Mean Sary said.<\/p>\n
The \u201cJesus clinic\u201d<\/p>\n
The Potters asked if they could take Lazarus to the Christian doctors in the area. Mean Sary agreed, and Lazarus was soon in the care of IMB missionary Joseph Bricker* at what\u2019s known by the locals as the \u201cJesus clinic.\u201d<\/p>\n
The clinic is a multi-national, multi-organizational medical clinic whose mission is to provide quality medical care in the name of Jesus and share the Gospel with each patient. The Jesus clinic is actively planting churches throughout surrounding villages and has played a part in many church plants countrywide.<\/p>\n
At the clinic, patients \u201cexperience the love of God in a way they would not experience anywhere else,\u201d Bricker, who was one of the doctors attending Lazarus, said.<\/p>\n
Test results at the clinic looked good, and Lazarus no longer had multiple organ failure. As he regained consciousness, he looked around and saw doctors and nurses praying for him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew I would live,\u201d Lazarus said. \u201cI knew Jesus was in those doctors, and their wisdom comes from God.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lazarus began to recover and was eventually sent home in good health.<\/p>\n
A changed man inside and out<\/p>\n
Lazarus only remembers a few things from his time in the hospitals — the Jesus clinic in particular shapes how he now lives his life.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember waking up once and praying \u2018Oh God, if I am your child, please give me the chance to evangelize. If you let me live, I will tell people about you,\u2019\u201d he recalled, stopping a few times to wipe tears and take a breath.<\/p>\n
After slipping back out of consciousness in the hospital, Lazarus had a vision. \u201cI saw three people — Jesus, a soldier and a guard,\u201d he said. \u201cJesus said to me, \u2018Let your hope rise in me.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Today, Lazarus is alive and well, and he\u2019s keeping his promise to God. He didn\u2019t just come back to life physically; he was revived and emboldened spiritually. No longer a shy Christian hiding his Bible in his shirt, Lazarus joins his fellow believers to make Jesus known in their village, surrounding villages and even villages far away. His wife and son are now believers in Christ.<\/p>\n
Reflecting on his ordeal, Lazarus said, \u201c[It was] like Satan wanted me to shut up … God saved me, and now I speak the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n
He expressed his gratitude for the Jesus clinic and the care he received there. \u201cThe doctors at the Jesus clinic have hope,\u201d he said. \u201cTheir faith stands out as different.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lazarus said he is especially appreciative of Dr. Bricker. \u201cI like that he knows how to pray in my language,\u201d he said. \u201cHe prayed I would be able to serve the Lord.\u201d And that\u2019s exactly what he\u2019s doing.<\/p>\n
Lazarus often goes back to the \u201cJesus clinic\u201d for checkups. When he does, he shares his testimony, helping the clinic in its mission to share the Gospel with every patient. \u201cIf we\u2019re God\u2019s children, we must have fruit,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
________<\/p>\n
* names changed<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
His name is Chum Sok,* but to many people, he\u2019s known as Lazarus. Lazarus, similar to his namesake in the Bible, shared how he went from death to life, literally. As a result, he said, God took this modest and elderly Christian and turned him into a bold witness for Christ. Today, Lazarus is hard […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2118,2373,3511,94,3134,3512],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6037"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6037"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6037\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}