Genocide

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/past-present-collide-cambodia/

"It’s now nearly 40 years from the April 17, 1975 morning when the Khmer Rouge Maoist guerrillas marched into Phnom Penh and embarked on a three-year, eight-month and 20-day reign of murder that killed at least 1.7 million Cambodians in a population then numbering 8 million. The country is still struggling to find its feet."

My heart goes out to these people. Anyone as old as I am lived through this time period, and remembers. 40 years is not long enough to really say this genocide was a thing of history.

Every person with glasses -- must be educated -- was murdered. Anyone with a book in their home -- was killed. Anyone with any connection to Christianity -- was systematically eliminated.

Almost a quarter of the entire population of the country was slain in genocide. The Adventist church of Cambodia was exterminated in the mid 1970's. It is very sad to learn about these things.

Lessons that come to mind:

1) Satan will push mankind under his control to great depths of depravity. When a group of people devote themselves to anti-God mentality, Satan then has full control to wield carnage, suffering and death.

2) Man has no goodness on his own. The natural inclination of the heart of man is oppression and cruelty to his fellow man.

3) Having gone through all of this, the people of Cambodia are incredibly kind and courteous. Seeing how sweet the people are makes the genocide even more tragic. I can only imagine it was sheep led to the slaughter.

4) The children are also kind -- the parents have not been so mentally damaged with suffering as to ruin the next generations outlook on life.


My heart goes out to these people. Who will strike a spark for Cambodia?