Loading summary
Transcript149 lines
- [00:00]
Les Sillers
Additional support comes from water's edge.
- [00:03]
Clay Ramirez
For 75 years, water's edge has existed
- [00:06]
Les Sillers
to financially empower donors and ministries to transform lives with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Water's Edge Kingdom Investments offers investors 4.55% APY on 13 month term investments. These investments provide the funds needed to make church building loans to growing churches across the country. Details@watersedge.com Invest from World Radio, this is Double Take. I'm Les Sillers. We're working hard on our next full season. It'll be out this summer and we're really excited about it. We got some great stories in the works. In the meantime, we decided to bring you an episode that's ready now. A Quick Warning this episode contains brief accounts of war violence. It's probably not for small kids. Does what you believe affect how you live? Most people would say yeah, of course. So it makes sense then that you can tell what you believe by how you live. Not just what you say you believe, but what you actually believe. It was only 8am and already bullets were ripping through the air over Peter Rakesh's head. He was the chaplain for a contingent of Christian soldiers from Southern Sudan.
- [01:34]
South Sudanese Chaplains (including Peter Akesh, Lino Manuel, William Tong, Richard Longo Benson, Emmanuel de Chek)
I came as a chaplain since 1999.
- [01:40]
Les Sillers
Unlike the chaplains in most militaries, he was armed. His unit was trying to recapture a base that had been taken by rival troops from the north, mostly Arab Muslims. This was many years ago, somewhere in what is now South Sudan. It's actually a little tricky to nail a kesh down on things like dates and locations in Africa. These kinds of details are less important, but Akesh remembers it very clearly. Anyway, the order was simple enough. Capture the base. The problem? The Arabs had two tanks and the South Sudanese just one. Outgunned, the unit hunkered down for another long day of fighting. But Akesh was not worried. He was the chaplain and he had prayed. Naturally, he began to sing. His song floated over the gunfire. He figured that if he sang, his Lord could not ignore their situation. Suddenly, Akesh stood up and started to dance. In the middle of the battle, if Jesus can command the wind and the rain, can't he also command the bullet's path?
- [02:45]
South Sudanese Chaplains (including Peter Akesh, Lino Manuel, William Tong, Richard Longo Benson, Emmanuel de Chek)
Jesus can command those of mine bullet and they can obey voice of the law.
- [02:51]
Les Sillers
And then he leaped toward the enemy lines, holding a little wooden cross he always carries and screaming at the top of his lungs, Akesh rushed onto the base. Somehow he wasn't shot. His boldness rallied the troops. Everyone followed Crazy Pete's lead as they rushed forward. The anti tank and anti personnel mines scattered around the base failed to trigger. By the end of the day, the South Sudanese contingent had recaptured the base and one enemy tank. The other tank they destroyed. Akesh is just one of hundreds of military chaplains trained by a group called Far reaching ministries. A former American marine named Wes Bentley founded the organization almost 30 years ago. I first heard about these armed South Sudanese chaplains from Clay Ramirez. He's one of my former journalism students at Patrick Henry college. The stories Clay told were amazing. So last winter, we sent them to South Sudan to meet some of these chaplains. Really, I wanted to know, were these guys for real? Just to be clear, we're talking about South Sudan, not Sudan. South Sudan became its own country in 2011. That followed decades of violence between the Muslim government and militia in the northern half of the country. And the mostly Christian groups in the South Sudan has been in the news a lot lately. It plunged into chaos in April 2023 when a power struggle between the military and the powerful par military rapid support forces exploded. There were mass killings and rapes and ethnically motivated violence.
- [04:26]
Clay Ramirez
From the BBC, the world health organization says that it's received reports that more than 450 civilians have been killed in a hospital in the Sudanese city of Al Fasha. The paramilitary rapid support forces.
- [04:39]
Les Sillers
The current war has killed more than 40,000 people. According to United nations figures, it's the world's largest humanitarian crisis. Over 14 million people have been displaced. While disease and famine are spreading, A bit of that chaos is leaking over the border into South Sudan. That's where Clay went. He wanted to interview military chaplains who are serving in South Sudan's military. It's calmer there, but a long way from peaceful. And in the last year, the situation has been deteriorating. So today, a story about, and this is gonna sound weird, Pastor warriors. They're called chaplains, but they're not like chaplains in western militaries. These guys are ready to rush into battle. They take fight the good fight to a whole new level. They preach the gospel while protecting the vulnerable. And in facing death, they find life. Here's Clay.
- [05:46]
Clay Ramirez
I had heard about these chaplains growing up as a missionary kid in Kenya, Bumping along in the back of a crowded van in South Sudan, I couldn't be more excited. I was going to meet the legendary castle dwelling, gun toting chaplains of the African wilderness. Our caravan had just crossed the dusty Ugandan border into South Sudan, and driving through a national park full of wild animals, they told us the space would stick out. But by the time we arrived in the city of Nimali. I'd seen nothing remarkable. The roads, more pothole than street, were lined with murky water and rundown shops. Even the hotels were little metal shacks. As I looked out at the poverty, part of me wondered if the stories about the chaplains were, well, exaggerated. I was now on a mission of my own. I needed to find out if these stories are true and what compels these men to sing and dance through brutal civil wars. Either way, I was about to meet the men I'd heard so much about. As we moved forward, a massive castle came into view. Its blue two story high stone walls towered over the shacks that surrounded it. As we approached the castle gates, we began to hear the deep voices of the chaplains. Suddenly, our car was surrounded by women utilating and singing worship songs in Juba Arabic. Some men ran along with the van. Hundreds of others line up along the castle wall, singing, waving and dancing. All the chaplains who can make it had returned to the castle at Nimali for a training conference. Their celebration was in part for me and the American pastors, but they were most excited to see Wes Bentley. He was finally coming back to the base after two whole years. Inside the walled castle, the celebration continued to ramp up. We were surrounded. As we exited the vehicles, Men were eagerly hugging us, shaking our hands and inviting us deeper into the crowd. A lot of these men were really tall. The Dinka tribe of South Sudan is the second tallest people in the world, so it shouldn't have been a surprise. I'm 6ft and they towered over me. Some were young and others old. Some were bearded and others clean shaven. Almost all were thin yet muscular and dressed in military uniforms. While some were more stoic than others. All were clearly excited for this week of Bible teaching and relaxation. That night, they celebrated with song and dance. Bonfires lit up the castle courtyard as the men bunched off into groups. There were two crocodiles in the corner. The older men lounged in chairs while the others danced and played soccer. They looked joyful, even boyish. It was hard to see them as warriors.
- [09:13]
Wes Bentley
You know, when I go, I go fully armed. I take about three vehicles, you know, 20 machine guns and you know, we're ready for war because they hit hard.
- [09:20]
Clay Ramirez
West Bentley has a pastor's heart, but he thinks like a Marine. In 1998, Bentley was providing security for missionaries in Sudan. They needed it. They were serving amid one of the world's longest running complex, and it was nasty. Here's the background. Northern Sudan is Mostly Arab and Muslim, Southern Sudan is mostly black and Christian. Tensions between the two date back to the 1950s. After gaining its independence from the British Empire, Sudan's ethnic and religious divides bubbled to the surface. News media often painted the conflict as an ethnic battle for control of grazing land and oil fields. But it was clearly driven by Muslim attempts to impose Islam on on Christians in the South. In 1983, a vicious civil war broke out. That conflict lasted until a 2005 peace agreement. In 2011, those in the south officially formed their own country, South Sudan. From the BBC,
- [10:21]
South Sudanese Chaplains (including Peter Akesh, Lino Manuel, William Tong, Richard Longo Benson, Emmanuel de Chek)
the party has begun. They come out with their South Sudan flags.
- [10:26]
Clay Ramirez
There's an air of jubilation here in Juba.
- [10:29]
South Sudanese Chaplains (including Peter Akesh, Lino Manuel, William Tong, Richard Longo Benson, Emmanuel de Chek)
People banging homemade drums to celebrate the independence of.
- [10:37]
Clay Ramirez
Chaplain Peter Rakesh remembers the war. Though while it raged, the southern Sudanese people deeply resented. No, they hated the Arabs.
- [10:45]
South Sudanese Chaplains (including Peter Akesh, Lino Manuel, William Tong, Richard Longo Benson, Emmanuel de Chek)
They can spit in you into your eyes and tell you slept.
- [10:50]
Clay Ramirez
He said, they can spit in your eye and tell you slave. He told me that kind of treatment made him annoyed. So when the revolution started, he went to go get his gun and. And go fight. Many Sudanese, including the chaplains, grew up surrounded by air raids and death. Amid the chaos in the mid-1990s, Bentley would patrol the area, making sure the missionaries could continue their work without worrying about the rebels or other militants. Both sides were stuck in a vicious cycle. The north would brutalize the south, and the south would return in kind. One day, a Sudanese soldier walked into Bentley's camp.
- [11:27]
Wes Bentley
Before he said anything to me, I could tell this guy was a killer. I could see it in his face. And he said, I need to talk to you. He goes, I've done something in my life I can't live with. And I said, what did you do? And he said, first of all, he goes, I want you to know that. He goes, the Islamic army killed my entire family. They wiped everybody out. My mother, my father, my brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, Lily. He said, I have no relatives. I'm the last of my family. He goes, but I did something I shouldn't have done. I said, what did you do? He said, we recaptured a village from the Islamic north. And when we did, I captured a pregnant Islamic woman.
- [12:01]
Clay Ramirez
The woman was pregnant with twins. The soldier said he had cut them out of her with a bayonet and then shot the woman.
- [12:08]
Wes Bentley
And of course, it was quite shocking to hear. And I had to think for a moment. I said, all I can tell you is with Jesus Christ, there's forgiveness, sin and hope. And he said, will you come and share with my Soldiers. And I said, yes.
- [12:19]
Clay Ramirez
That was the beginning. Bentley realized that the only way to stop this war was if these men were taught a better way. He started by sharing Christ with a soldier in his platoon. Then Bentley established the chaplaincy school. The idea was to teach the Sudanese army and people how to win the spiritual battle as well as the physical war. In 1998, Bentley started Far Reaching Ministries, or FRM. Today it works in dozens of countries and includes a variety of relief efforts. But its chaplain training program is focused in South Sudan. From this castle base in Nimali, training in the chaplaincy school is pretty brutal.
- [13:06]
Wes Bentley
It's a very intense school. Get the guys at 5:00 in the morning, Monday through Friday. We run them anywhere from three to nine miles a day. And then they get two meals a
- [13:16]
Clay Ramirez
day, rice and beans.
- [13:18]
Wes Bentley
And the reason we do that is because if we don't train them hard, they won't survive. South Sudan army doesn't feed their soldiers. When you go to the front line, you have to hunt, you have to cultivate. And if you give them too much, then they'll get up there and they're too used to having a lot of food, and they just don't survive.
- [13:35]
Clay Ramirez
After training, they have hours of Bible class time followed by two hours of study time. They also learn practical ministry, including home visitations, evangelism, and church work. And they learn to fight, and we
- [13:48]
Wes Bentley
have a reputation as being a very hard fighting force.
- [13:51]
Clay Ramirez
The South Sudanese military deploys the chaplains with units spread across the country. Their main task is to pastor various congregations throughout South Sudan to share the gospel with troops and their families. But they're also there to protect the innocent. Bentley says that criminals in various armed factions make Southern Sudan a very dangerous place. So the chaplains go fully armed.
- [14:15]
Wes Bentley
You know, we're not there to be soldiers. I went there to be a pastor. But the rebels started coming down and killing all the women and children.
- [14:22]
Clay Ramirez
Bentley says that turning the other cheek does not mean you let people murder your family. He says the verse is talking about enduring offense for the sake of the gospel.
- [14:31]
Wes Bentley
I realized that we needed to train these men to be able to defend those that cannot defend themselves and protect those that cannot protect themselves.
- [14:42]
Clay Ramirez
Over the next week, I spoke with dozens of chaplains and heard some incredible stories. Lino Manuel was one of the first chaplains I met.
- [14:51]
South Sudanese Chaplains (including Peter Akesh, Lino Manuel, William Tong, Richard Longo Benson, Emmanuel de Chek)
People become very happy about me.
- [14:53]
Clay Ramirez
Lino was a tall, dark man in his 50s with a soft voice. He moved slowly but with purpose. He never seemed to break his easygoing demeanor, but he still commanded a lot of respect from the other chaplains. For Lino, fighting makes the most sense, even for Christians.
- [15:10]
South Sudanese Chaplains (including Peter Akesh, Lino Manuel, William Tong, Richard Longo Benson, Emmanuel de Chek)
Why you carrying gun is your protection?
- [15:13]
Clay Ramirez
Yes.
- [15:13]
South Sudanese Chaplains (including Peter Akesh, Lino Manuel, William Tong, Richard Longo Benson, Emmanuel de Chek)
You have your gun and you, you have Bible?
- [15:16]
Les Sillers
Yes.
- [15:16]
South Sudanese Chaplains (including Peter Akesh, Lino Manuel, William Tong, Richard Longo Benson, Emmanuel de Chek)
Okay. When you put. You fell in the ambush. You can put to defend yourself. Okay. You defend yourself and you defend your people. I come to your home, I going to kill your father, your brother, your children. Are you going to allow it?
- [15:31]
Wes Bentley
No.
- [15:32]
South Sudanese Chaplains (including Peter Akesh, Lino Manuel, William Tong, Richard Longo Benson, Emmanuel de Chek)
Yes. That is what we're doing. We defend our country. We defend our people. We defend our wife and our children. When enemies come, you defend yourself. When you caught them, you freeze it to them. That is what we do.
- [15:49]
Clay Ramirez
Lino said, when the enemies come, you defend yourself. When you capture an enemy, you preach to them. Lino had shot and killed a lion when he was a kid. And about 10 years ago, he fought off four armed thieves who were trying to break into a guest house. And during the Sudanese civil war, he'd been shot in the head.
- [16:08]
South Sudanese Chaplains (including Peter Akesh, Lino Manuel, William Tong, Richard Longo Benson, Emmanuel de Chek)
They wound me. My head and they wound me. My hand and the leg.
- [16:11]
Clay Ramirez
They shot you in the head?
- [16:12]
South Sudanese Chaplains (including Peter Akesh, Lino Manuel, William Tong, Richard Longo Benson, Emmanuel de Chek)
Yes. How? Yeah. You see now? Oh, wow.
- [16:19]
Clay Ramirez
He showed me a scar in his temple. His nonchalance caught me off guard. Leno wasn't boasting, but simply relaying a fact. Most of the chaplains I talked to were like this, as calmly as if telling me what they had done last Tuesday. They described being shot, stabbed, or blown up. They had gone through the trenches of war and were still smiling and dancing. I didn't understand it. One of the first nights, I found a part of my answer. I was asking around for crazy war stories, and they pointed me to Senior Chaplain William Tong. He had been shot 18 times. They said, 18 bullets in your body? Yes. Okay.
- [16:58]
Les Sillers
How did that happen?
- [17:00]
South Sudanese Chaplains (including Peter Akesh, Lino Manuel, William Tong, Richard Longo Benson, Emmanuel de Chek)
It was when we were fighting.
- [17:04]
Clay Ramirez
Tong received his first injury when he was just 14 years old in 1986. Many of the chaplains I talked to had joined the military when they were children. Tong sustained his 18th bullet wound well after the end of the war in 2005. Many of the bullets are still inside him. I asked Hong if he had ever been scared he was going to die. After thinking for a bit, he said there were a few times, but nothing stood out. I learned later that he had been cut open and left for dead. When I asked Tang about this, he said he must have forgotten, and I believed him. Later, he told me the story. Back in 1992, the South Sudanese military was fighting to take back the city of Juba, South Sudan's current capital. Tang was supposed to spy out the location of the enemy's mortar launchers. Tang and a team climbed a hill and camped out on top of it behind enemy lines.
- [18:00]
South Sudanese Chaplains (including Peter Akesh, Lino Manuel, William Tong, Richard Longo Benson, Emmanuel de Chek)
Our shelling was very effective, and the Arab become annoyed for three consecutively days. So they sent. They sent Rub outside. They knew that we are on the top of Mount Magic. They knew.
- [18:16]
Clay Ramirez
So the Arab forces attacked. At first, the high ground gave Tang's unit the advantage. However, the enemy soon realized that Tang's company had limited resources. So they waited them out. After seven days of small skirmishes, Tong and his men ran out of ammo. Their food was long gone by then. They were surviving on leaves and water.
- [18:38]
South Sudanese Chaplains (including Peter Akesh, Lino Manuel, William Tong, Richard Longo Benson, Emmanuel de Chek)
What we did, we gathered all the stone. This big stone. We gathered like three and four big one. When they came near on the hub of the mountain, we kicked all those stones at one, he said.
- [18:53]
Clay Ramirez
They tried to fight back by throwing and rolling stones down the hill at them, but it was no match. After reaching the top, the Arabs killed most of the men in Tong's unit and mutilated others. They captured Tang and offered to spare his life if he would help them intercept South Sudanese radio messages. He refused. So they tied him to a tree, arms behind his back, and cut his torso open with a bayonet.
- [19:18]
South Sudanese Chaplains (including Peter Akesh, Lino Manuel, William Tong, Richard Longo Benson, Emmanuel de Chek)
I don't even feel pain because we have several days. No food, no water. So I. I was not feeling a pain. I just hear something making a sound.
- [19:28]
Clay Ramirez
They left him for dead after he fainted. When he woke up, he managed to free himself and then walk a few days to the next village to get help. He took a month to recover, then returned to his unit. Tong showed me his scar stretching from his lower abdomen to his chest. He now makes do with one lung. As Tong told his story, I realized this was one I'd heard as a kid. It hadn't been exaggerated. It had been undersold. When I had first asked Tang if he had ever been scared he would die, he seemed confused.
- [20:07]
South Sudanese Chaplains (including Peter Akesh, Lino Manuel, William Tong, Richard Longo Benson, Emmanuel de Chek)
Yeah, you will not worry. Because you know from the very beginning when you are going to the war, you know it very well that it is. It is just off and on. It is just a game, either you or him. So that one you leave it upon to the Lord, you are going to fight definitely knowing that you will be killed or you kill someone.
- [20:28]
Clay Ramirez
For Tong and all the chaplains I spoke with, it was kill or be killed. It was a simple calculation for Chaplain Lino.
- [20:39]
South Sudanese Chaplains (including Peter Akesh, Lino Manuel, William Tong, Richard Longo Benson, Emmanuel de Chek)
You know, in the military, when they train you, you train you're going to die. Or some people enemy come, they're going to Die also. That is what you will find. Okay? You're going to win or you're going to lose.
- [20:53]
Clay Ramirez
That's just how it is when one of your friends dies next to you in battle.
- [20:57]
South Sudanese Chaplains (including Peter Akesh, Lino Manuel, William Tong, Richard Longo Benson, Emmanuel de Chek)
When your brother, your friend, died, okay, you make your friend like a fence.
- [21:04]
Clay Ramirez
You turn him into a fence, a barrier to stop the bullets from reaching you.
- [21:09]
South Sudanese Chaplains (including Peter Akesh, Lino Manuel, William Tong, Richard Longo Benson, Emmanuel de Chek)
You know somebody when he died, and you put in your friend, in your friend in front of you here, the bullets cannot get in you. You hide yourself like a shield. Yeah, like a shield. And you.
- [21:39]
Clay Ramirez
On my second day in Nimali, we rushed out of the chapel to see men tying up a cow. By the time the chaplains had wrestled the cow to the ground, a crowd had gathered. Not, of course, to see the killing itself. This meant that we were having meat for lunch. One of the American pastors covered his coffee as a blood mist sprayed into the air. Sir, I've never done a cow before. It reminded me how death surrounds these men. How does anyone live like this? As I talked to them, I realized their ambivalence towards death did not end in apathy. War had hardened them, but it also trained them to be men of faith. Peter Akesh remembers being blown up.
- [22:22]
South Sudanese Chaplains (including Peter Akesh, Lino Manuel, William Tong, Richard Longo Benson, Emmanuel de Chek)
So the shrapnel of that book fell into us.
- [22:26]
Clay Ramirez
Even before he was a chaplain, Akesh had been an Anglican evangelist for the military. During one battle, a stray grenade caught on a tree branch, falling and exploding right in front of him. Shrapnel sprayed in every direction. It wounded his wrist and ripped through his military uniform. But then he took off his uniform and realized that the shrapnel would have wounded him in the stomach. But it had stopped at the Anglican clerical garments he wore underneath.
- [22:53]
Wes Bentley
Come out with the.
- [22:54]
South Sudanese Chaplains (including Peter Akesh, Lino Manuel, William Tong, Richard Longo Benson, Emmanuel de Chek)
With the garment of the cola.
- [22:57]
Clay Ramirez
One of the soldiers said, it's a good thing your clerical garments are bulletproof. Aesh agreed. He was doing the Lord's work, so he was bulletproof. After that, all the soldiers with a cash wanted Bibles. West Bentley has been collecting these kinds of stories for years.
- [23:16]
Wes Bentley
We have one chaplain, he's considered the best shot in his unit. And he was out washing in a river or something like that.
- [23:25]
Clay Ramirez
This was years ago.
- [23:26]
Wes Bentley
And all of a sudden he heard gunfire, and so he starts running back towards his base. Well, one of the enemy units had come in and they had hit the base, killed several people, grabbed some children, grabbed some woman and took off. And they got hit by two or 300 soldiers. And this one chaplain said, we've got to pursue them. And they said, well, you know, they got, you know, two, 300 guys. We got 30 guys. And he goes, we've got to do it. So they pursued. And what will happen to those women at night? You know, they'll make them, cook for them, and then they'll start raping them, and the children will be made child soldiers. Well, they caught up to them in the evening, just as they were getting ready to eat, and they hit them with all. All 30 men hit the horse at once, and. And they killed quite a few. And a bunch of them ran off, and the rest of them surrendered. And they caught some officers and some generals during this time. So they freed all their people and they sent them back. But this guy, this chaplain, said, let's not stop here. And they went to the next unit and did the same, and another one and another one. They hit like four different bases. And news went out to the. To the rebels that a large force of South Sydney soldiers had invaded the area. And so they took their. Whatever it was, a division, and they pulled out of the area. It was like 16,000 soldiers left, and they were only attacked by 30 guys. And this is. We see a lot of this over there, this faith in these guys. They believe in God, they trust in God, and, you know, I tell the guys.
- [24:57]
Clay Ramirez
Lino recalls one battle in 1991. The firefight had lasted through the night. When the enemy started dropping bombs on them, one exploded right on Lino's position. All of his fellow soldiers were convinced he must be dead, but he wasn't there anymore. All Lina remembers is being suddenly aware that he was somewhere else, somewhere far from the blast. Like he was teleported.
- [25:23]
South Sudanese Chaplains (including Peter Akesh, Lino Manuel, William Tong, Richard Longo Benson, Emmanuel de Chek)
The bomb came to want to hit me. Something took me and put me there.
- [25:28]
Clay Ramirez
When Lena walked into the base later that night, his buddies were astounded.
- [25:32]
South Sudanese Chaplains (including Peter Akesh, Lino Manuel, William Tong, Richard Longo Benson, Emmanuel de Chek)
But it is God protect me.
- [25:34]
Clay Ramirez
Convinced they're doing God's work, the chaplains feel they have a supernatural protection. So they preach.
- [25:40]
South Sudanese Chaplains (including Peter Akesh, Lino Manuel, William Tong, Richard Longo Benson, Emmanuel de Chek)
We're preaching.
- [25:40]
Clay Ramirez
Yes.
- [25:40]
South Sudanese Chaplains (including Peter Akesh, Lino Manuel, William Tong, Richard Longo Benson, Emmanuel de Chek)
Yeah.
- [25:41]
Clay Ramirez
We're preaching while the bullets are flying.
- [25:42]
South Sudanese Chaplains (including Peter Akesh, Lino Manuel, William Tong, Richard Longo Benson, Emmanuel de Chek)
Yeah.
- [25:43]
Clay Ramirez
Yes.
- [25:43]
South Sudanese Chaplains (including Peter Akesh, Lino Manuel, William Tong, Richard Longo Benson, Emmanuel de Chek)
Yeah. We pray and we go. E bullet is coming. We pray and we go.
- [25:48]
Clay Ramirez
People are shooting and you're talking to them.
- [25:50]
South Sudanese Chaplains (including Peter Akesh, Lino Manuel, William Tong, Richard Longo Benson, Emmanuel de Chek)
Yes, we talk with them.
- [25:51]
Clay Ramirez
Leno explained how the chaplains can have such calm in the middle of chaos.
- [25:55]
South Sudanese Chaplains (including Peter Akesh, Lino Manuel, William Tong, Richard Longo Benson, Emmanuel de Chek)
But it is God. It can protect you when bullet getting you. It can get you. When he never getting you. He say, thank you, God, what you done to me.
- [26:03]
Clay Ramirez
I realized that these men weren't just not scared of dying. They live expecting miracles. Oh, I thought, so that's how they do it. Here. I realized were Seemingly fearless warriors, armed, equipped with with military training and as far as they are concerned, invincible. As long as God was using them for the uninitiated, that's called power. So what do the chaplains do with all this power? Preach the gospel, defend the weak and help their countrymen forgive and move on from their war torn past.
- [26:52]
South Sudanese Chaplains (including Peter Akesh, Lino Manuel, William Tong, Richard Longo Benson, Emmanuel de Chek)
I will continue working. I will continue to make sure that my people.
- [26:57]
Clay Ramirez
Nose pressed for his devotion to Christ, Chaplain Richard Longo Benson had been shot at a few months before I talked to him. I thought of him as Richard the Massive because he's a little over 5ft tall amongst some of the tallest people on the planet. His smiling demeanor and thin build made him anything but imposing. But what he lacks in height, he makes up for in courage. Hearing that our rebel group was looting an area near him, Richard went to confront them.
- [27:23]
South Sudanese Chaplains (including Peter Akesh, Lino Manuel, William Tong, Richard Longo Benson, Emmanuel de Chek)
I said, you guys, you are not allowed to torture people.
- [27:28]
Clay Ramirez
These were South Sudanese who had rebelled against the government in Duba.
- [27:31]
South Sudanese Chaplains (including Peter Akesh, Lino Manuel, William Tong, Richard Longo Benson, Emmanuel de Chek)
One of the captain army said, let, let, let them shoot me. Let, let me be killed.
- [27:39]
Clay Ramirez
One of the rebels came over, pulled out his gun and fired several shots at Richard.
- [27:44]
South Sudanese Chaplains (including Peter Akesh, Lino Manuel, William Tong, Richard Longo Benson, Emmanuel de Chek)
The bullet missed me.
- [27:45]
Clay Ramirez
He missed. So he reloaded and tried again. This time the gun jammed.
- [27:50]
South Sudanese Chaplains (including Peter Akesh, Lino Manuel, William Tong, Richard Longo Benson, Emmanuel de Chek)
It is stuck. The blade refused to go.
- [27:54]
Clay Ramirez
The rebel dropped his gun and ran away. Richard explained that at first the chaplains and Saussanese had fought with guns to liberate their people. But now things have changed. They're less often in the middle of
- [28:07]
South Sudanese Chaplains (including Peter Akesh, Lino Manuel, William Tong, Richard Longo Benson, Emmanuel de Chek)
firefights, but now there is a war of preaching the word of God against.
- [28:15]
Clay Ramirez
He said, there is a war of preaching the word of God against Satan. I witnessed an example of this battle when I went out with some chaplains and an American pastor to the surrounding city.
- [28:29]
South Sudanese Chaplains (including Peter Akesh, Lino Manuel, William Tong, Richard Longo Benson, Emmanuel de Chek)
And the Lord of Lords,
- [28:32]
Wes Bentley
the Creator
- [28:33]
South Sudanese Chaplains (including Peter Akesh, Lino Manuel, William Tong, Richard Longo Benson, Emmanuel de Chek)
of the universe, the great lion of Judah.
- [28:40]
Wes Bentley
Amen.
- [28:45]
Clay Ramirez
I watched as an American pastor gave an altar call to a group of around 12 women, many more children and a few men. They were circled by huts and sitting in the dirt. The pastor was ecstatic when almost all the women came forward and began kneeling with folded hands. They were waiting to be led in the sinner's prayer. As the pastor began to pray through a translator, one of the women who fell to the floor, thrashing violently. The pastor stopped. What's going on? He asked. But the chaplains reprimanded him and told him to continue the prayer. As he prayed, a few of the chaplains calmly lifted the woman out of the circle and laid her down a few feet away. They prayed against what they believed Was a demon in. By the time the American pastor finished his prayer, the woman was sitting up and speaking coherently. I could tell the pastor was taken aback. I certainly was. But the other chaplains barely noticed the incident.
- [29:50]
South Sudanese Chaplains (including Peter Akesh, Lino Manuel, William Tong, Richard Longo Benson, Emmanuel de Chek)
I've been a soldier for something like 18 years.
- [29:55]
Clay Ramirez
Emmanuel de Chek is 28. He served at the Chaplaincy Corps for just under a decade. The Czech also oversees various congregations all over Sudan. To this day he feels as if the Northern Arabs have taken everything from him.
- [30:09]
South Sudanese Chaplains (including Peter Akesh, Lino Manuel, William Tong, Richard Longo Benson, Emmanuel de Chek)
At that time my father was a soldier.
- [30:11]
Les Sillers
Yes.
- [30:12]
South Sudanese Chaplains (including Peter Akesh, Lino Manuel, William Tong, Richard Longo Benson, Emmanuel de Chek)
And he was killing by Arab Muslims. You know that the South Sudanese and those of Khartoum were being fight. Yes. And my mother also dead.
- [30:23]
Clay Ramirez
He hated them.
- [30:25]
South Sudanese Chaplains (including Peter Akesh, Lino Manuel, William Tong, Richard Longo Benson, Emmanuel de Chek)
And so though the Muslims are my enemy up to date. Yes. Yeah. Because the king, my father king, my uncles and many people.
- [30:35]
Clay Ramirez
But once he became a Christian and joined the Chaplaincy Corps, he began to see things differently.
- [30:41]
South Sudanese Chaplains (including Peter Akesh, Lino Manuel, William Tong, Richard Longo Benson, Emmanuel de Chek)
I try to forgive them. But when I see my life now, life with our family, I see that one. It is a very fame in my heart to forgive the Muslim.
- [30:55]
Clay Ramirez
Tears seemed to well up in his eyes.
- [30:58]
South Sudanese Chaplains (including Peter Akesh, Lino Manuel, William Tong, Richard Longo Benson, Emmanuel de Chek)
For the sake of gospel, I can forgive them for the word of God.
- [31:17]
Clay Ramirez
They took me to a second castle hours south of Nimali, across the border in Uganda. Its walls keep enemies out, but it invites in all those who are peaceful. It's a type of boarding school where many of the chaplains send their children. It's a kind of promised land nestled in the back country of the lush Ugandan countryside. It's what the chaplains are fighting to create in south sudden Sudan. They see themselves in the plight of Israel. They too are a war torn nation surrounded by enemies, struggling to survive, looking for the promised land. And they're even in the Bible. Peter Akish pointed out that what the Bible refers to as the land of Kush is today's Sudan.
- [32:06]
South Sudanese Chaplains (including Peter Akesh, Lino Manuel, William Tong, Richard Longo Benson, Emmanuel de Chek)
God says that Israel and Kushite people are my people. God say like that in a Bible? Yes, God talk about quiz more than 40 times in the Bible.
- [32:24]
Clay Ramirez
And the chaplains liken themselves to David's mighty men of valor. They're fighting for their country and doing it for the God of Israel, for Christ.
- [32:34]
South Sudanese Chaplains (including Peter Akesh, Lino Manuel, William Tong, Richard Longo Benson, Emmanuel de Chek)
I'm a young David in Africa, bro.
- [32:36]
Clay Ramirez
Chaplain Emmanuel Notta check from earlier told me how like David, he was transformed from a bloodthirsty soldier into a worship leader.
- [32:44]
South Sudanese Chaplains (including Peter Akesh, Lino Manuel, William Tong, Richard Longo Benson, Emmanuel de Chek)
When you find me, I'm playing guitar like a David, huh?
- [32:47]
Wes Bentley
Yes.
- [32:47]
South Sudanese Chaplains (including Peter Akesh, Lino Manuel, William Tong, Richard Longo Benson, Emmanuel de Chek)
When they come the time of war, I fight in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
- [32:52]
Clay Ramirez
He said I play guitar like David. When they come in the time of war, I fight in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Emmanuel also told me that he doesn't want Muslims to use his people like
- [33:04]
South Sudanese Chaplains (including Peter Akesh, Lino Manuel, William Tong, Richard Longo Benson, Emmanuel de Chek)
the way they use the children of Israel in Masri, in Egypt, the same thing they are doing to us.
- [33:08]
Clay Ramirez
Here's Peter Akesh again.
- [33:10]
South Sudanese Chaplains (including Peter Akesh, Lino Manuel, William Tong, Richard Longo Benson, Emmanuel de Chek)
It is my time to fight, to liberate my people, the physical enemy and his spiritual enemy. It is my time to liberate our people.
- [33:23]
Clay Ramirez
He said it was his time to liberate his people from the physical and spiritual enemy.
- [33:29]
South Sudanese Chaplains (including Peter Akesh, Lino Manuel, William Tong, Richard Longo Benson, Emmanuel de Chek)
And I am going to build them all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, because all powers are given to us by Jesus Christ.
- [33:38]
Clay Ramirez
Akesh says he'll retire when he is physically unable to go out on the field. You said when you get old, how
- [33:45]
South Sudanese Chaplains (including Peter Akesh, Lino Manuel, William Tong, Richard Longo Benson, Emmanuel de Chek)
old are you now? I have 58 years. 58 years?
- [33:51]
Wes Bentley
Yes.
- [33:51]
Clay Ramirez
Okay.
- [33:52]
South Sudanese Chaplains (including Peter Akesh, Lino Manuel, William Tong, Richard Longo Benson, Emmanuel de Chek)
God increased my days.
- [33:54]
Clay Ramirez
He said if God increases his days, he has the morale to serve. Out of the 560 or so chaplains Far Reaching Ministries has trained in the last 25 years, 70, 48 have lost their lives in service. To date, there is no turning back. That is what they believe.
- [34:40]
Les Sillers
Clay Ramirez went to Sudan to report this story just over a year ago. So we decided to call up Wes Bentley and say what's been happening since then in South Sudan?
- [34:49]
Wes Bentley
Well, it's pretty much been the same for almost the last 10 years. Generally, there's insecurity.
- [34:54]
Les Sillers
South Sudan is a mess. A UN report from December said the country was staggering toward another civil war. South Sudan's first civil war broke out in 2013 between its two main rival ethnic groups, the Dinka and the Nuer. That was two years after they won independence from Sudan. That civil war lasted until 2018, when the two groups came to a power sharing agreement. The Dinka got the presidency, and the newer got the vice presidency. But Wes Bentley says you can tell that deal has been falling apart for a while now.
- [35:26]
Wes Bentley
About, probably two years ago, when I was there, the week before, I'd arrived, and there'd been like a dozen ambushes on the road within a week, and about 26 people killed and even three nuns were killed during that time.
- [35:40]
Les Sillers
Now the newer vice president is on trial for treason and murder. The Dinka president's forces have been conducting what the UN calls relatively indiscriminate aerial bombing attacks. Armed rebel militia prowl the highways where
- [35:53]
Wes Bentley
our base is to the capital. It's 110 miles. You cannot travel there safely unless you take soldiers with you because there's rebels on the road. And when I say rebels, more like criminals, you know, I think these are people that are just see it as opportunistic to rob. They don't really have an agenda. They're just looking for something to get. But they kill a lot of people.
- [36:17]
Les Sillers
About 7.7 million people in South Sudan face crisis levels of food insecurity. That's more than half the population. And the UN report says there are pockets of famine in some communities most affected by renewed fighting. Through it all, though, the chaplains are sticking it out. In fact, most of them have lived through much worse.
- [36:37]
Wes Bentley
They believe in God, they trust in God. And you know, I tell the guys, guys, we're not all supposed to live long lives. You know, some of us will die in our 70s and 80s, but some of us will go in our 70s.
- [36:47]
Les Sillers
Additional support comes from Water's Edge for 75 years, Water's Edge has existed to financially empower donors and ministries to transform
- [36:56]
Clay Ramirez
lives with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
- [36:58]
Les Sillers
Water's Edge Kingdom Investments offers investors 4.55% APY on 13 month term investments. These investments provide the funds needed to make church building loans to growing churches across the country.
- [37:12]
Clay Ramirez
Details@waters edge.com invest.
- [37:16]
Les Sillers
Additional support comes from Water's Edge offering investors 4.55% APY on 13 month term investments that help growing churches across the country. Watersedge.com invest and if you enjoyed this episode, the best way to help ensure that we're able to tell more stories like this is to share it with someone. Thanks. We've got one more episode coming out soon. It's by world reporter Grace Snell and it's really good. After that, we'll continue working on our next full season of Double Take. Watch for it. It's coming this summer. We'll see you next time. Additional support comes from Water's edge offering investors 4.55% APY on 13 month term investments that help growing churches across the country. Watersedge.com invest.