Setan Lee: A Man's Cry For Help In Cambodia's Killing Fields

Death was all around him.

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Heart-pounding terror--that's what most Cambodians felt when Pol Pot seized power in 1975. His Khmer Rouge army acted with such cruelty, one is reminded of the Holocaust. Hundreds of thousands of Cambodians were murdered in "the killing fields." Their only crime was being educated.

In a world gone mad, the Khmer Rouge violently opposed anything modern or industrial. Towns were evacuated. Even children were forced into slave labor as part of their re-education.

Few would survive the experience. More than two million people died during the Communist reign of terror.

Cambodia

Lee's Story
This is the story of Setan Lee who, at age 17, was a brilliant medical student. The year was 1975, and it was the Cambodian New Year. Lee visited friends in a city not far from his home.

"I was in the city," said Lee. "While we were celebrating, having fun, playing games--traditional games, all of a sudden, a big military truck came."

"They stopped and unloaded hundreds of black-uniformed people. Every one of them had a gun. I can't even describe how I felt at that time because it was so terrible."

Forced to Evacuate
Like millions of Cambodians, Lee was forced to evacuate the city. His only comfort was the belief that his family would be safe now. They lived within walking distance of the Thai border.

Forced to evacuate the city

Lee knew his father would take the family to Thailand, but he was wrong. The family waited while Lee's father set out to find the boy. Then the Khmer Rouge arrested Lee's parents and his 10 brothers and sisters.

"I felt guilty," said Lee, "because after witnessing all this killing, I thought, `If it's not for me, they would all be safe.'"

Treated Like Animals
The Khmer Rouge treated them like animals. They were forced to work 20-hour days on a starvation diet. Families were separated and tortured. Any display of emotion was punished.

Treated like animals

"In my youth group," said Lee. "We had 1,000 boys and girls, and in about a year and a half, there were only about 300 left. Others died of starvation and killing."

The prisoners were so hungry that they would eat just about anything.

"We would catch some fish or crab--a live crab," said Lee. "We were not allowed to eat anything, but we hid and ate it, just anything to get into our mouths and stomach that was good for us."

Youth group dwindled

Kindness Crushed
One day a pretty girl in the camp tossed Lee a crab to eat. The girl would pay for that act of kindness with her life. Lee was forced to watch as the female guard named Er killed the girl and gloated over the killing.

"The way I felt that time when they forced me to watch that, I think I was bleeding internally," said Lee. "I was not crying, but bleeding internally. It was awful."

But Er wasn't finished with Lee. She ordered him to be buried alive in scorching heat.

'I'd Rather Be Dead.'
"I thought that I'd rather be dead than still alive," he said.

Buried alive

Yet, amazingly, the next morning, he was still alive. Hurt and weaker than ever, he was sent back to the fields.

Month after month, he struggled to survive. Finally, the Khmer Rouge discovered his university ID, proof that he was educated. Now he would die as an enemy of the state.

The sounds of death were all around Lee. Yet as he waited to be executed, he thought, "There must be a force in the universe greater than idols, greater even than the Khmer Rouge." In desperation, he called out to that unknown force.

A Plea to the Lord
He said, "My Lord of the Universe, whoever you are, please spare my life. One thing I will do is, I will be your witness."

Lee: Called out to an unknown force

To the shock of the soldiers, the Khmer Rouge leader stopped the execution. The leader decided if Lee was smart, he could improve the rice yields. So he put Lee to work planting the harvest, and for the first time in three years, Lee was given enough food to live.

But as the young man gained strength, hatred for the Khmer Rouge gripped his heart. He plotted how he ould get revenge, especially on the guard named Er.

Hatred Seared His Soul
"She was the lady which I hated and I wanted to kill," said Lee.

He hated the Khmer Rouge

When the Vietnamese invaded Cambodia in 1978, many prisoners fled the slave camps. Lee was one of thousands who began the dangerous journey to freedom in Thailand.

"There were freedom fighters, there were Vietnamese, there were Khmer Rouge," said Lee. "You had to keep in mind that everybody was your enemy."

The jungle journey was packed with danger. Most deadly were the landmines. Lee treaded on rotted corpses to avoid the mines.

Encounter With a Jungle Man
And then he met a man in the jungle. The man asked him if he knew the Lord of the Universe. Lee was frightened, but he knew that this was the name he had called upon and that this Lord of the Universe had stopped his execution.

Despite his wild looks, the jungle man was educated. He was called Pastor Paul, and he knew exactly who the Lord of the Universe was. He told Lee the Lord's name was Jesus Christ.

Family found

"He asked me to accept Christ," said Lee. "And then, I was a totally different person, a different human being. I had been a person with a lot of bitterness in my heart, a person who had a lot of anger and a spirit of revenge in me.

Hatred Disappears
"But all of a sudden, it just cleaned up," he said, "just like it was washed up--washed away."

Lee walked to the border. Within a few hours, he was amazed to find all his family, except for his brother, who had been killed by the Khmer Rouge. Together, the family went to a Thai refugee camp, where Lee became a young preacher.

A young preacher

One day, as he was preaching, an eerie feeling swept over him.

"Something came to my mind telling me that, `You know this lady. You know this lady.'"

He had spotted the guard Er in the crowd.

"I prayed in my spirit," said Lee. "I asked the Lord to take control of me.

Family saved

'I Wanted to Kill Her.'
"First, I wanted to kill her," he said, "but then something told me to have compassion and mercy toward her."

Lee told Er: "I forgive you for what you have done for me and my friends. I want you to believe in Jesus. He forgave me for what I have thought to do to you. So, in return, I forgive you. And it's not me, but God."

Although Lee prayed for Er, he never saw her again. He feared the Khmer Rouge's grip on her life pulled her back into the jungle, yet he knew the Lord of the Universe had helped him forgive her.

In love with Rhonda

35,000 Come to Christ
One by one, his family came to know that same God. So did a lot of other people in the camp. About 35,000 people surrendered their lives to Christ in the refugee camp.

One of them was named Rhonda, whom Lee fell in love with and married. They emigrated to the United States. In time, they saw forgiveness transform their lives. Yet they'll never forget "the killing fields." That's why they return to Cambodia often, to share God's love with broken people, survivors like them who desperately need to experience forgiveness and healing.

"...I would not be a happy person."

"If I had kept the bitterness or the anger with me for those who have done bad to me, then I would not be a happy person," said Lee. "I am very grateful to the Lord Jesus Christ for life, because life is so precious."

CBN produced a docu-drama about Lee's life called "1,000 Years in the Killing Fields," which was shot on location in Cambodia in the Khmer language. The evangelistic drama has been broadcast in Cambodia and many parts of Africa. Hundreds of thousands of people have given their lives in response to the Gospel message.

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