Cambodia Trip Report, Part 5

On November 14, while we were staying in Battambang, S---- and his fiancé took us to a nearby mountain that had been one of the prominent places in the killing fields. We had to walk up about 350 steps, which largely explains why I gained no weight after eating rice three times a day. The steps can be seen in the background as we approached.

At the base of the staircase were ancient statues.

And, of course, here is the monkey god, not worshiped in Cambodia, but it is part of their culture.

The picture below was taken about half way up the mountain at a rest stop, where a little girl fanned me vigorously, hoping to earn a little money for the family. She did not ask my permission, but who could turn down a little girl working with all her heart, soul, and mind? I’m sorry I did not take her picture.

Just as I was wondering if I would ever make it to the top, I saw the entrance to the temple at the top of the stairway.

There were others at the top of the stairway. They seemed to be worshiping at the shrine.

There were a number of towers on the top of this mountain, all part of the temple complex.

Behind the towers was some space where we felt that we were to pray.

We found an old broken down water cistern there, and the Father instructed us to pray there that the living waters would flow from that place.

Once again S---- felt the heaviness and oppression break, and we knew that this mountain would soon return to the original use that the Creator had for it in the Kingdom of God. From this mountain top we could see the valley below.

After returning to the base of the mountain, they took us to a nearby mountain which was the site of more killing fields. At the top of the mountain was a Buddhist temple.

Off to one side was a cave, which we entered.

The bottom of the cave was a shrine to commemorate the thousands of men, women, and children who were thrown to their deaths from the ledge above. Here is picture looking up to the ledge.

Here is a picture looking down into the large room of at the cave entrance.

On the far side is another cavern that goes deeper into the mountain. We could look down and see bones from some of the dead that yet remained down there. We were told that a huge python lived down there, and so no one dared to descend down there to extract the bones for a proper burial.

Up at the surface was a killing field memorial, depicting the various ways in which people were tortured and killed. It was quite gruesome, but it shows the deep national scars that can only be healed by the love of Jesus.

We were led to pray and have communion nearby at a place overlooking the valley just outside the entrance to the cave.

Returning to the car, S---- took us to another mountain nearby to pray at a prominent Buddhist temple. I do not think this was a site of the killing fields, because there were no ancient ruins, only a more modern temple. The Pol Pot regime seemed to relish the idea of killing people at the ancient temple sites. I do not know their conscious motive, of course, other than perhaps to desecrate the culture and history of Cambodia, eradicate its educated people, and rule over ignorant people who could be more easily controlled.

However, I believe that they were unconsciously offering human sacrifices to the demons that controlled that entire regime.

The temple where they took us had many statues, which were of interest to us.

The green god is holding replicas of ancient relics—a dagger, an axe or hatchet, a sword, and wearing arm bands which used to identify the military officers. There are many today who are still looking for these ancient relics.

We discerned that this place spiritually represented political power, so we prayed that the nation would submit to the rulership of Christ. Below is another statue nearby of a ruler directing and commanding people.

Note the live monkey on his shoulder. Monkeys roamed freely everywhere. Below was their favorite washroom. We passed it while walking up to see the temple.

From here, S---- took us to a nearby lake at the base of the mountains. It is a very clean lake, as they do not allow any chemical fertilizers or pesticides to pollute the land nearby where these might flow into the lake. We had a quick drink at one of the restaurants along the lake.

I’m too old to use the floor, so I relaxed in a hammock along the side. I didn’t every break it.

Then we hired a boat to take us for an hour-long ride around the lake.

The boat headed first toward the shallow part of the lake where the lily pads grew thick.

These pads also provide the people with pods having nutritious seeds to eat. Just dig out the seeds from the pods and pop them into your mouth. Note the big tree growing in the middle of the shallow part of the lake.

Any seeds that remain unharvested soon bloom into beautiful flowers and propagate more plants.

The large leaves occasionally provide a hat to shade people from the hot sun.

The boat trip also provided more time for S---- and D to spend quality time together.

We discerned that we were to pray over the lake while we rode the boat, and discovered that there were 97 voices of innocent blood to be presented before the divine court. So we were able to minister on both land and water that day. The land itself, of course, had far more voices to represent in the divine court. They actually numbered in the hundreds of thousands wherever we prayed. Yet the 97 voices coming from the water were important, too.

We returned to the shore as the sun was setting behind us.

We then drove back to the hotel in the evening, and got a good night’s sleep. We were tired, but well satisfied with the day’s work.