My name is Sandok and in 1996 my father was a Khmer Rouge Commander, and he had a herd of about 30 cows. Our area in Southern Pursat Province was experiencing drought so, my father sent me to take the cattle about 30 kilometers north to the east of the city of Pursat where there was grass. I arrived and set up camp along highway 5. A pastor was traveling to Pursat and it was late so He asked if he could stay with me since I had a fire.
He shared Christ with me and I was empty because the Khmer Rouge taught that there is no God. Jesus came into my heart in a strong way and the next morning, the pastor left me a Bible. That day I watched the cows and read my Bible and I was very happy. I went to lie down when it became dark and just before I fell asleep I heard a voice call to me, “Come follow Me!” the voice said. I replied, “Who is that? Come out and see me!” I looked and looked and saw no one but the cows.
I thought, “maybe I was dreaming?” So, I tried to sleep again, I was almost asleep when the voice came again, ““Come follow Me!” This time I was sure someone was there. I looked and looked but could find no one. I became afraid, I though one of the cows was talking. I tried to sleep again, but the voice came back and said, “This is the Lord Jesus Christ, and I want you to follow Me and tell others about Me.”
I was so happy I found a man to watch the cows and I set out from village to village telling them the good news that there was a God named Jesus and He came to set us free from our past sins and give us a new life if we will simply believe that he died on the cross for us and rose from the dead to prove he had power over death. The people were happy to find a way to be free and whole villages came to faith in Christ.
Someone got word to my father that I had become a Christian and had left the cows to follow Christ, My father was furious! He vowed, “I will kill him! He has betrayed me!” He set out to finds his son and kill him, but every where he went to find Sandok the people were so happy with finding Jesus they told him to go in the wrong direction to protect Sandok.
After several days he went home to find his big home had been broken into and all his belongings were stolen. He remembered the joy of the people Sandok had led to Christ and he fell to his knees and prayed, “I need to know the God of my son”
He sent a courier to find Sandok and when he told Sandok that his father no longer wanted to kill him, but that he wanted to know his God, Sandok went home and led his father in faith in Jesus.
Since that time Sandok’s whole family of five brothers and his father have become pastors. They have started hundreds of churches, helped raise more than a thousand orphans, and led thousands of people to faith in Christ.
