Hostaged in Liberia: A Missionary's Harrowing Account

By Apostle Dr. Michael Ntumy

This short account of the 3 years the Ntumy family spent as missionaries in Liberia between 1988 and 1991 will leave you not wanting to put the book down until you have got to the end. His story will take you on an adventure into the Bible showing how God's Word can be relied on and trusted even when you have nothing. You will be reminded of the power of prayer and fasting, of the miraculous working God and that He will make a way where there is no way. The war years in Liberia were filled with pain, trauma and death for the civilians. Yet time and again, just when a calamity such as torture, imprisonment, or death was to strike, there was a miraculous intervention on behalf of the missionary. In this book, you would find out how much it really costs to serve God and the tremendous benefits of knowing that you are operating in His will. For on Christmas Eve, 1989, their lives would never be the same again. May yours also never be the same.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Carmina Publishing
• Release date: May 22, 2015
• ISBN: 9783958492875

Book preview

APOSTLE DR. MICHAEL NTUMY

Christian Best Seller

HOSTAGED IN LIBERIA:

A missionary's harrowing account.

APOSTLE DR MICHAEL NTUMY

Copyright © 2015 by Apostle Dr Michael Ntumy The Church Of Pentecost, Germany

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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrievable system, or transmitted in any form or by any means --electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise, without the express written consent of the Copyright owner.

Layout & Cover Design by Isaac Annor

Inhaltsverzeichnis

DEDICATION

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

FOREWORD

01 A WINDOW INTO THE FUTURE

02 SWEET LIBERIA

03 THE ARMED INCURSION

04 THE CAPTURE OF OUR CITY

05 LIFE IN THE BALANCE

06 ZIMBABWE

07 THE UNKNOWN DESTINATION

08 HOPING AGAINST HOPE

09 SLOW KILLING

10 LIBERATION FROM THE CAMP OF NO RETURN!

11 THE WAY OF ESCAPE

12 PROPHECY FULFILLED: God is Faithful

13 EPILOGUE

14 POSTSCRIPT - TOWARDS PEACE IN LIBERIA

DEDICATION

ALL MISSIONARIES OF:

THE CHURCH OF PENTECOST ELIM PENTECOSTAL CHURCHES, U.K

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My special gratitude goes to Apostle Emmanuel Gyesi-Addo, International Missions Director of The Church of Pentecost for writing the Foreword and to Rev Paul Hudson, International Missions Director of Elim Pentecostal Church, U.K, for contributing remarks on the back cover of the book.

Special mentions go to Rev. Isaac Annor of The Church of Pentecost Headquarters in Accra. He designed the cover and formatted the manuscript. Apostle Jonathan Ajayi, National Head of COP Liberia, Pastors Joseph Slewion, Eric Kollie and Elder Emmanuel K. N. Asmah also of COP Liberia helped in providing photos of the locations mentioned in the book.

Uncle Jim Amekporfor is the Paris-based journalist of a reputable international Press. He edited the manuscript and offered many suggestions which have enhanced the quality of the book. To him I express sincere thanks.

Elder Dr. Samuel Amo Tobbin, CEO of Tobbinco Group of Companies and Deacon Emmanuel Blay, Managing Director of Star Capital Ltd for their financial support towards the printing of this edition.

To my dear wife and our beloved children, I express my deepest appreciation for their love and continued support.

FOREWORD

Many people take the grace of being alive and in good health for granted. Socrates, the Greek philosopher is quoted as saying: "The unexamined life is not worth living," It is also true that the Christian who is unaware of the beauty of grace in his life has missed the entire point of living the Christian life.

Out of the awareness of grace, I believe, comes true freedom, authority, power, love, worship, and life in abundance. This is the point that Apostle Dr. Michael Kwabena Ntumy makes in this book, HOSTAGED IN LIBERIA: A missionary's harrowing account. In it, the Author illustrates the grace of God in the midst of difficult circumstances and the catastrophic consequences of the Liberian civil war.

In this second edition of the book, the Author goes further, with the addition of more chapters, to demonstrate the fact that divine grace is more than deliverance, second chances, surprises, and unmerited gifts. Grace not only comes in our inability and failures, but provides radical changes and a paradigm shift in our belief system.

Dr. Ntumy's experiences at the Flamingo Camp in Liberia can be described as one of hardship and suffering borne with heroic fortitude, and self-devotion. What made the situation worse was the awful apprehension they faced about the uncertainty of their fate day after day. God in His faithfulness kept them strong and finally made a way for their deliverance from that horrendous camp. The story serves as an outstanding example for all Missionaries on the field and would-be missionaries of the faithfulness of God even in hopeless circumstances. It is also an encouragement to perseverance in missionary labors.

Apostle Ntumy believes that the events of the civil war and the days in captivity have built in him a special trust in the LORD and prepared him for the later events and stages of his life.

This book finds relevance for both the believer who is strong in faith, the seeker and even for the agnostic. For the missionary, its message is timeless - what sustains a missionary during times of crisis is the hope that God gives.

That hope is fundamentally based on who God is and what He says He will do. The story, sculptured in the socio-cultural milieu of both rural and urban West Africa in the late 80's to the present, could also serve as a reference material for researchers and research institutions in Missiology, and the security implications of instability on the psychological, social, economic and cultural effects on the population (including non-citizens), for both Liberia and West African sub-region as a whole.

This book will bless anyone who reads it with an open mind, a willing heart and above all, the desire to act. Anyone can trust God when the going is easy. It is when everything looks impossible that our faith is put to the test and God shows Himself greatest. As you reflect quietly on the pages of this book, it is my fervent prayer that your trust in God will be lifted to a very high pedestal and become great enough to tackle your most difficult situation. May it transform the faith of the reader to a high level such that, the reader will possess the heartfelt inner confidence to know that God is who He says He is and does what He says He will do. If the principles of this book are taken seriously and adhered to, it will engender faith and transform lives.

May your will, intellect and emotions act in tune with the truth and power of God as you explore the hidden treasures contained in HOSTAGED IN LIBERIA: A missionary's harrowing account. . I give it my heartfelt recommendation.

Emmanuel Gyesi-Addo (Apostle)

International Missions Director

The Church of Pentecost.

01 A WINDOW INTO THE FUTURE

From the Military into the Ministry I loved the military. I still have a very strong passion for the uniform corps. The uncle after whom I was named fought for the British during the Second World War in Burma. As a boy I would often dress in his uniform and would tell everyone around that I was a soldier.

As I grew, my passion for the military increased. The willingness of the soldier to defend his nation, and his fellow man for that matter, exposing himself to danger even to the extent of paying the ultimate sacrifice, to me, was the noblest thing to do.

Everything I did in those years had military service as the ultimate goal. I wanted to rise to one of the highest ranks, my preferred being Major-General(somehow, as a kid the prefix Major appealed very much to me, thinking it emphasized what kind of General he was.). After university I would enter into Ghana's famous Military Academy and pass out as a Lieutenant and rise through the ranks to achieve my dream. My purpose was not to lord my position over others but to show exemplary leadership to my subordinates. This would be my best service to my nation and to my generation.

I did not have to graduate from university and pass out of military academy before becoming a soldier. I convinced myself that I already was one. I defended the cause of the weak, appearing on the scene to literally snatch them from the hands of their bullies. I trained myself in bravery and courage, facing danger without shrinking or intimidation. I subjected myself to a hard and rigorous living, all in my perceived personal preparation for formal military service.

My father spurred me on by telling me what a real man was: bold, brave, strong, not complaining when things went wrong but finding the best solution, being decisive, ready to help others especially those in danger and wearing a blank expression that is, allowing nobody to read your mind by looking at your face. All these should be matched with honesty, truthfulness and hard work.

Meanwhile, I had graduated from Atebubu Teachers Training College at age 19, and began my teaching career in Ghana's northern town of Yendi. It was there, and in The Church of Pentecost, that I encountered my Savior Jesus Christ and became fully involved in Christian leadership and service.

My commitment and zeal for God and the church were so high that after two years I was ordained Deacon, and, a year later, as Elder in the Church. I had a passion for God and desired to have people accepting Jesus Christ into their lives.

After school, I would engage in personal evangelism and lead converts to church. I loved to pray and would spend several days every month fasting and in reverent submission. I joined other members of the church in all-night prayer meetings. I loved preaching at open-air gospel crusades and was delighted to see people streaming upfront to accept Jesus into their lives. I was amazed at seeing miracles happening right before me—the blind, cripple, the hearing-impaired and the mute all getting instantly healed. I was awed by the power of Jesus' name—how just mentioning His name produced such spectacular results. I loved to establish the faith of new converts as well as teaching and preaching the word of God.

Not long after, the Lord began to use me in very profound ways. Demonic spirits were cast out from people, the mute spoke instantly, some cripples walked as we prayed for them as well as other sicknesses being healed. Eventually, my Pastor placed me in charge of four local churches where I would visit, and minister. Over time, many people became convinced that God had other plans for my life than that of a school teacher.

Personally, I got increasingly convinced that God was calling me into full-time pastoral ministry. While I loved the Lord and His work, I did not think full-time pastoral ministry was for me. I wanted to be a soldier, an officer in the military. In my dreams and other forms of revelation, confirmed by those that other people had, I knew I was to be a pastor but my passion for the military tried to stifle the voice of God within. One day the tension came to a head.

The Presiding Elder of my local church came to my house and told me God had laid on his heart that he and I should go to one village and start another church. The period we were supposed to go coincided with the time I was going to write my university entrance examination. When I told him about my impending examination, he bluntly replied, If you want your own wishes to precede the will of God, you may go ahead. If you want God's will to come first in your life, let's go. Having said that he left.

While many others will simply have rationalized that statement and simply brush it aside, for me it landed like a bombshell. I loved the LORD and wanted His will to come first in my life. However, I also wanted to have a good education to brighten my future prospects in the military.

Accepting to go with the Elder would mean truncating my educational pursuit and my military ambitions.

When the Elder left my house, I was gripped by emotion. I knew I had come to a turning-point in my life. I rushed to my bedroom, dropped on my knees and poured out my soul in agonizing prayer and profuse weeping. I felt as though I was throwing my future away. I knew what I was going through was not an illusion but giving up everything seemed very hard for me to do. Suddenly after about two hours, I felt a sweet release within me. I heard myself saying, LORD, I give my future to you—yes, my future and all that is in it. Take my life and use me as you wish.

I got up, washed my face and rushed to tell the Elder that I was ready to go with him to that village. He seemed somehow sorrowful for what he had said and indicated that he could go with any other person. For me however, the die had been cast and no amount of witchery or prayers could ever prevent the crossing of (my) Rubicon.

From that day, I abandoned all my military ambitions and tuned my spiritual binoculars towards God and the plans He had for me. When that call came in April 1984, I GLADLY answered. I was 25 years old. I resigned from teaching and entered Pentecost Bible College to be trained for the pastoral ministry.

From the home-front to foreign missions My Pastor, Rev Ebenezer Appiah Agyekum, and the brethren of the Yendi congregation organized a farewell service for us.

With my wife Martha and our four-month old son, Emmanuel, we bundled our few belongings into a truck and headed for our first duty station.

Tamale, capital of Ghana's Northern Region, was our destination where I was to assume duty as District Pastor. The head of our church in that region, Apostle Samuel Kofi Ansong and his wife Cecilia, received us with open arms and mentored us in an exceptional manner. The older people in the church considered us as their own children while the younger ones as one of them in all respect. All they waited from me was an instruction and directives of what needed to be done… an all-night prayer meeting, a retreat or seminar, bible study, house-to-house witnessing, gospel crusades/rallies or whatever form of activity…and it was done. One could not differentiate me from them, all hands were on deck.

Our ministry in Tamale was however not destined to be long.

After only eleven months we were transferred to Krachi-Nkwanta in the Volta Region. Painful as it was to both the church and ourselves, we left Tamale with the joy of having done what we felt was just what the LORD wanted us to do.

During that period of eleven months, we were enabled to plant three vibrant congregations and left behind a District bonded in Christian love and on fire for God Krachi-Nkwanta is a rural town at the northern fringes of the Volta Region, bordering the Northern Region and the Republic of Togo on the east. Our church in the district consisted of seven scattered congregations with a combined membership of 153. It was a newly carved church district and I was to be the first pastor to be stationed there. Only three of the congregations were by the main road. The others could only be reached by bicycle or on foot. Since there was no means of transport, I had to walk various distances and cross dangerous rivers to reach those churches. The longest distance was 24 km to