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During the
recent war Dr. John Breman, of the Unevangelized Tribes Mission of Indonesia,
experienced many remarkable deliverances in answer to prayer. Dr. Breman, a
Hollander by birth, felt the call of God to serve as a missionary among the
Dyaks in |
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During the
early days of the war, Missionary Breman, who was greatly honored by the
Dutch government and received the degree Doctor of Science in Missions, labored
with the underground movement against the Japanese. Later he was captured and
thrown into a Japanese prison. Serving as the chaplain among the twelve
hundred other captives, he was at length sent to the horror camp in Java. The
Japanese called this particular boatload of prisoners "the most
dangerous boatload of them all." |
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While in
the horror camp the missionary was tortured in unbelievable manners with fire
and electricity. He was hung by his fingers; a bayonet was jabbed through his
stomach, and repeatedly he was beaten in the most terrible manner. For
eighty-six days he was confined in absolute darkness. When released from that
darkness, he said, "I couldn't talk for three days, only cry." |
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But during
this time the miraculous feeding occurred. The Japanese had decided while he
was in this dark, solitary confinement to starve the prisoner to death. Food
which they threw him, if it could be called food, was maggot-infested, and so
putrid that the doctor knew that to eat it meant death. And when there was no
food, day after day a small bird placed food of various kinds, including
grain and the native nuts, on the sill of a high wall, barely within reach of
the doctor when he stood on tiptoe. |
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Dr. Breman
daily asked God to spare his life and to bring him safely through, and the
bird helped answer this prayer. |
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In the end
it was decided to murder a large number of the prisoners. Several truckloads
were taken to a near-by field and unloaded. Truckload by truckload the men were
blindfolded, lined up by shallow graves which they had been forced to dig
themselves, and shot. Every truckload of these men, one by one, was thus
executed until it came to the last truck, in which Dr. Breman was. The doctor
asked God to perform a miracle and save his life, when all hope seemed to
have disappeared. Dr. Breman testified, saying: |
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"They
took us out to be shot in truckloads of twenty. After sixty had been killed,
my group was tied hand and foot and brought out to the field, but for some
reason they shot over our heads. Then they told us that our sentence had been
carried out and that we would be prisoners for life." |
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When asked
if he believed in miracles, Dr. Breman's answer was, "I do, for I am a
miracle myself." |
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From:
ANSWERED PRAYER IN MISSIONARY SERVICE By Basil William Miller, Beacon Hill
Press, Kansas City, Missouri. First Printing, April 1951 Second Printing,
July 1951 Printed in |