On the eve of the two-year anniversary of the abduction of her husband, Malaysian Pastor Raymond Koh, Susanna Koh shared her belief that God will use for good what Satan intended for evil.
Susanna Koh recently spoke at a prayer gathering where church members and leaders across many denominations gathered to remember and pray for Pastor Koh, as well as the missing pastor Joshua Hilmy and his wife, Ruth, and Amri Che Mat, a Shia Muslim.
She described her husband, who suffers from cancer, as a “simple man with a very big heart. He gave himself to the poor and needy” and told a story of Raymond Koh literally giving the shirt off his back to a homeless man. “He came home shirtless,” she said.
Raymond Koh was abducted near his home in Petaling Jaya, West Malaysia on Feb. 13, 2017. After the abduction, police initially began investigating if the pastor preached Christianity to Muslims rather than focusing on catching his captors. While the Malaysian constitution provides for religious freedom, the government forbids non-Muslims from preaching to Muslims.
Based on CCTV footage, the abduction was swiftly executed in just two minutes – in broad daylight and with someone even recording the entire process on video while another person is seen casually redirecting traffic.
An investigation into his abduction, as well as the disappearance of three other people with similar socio-religious profiles, held by the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (SUHAKAM) was concluded in December last year.
Prior to his abduction, Koh had been accused of preaching to Muslims and had received bullets in the mail, according to Open Doors.
During the prayer meeting, Susana Koh quoted from Lamentations and shared about times she has become impatient with God and repented for her attitude: “The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him (Lam. 3:25).
Through the words of this scripture, Susanna said, she has learned that “there is good in waiting upon God.”
“God is good,” she told the crowd. “Even though the enemy plans evil, God will turn it for good.”
Susanna said she had tried to see a member of the special branch of Malaysia’s police force who has been accused of being behind Raymond Koh’s kidnapping, adding: “I pray for God to give me an opportunity to see him so I can talk to him and also pray for him too.”
The Koh family expressed their gratitude for the thousands of prayers for Pastor Raymond Koh’s return.
“Thank you for your prayers,” Susanna said. “Some of us have been threatened. But the prayers really make a difference. Please continue to pray for us.”
Meanwhile, Raymond Koh’s family has asked the country’s prime minister to order a new investigation into his kidnapping.
“It has already been two years and until now there’s no result [of the inquiry]. We are at our wits’ end. We don’t know what else to do than to appeal to the highest authority to look into this matter and resolve it,” Susanna Koh told World Watch Monitor.
The inquiry, which took just more than a year, is expected to release its findings on March 6, 2019.
