Pastor Kidnapped At Gunpoint Recalls ‘Miracle’ That Saved Him

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Tennessee Pastor Joshua Sullivan spoke to Fox News in May about his kidnapping in South Africa in April, recalling the “miracle” that saved his life.

Sullivan was kidnapped by a group of masked men who broke into his church in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. The men held him at gunpoint, took cellphones from his fellow parishioners, and drove away with Sullivan in his truck, Fox reported. (READ MORE: GOOD FRIDAY BONUS NEWS: American Pastor Rescued From Kidnappers Following Deadly Shootout)

“We do our prayer time before service, and… I got up to preach, and about one minute into the sermon, four masked gunmen entered the building. We originally thought, you know, South Africa is not the safest place. We’ve been robbed before. So, we originally thought they were just going to come in and take some phones. I preached from an iPad. I thought they were going to take it, but once he hit me over the head with his gun and then grabbed my wife, I knew something was different about this,” Sullivan told Fox’s Madison Scarpino.

Kidnapped For Cash

“They got me up, and they took me into my own vehicle. They got the keys from my vehicle, put me in it. All four of those men and me were inside of that vehicle. He immediately started to tell me, ‘So I know who you are. I know you’re American. I know you have money, and we’re going to kidnap you, and we’re going to get,’ he said, ‘5 million Rand,’ which is about $260,000,” Sullivan continued, noting that his biggest fear was they would kidnap his wife, so he did whatever the kidnappers asked.

“That’s what they were wanting. And he asked if my car had a tracker device. I said yes. They were prepared for that.” They switched vehicles down the road, before getting into a third vehicle shortly thereafter. (MORE NEWS: Pastors Must ‘Make It Clear To Our People’ That Anti-Parent Transgender Laws Come From ‘One Political Party’)

Six Days

Sullivan was taken to the very back room of a home and tied to a bed for six days. Three other men came to the house, who Sullivan considered “just babysitters” as they had no idea who he was.

“”Two of the men were there the entire time, and one of them was evil to me, would say evil things to me,” he continued. “The other one was like the chef. I guess he would come in and ask me… what I wanted to eat, what I wanted to drink. You know, they kidnap me, they take me to the room, they tied me up. Twenty minutes later, he comes in and says, ‘What you want for supper?’ Like I don’t want anything for supper. I didn’t eat for the first two days.”

Eventually the men asked Sullivan who he was, which was when he got to share the Good News. “And I was able to tell them about the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ… giving them the gospel. They had never heard that message before,” he explained. “And so the one individual was very interested. He had never heard that Jesus loved him or cared for him, and he was very interested in it, listened to everything I had to say. The second individual just listened to me, just to hear what I had to say and didn’t really mind too much, but… at least I had the opportunity to do that.” (MORE NEWS: More Than 7,700 Baptized In Largest Single-Day Baptism In America. Ever.)

Experience Was ‘Torture’

Sullivan’s wife Meagan explained that they’re more than aware of the dangers of living in South Africa. They’ve both been robbed and heard of kidnappings, so much so that law enforcement appeared “nonchalant” about the situation. “There’s not a lot that they can do,” Meagan described. “So, they were very nonchalant about the whole thing. And I was just so broken, and over the, the next few days, I just remember the Lord telling me to wait.” The worst part of the experience was not hearing from the police.

The kidnappers eventually contacted Meagan, demanding the ransom. “I just crumbled to the ground when I was talking to them because… they said, ‘5 million ransom and you’ll get your husband back.’ …  And they said cash. And I said, ‘I don’t have 5 million cash. Can you work with me?’ And they said, ‘You are not in any position to be making demands,’” she said. “And I said, ‘OK, I’ll get you your 5 million Rand, but it might take me a minute.’ And so I was just really trying to figure out how I was going to make that happen.”

The Miracle

Six days into the kidnapping, Sullivan said a miracle occurred. He was moved from the property to a vehicle, and had the feeling his kidnappers “had to get rid of” him, Fox noted. As they were moving him, Sullivan tripped and fell down a step, then another. He was put into the car, and the kidnappers moved it outside.

“While we’re sitting in the driveway, the guys just jumped out of the car and began firing their weapons,” Sullivan said. “Of course, I don’t know what’s going on. And then… [for] about five to seven minutes, I hear a gun battle. Nothing hits the car, nothing around the car. But I just hear guns going off, and I’m just laying back there praying. I didn’t know what I should do. Should I run? Should I get out? I didn’t know, so I just laid back there and prayed. Then I hear the battle is ended.”

Sullivan was discovered because a tip about a suspicious vehicle led law enforcement to chase down information at a different location. The cops took a wrong turn and ended up in the driveway of the house where the pastors was being held, which was when the suspects started firing. (MORE NEWS: ‘Demons Were Real’: Former VP Candidate’s Near-Death Experience Brought Her To Jesus)

“Whether you’re a believer or a nonbeliever, I know that doesn’t matter. What happened to us, what happened to me, it was a miracle from God,” he said. “The sovereign hand of God was on it because as we were speaking before the interview, things like this happen all the time… and in this case… what else could you say besides God performed a miracle in our lives? … I think he did it to show the world.”

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