Not Ashamed of Christ
How the Lord used an arrest and the MacArthur Trust Scholarship to bring Liansuanmung Suantak to The Master’s Seminary (and one day bring life-changing gospel truth to northeast India)
As Liansuanmung (or Lian as he calls himself) entered Bhutan—a small nation in southeast Asia—in the summer of 2019, he feared what would happen if the authorities discovered the Bibles tucked away in his suitcase. He knew jail time was a real possibility. Death was not out of the question. That’s because Bhutan is a Buddhist country. Other religions, including Christianity, are outlawed. Evangelism is punishable by a minimum of four years in prison. And Christians in jail are often treated far worse than the rest of the prison population. Food is withheld. The body is harmed. Isolation is constant. Yet Lian was willing to risk his future, even his life, for the sake of the gospel because Bhutan is “one of the world’s least evangelized nations” according to Operation World. Of its nearly one million citizens, nearly 75 percent have never heard of Jesus.
Lian came into Bhutan from the northeast corner of India, from a province where Christianity—particularly the charismatic strain—is the dominant religion. He and his pastor were able to make it into Bhutan without incident, but after a few days of passing out Bibles in the markets and explaining the gospel to shopkeepers and pedestrians in one of the country’s largest cities, they were approached by police. The authorities searched their backpacks, finding several of the contraband Bibles. Lian and his pastor were arrested and sent to an immigration officer, who told them he would decide their fate the next day. That night, as Lian waited in his hotel room, he made a commitment that three years later would lead him to The Master’s Seminary.
“As I’m in my room, contemplating what is going to happen the next day, I prayed, asking the Lord to give me strength,” Lian said. “If this is your will, God, then give me the strength to endure my time in prison here. If prison is not your will, if you somehow get me out of this predicament, I will go into full-time ministry. I will attend seminary for the four years I was supposed to be in this prison and serve you for the rest of my life.”
Though Lian loved the Lord and was willing to smuggle Bibles into Bhutan, he had no desire for ministry until that trip. He went to church each week and was eager to serve the body of Christ, but for a vocation, he was committed to social work. His dream career was with the International Justice Mission. He wanted to tackle issues related to the law and help people improve their circumstances, whether that was working against human trafficking or bringing justice to the oppressed around the world. But as noble as that kind of work is, the threat of prison gave Lian the clarity to see that gospel work—the kind that can transform someone’s eternal destiny, not just their temporary circumstances—is where he wanted to dedicate his life if the Lord would grant him freedom.
The next day Lian and his pastor arrived at the police station at 9 a.m. The authorities interrogated them for an hour. They were hostile, angry at the men for bringing Bibles into the country. Lian was sure he would spend the next four years of his life in a Bhutan prison. But in the end, the surprising decision was freedom. Lian and his pastor were ordered to leave the country immediately, and told if they ever returned for any reason, they would go to jail. From that moment, Lian knew he would one day go to seminary and spend the rest of his life in ministry.
“I remember as I’m sitting there waiting for the verdict, the Scripture came to my mind ‘those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed” (Psalm 34:5). That gave me hope; reminded me to always stand firm for the gospel, even though I was afraid and there was so much uncertainty. I didn’t know if I would go to prison, but I did know the Lord would not put me to shame. He would be faithful to me.”
Lian may have come home from Bhutan determined to go to seminary, but he still did not know where he would go and how he would get there. He had heard of The Master’s Seminary. A friend introduced him to John MacArthur’s teaching on the internet, and MacArthur had become a model for Lian for how to preach and think about Scripture. But actually attending TMS, and moving to California to do so, seemed too far-fetched to actually consider. But over the next three years, a couple of key providences would bring Lian from the other side of the world to the campus of Grace Community Church. First, a Master’s Seminary alum visited northeast India, teaching and training pastors in the region. Lian told him of his desire to pursue pastoral ministry, and the alum encouraged him to consider TMS. Without that urging, Lian probably wouldn’t have reached out to admissions at TMS. And if that hadn’t happened, he may never have learned about the MacArthur Trust Scholarship, which provides free tuition for qualified students pursuing the Master of Divinity degree at TMS. Without that scholarship, Lian could not afford an education at TMS. And without the education he’s receiving at TMS, he wouldn’t be fully equipped to one day return to northeast India and, Lord willing, plant a healthy church.
The northeast corner of India, a peninsula of provinces surrounded by Bhutan, Myanmar, Bangladesh, and China, is the region of the country most influenced by Christianity. Missionaries from Great Britain first evangelized the area more than one hundred years ago. Today, the region’s Christianity is a hybrid of cultural practices and the charismatic movement. Expository preaching and sound doctrine are scarce. That’s why Lian plans to return home, to the region of his birth, to establish a healthy church and, one day, train men to carry out the kind of expository, biblically grounded ministry he’s learning at The Master’s Seminary. Lian knows that his community will not change without a true heart transformation that comes from the gospel.
“It’s nice to work with International Justice Mission or a human rights organization. That would have been noble work if I’d pursued that with my life,” Lian said. “But there’s a sense in which that work doesn’t produce much change. I could help capture someone involved in human trafficking, make sure they go to jail for many years, but inevitably, other men will carry out that evil work. What I’ve come to realize in recent years is that the greater need for my community, for my people, for India, and for the world is the simple, accurate gospel. The gospel is the only thing that changes and transforms people's life. I’ve come to realize that the gospel and the gospel alone, is worth giving up my dreams and desires. Proclaiming it is the only way to truly change lives.”
