DIVINE INTERVENTIONS: Left to Die in the Desert

In this episode of the DoorWays® Ministry Network podcast, Ric Shields speaks with Brent Teague in Cote d'Ivoire, Africa, who recounts a harrowing experience when he was attacked by rebel fighters in Niger. Brent describes the day he was ambushed, shot, and left for dead in the desert, and how divine interventions played a crucial role in his survival. Despite severe injuries, Brent's faith and the quick actions of his companions helped him endure until help arrived.

Brent's story serves as a powerful testament to resilience and the belief that one's mission is not over until God says so and concludes with a prayer for listeners who may be facing their own battles, encouraging them to trust in God's timing and intervention.

Transcript

EPISODE: Divine Interventions - Left to Die in the Desert
GUEST: Brent Teague
S3, E47

Brent Teague (00:00):

The guy that shot me, he's wanting to finish us all off. One of the other three is arguing with him because they weren't expecting there to be children on board. He's like, “I'm not, I'm not, I didn't sign up to kill babies.”

Ric Shields (00:23):

Thank you for joining us on this episode. I'm Ric Shields, your host and director of the DoorWays® Ministry Network.

(00:28):

I'm happy to speak again with my friend Brent Teague who is currently in Cote d'Ivoire, Africa. We last spoke several months ago, I think six or seven months ago, about the challenges faced by the church in Africa. Brent, three of the top challenges you mentioned were insecurity due to Islamic State activities, urbanization, and the need for trained pastors.

(00:50):

Today we're going to talk about something more personal. In this episode and in the next one, I've asked Brent to share about a time when he fought for his life after a nearly fatal encounter with rebel fighters in the desert. I've also asked him to tell us about the divine interventions that took place and how God spared his life. So, thank you, Brent, for joining us on this episode.

Brent Teague (01:15):

Thank you, Ric, for inviting me. And I'm always happy to share the different ways that God has moved in my life and we are thankful to the Lord for his faithfulness and how he shows up even in the most unexpected times.

Ric Shields (01:30):

Brent, we've been talking about divine interventions for the past several episodes. Your story was one of the first that came to my mind when I decided to go this direction, and there's a lot of story for us to talk about. So forgive me if we just dive right in here.

(01:46):

Take us back, if you will, to the country of Niger in the Sub-Saharan Desert about 20 years ago. And just to differentiate for our listeners, we're not talking about Nigeria. That's a different country to the south of Nigeria. The French name is Niger. So, let's talk about the environment first. Tell us about the environment in terms of the climate. What is it like there? That's an important part of this story.

Brent Teague (02:11):

Well, Niger is a very hot country. I think the capital Niamey is one of the hottest capitals in the world. One hundred twenty degrees is pretty normal there as far as a temperature. Two thirds of the country is Sahara Desert, and then the other third is Sahel. There's only a strip of land along the borders in the south of Niger that really can produce crop or anything. So, it's a very harsh climate, very difficult place.

(02:40):

Despite that, there's 26 million people that live there. So, food is something that's always been an issue. Food crisis and, and a lack of food in that place. The country is over 90% Muslim. When we arrived there, it was 98% Muslim. Islam is a part of the fabric of everything there. With Islam there's not a separation of religion and state and commerce and business. It's a part of, it's intertwined in all parts of life. Yeah, it's a, it's place that's difficult to live.

(03:14):

I mean, I remember when I was first planning on going to Niger and I told my grandfather in Pampa Texas, I guess he had an old Encyclopedia Britannica. And the next day he was talking to me and he says, “Brent, according to the encyclopedia, that place is uninhabitable. Why are you going there?”

Ric Shields (03:33):

“Shouldn't you go someplace where there are people?”

Brent Teague (03:35):

I was like, “Well, there's some million, millions of people living in that uninhabitable place.”

Ric Shields (03:40):

And the political environment is an important part of this story too. It seems as if Niger is marked by political instability. Tell us about the political environment as well.

Brent Teague (03:52):

Well, Niger has had issues for many, many years. The Tuareg people group in the northern part of Niger, they're, that people group is actually split between four countries. So, Algeria, Libya, Niger, and Mali. And they would, they would like to get their independence. They would like to reform their homeland, which was called Azawad. So, there's been Tuareg rebellions and fighting on and off for many, many years. And then they will team up with other groups that come in that they think will help them be able to re-create their political homeland.

(04:32):

And then you have just normal instability in in West Africa from…really our, our system of government multi-party, democratic system of government doesn't mesh too well with African culture. So, there's lots of issues political instability and all of that as well. And then you throw into that with rebellion from these type groups it makes for a lot of instability.

(04:56):

And then the different brands, or I'd say different Islamic denominations, and they have backings from different countries. And so, they're all vying for their own interest. And then Niger kind of what kind of makes it unique is that it's one of the largest sources of uranium in the world. So that kind of puts it on the map as far as international interest is concerned.

Ric Shields (05:22):

Shortly after you and your wife Shelly arrived in Niger in 1995, you started planting churches. One of them was about a 70 mile drive through the desert to the city of Tillaberri. I was a passenger in a vehicle you drove on the road from capital city of Niamey to Tillaberri. The road cuts right through the desert. It's a paved road, but there's nothing but dirt and sand on either side of it. What were you doing? You were driving to Tillaberi that day, 20 years ago. Why were you driving there?

Brent Teague (05:58):

Well, we had started a new work in the city of Tillaberi. And as you said, it was like 70 miles from the capital with the highway. It was about an hour and 20 minute drive or so, an hour and 15 minutes. But at that time, we did not have enough trained national pastors yet because we had started these new works. And so, I was actually having to pastor.

(06:21):

I was pastoring three churches simultaneously while we were trying to train new workers because When Shelly and I arrived, the first community we went to, she and I were the only Christians. And so, we started witnessing and sharing with people and so people started accepting the Lord. And so, it's from those people that accepted the Lord and the Lord called certain ones into the ministry. But anyway, it was a whole process. So, in the meantime I was kind of a circuit preacher, <laugh>. I'd had,

Ric Shields (06:48):

I guess.

Brent Teague (06:49):

These different places. Yeah. So, I would have each day of the week, except for Monday, I was preaching in a different location. But anyway, Tillaberri. We had started the church there. We had a building. And so, we had a house up there and we would spend half the week there. And half the week in Niamey. I was going up with a couple of Bible school students and their wives and their kids to minister there. And that was the plan. That was the goal that day.

(07:17):

And it was about four in the afternoon. It was hot. We're heading up there for ministry.

Ric Shields (07:24):

Driving through the desert with seven passengers when absolutely the unimaginable happened. So, let's pick up the story there. What happened?

Brent Teague (07:35):

So north of where I was going to do ministry, there was a federal prison. I am driving about halfway there when there's this vehicle looked like a military vehicle that was, came up behind me. And I thought they were like prison guards or something and I thought they were military. So, I kind of gave way for them to go around me, only I realized they weren't passing me. They were like matching my speed.

(07:59):

So, I look to see why the car was matching my speed on the two lane road, the vehicle's right next to me. And I realized that the passenger window is rolled down and, and they're not, they're not government troops. Here's a guy with a turban, and he’s got an AK-47 pointed at me. And I realized then that we were under attack. But before I had a chance to do anything to respond, the guy that had the gun pointed at me started shooting.

(08:26):

One of the bullets that came through the door went straight through my knee. I remember my jeans actually caught fire. I remember putting the fire out, yelling, “I'm hit!” And then a third of my knee is on the dashboard. I just remember what went through my mind is “I've got to get this vehicle stopped” because he keeps shooting. You know my passengers, I mean people, a lot of people are going to get hurt.

(08:49):

And so, then a second bullet went through the bottom part of my leg and took all the flesh out near the shin – about a fistful. I didn't really, that one didn't hurt me as badly since the nerves and everything went with the flesh.

(09:05):

I'm driving a standard vehicle. So, I slammed on the brakes and I slammed on the clutch. Now, this leg that's just received had two bullets come through the door. I slammed on the clutch. And when I did and I slammed with a lot of force because I was, I panicked and I'm trying to stop the car. And so, when I slammed the clutch, I forced the tibia up into the femur and I split my femur vertically. So, then my left leg was about six inches shorter than it's supposed to be.

(09:34):

And I got the car stopped when I hit the brakes that hard. Then they flew by because I mean, I put the brakes on. So, they flew by, but they stopped their vehicle as well. There were three of them. They had the guy that shot me that was in the passenger seat, they had another guy in the rear of their truck. And so, he also had a machine gun. And so, the guy that had just shot through my door jumped out and ran back towards our car.

(09:59):

Well, we started getting out of the car. I'd actually gotten out of the driver's seat and was hobbling on one leg when he arrived at the car. And he's yelling at everyone to get back in the car. And so, then he ordered me onto the laps and he helped, I don't even know how I got on their laps, but anyway, he threw me on the lap of my passengers in the backseat. And he commandeered my vehicle. And then we go off road into the, into the desert and the other vehicle followed.

(10:23):

And so, we went several miles off road and it was a brutal drive. I mean, I was begging him to stop. I've never hurt so badly in my life. All those bones that were broken there were moving. And so finally they got to kind of a little gully in the desert. And they pulled in there and they told us to all to get out. I can't walk. My leg's broken. And so, I'm lying in the sand. It's hot, the sand is burning my skin.

(10:47):

And I remember he's, they're asking everyone for their money. I remember handing my wallet to them with my blood all over it, telling them to take whatever they wanted. The guy that shot me wants to finish us all off. One of the other three is arguing with him because they weren't expecting there to be children on board because we had an eight month old baby, and like a 3-year-old and like a 6-year-old. So, he's like, “I'm not, I'm not, I didn't sign up to kill babies.” And so, they're having this argument.

(11:18):

And so, the two Bible school students that were in the vehicle with me realize this is kind of a chance to negotiate. So, they kind of jump in and try to convince these guys to let us live. And so they told them, “You've made a big mistake. You've shot a mullam (which is Arabic for a preacher), and we're student preachers and you've made a mistake. And if you kill us if you finish us off,” they told them, “you'll be cursed to you and your families will be cursed to the fourth generations.” I didn't discuss or argue with their theology. I was just listening to everything and it had an impact.

(11:52):

So, then the one guy said, “Let's just save our ammunition.” And he pointed at me and he said, “and he's dead anyway.” And so, then we left there. They left, they took my vehicle. And the guy that had shot me, he still determined to finish me off. So, he planned on running me over with my own vehicle. But the pastors that were with me saw his intentions at the last minute. And so, they grabbed me and they pulled me out of the way right as the car brushed to the bottom of my feet as they took off. So, then we're left there with, with nothing. I always travel like with an emergency med pack at my car and everything, but it just, it left with the car.

(12:31):

So, one of the student pastors took his wife's head, tied her scarf off her head and tried a tourniquet on my leg. Didn't completely stop the bleeding, but definitely slowed it down quite a bit and did his best to try to make a tourniquet out of that. They wanted to try to carry me to the road, but it was too painful. And it probably best they didn't because of all the broken bones. And my main artery had just been missed by, by the bullets and all that.

(12:58):

So, I asked them. I said, “Well, one of you stay with me and the rest, hike back to the road, see if you can get help.” So, there I was laying there in the sand. I know I'm going to bleed out in the next 45 minutes to an hour, and I'm assessing my situation.

(13:15):

And Niger does not have, at the time, we did not have good emergency care. I could have been shot in the parking lot of the national hospital and, and not made it. And here I am out in the middle of nowhere and I'm just thinking, “You know, they're going to get to the road and no one in their right mind is going to come off road to this location, especially with their, my blood all over them and us being attacked.”

(13:36):

So, I'm thinking, “By the time someone these cars get to the jean post near the capital and inform them that there's been an attack, and then they mobilize people, it'll be like three hours before anyone would show up too, and an absolute impossible situation. And I'm just going to die here in the desert” and begin to pray. And I had this peace that came over me, I can't quite describe. And I began to pray and ask the Lord to take care of Shelly and my girls. And that's when the Lord spoke to me.

Ric Shields (14:07):

You're listening to the DoorWays® Ministry Network podcast. My name is Ric Shields. I'm joined on this episode with Brent Teague. Twenty years ago, armed rebels shot Brent while he was driving on remote desert road in Niger. But God had arranged a series of divine interventions to save Brent's life and to encourage the body of Christ in Niger, in the United States, and around the world.

(14:31):

Brent, you were shot twice in the leg by rebels with an AK-47. It's an assault rifle, originally developed and manufactured in the city of Izhvesk, Russia. I've visited that city. It's about 600 miles east of Moscow. I've been there on three different occasions.

(14:47):

As recently as the 1980s, students throughout the Soviet Union were awarded the Soviet Union Youth League Medal once they were able to disassemble and reassemble an AK-47. And they became so proficient, they had contests to see who could complete the task while blindfolded.

(15:05):

A few months before his death in 2013, the person who invented this rifle, who it's named, after General Mikhail Kalashnikov, wrote a letter to the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, in which he said, "The pain in my soul is unbearable. I keep asking myself the same unsolvable question, 'If my assault rifle took people's lives, does that mean that I am responsible for people's deaths?'"

(15:35):

Of the nearly 100 million, that's a lot of AK-47s, nearly 100 million have been manufactured. You were gravely wounded by one of them, Brent. They are meant to deliver a lethal round. A lethal blow. And I have to assume that was the intention of whomever shot you.

Brent Teague (15:55):

Yeah, I think I probably wouldn't, my leg wouldn't still be on my body if the bullets hadn't have gone through the door. So, the door of the Land Cruiser slowed down the velocity. But still the shrapnel, the, the way the bullets come through, I mean, it does a tremendous amount of damage.

(16:13):

I honestly had no hope. I'll be honest. I had no hope of survival. In fact, I mean, I was questioning the Lord as to why he allowed it to happen. I mean, I had been having car trouble for several weeks before. I mean, it's one of those things you're like asking, “Lord, why didn't you, why didn't my car like not have my car should have had problems today and I wouldn't have been on this road. Or you could have given me a flat tire at the right time so that I didn't fall into this snare.” And I think when we get to heaven one day, we're going to find, well, we're going to be surprised at how many divine interventions took place in our lives.

Ric Shields (16:48):

Absolutely.

Brent Teague (16:48):

And actually, things that frustrated us, like changes to our schedule, changes to our routine, that actually frustrated us at the time and we're going to get to heaven, discover, “No, that was a divine intervention. And the Lord saved your life and, you know, kept you from something.” I was questioning the Lord. And I honestly, the thought came to me out of all the people in Niger, most drivers, anyone else in my place would not know Christ. They'd be lost forever. And I realized that position that I have in Christ had knowing him, the privilege of knowing him, the privilege of serving him. And so, I stopped questioning because I realized, oh, in about 45 minutes to an hour, you're going to be face-to-face with Jesus, and he can answer all your questions, <laugh>. I didn't want to go into heaven complaining. That never seemed to work out to the Old Testament.

(17:36):

So, that's when I began approaching the Lord. I began worshiping the Lord and I began to thank the Lord then for saving me, delivering me, and setting me free. And so, as I was praying, that's when I realized that a lot of stuff that we think is so important in this life really isn't. And it's our relationship with God that's most important. And then the relationship we have with others, especially our family. So that's when I began to pray for Shelley and the girls and asking the Lord to take care of them.

(18:07):

And that's when the Lord spoke to me. And it was, it is an audible voice. And it really surprised me because, just as a question, the Lord just said to me, "Brent, who told you your mission in Niger is over?" And that was a shocking question for me.

Ric Shields (18:22):

Let's pick up this story from here next week and talk about the divine interventions that saved your life. But before we go, I'd like you to pray with our listeners because there – they may be in a time of darkness. It may feel to them like they're in a battle. Your story is different than theirs, but they need to know that there is more to the story. The mission they've been given is not over yet. They may have considered quitting or giving up, but the Rescuer is on his way. Would you please pray for them, Brent?

Brent Teague (18:52):

Dear Lord, we thank you today that you are a God who knows all things. You're a God who sees us, who cares for us. And Lord, you're not taken surprise by anything that happens in this life. And Lord, we know that our lives are in your hands. And Lord, we don't always understand the circumstances that we're going through. We don't always understand why things happen, but Lord, we know that you are faithful and that you are able.

(19:14):

And Lord, you can divinely intervene into the affairs of this world and into our lives, Lord, and make a difference, Lord. So, I just pray for those who are listening that are going through impossible situations or difficult situations that need the divine intervention. Lord, you are, you are strong, you are mighty. And I just ask you, Lord, to stretch forth your hand and to touch them in their situation. And Lord even when we don't see it, even when we don't understand it, we know, Lord, that you're working for us and that Lord, you love us and you care for us. And Lord, you are never late. You are always on time. I pray, Lord, that you would be there for them, that you would intervene in their situation, in the name of Jesus.

Ric Shields (19:59):

Brent's story is remarkable. I hope you'll join us next week for the follow-up episode to hear how God provided a series of divine interventions to save his life and bring about the healing he needed to continue his ministry in Africa. I also hope you'll share this episode with a friend who needs encouragement.

(20:20):

And I'd like to hear your story of how God has intervened in your life. The miracle you experienced is not meant to be kept to yourself. I believe the Holy Spirit will use your story to touch others and encourage the body of Christ. So, send me a note at info at doorways dot cc and let's see if we can find a way to share it together.

(20:40):

Now, I'd like to leave you with this blessing from Hebrews chapter 13:21 from the New Living Translation. "May He equip you with all you need for doing His will. May He produce in you, through the power of Jesus Christ, every good thing that is pleasing to Him. All glory to him forever and ever. Amen.”