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A "MESSAGE FROM heaven" helped a missionary through a gunpoint kidnapping ordeal he feared he would not survive. 

        Charles Bentley was sure he would be killed when armed robbers commanded him to drive them away from the family home they had ransacked. 

        One of the bandits held a sawn-off shotgun to Bentley's head 
for more than two hours as he was forced to drive into a remote 
mountain area, certain that he would be shot and dumped at the 
side of the road. 

        He reminded himself that family, friends and co-workers would be praying for him - and his fears gave way to hope when one of the robbers turned on the jeep's radio, unexpectedly tuning in to a broadcast by well-known Bible teacher Charles Swindoll. 

        "You may think that the battle you are facing is a natural one 
against man, but the Scripture tells us we battle not against flesh and blood but against powers and principalities," Bentley heard. "Your battle is a spiritual battle, and in Jesus' name you will have the victory." 

        Although his captor then turned the radio off, unable to 
understand the English program, on hearing the reference to the 
Bible passage from Ephesians 6 Bentley felt "an overwhelming sense of peace that things were going to be OK, that the Lord was in control". 

        After driving the two men for 40 more miles, Bentley was told to pull over to the side of the road, and then allowed to drive off unharmed as the pair disappeared into the darkness with their stolen goods. 

        "It was like a message from heaven. What's amazing is that I 
never use the radio because it doesn't work very well, and I don't listen to that particular station, but it came through loud and clear." 

        Bentley's ordeal began when he and his wife and their four 
children returned home from an evening meeting at the Youth With 
A Mission training center they serve at just outside Jarabacoa, in the country's central mountain range. 

        As they walked into the house they were confronted by two men brandishing weapons. One of them cocked his firearm and pointed it in Bentley's face, demanding money. Then they ordered the whole family into the vehicle. 

        "It was like a nightmare, everything seemed to be happening in slow motion," recalled the 37-year-old American, a former teacher who has served in the Dominican Republic with his family for the past two-and-a-half years. 

        "We had no idea what they were going to do, but when they told us all to get into the vehicle I said no, they could take me but 
my family had to stay. When we left I thought that was the last time I would ever see them. I was sure that I was dead. One of them told me that if I stopped for anything he would blow my head off." 

        During his late-night drive, Bentley kept talking to the two men about his missionary work, and telling them that he wanted to see his family again.  Meanwhile Bentley's wife, Laurie, had alerted the police and YWAM co-workers, who began praying for his safety. The family was finally reunited about 3 am the following day. 

        The incident helped cement friendships with people in the local community. "They were angry and embarrassed by what happened, and it helped affirm our purpose in being there," said Bentley. 

        "The events have changed us. It's made us realize that we can't take anything for granted, even the everyday things. All that is 
guaranteed us is the present moment, and we need to make every 
one count for the Lord." 

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