In the six days he spent as a hostage of kidnappers in South Africa in April, Tennessee missionary Josh Sullivan constantly bobbed between waves of fear and faith as he trusted that God would allow him to see his family again.
Now, almost a month after he was rescued by South African Police “miraculously unharmed” following a “high-intensity shootout” that left three people dead, Sullivan, 34, said the whirlwind of emotions he stewed in throughout the ordeal exploded when he realized he’d been freed.
“Obviously I’m glad they won the gun battle,” Sullivan said in a recent interview with WBIR Channel 10.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know.
He recalled how he was kidnapped by four armed men just as he began teaching about the fruits of the Spirit on April 10 at his Fellowship Baptist Church in Motherwell, near Gqeberha. His kidnappers demanded an undisclosed ransom for his release and held him captive with a hood over his head until he was rescued on April 15 by the South African Police.
A statement from the South African Police Service said the shootout on April 15, happened at a safe house in KwaMagxaki, Gqeberha.
“As officers approached the house, they observed a vehicle on the premises. The suspects inside the vehicle upon seeing law enforcement allegedly attempted to flee and opened fire on the team. The officers responded with tactical precision, leading to a high-intensity shootout in which three unidentified suspects were fatally wounded,” the statement said.
Sullivan recalled how the men took him to the safe house and tied him up after taking him from his church and family. He said he spent most of the time laying on what he believes was a queen-sized bed all the time with a hood over his head and that had a hole for his nose that allowed him to breathe freely.
He said he realized after about the third day at the safe house that the men who were holding him hostage didn’t want to harm him. They just wanted money. He recalled telling the three men who were killed about his faith. He also strongly believes that on the day of his rescue “God absolutely performed a miracle.”
Sullivan said he was told by his kidnappers that he wasn’t going home that day but they were moving him from the safe house.
He recalled being taken to a vehicle where the three men who had been charged with holding him hostage were waiting.
“As we’re sitting in the driveway, those three men just jump out of the car. I don’t know what’s going on and [they] begin firing at someone,” Sullivan said.
“I’m assuming police because there’s a lot of fire, maybe 20 gunshots. So I just keep my head down. I’m laying there in the back of the car just praying. … And then, five to seven minutes of this battle goes on and then the shots die down. And I hear footsteps coming and I’m just hoping ‘let this be a good guy,’” the Tennessee missionary said.
And it was.
“[I] come to find out a police officer opens the door and […] he’s shocked that I’m in the car and he says, ‘Are you the American pastor?’ I said, ‘yes,’ and he has a shocked look on his face and he calls the other police. There’s four police officers that showed up and he calls them all and said, ‘it’s the American pastor,’” Sullivan said.
When pressed about the moments after he was rescued after the gun battle, Sullivan remembered the shock.
“It’s funny, because you hear people talk about trauma and if you never experienced it, you can have your thoughts about it, but we’ve definitely experienced a lot of trauma the last few weeks,” Sullivan said.
“I was in complete shock. I was just rambling and crying and my thoughts weren’t clear. I was saying all kinds of crazy things, especially at the reunion [with his family],” he added.
“My family was about an hour away in a different city. So that reunion time was, … I’m sure my wife and kids can tell it better, [but] I was different. I think my kids were scared of me just because of the shock and the way I was acting. I couldn’t catch my breath,” he said.
“I was in complete shock. So seeing those officers, I just began crying. I got on my knees and my hands and knees and praised God, first of all, just thank the Lord and hacking and spitting and crying everywhere. I could not believe it ended that way.”
Sullivan explained that he credits God for rescuing him, first because of what he was told by the police during his debriefing.
“That police officer that was the first one to find me comes in and we begin to talk. I thank him, of course, and he said I know that you’re a praying man and I know that there’s people praying for you because we were lost when we found you,” Sullivan said.
He explained that the officer told him that the tip they got to search for him was for a different address.
“They took a wrong turn and they pulled into a driveway to turn around. And that’s when three men jump out of a car and start firing at them. And they take care of those men,” he said.
Two other men who were involved in his kidnapping escaped.
“How did the car not get shot? […] How did they not shoot me thinking I was a criminal as well?” Sullivan asked. “It was an absolute miracle and it was a sovereign hand of God that was there with me that day.”
Contact: leonardo.blair@christianpost.com Follow Leonardo Blair on Twitter: @leoblair Follow Leonardo Blair on Facebook: LeoBlairChristianPost
