Should we be so joyful that Christian missionary Norman Kember was rescued from his captors last week? Since flying home, he seems to have been less than grateful to his rescuers for his freedom, choosing to believe instead that his deliverance was more an act of God.
He doesn't say which God, the Christian God, the Islamic God, the Jewish God, the... well we could go on but which God exactly does get the credit? Though I'm sure Mr Kember wants to believe that it's his Christian God.

This dotty old man even seems slightly resentful that he was recued at all, reminding us that the Iraq invasion shouldn't have happened. Yes, but it did. What shouldn't have happened was a group of naïve missionaries expecting the British, American and Canadian governments to bail them out if they ventured into hostile areas where they made themselves targets for the loony insurgents roaming that tortured land.


I wonder just what Mr Kember - a lifelong pacifist - really thought he was doing there. Missionary work of some sort yes, no doubt. And no doubt that made him feel quite serene and spiritually pleased with himself, even though he must have known what danger he was in. But did he not realise or care what a liability he might be to the military forces trying to maintain peace in Iraq? Or was it his plan to embarrass them maybe by getting under their feet.


Did he, I wonder, ever see any of the videos of what these insurgents do to their victims if they decide to murder them for propaganda video. They are readily available on the internet. Perhaps someone should force Mr Kember to view one of these horrific incidents. It might make him think a bit more clearly next time. It might make him consider just what the soldiers who freed him, risked to get him out. It has a sobering effect watching a man with a kitchen knife saw a live man's head off! Funny how no amount of prayer saved those others from such a barbaric death, Daniel Perl, Kenneth Bigley and others. What was God's great plan there I wonder. Why did deliverance elude them? Did others not pray enough? No, it was a case of the military not being as lucky at tracking them down as they were with Kember. Divine intervention is a nice idea when it turns out okay. You can't help wondering why during the last world war, 6 million plus jews, men, women and children, all of whom must have been praying like mad for their deliverance, weren't delivered from their ordeal.



Frankly, Norman Kember and his family and colleagues should get down on their knees and give thanks to the vigilance and bravery of the army, the SAS and others who cooperated to free them. That is the miracle. The miracle of communication, intelligence and guts Mr Kember.