They huddled inside the room while hearing the screams of fellow Christians being butchered outside. Pastor Hendrick Pattiwael and his wife were helping to lead the Indonesian youth camp, and they felt responsible for the young people in their care.

    The camp had been a joyous time of spiritual growth and worship. Then they were attacked.
    When the radical Muslim mob surrounded the building where they hid, Pastor Pattiwael went outside.

Distracting the bloodthirsty mob’s attention away from his wife and the young people, the pastor was attacked while the others escaped.

    “Jesus, help me.” They were his final words.

    His wife next saw him lying in a coffin. Ugly wounds crisscrossed his torso and arms. In shock and anger, Mrs. Pattiwael cried out to God. “How could you let this happen? Why didn’t you protect my husband?”

    But the Holy Spirit reminded her of her husband’s words only days before the attack. “If you love Jesus, but you love me or your family more, you are unworthy of Christ’s kingdom.” He told her that he was ready to die for Christ’s kingdom.
  

 Remembering those words, she refused to become bitter. She still works with her church in Indonesia. The advice that she would give Christians in free nations is simply this: “Seek God more earnestly, so that you can stand in the midst of more trouble.”

We don’t have to go looking for trouble. It already has our address. Jesus often reminded his disciples that trials are part of daily living. Seeking God more earnestly does not mean seeking more trouble for our lives. No, the benefit of seeking a deeper relationship with God is to better prepare us for the inevitable. We don’t have a choice about what troubles come our way. However, we can choose to have a relationship with God that prepares us for trouble. Some trials may mean losing our lives for Christ's sake. Yet this is not the real sacrifice. The extreme sacrifice must come long before. We must sacrifice selfishness at every level in order to develop intimacy with God ahead of time. When we have sacrificed all to pursue a preeminent relationship with Christ, we will have already done the hardest part.

Let us begin this week with another great devotion from the best selling book Extreme Devotion, which makes a great Christmas gift.  You may buy a few here. :)

The preacher was only making his first point when the prison guards burst into the room, grabbing him and slamming everyone else to the floor.

    “You know this preaching is forbidden,” one of them growled. “Now you will face the punishment.” The husky guards dragged him out of the cell and down the hall. The other prisoners knew that the Eastern European Communist guards were taking their friend to the “beating room.” They heard the door of that terrible room slam and then the muffled shouts and cries as the guards ruthlessly beat their friend.
    

Almost an hour had passed before the guards threw open the cell door and shoved in the man who had been preaching. The other prisoners saw that his clothes were now bloody and his face bore the marks of the beating. He looked around at his cellmates almost as if taking attendance.

    “Now, my brothers,” he said, “Where did I leave off when we were so rudely interrupted?” And the sermon continued. Christians in prison knew the price they would pay to deliver a sermon, and yet many preached. Some, with no theological training or ministry experience, would preach passionately and eloquently in prison.

    “It was a deal,” wrote one prisoner later. “We preached, and they beat. We were happy preaching, and they were happy beating—so everyone was happy.”

In a world where a contract is no longer binding, a family is dissoluble, and divorces outnumber marriages, Christians must reinstate the meaning of commitment—at all costs. What is the value of a promise if it does not mean anything? However, the consequences of our commitment to Christ are not cheap. It may cost us a chance at being very successful according to the world’s standards. It may cost us friends and popularity. It may cost us our family. Our security. And for some, even our lives. Commitment must have a price. The prisoners understood that full well. Yet Christ’s reward is also part of the bargain. Are you holding up your end of the deal?

The Voice of the Martyrs has launched Facebook applications that enable readers to get involved and pray for persecuted believers around the world.

"Facebook has become popular by helping friends connect with each other," says Todd Nettleton, spokesman for The Voice of the Martyrs. "We are excited about providing tools to help VOM readers share their passion for the persecuted church with their friends through Facebook."

"One of the exciting things about Facebook is how quickly people respond," Nettleton continued. "This week we posted a prayer request which our "Facebook fans" could see, and instantly people were able to pray for two imprisoned Christian women in Iran. The response was heartfelt and powerful."

The Prisoner Alert application allows readers to write letters of encouragement to Christians just like VOM's prisoner Web site www.prisoneralert.com. "The added benefit of having the application on Facebook is that it makes it easy to encourage your friends to add their voices as well and write a letter themselves," Nettleton added.

VOM tells the stories of the persecuted church and builds and encourage the fellowship of all believers. "We want to use every tool available to fulfill that calling," Nettleton said.

Become a fan of VOM on Facebook! Click here: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/The-Voice-of-the-Martyrs-USA/11006419356?ref=ts

Sign up for the Facebook Prisoner Alert application here: http://apps.facebook.com/prisoneralert/

 One of the cool things about the Internet is that ministries like The Voice of the Martyrs are now involved on Facebook and Twitter.  Today I happy to let you all know that The Voice of the Martyrs now has our Prisoner Alert application ready and working on Facebook.  So if you are on Facebook, click this link to write prisoners through your Facebook account.  And please tell your friends to join The Voice of the Martyrs cause in Facebook.

We are also on Twitter and if you aren't following us yet, go to http://www.twitter.com/persecutionblog and join in the fun and fellowship with us that way too.

I love social networking on Twitter and Facebook.  Here's one example why.  Yesterday I received this urgent prayer request from our friends at International Christian Concern.  Please join us in prayer.

Israel continued military attacks in the Gaza Strip today. The death toll of the 17-day offensive, known as "Operation Cast Lead" approached 900 with about 3,500 injured.

Please pray for the approximately 3,000 minority Christians in the Gaza Strip. 

One church reports that during an air strike, at least one Christian girl was killed, apparently of a heart attack, while watching an explosion.

Two Palestinian pastors request prayer for believers in Gaza for protection and that they can become a "beacon of light."

One pastor's church also requests prayer "for innocent civilians on both sides of the conflict, as well as financial aid," so they could assist "the many that are struggling since the conflict began."

Keep your eyes on Israel and pray not only for peace, but that the Gospel would be spread throughout the Holy Land and that many would turn to the Savior in repentance and faith in this time of great suffering.

In a world full of bad news, it's good to know that there will always be Good News and once you believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the bad news will not ruin our lives, but only cause us to preach, and pray, and love.

God bless.

If you are on Facebook, and seriously, who isn't these days?  Facebook has over 140 million users.  So if you are on Facebook, please join our Facebook group.

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