How valuable is God’s word to a Christian in prison? More valuable than gold!

In their book, Captive in Iran, Maryam Rostampour and Marziyeh Amirizadeh share the miraculous story of how God provided them with access to His word, and how His provision was an incredible testimony and witnessing opportunity to their fellow prisoners. Marziyeh writes:

Not long afterward, as I was cleaning the floor under Mommy’s bed, I discovered a long-forgotten box of what looked like trash. I asked Mrs. Mahjoob if she knew whose it was. Mrs. Mahjoob said that some prisoner who was gone must have forgotten about it and left it, and I should just throw it away. As I carried the box to the trash, I looked through it, just in case. Even trash might have some value in prison. To my surprise, I found a pocket-size Gospel of Luke mixed in with the scraps and castoffs.

I quickly slipped it under the blanket on my bed. I could hardly wait to get to bed that night and start reading. When it was time for lights out, I retrieved the little book and opened the cover. On the flyleaf was an inscription and the signature of Archbishop Ramsey, the former archbishop of Canterbury and leader of the Anglican Church worldwide, who had evidently given it as a gift. What a treasure and miracle it was to find it!

It’s hard to describe the feeling of being able to read Scripture after being away from it for a month. Every page, every word, every letter was a blessing. A banquet for the starving soul. Maryam and I decided to share it with people who might be interested. First we loaned it to Mrs. Mahjoob. After she finished with it, we gave it to Mana. When she saw it, her eyes widened in shock and amazement.

“God has answered your prayers,” I said, handing it over. “Now you can read a portion of the authentic Bible you’ve always wanted.” As word got around, many, many prisoners wanted to read it. Before long, dozens of women had their first look at the true Christian Scriptures, reading the little volume signed by one of the most powerful men in the church, who had died more than twenty years before and whose little pocket Gospel had miraculously turned up under a bed in a women’s prison in the middle of Islamic Iran.

Excerpted from Captive in Iran by Maryam Rostampour and Marziyeh Amirizadeh. You can purchase a copy of Captive in Iran through VOMBooks.com. You can also choose to support VOM’s efforts to deliver Bibles into the hands of Christians living in hostile and restricted nations.

This is Part 3 in a three-part series of blog posts about the case of Eva Abdallah, accused of blasphemy last year in Tanzania. Click to read Part 1 and Part 2.

Does VOM condone what Eva did? No, we don’t. It would have been wiser not to choose an action that is so deeply offensive to Muslims. We would never encourage any Christian, persecuted or otherwise, to purposefully antagonize a non-believer. But while it may not have been the best choice, her desire to show God’s power and glory in a tense situation is admirable.

Eva Abdallah smiles as she talks about the encouragement she got from Christians around the world who wrote letters of encouragement to her.

VOM's founder, Richard Wurmbrand, always encouraged reaching our enemies with love. His book, Jesus, Friend to Terrorists, is written in that vein. We shower those who persecute us with blessing and love, modeling Christ. Pastor Wurmbrand won over many antagonistic fellow prisoners, prison guards and interrogators that way.

But right or wrong, Pastor Wurmbrand also refused to let the sleepy church in the West forget about their suffering brothers and sisters. As a ministry charged with bringing the Western church into fellowship with the persecuted, VOM could not forget our sister Eva, suffering in prison because her faith motivated her persecutors to provoke her.

And the letter-writing efforts of so many of you here and around the world made a difference to Eva in prison. She was overwhelmed with the unexpected encouragement of the letters and cards. The colors, the verses and the hand-written notes were deeply meaningful. She told us, “From the bottom of my heart I felt extreme joy because I knew there were some Christians who were praying for me even though they didn’t know me.”

Now that she’s free, Eva wants to study the Bible more and continue to witness just as boldly as she always has. She’s living in a different city, but she’s just as determined to bring glory to the God who changed her life.

And this is not the end of her story. It’s just the beginning of how God will use this young woman for his purposes.

YOUR TURN: Does it change your opinion of Eva's story now that you know more details? Share your thoughts in the comments to this post.

To write letters to Christians currently in prison because of their faith and Christian activities, visit www.PrisonerAlert.com.

Dory P. has worked with VOM for six years. She grew up in Ecuador, met her husband while working with another mission organization, and now lives in Oklahoma. Between Dory, her husband and two-year-old son, they share five passports. Dory helps tell the stories of the persecuted through VOM's newsletter, and her husband serves with VOM's international department.

This is Part 2 in a three-part series of blog posts about the case of Eva Abdallah, accused of blasphemy last year in Tanzania. Click here to read Part 1.

Then the word came in a short email from our worker: “And…yes, Eva says she did urinate on the Quran. Thought you should know that.”

Accused of blasphemy, then acquitted of the crime: how could it be that Eva Abdallah in Tanzania would choose to so deeply offend her Muslim countrymen?

Here’s how Eva tells the story:

Eva Abdallah shows some of the letters sent to encourage her while she was in prison.

It was on the 5^th of January 2012, when I was outside our house reading the Bible that six women came around me and started to abuse Christianity and the Bible. I decided to go inside our house and shut the windows so I couldn’t hear them. But they came close to the window to continue to abuse Christianity and the Bible. I prayed to God and said, “Lord I know this is something unusual, and I pray that you will reveal yourself in this trial that is coming."

When they saw me, they said, “Jesus is not God.” And they kept repeating that, so, I was obliged to tell them that according to my faith, I strongly believe that Jesus is God because of what he did for me.

They brought part of a Quran, and told me if I urinated on it, because of its power, I would turn into a crazy woman, or grow hair all over my body.

I knew Muslims would consider it blasphemy, but they dared me, and I wanted my God to be glorified before them. I wanted to prove to them that my God is able and more powerful compared to their god like … with Elijah where he prayed to God to come consume the sacrifice with all the gods of Baal. I wanted to prove to them that my God is more able than theirs.

So I did it to show nothing would happen, they could not compete with my God… He would protect me.

God did protect Eva. While the whole town went crazy with anger over the news of what she’d done, God blinded the eyes of those searching for her so she could make it safely to the police station, where she was arrested.

She would face the justice system, but at least she wouldn’t be killed in the street.

Read Dory's answer to the question, Does VOM condone what Eva did?

Dory P. has worked with VOM for six years. She grew up in Ecuador, met her husband while working with another mission organization, and now lives in Oklahoma. Between Dory, her husband and two-year-old son, they share five passports. Dory helps tell the stories of the persecuted through VOM's newsletter, and her husband serves with VOM's international department.

Sometimes the full story is not what we’d want it to be.

Last year, we learned that a 17-year-old Tanzanian woman, Eva Abdallah, had been accused of blasphemy for urinating on a Quran and sentenced to two years in prison. Tanzania, a Christian majority nation (54.07% Christian, according to Operation World) in East Africa, has not typically been a place where VOM has found persecution cases. But as Islamic influence has grown in the country, and as Sharia (Islamic) law has been applied, persecution in Tanzania has grown.

When we heard of Eva’s case, our staff began investigating. A new national contact talked with Christian leaders around the country, who reported that the accusation of blasphemy was false. However, one of our sister missions in another country wrote to us to say they believed Eva had done what she was accused of.

The reports conflicted, so we considered the facts carefully. Eva had converted from Islam to Christianity as a 12-year-old and had some Bible training. After being accused and arrested in January 2012, she wasn’t given her two-year sentence until July 2012. In her Muslim-majority city, it seemed that local Islamists were unfairly influencing the court against her. We decided to ask our readers to send encouraging letters to Evan in prison, and our contact helped arrange for legal representation for her.

Letters from around the world began to pour into the prison. Prison guards were required to review letters before passing them along to prisoners. Eva received the first few hundred, but eventually the task became too laborious for the guards, and instead of giving the letters to her they boxed them and held them until her release.

That day came sooner than expected. On Jan. 9, 2013, Tanzania’s highest court acquitted Eva of the blasphemy charges and she was immediately released.

We were anxious to hear her story, and sent a VOM worker to interview her as soon as possible.

Then the report came in a short email from our worker...

Read what the email said.

Dory P. has worked with VOM for six years. She grew up in Ecuador, met her husband while working with another mission organization, and now lives in Oklahoma. Between Dory, her husband and two-year-old son, they share five passports. Dory helps tell the stories of the persecuted through VOM's newsletter, and her husband serves with VOM's international department.

In prisons around the world Christians are suffering today because of their Christian faith. Farshid Fathi in Iran. Chhedar Bhote in Nepal. Asia Bibi in Pakistan. They are praying and dreaming of the day they’ll be released; the sweet moment they’ll be reunited with their families.

Richard Wurmbrand, VOM’s founder, was also a Christian in prison for his faith. He spent 14 years in the prisons of communist Romania. In his book, In God’s Underground, he writes movingly about coming home to his wife, Sabina, and his son, Mihai:

At last I reached my own front door and hesitated a moment. They were not expecting me, and I was a fearful sight in my filth and rags. Then I opened the door. In the hall were several young people, among them a gawky young man who stared at me and burst out: “Father!”

It was Mihai, my son. He was nine when I left him: now he was eighteen.

Richard Wurmbrand after his release from prison.

Then my wife came forward. Her fine-boned face was thinner, but her hair was still black; I thought she was more beautiful than ever. My eyes blurred. When she put her arms around me, I made a great effort and said, “Before we kiss, I must say something. Don’t think I’ve simply come from misery to happiness! I’ve come from the joy of being with Christ in prison to the joy of being with Him in my family. I’m not coming from strangers to my own, but from my own in prison to my own at home.” She sobbed, and I said, “Now if you wish, you may kiss me.” Later, I sang softly a little song I had made for her years before in prison to sing if we ever met again.

Mihai came to say that the place was full of visitors who would not leave without seeing me. Members of our church had been telephoning all over Bucharest; the doorbell rang continuously. Old friends brought new ones. People had to leave so that others could find standing room. Every time I was introduced to a woman, I had to bow politely in my absurd trousers, held up by string. By the time all were gone it was nearly midnight and Sabina pressed me to eat something, but I felt no hunger. I said, “Today we have had happiness enough. Let's make tomorrow a day of fasting in thankfulness, with Holy Communion before supper.”

I turned to Mihai. Three of our visitors—one a philosophy professor from the university whom I had not met before—had told me that evening that my son had brought them to faith in Christ. And I had feared that, left without father or mother, he would be lost! I could find no words for my happiness.

Mihai said, “Father, you've gone through so much. I want to know what you've learned from all your sufferings.”

I put my arm around him and said, “Mihai, I’ve nearly forgotten my Bible in all this time. But four things were always in my mind. First, that there is a God. Secondly, Christ is our Savior. Thirdly, there is eternal life. And, fourthly, love is the best of ways.”

My son said, “That was all I wanted.” Later he told me that he had decided to become a pastor.

In my clean, soft bed that night, I could not sleep. I sat up and opened the Bible. I wanted the Book of Daniel, which had been a favorite, but I could no longer find my way to it. My eye was held instead by a line in the Epistles of St John. “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.” I had this joy, too. I went into my son's room, because, I had to be sure that he was really there. In prison I had dreamed so often of this, only to wake in my cell.

Will you take a moment, right now, to pray for Christians in prison and for their families waiting at home, praying and hoping for the release of their loved one? You can encourage Christian prisoners by writing them a letter at www.PrisonerAlert.com. VOM is able to provide assistance to the families of imprisoned Christians through our Families of Prisoners fund.

One of the things The Voice of the Martyrs has consistently encouraged readers to do is to write letters to Christians in prison. In the museum space in our headquarters building is a list of prisoners in Soviet prisons in the early 1970s, as well as a poster of prisoners from that era that was sent out to US readers and churches to encourage them to write letters. Today VOM offers a letter writing kit for people who prefer writing with pen and paper and an online tool for those who prefer electronic tools in their communication.

But do the letters make a difference?

Who better to answer that question than formerly-imprisoned Christians? Maryam Rostampour and Marziyeh Amirizadeh spent 259 days in Evin Prison in Iran because of their Christian faith and activities. During their time in prison VOM featured the pair on www.PrisonerAlert.com and encouraged American Christians to write letters of encouragement to them.

Now, with the release of their book, Captive in Iran, we can see what the letters meant to them. Maryam writes this section of their story:

One of the visitors, a middle-aged man with a round face, looked at me. “Are you Miss Rostampour?”

“Yes, I am.”

“Do you have any idea how long we have been waiting for you?” I was too surprised to speak. “You have caused a great deal of trouble for us with these letters of yours. Every day, we have to open and read letters about you and your case.”

“You have to read letters about me?”

“Yes! At least forty or fifty letters a day that have been sent to you from all over the world.”

“If the letters are sent to me, why should you be reading them? Perhaps this is another example of the abuse of human rights in this country—that you open and read other people’s mail.”

“Did you really expect us to give them to you so you could get more encouragement to defy us?”

We don’t need to read the letters to be encouraged by them, I thought, my heart filled with joy. The world is watching you. We have a family of faith that loves us and cares for us. We are not alone!

Letters to Christians in prison DO make a difference! Order your Prisoner Letter Writing Kit or log on to www.PrisonerAlert.com and write a letter to a currently-imprisoned Christian today! You may also want to order a copy of Captive In Iran and read Maryam and Marziyeh's amazing story.

Pastor Shi Weihan, now also known by his English name, John Stone, was arrested in China on Nov. 29, 2007. As a bookstore owner, he sold books with the government’s permission, but Pastor Shi also printed and freely distributed Bibles and other Christian books on the side. On June 10, 2009, he was sentenced to three years in prison on a charge of violating “the regulations of the state in printing illegal publications,” according to the official indictment.

While Shi was in prison, VOM readers sent his family letters in response to a story about him on VOM’s www.PrisonerAlert.com website. Pastor Shi was released from prison in February 2011 and later left China with his family to pursue studies at Christ for the Nations Institute in Dallas, Texas. He recently met with VOM workers to talk about his time in prison and share how much the letters from VOM readers meant to him and to his family.

 

"And though the Lord gives you The bread of adversity and the water of affliction, Yet your teachers will not be moved into a corner anymore, But your eyes shall see your teachers. Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” Whenever you turn to the right hand Or whenever you turn to the left." Isaiah 30:20-21

VOM's January newsletter includes a story about Shi Weihan, held in prison in China for printing Bibles. In this video he shares how God sustained and encouraged him, even in prison.

 

Shi Weihan is free, but other Christians are still in prison in China and in other nations. You can encourage them by writing letters. Order VOM's new Letter Writing Kit today.

Last week VOM received the wonderful news that the High Court in Tanzania had thrown out the charges against Eva Abdallah, a young Christian woman who had been falsely accused of urinating on a Quran and sentenced to two years in prison.

Eva is one of the prisoners that VOM has featured on www.PrisonerAlert.com, a Web site established to help Christians in the free world write letters of encouragement to Christians imprisoned for their faith in restricted and hostile nations.

If you've been to PrisonerAlert, you may have wondered why some Christian prisoners are featured on the site, and others are not. Here are some of the criteria we consider before adding someone to PrisonerAlert:

The first thing VOM needs in order to feature a prisoner on PrisonerAlert is the blessing of their family and/or in-country church leaders. There are some families and local leaders that feel that international publicity and receiving lots of letters from overseas would make a situation worse for the prisoner. They also sometimes fear that there would be repercussions against the family if information about the prisoner is made public internationally.

As we gather more release stories to give as examples, like Eva's, we are able to alleviate some of these fears. We know of no one who has suffered worse treatment in prison after receiving letters. But we do NOT post a prisoner to PrisonerAlert without the blessing of our in-country contacts who can seek out the opinion of the prisoner's family or church group. Our in-country contacts work with us to verify information and provide details. In some cases they even go to the prison and meet the prisoner face-to-face, praying with and encouraging them.

In order to post a prisoner, VOM needs four pieces of information:

        1. NAME
        2. PHOTO (we have used an artist's sketch on some occasions, but ideally would like to             have a photo)
        3. BRIEF STORY about their case (when were they arrested? What are the charges             against them? Where are they at in the court process?)
        4. The MAILING ADDRESS of the prison where they are being held. While there is an             advocacy portion of PrisonerAlert, allowing people to write letters to the government             officials, the first aim of the site is for people to write letters TO THE PRISONER and mail             them TO THE PRISON. Our readers can't do that without an address.

Sometimes we may have all of this information, but we don't have approval from the prisoner's family or church group. In other cases we may know the person is in prison, but the government doesn't acknowledge that fact or release their prison location.

The letters are making a difference, as we see from the release of Eva and other Christians who have been featured on the site. As one of our Tanzanian contacts said upon Eva's release, "God bless you so much for your constant intercessory prayers. I really believe in prison letters, they are very effective beyond reasonable imagination!"

Have you prayed specifically for a Christian in prison for their faith? Have you used the letter-writing tool on PrisonerAlert to write a letter to a prisoner? Share your stories in the comments below.

This month, VOM's newsletter focusses on writing letters to Christians imprisoned for their faith. From the earliest days of its ministry, VOM has encouraged readers to write letters to Christians imprisoned for their faith. Today you can write a letter to an imprisoned Christian using electronic tools at www.PrisonerAlert.com or VOM's new letter-writing kit.

But such letters are not new. In 1533, as John Frith awaited his execution in the infamous Tower of London, he received two letters from a close friend. The letters encouraged Frith to fight the good fight while cautioning that his writings should not cause dissention within the young Protestant movement.

Frith was part of the Reformation then sweeping Europe that challenged the Church's traditions and some of its doctrine. Among many points of contention, the Reformers opposed teachings that emphasized works-based salvation rather than the gospel's truth that man is saved by grace through faith in Christ.

Many Reformers had already paid the ultimate price for the bold stand that Frith was taking against the Church. He disagreed with the Church's views on Communion and hell, and for this he was sentenced to die as a "heretic."

Frith's close friend, William Tyndale, was also a hunted man because of his translation of the New Testament into English. At that time, the Church didn't think common people should read the Bible in their own language.

Tyndale, perhaps worried that his friend had become discouraged while awaiting his execution, wrote the following in his second letter to him:

Your cause is Christ's gospel, a light that must be fed with the blood of faith. The lamp must be dressed and snuffed daily, and that oil poured in every evening and morning, that the light go not out. Though we be sinners, yet is the cause right. If when we be buffeted for well doing, we suffer patiently and endure, that is acceptable to God; for to that end we are called. For Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that we should follow his steps… For we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified with him; who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body; according to the working whereby he is able even to subject all things unto him.

Whether Frith's faith had been wavering is not known, and some question whether he even received Tyndale's second letter. What is known is that he was betrayed by a sympathizer, offered a pardon if he would renounce his views—he refused—and burned at the stake on July 4, 1533. He was 30 years old.

His friend William Tyndale, also betrayed by a friend, was arrested a few years later and burned at the stake.