Persecution Blog

Should President Bush Boycott the Olympics?

Today I read an article where a conservative attorney is saying that President Bush should boycott the Olympics, because of human rights abuses and persecution.  He feels that the Olympics is a money making enterprise and that it will hinder progress for human rights in China.  Here's part of the article...

Attorney John Whitehead believes the rampant greed of large corporations has turned the Olympic Games into a moneymaking enterprise, making it difficult for human-rights activists to call attention to the continued persecution and abuses in the communist Chinese dictatorship.

Whitehead, president of the Rutherford Institute, says that millions of dollars have already been spent by various companies for the right to sponsor the Beijing Olympics this August. Some of the contributing corporations include Adidas, Anheuser-Busch, Coca-Cola, McDonald's, and Microsoft.

The constitutional attorney says the latest tensions in Tibet illustrate that pouring capitalism into the communist dictatorship has not helped reduce the human-rights violations in that country. "The argument I always heard was that the more [the U.S.] interacted with China, the more they would become like America and revere freedom," he contends. "[But] the opposite has happened. In fact, China is not getting better; they're getting worse."   

You may finish the article here.

And I'm curious, what do YOU think - should President Bush boycott the Olympics?  Please leave us a comment.

God Exists

When Romanian poet Constantin Ioanid wrote the poem entitled, “God Exists,” he could not have known the significance his words would have in Romanian history.

    One night in 1989, Christians were protesting in the town of Timisoara. A bishop who had become a puppet for the Communists had fired the reformed Pastor Tokes for faithfully preaching the Word of God.

    On the day Pastor Tokes was to leave his home and church, the Christians surrounded his house to prevent the police from evicting him. Quickly the crowd grew, and the army was called out to stop them.

    The soldiers began shooting, and many were killed or wounded. Then an amazing thing happened. The entire crowd, instead of fighting the army, knelt down and prayed. The shocked soldiers were overwhelmed and refused to shoot anymore.

    Meanwhile, the whole town had gathered, and a local pastor addressed the crowd from the balcony of the Opera house. He recited Brother Ioanid’s poem, and the whole crowd began shouting, “God exists! God exists!” Leaflets with the poem’s text were passed around, and those who knew the music composed for the words began to sing. Soon thousands were singing it again and again.

    The song became the beginning of the Romanian revolution that led to the fall of Communist dictator, Nicolai Ceaucescu.

A revolution is a new resurgence of belief in a very old idea—whether freedom, personal dignity or even the existence of God. These self-evident principles remain unchanged during the cycle of oppression. Though they may go “underground” for a time, their existence is unchallenged. A spiritual revolution resurrects the belief in the existence of God—although God himself was never dead. The revolution begins with God’s revelation of truth. We all need courage to resurrect our faith in the basic, powerful, and life altering proposition that God exists. We are part of a revolution when we join other Christians who begin to live like they believed it. What would spiritual revolution look like in your own life?

If you like this devotion, why not buy a copy of the book it's from called Extreme Devotion.  Click here to buy it today.

Did You Know VOM...

... will give 5 Bible booklets in the Mandarin language to anyone who will be attending some
of the Olympic Games in Beijing this summer?

It's true. The other day when Todd Nettleton was on Janet Folger's show, he told Janet and her listeners that if you know of anyone who is going to China for the Olympics have them call The Voice of the Martyrs and have them ask for the 5 bible booklets so they can bring them to China with them.

To learn more, please call 1-800-75-VOICE.

Todd Nettleton on Janet Parshall's America Today

Todd Nettleton is making the rounds on great Christian radio this week.  Yesterday he was on Janet Folger's program Faith 2 Action and today he appeared on Janet Parshall's America.   You can hear the interview today with Todd & Janet by visiting the archives on the WAVA website located here.  Simply scroll down to March 27th, and play hour 2.

Topics in this interview include: North Korea, the Olympics, China and more.

North Korean Students Arrested for Reading the Bible and Watching Bible Video CD

NORTH KOREA – The Voice of the Martyrs is calling on the Communist North Korean government to immediately release 10 college students in Ham Kyung Book Do Chung, North Korea, who were investigated and arrested for reading a Bible and watching a video CD about the Bible.

According to Free North Korea Broadcasting, Mr. Jung, former vice-president of GumRung Company of the Rodong Dang Labor Organization Department, reported the case and has since escaped to China to avoid arrest by the National Security Agency (Bowiboo). “In March 2006, 200 Life Bibles and several hundred CDs were purchased in China and secretly placed in flour bags before being smuggled into North Korea. This huge Bible smuggling case was headed by GumRung Company employees who were influenced by Christianity in China and underground Christians in Nasun City. All the leaders have been arrested and are being severely tortured. If I am caught, I will be sent to a prison camp for political criminals. I didn’t want to die in prison camp, so I escaped,” Mr. Jung said.

In the Free North Korea Broadcasting report, Mr. Jung added that most of the arrested students attended ChungJin College. “These students shared the Bible and video CD with their friends. They also distributed the Bibles and video CDs to the other college towns,” he said.

The Voice of the Martyrs stands with and supports Christians facing severe persecution in North Korea.

Faith 2 Action Hosts Todd Nettleton from The Voice of the Martyrs

Today one of my best buddies in radio hosted Todd Nettleton for almost an hour on her show.  The show was Faith 2 Action with Janet Folger and you can listen to the full interview by clicking here.

Todd and Janet discussed the upcoming Olympics in China and also took phone calls during the hour.  Please tune in and let us know your thoughts in the comments.

God is Moving in Iran

Last week The Voice of the Martyrs received a report from one of our contacts working with the church in Iran. Much of what was shared is of a sensitive nature, as the government in Iran is concerned by the number of Muslims coming to Christ and is actively seeking to arrest those who are sharing the Good News.

Two stories from this report jumped out to me, and I wanted to share them with our blog readers. The first was of a person in authority with whom one Christian shared Christ. This person prayed to accept Christ as Savior, and the two planned to meet up again in two weeks for further discussion and discipleship for the new believer.

When the mature Christian returned in two weeks, the new believer had already read through the entire Bible. Not only that, this person had shared Christ with an additional 30 people, who also prayed and accepted Christ. With such on-fire believers, is it any wonder the church in Iran is growing?

Another report came from a Christian who’d gone to disciple another new believer. This believer had not yet received a Bible, but was asking for one. When the new believer opened up a notebook where they recorded spiritual thoughts, the mature believer couldn’t help but see the words on one of the pages: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

“What is that? Where did you get that?”

“Jesus came and told me to write it down,” the new believer reported. Upon further questioning, this new believer—who didn’t yet own a Bible—reported that Jesus had come in night-time visions each night for a month and had told him to write down the words.

As the mature believer thumbed through the notebook, he discovered that it contained the complete text—word for word—of the Gospel of John. Where this believer had no Bible, God miraculously provided that Gospel.

We praise God for His provision, and for Christians boldly witnessing for Christ in Iran and the amazing harvest they are seeing for their labors. Please pray for them, as they must take great risks to witness for Christ.

Todd Nettleton is the Director of Media Development for The Voice of the Martyrs. He has served with the organization for 10 years. You can read more from Todd on his personal blog.

Time to Send a Voice of the Martyrs Action Pack

When was the last time you had a garage sale and went through your belongings in order to sell them because you needed to get rid of them?  Or how about  this, when was the last time you took a load of clothes to The Salvation Army or Good Will because you didn't want to have a garage sale? 

For me, I tend to do the later at least once a year, EXCEPT then I realized that I could take some of my clothes and give them to The Voice of the Martyrs via their Action Pack program.

In fact, VOM has made their action pack program very easy.  All you have to do first is decide what country you want to send Action Packs to.  Right now you can pick either Pakistan or Sudan and for only $7.00 you can purchase one of the special bags from VOM and have them sent to you.

Once you receive your action pack bag, you will get a list of things you can fill the bags with.  For example, for the Sudan you can put the  following in your action pack bag.

                              

• Towel
• Blanket
• Writing pad
• Paper
• Pens
• Colored Pencils

 

• Hand Soap
• T-shirt
• Light sweater
• Flip-flops
• A note or photo from you (optional)

And if you choose to pick Pakistan to send things to, then you can find the following things and add them to your action pack...

• Blanket
• Jacket/windbreaker - Adult or child 
• Sweater - Adult or child
• Gloves or mittens - Adult or child
• Knit hat - Adult or child (anything warm for winter)
• Socks - any child or adult size 
• Solid color T-shirt - any child size
• Bed sheet - Queen size flat
• Towel
• Bar of soap
• Sponge or foam ball
• Family photo (optional)

Pretty cool right?  What are you waiting for....go and buy a few action packs today and make a difference in the persecuted countries.

Pastor’s Arrested by Lao Police

- VOM Sources

On March 18, eight Khmu pastors from Udom Sai Province in Laos were arrested when entering Thailand to attend meetings.

According to The Voice of the Martyrs contacts in Laos, “Two groups of pastors were coming into the country (Thailand) to attend meetings. The first group made it over the Meekong with no problems. The second group of eight was followed by the Laos police. They were searched and two of them had Bibles.”

Everything the pastors had with them was confiscated, including a cell phone. “There is no contact with them since they were taken back into Laos,” a VOM contact added.

Todd Nettleton, Director for Media Development said, “We pray for the safety of our brothers. Further, we call on the Lao government to provide freedom for people in that country to worship as they see fit.”

The Voice of the Martyrs encourages you to pray for these pastors and their families during this difficult time. Ask God to protect and encourage them. Pray for their speedy release and that their testimonies will draw their captors into fellowship with Jesus Christ.

Eritrea Among Worst Violators of Religious Rights

The following is from our friends at Mission Network News.

Eritrea (MNN) ― The U.S. State Department has released its annual report on human rights. It spotlights governments who are accused of human and religious rights abuses. Once again, Eritrea is among the top 10 violators. 

A flood of arrests over the last few years motivated the United States to designate Eritrea a "Country of Particular Concern," a designation reserved for countries with the worst of human rights offenses.

The ten worst offender countries are listed as: North Korea, Myanmar, Iran, Syria, Zimbabwe, Cuba, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Eritrea and Sudan.

The problem began as a government-led rejection of any non-Orthodox Christian communities. Voice of the Martyrs' Todd Nettleton says there are over 2,000 Christians imprisoned in inhumane conditions. All have been denied legal counsel or trial, with no written charges.

Despite this open persecution, the government continues to support its statement issued in May 2003 that "no groups or persons are persecuted in Eritrea for their beliefs or religion."

And yet, "the body of Christ in Eritrea really has buckled down because of the pressure. They continue to minister, and they continue to work, although they continue to do it secretly. They have to do it very carefully, to avoid government pressure because of government watching." 

But the harassment and persecution fails to stop evangelism and discipleship. Nettleton says that's because "they understand that in order to continue following Christ, they will continue to pay a price. They're ready to do that. They're willing to do that. Because of that, even in these difficult circumstances, the church is growing."

Pray that the government will stop the campaign against evangelicals and will allow freedom of religion for all.