Persecution Blog

Praying for Healing

Rebekha Bibi is a passionate evangelist for the Lord. She is the only single female evangelist VOM helps support in Pakistan. In a male-dominated Muslim culture, few women dare to take on the challenging and dangerous work of evangelism. This fearless woman travels all over, bringing the good news of “Isa Masih” (Jesus Christ), who changed her life. Rebekha grew up as a Muslim, but her heart was changed through the testimony of a Christian friend, and now she wants to share her story with everyone.

Rebekha just sent in a report of her recent activities. In one month, Rebekha visited 13 different villages to hold prayer meetings and distribute aid. In addition, she also met with several families and young women to encourage and pray with them. When she visits the various villages, “I have teaching sessions with some ladies (seekers) for reading the Bible. Currently we are going through Matthew chapters 1 to 5,” she said.

Rebekha loves the work that she does. But lately she has been hampered by illness. Rebekha suffers from Hepatitis C, and often it makes her too weak to travel. While she is confined at home, she told us she is studying John, Hebrews, James and 1 Corinthians. She said, “During my sickness, the Word of God encourages me. I feel strengthened.” She plans to share what she learns from these Scriptures with a gypsy group she has been visiting.

When I heard Rebekha’s news, it stuck with me because I have a cousin who also suffers from Hepatitis C. Here in the U.S., he has access to the best treatment the medical community has to offer. So far, he feels healthy and has been able to continue working. He recently learned his current treatment, which has a 50% success rate, is not working. But he and his family are looking to the future. There may be a new drug available in about a year that has had promising results in testing.

Rebekha doesn’t have access to the cutting edge health care my cousin does. VOM is helping her with medical expenses and helping her to get the care that she needs, but she likely won’t be able to try this new drug my cousin is expecting to try. But she is not worried. Rebekha is hoping for healing from God. She invited a group of women to her home for a prayer meeting. “These sisters prayed for my healing from Hepatitis C, so that with more strength I can serve the Great Commission of the Lord.”

Her hope isn’t that she is healed for herself or for her family. Rebekha’s desire is that she can be healthy so she can continue to “go into all the world and preach the gospel.”

Rebekha wrote to us, “I need your prayers, also.” Please join with me in praying for healing for our sister Rebekha. Let’s pray together that the God of the Bible, the Great Healer, will touch Rebekha’s life so she can continue on in this crucial ministry in Pakistan.

The Chain of Fellowship

The “fellowship of believers” is a term that we often use for our work with the persecuted church. I have seen this fellowship when I visit the people that we serve, and many of them say they feel strengthened by the prayers of people around the world. Last week during a visit to Colombia, I saw this fellowship again in a new way: as a chain linking the heart of a VOM reader here in the U.S. with the heart of a Christian living deep in the Colombia’s jungles.  

The reader in the U.S. will probably never know that Christian in the jungle, yet the chain is there. In order to share this fellowship, the important thing is not that they know each other, but that each link in the chain shares fellowship with the links on either side of them.  

Let me show you what I mean, using the example of our work in Colombia. A couple in America reads The Voice of the Martyrs newsletter and feel the prompt of the Holy Spirit to donate some funds. They decide to donate monthly to VOM and start praying regularly for the persecuted church. Meanwhile, their money comes to VOM and is assigned to meet needs in Colombia.  

A VOM worker for Colombia, let’s call him Charlie, determines the best use of the funds. Charlie takes the funds to Colombia and charges VOM’s local workers with distributing the funds. The local workers use the funds to buy several boxes of Bibles in Spanish and a motor for a motorboat. They then give the bibles and the motor to an evangelist who is a former guerrilla member. He can go into areas of the jungle that are restricted to outsiders.  

Our evangelist, who we’ll call Andres, loads the Bibles into a wooden boat and uses the motor to carry him deep into the jungle into a “red zone” controlled by the guerrillas. There Andres meets with pastors he has been mentoring who live in the “hot” zones, where FARC guerrillas control the people and persecute the church. He spends time encouraging them, answering their questions and praying with them. He gives each pastor a stack of Bibles to distribute. These pastors will give the Bibles to Christians in their villages who they are mentoring, along with people they meet who are curious about Christianity. The pastors reach even deeper into the jungle than Andres can.  

So from the hearts of a couple in America, the chain of fellowship is formed that reaches remote regions of Colombia. Charlie tells the Colombian workers about the love and support the believers in America have for Colombia Christians. Our workers tell Andres. Andres tells the jungle pastors, and the pastors tell the Christians they work with. Each link in the chain is influenced only by the links on either side of it, but each link is crucial in carrying the bond of fellowship on to the others.  

The bond is further strengthened when Christians living in the red zones tell their testimonies of faith living under hardship, and the stories travel back up their chain until they are told in the VOM newsletter and encourage even more Christians to become a link in the chain.

Be A Christian Someplace Else

“If Abu wanted to be a Christian, he’d have to do it somewhere else. We surrounded his house, ready to force him out and burn it.

    “As we got closer, we could hear him talking. Had he gathered others to help him? we wondered. Then we could hear that he was praying for the entire village and asking Jesus to forgive us for what we were about to do! This made us even angrier, so twenty-five of us rushed toward his house to apprehend him. But there was an invisible force that would not let any of us enter his house, and we were frightened away.
   

 “When I got home, I could not sleep. I kept thinking about Abu’s prayer. Finally at three in the morning, I went back to Abu’s house. I asked him to tell me about Jesus. After three hours of talking with Abu, I asked Jesus to forgive me, and I surrendered my life to him. I rushed to my house and shared what happened to me with my wife, and she also became a Christian, along with my children.”

    Within days, Idris Miah, the Bangladeshi believer who told this story, faced a test. He was fired from his job, and his children were forced out of school. Yet he says that he still has joy, for he has Jesus in his heart.

Often we can’t choose our life context, but we can choose our attitude and response. We can always make those choices, despite the circumstances. So when, like Abu, we stand at the brink of disaster, will we choose a prayerful, Christlike response, or will we give in to panic and distress? It is impossible for others, despite their best efforts, to make us angry or stressed. We make those choices ourselves. In the same way, we can choose to imitate Christ in our response to opposition. Who knows what will come of it? Ask God for help today to choose the proper response to any trying situation.

Drugs & Civil War Cannot Stop the Spread of the Gospel

Neither drugs nor civil war can stop the spread of the gospel in Columbia.

    Juan and his wife, Maria, are missionaries among the indigenous people north of Cali, Columbia. Cali is controlled by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a leftist guerilla group. Many Columbian pastors and missionaries have faced opposition from FARC and have fled the area. When Juan met with a group of fifty FARC guerrillas three years ago, however, twenty of them received Christ. As he says, “We exchange pistols for epistles.”
    

Now, the National Liberation Army has been attacking Christian churches in the region. Recently, more than twenty churches were shut down, and many pastors fled for their lives. Guerrillas often come and demand all the tithes and offerings or take the pastor’s life. Now Juan is the only pastor left in the area, and he receives no outside aid.

    Still, Juan and his wife made a decision to stay and continue ministering to the people. They say, “If we are to die because we preach the Word of God, we would rather die than leave the church.”

    Juan does not condemn those who have left, nor does he talk about the difficulties they have faced. He prefers to share what God is doing and his burden for ministry. His mind is preoccupied, not with danger, but with reaching Columbia’s people for Christ.

Jesus describes an image of a pack animal burdened with a load. The animal does not struggle against the weight of the burden, however, for it is hardly heavy at all. Being burdened with the gospel is not the same as being weighed down with earthly concerns. The burden of the gospel simply means an awareness of others’ spiritual needs. Juan has a “burden,” but his burden is light. Following Christ’s example, we must be burdened for lost people. This load is light because we are always giving it away. We are not supposed to keep the good news to ourselves. Have you been rejected when you share Christ? Perhaps you have considered giving in to the opposition. Let Jesus’ burden for the lost motivate you to hang in there one more day.

He Was Blind, But Now He Sees

Before his conversion, Chang Shen had been known as a gambler, womanizer, and thief. When he was stricken blind in midlife, neighbors said it was the judgment of the gods for his evildoings.     In 1886, Chang traveled hundreds of miles to a missionary hospital where people were receiving sight. His eyesight was partially restored, and he also heard about Christ for the first time. “Never had we a patient who received the gospel with such joy,” reported the doctor.     When Chang asked to be baptized, missionary James Webster replied, “Go home and tell your neighbors that you have changed. If you are still following Jesus, when I visit you later, then I will baptize you.” Five months later, Webster arrived and found hundreds of believers. He baptized the new evangelist with great joy.     Later, a clumsy, native doctor robbed Chang of the partial eyesight he had, but Chang continued his travels to different villages. Though some spat on him and rejected him, he still won hundreds more to Christ.      When the Boxer Rebellion arose, Christians led Chang to a cave in the mountains for safety. The Boxers rounded up fifty Christians for execution in a nearby town but promised to spare them all if Chang came forward. When news reached Chang, he said, “I’ll gladly die for them.” Chang was beheaded three days later, and the remaining local Christians were spared. The great exchange is the message of the great gospel. Jesus offers the opportunity to exchange our old life for a new start. Look how he changed Chang, from one living for self to a person sold out completely for Christ. No matter how much ruin we have caused in our former life, we can be restored to a right relationship with God. This is why our personal testimony is such a powerful witness. A changed life presents strong evidence for the fact of salvation. We don’t talk like we used to talk. We don’t walk like we used to walk. Who needs to hear about the difference Christ has made in your life?

Beaten for Being A Christian

“Repeat these verses!” Zeba was ordered.     “I will not repeat the verses. I am a Christian. I will always be a Christian.”           With her family in poverty, Zeba was forced to work as a servant for a wealthy Muslim family. While she was working, the head of the household tried to teach her about Islam and coerce her to memorize verses from the Koran. On three different occasions Zeba refused, stating, “I am a Christian.” She was beaten each time she refused.     Zeba’s employers then had her arrested, falsely accusing her of stealing from the family. After securing her daughter’s release, Zeba’s mother visited the Muslim family to take up her daughter’s defense. She was not welcomed.     One of the family members screamed, “You are an infidel! Both you and you daughter are infidels and do not deserve to live.” They threw gasoline on Zeba’s mother and lit a match. Zeba never saw her mother again. Despite the tragedy, Zeba continued her walk with Christ and was recently baptized.      Today in Pakistan, a sewing school has been established so young Christian girls like Zeba will no longer have to seek employment as servants to help feed their families. Despite her pain, Zeba holds no grudges, and she dreams of sharing her faith with others in her country. She wants to become a Bible teacher. God’s kingdom is right side up only when it is upside down. His hierarchy of importance is upside down compared with how the world structures people in society. Instead of the talented, beautiful, and wealthy at the top of the list, humble servants make the heavenly headlines. Zeba is nothing in the world’s eyes, yet she is doing great work for the kingdom. A servant may not be especially talented, but a servant is available to work. A servant may not be worth much to others, but a servant is invaluable in God’s service. What does it mean to live contrary to the rest of the world? If you surrender to God as a servant, you will know the feeling firsthand. Are you willing to humble yourself to the role of a servant and do whatever is necessary to spread God’s Good News? If you liked this devotion, then you will love the book Extreme Devotion where you can read this devotion and many others.

ACLU Targets Prayer Banner at High School

The Rhode Island News is reporting a new controversy concerning the following prayer that a parent got offended by seeing while they were at the school. Here is the prayer that is now the subject of controversy and will be discussed on Tuesday night at a closed door meeting. Opponents are saying this prayer violates the First Amendment.

The banner reads:

“Our Heavenly Father,

Grant us each day the desire to do our best,

To grow mentally and morally as well as physically,

To be kind and helpful to our classmates and teachers,

To be honest with ourselves as well as with others,

Help us to be good sports and smile when we lose as well as when we win,

Teach us the value of true friendship,

Help us always to conduct ourselves so as to bring credit to Cranston High School West.

Amen”

Slain Pastor Brings New Ministry Questions in Dagestan

The following news is courtesy of Mission Network News

Dagestan (MNN) ―Thursday's public murder of a pastor in Dagestan has distressing overtones.  

North Caucasus Network confirmed that gunmen opened fire on the 49-year-old senior pastor of an evangelical church in central Dagestan, Russia, around 6:30 pm local time on July 15. He died a short time later from his wounds.

This is the latest in a series of incidents causing growing concern over the government's increasing scrutiny on believers and church activity.

Reports on the deteriorating situation are scarce. Todd Nettleton with Voice of the Martyrs explains that Dagestan appears to have "slipped under the radar." "Because it's a Federal Republic of Russia, we group it in with Russia, and we don't think of Russia as being 'restricted,' so we kind of overlook the level of persecution that happens in some parts of Russia."

The immediate impact of the pastor's death may be severe. Nettleton says, "You can imagine the 'chilling effect'  of having your pastor shot in the head outside of the church building. This is also a church group that has had a very effective ministry with drug addicts, the social work, the work in the prisons." 

Dagestan, 98% Muslim, is situated on the Caspian Sea in the North Caucasus region. The country remains one of the economically poorest republics of Russia.

NCN reports that Dagestan continues to suffer under the competing factions of a complex global jihadi movement. Collaborative efforts of the global Church have a long-standing history of blessing families in Dagestan.

It's not surprising that the church faced threats and increasing pressure. The pastor was a convert from Islam. In such a high Muslim population, he would have been considered an apostate.

Nettleton says in many strict Muslim cultures, an apostate can be punished by death. However, the pastor's example was clear. Despite threats, he lived and died as a Christ follower.

"Pray that the Holy Spirit will give them courage and boldness even in the midst of this loss--that they will boldly go forth and represent Christ in their communities." 

Christians Accused of ‘Blasphemy’ Slain in Faisalabad Pakistan

Today we have some very sad news coming out of Pakistan concerning two Christians who were accused of blaspheming Muhammad the prophet. 

According to Compass Direct and Asia News the Christians were shot to death outside the courthouse right after a trial hearing. Both were handcuffed on their way back to prison. Police were going to clear them of the accusations. For days, Muslim religious leaders had incited Muslim faithful against the two, calling for their death.

The Compass Direct story describes the Muslim mob mentality where the Christians were being called to be put to death for the alleged blasphemy.  And it is also believed that both Christians were also tortured by police while they were in custody.

Please pray now for the families and church who knew the brothers -Rashid Emmanuel and Sajid Masih Emmanuel who were slain.

Christian Prisoner Believed to Have Died in North Korea

 Yesterday the Voice of the Martyrs received some sad news from North Korea that suggests that  Christian Son Jong Nam has died in prison.  Christian Son Jong has been highlighted on the Voice of the Martyrs Prisoner Alert page since 2006.

We ask now that you would keep those who loved him in your prayers, and also remember to pray for the other prisoners who are serving time for Jesus in chains.

Here is the comment left on the Prisoner Alert page -We are thankful for all those who prayed for and wrote letters to Son Jong Nam; we are also thankful for his example of faithfulness to Christ. He’s arrived safely Home.