Persecution Blog

The bread of adversity

"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.

“He who loves father or mother more than Me…”

Even before Necati Aydin gave his life for Christ on April 18, 2007, in Malatya, Turkey, he had already made great sacrifices to follow Jesus. One of the greatest of those was sacrificing his relationship with his Muslim family, who rejected Necati when he refused to return to Islam.

When his father died in 1999, Necati's brothers didn't even tell him for several days—a serious affront in Turkish culture—so that Necati was unable to be there for the funeral and burial.

After his own death, one of those brothers released a letter Necati had written to his family about his faith. The letter clearly shows the humble spirit and rock-solid faith of the man who would later lay down his very life for the Savior:

My beloved mom, my beloved dad, my beloved brothers and sisters:

First of all, I greet and kiss you in the exalted name of the Lord Jesus Christ. After so much confusion and conflict I have decided to live separated from you so that I may retain and live out my faith in Jesus Christ and keep this truth till the end. This decision was not made based on fear or on anything that I longed for or demanded, but was made after much conflict in myself. Therefore accuse no one else. Do not wear yourselves out by thinking about all of the possible theories. I have returned to where I belong. I have returned to Jesus and the fellowship of His church.

Just as you are my physical family, I also have a family in the Spirit. Do not be afraid or worried about my separation from you! Do not be sad and do not be depressed! For I have not been saved to lose something, but rather to gain something eternally. Therefore rejoice! I have gained this salvation through my faith in Jesus. Neither poverty, nor difficulty, neither illness, nor evil, neither death, nor a person can turn me away from this saving faith. The power I have to live and be saved—my spiritual arteries, so to speak—are bound to Jesus in faith. To live without Him means to deserve death and eternal separation.

From now on in our relationship I will love you, remain in contact with you, and pray for you, that you may also be saved. However, I do not want you to call us at the moment or contact us in another manner, but rather that you be patient and wait a little, to extinguish the feelings of your hatred, that you may plant love, tenderness, and understanding in its place, and most of all that you meet Jesus Christ, who is the "truth, way and life," that you believe on Him and thus gain eternal life.

I love you. May the Lord let you encounter His truth. Amen!

Rana Necati Aydin

Jesus said that "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me" (Matthew 10:37). Clearly, Necati Aydin loved Jesus more than he loved his own parents and family; yet out of that love grew his clear passion to see them reached with the gospel message and the love of Jesus.

Necati's powerful story is told in Faithful Until Death, available from VOM.

Join the Discussion: Have you ever had to sacrifice a relationship in order to follow the call of Christ on your life? Share your story in the comments below.

The cost of non-discipleship

"What is the cost of being a disciple of Jesus?" 

I had posed the question to a small group that had met weekly for several months.  It was one part rhetorical, another part practical: I wanted to know myself what difficulties might be faced along the way. The answers came slowly, and we all knew they were pretty weak; not necessarily untrue, but simply not complete.  "We shouldn't cuss anymore," one man answered hesitantly. "I don't know, I guess we shouldn't get drunk, right?" replied another, who seemed a little embarrassed and looked around for reassurance.  That was it; that was about as good as we could do. Something was missing in our understanding of discipleship, and we all knew it.

Perusing the internet for resources, I stumbled upon the website of a ministry called The Voice of the Martyrs. Over the next few weeks, we studied areas of persecution around the globe, prayed for various Christians in prison, and collected blankets to send to persecuted brothers and sisters in Sudan. Our understanding of discipleship to Jesus grew by leaps and bounds.  And, in an interesting turn of events, it would be only a matter of months before the Lord led my wife and me to begin working for VOM.

During our three years at the ministry, we met hundreds of believers passionate about the reality of persecution, who desired to help Christians who had lost liberties, family members, homes, and, in some cases, even their own lives due to their devotion to the Lord.  With VOM staff, I traveled to Colombia and met widows of pastors whose husbands had been kidnapped or murdered because they wouldn't stop preaching the gospel. These brave women often carried on their husbands' ministry, and learned to hold onto faith and hope in the midst of a violent culture. They became heroes to me. In war-torn South Sudan, only miles from the front lines of a civil war, we handed out blankets to brothers and sisters who had few material possessions, but shined in their communities with the joy of knowing the Lord and fought for His truth to become known in their country. 

In his well-known book The Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote of the high cost of being an apprentice to Jesus, about the invitation to take up our crosses to follow Him.  Those crosses may and certainly do entail remaining pure in a corrupt world, but they also mean for many of us that we hold onto the Truth (and let Him hold onto us) regardless of what is taken from us.

Throughout my time at VOM, this reality hit me several times. But I learned, too, and perhaps in a way more profound still, that there is also cost of non-discipleship to Jesus – emptiness, meaninglessness, disconnection from all that we were made for.  This is a higher cost still.  When measured next to the offer of life we are given in the gospel, life deep and true and full, the cost of discipleship is rather small indeed.  This is the real "secret of being content" (Philippians 4:12) that allows persecuted believers to hold onto faith in the midst of trials, that allows all of us – we are with them, united in faith with them and they with us – to remain steadfast and firm when confronted with the burden of cross-carrying.

We get life, pure and simple. We get to learn from the Master. We get our hearts healed and freed that we may walk in the "path of life" (Psalm 16:11). We get restored back into community and unity with God.  The real question, then, isn't what's the cost of discipleship? but what's the cost of non-discipleship? It's a cost too high for any of us to afford, one that Jesus already took upon His back, thank God.  Persecuted believers seem to know this well, and it is a good discipline for us all to learn.

Brian Fidler worked at The Voice of the Martyrs from 2002-2005. Today he is a Licensed Professional Counselor working in Joplin, MO. He's been married to DeAnn for 10 years, and last year the couple welcomed daughter Isabella to their family.

Prisoner Alert: why some and not others?

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.

Safety first

If you've ever read VOM's newsletter you've probably seen a picture like this one, a picture where someone's identity has been concealed. But you've also seen pictures of other Christians—sometimes in the same country—with their faces uncovered and clearly visible. What's the deal? In today's post I'd like to take you inside the decision-making process that determines security-related issues in VOM reports about persecution.

We often use pseudonyms for the Christians we report on, and sometimes disguise or leave out crucial details in their story—like specific locations—in order to protect them. In choosing photos, we sometimes choose those shot from behind the person rather than one showing their face. Or we may crop out or blur some identifying detail, like a building number or license plate.

Why is this necessary? First, it is important to understand that VOM reports on persecution, but our staff doesn't ever want to create persecution: we don't want someone to get arrested—or worse—because of something we said, printed or posted online.

The risk is real. Several years ago VOM published a newsletter article about persecution in Saudi Arabia. The author of the article used the term "Seminary in the Desert" to talk about how church leaders were trained and tried in the fires of persecution and came out more prepared to serve Christ and his church. It was a figurative term, a word picture; no actual seminary existed. Yet we heard later that Saudi officials interrogating Christians had demanded to know the location of the seminary training pastors in their country!

The second important truth is that these decisions are driven not by VOM staff members in the US but by our local Christian contacts and workers inside the nation we are reporting on. When our field staff visit with Christians and interview them, we ask them how they want their names, locations, photos and videos to be used. I've been in situations where persecuted Christians noticeably tense up when a camera comes out. And I've been in other situations where believers have said, "Print my picture, and use my real name. The government already knows who I am!" We honor their requests for how they want us to use their information.

Other factors play into these discussions. The security situation in a given country is an important factor.

Before printing, our newsletter is reviewed by our international staff and, where possible, by overseas Christian contacts. We specifically ask them to review the information we've included and the photos to insure that no one is unduly put at risk.

What is your opinion? Are you more likely to pray for a persecuted Christian if you see their whole face? Does it bother you that VOM can't always share the whole story? Please add your thoughts in the comments.

Todd Nettleton has served the persecuted church and VOM almost 15 years. He has been interviewed more than 1800 times by various media outlets. He's the author of Restricted Nations: North Korea, and served on the writing team for FOXE, Extreme Devotion, Hearts of Fire and other VOM books.

Extreme Temptation

In all the years of their marriage, Sabina Wurmbrand had never wavered in her love for her husband. But it had been many years since she had heard news of him in prison. There were even rumors that he had perished. But she felt God telling her to hold on and believe. Would they be together again someday?

Sabina was still young, and, with a teenage son to raise, she often felt the temptation for love and companionship. So when a kind, handsome Christian named Paul started coming and helping her son with his studies, it was only natural she should feel attracted. Sometimes he would take her hand as they walked together or look longingly into her eyes.

Finally Sabina made the most difficult decision. She knew that if she were to continue believing that she would be reunited with her husband, she must avoid all temptations and focus on God's promise to her. She asked Paul not to come around anymore. He understood and graciously complied.

A short time later, God rewarded her faithfulness. One morning while she was in the church scrubbing floors, she received a postcard. It was signed "Vasile Georgescu," but her husband's handwriting was unmistakable.

Her eyes filled with tears as she read the words, "Time and distance quench a small love, but make a great love grow stronger."

The stories of the persecuted church are about real people with real emotions. The protagonists in the stories that VOM shares are not some paper doll pinups of perfection. The Voice of the Martyrs is the unmistakable voice of reality and truth. Sabina maneuvered through temptations that came as a result of her husband's persecution. Her husband was being tested, yes. But her faith was being examined as well. Persecution touches us at a variety of levels. Yet as we have seen, those who for a short while are gathered up in its exacting grasp end up strangely stronger as a result. Like the Wurmbrands, your capacity for love will increase through persecution—if only you will allow it to fulfill its true purpose.

This is one of the readings from the book, Extreme Devotion, available from VOM's online bookstore. You can also receive devotional thoughts daily via email. Sign up here.

No Complaints

I got a really killer cold last week. It knocked me out for a few days and made me feel miserable. One morning I shuffled into my shower and turned the water on as hot as it would go, hoping the steam would help clear my packed sinuses. As the blistering water stung my shoulders and I felt my sinus pressure ease, I suddenly thought of Behnam Irani.

That's because one of my roles at VOM is to help keep our www.PrisonerAlert.com website updated with information about prisoners. Pastor Behnam went to prison in May 2011. He had been convicted of "crimes against national security" — government speak for preaching Christianity — and sentenced to a year in jail.

For some reason, Iranian prisoners don't always begin to serve prison sentences as soon as they are sentenced. In Behnam's case, he was sentenced in January, and didn't go to prison until May, when he voluntarily surrendered to authorities. That's right. He was living his life for six months, and authorities were leaving him alone, when he decided to present himself at the prison to begin his sentence. I suppose he felt convicted as a Christian to submit to authorities, though he certainly wasn't avoiding detainment before that time. He was likely eager to get his one-year sentence out of the way so he could go back to his family and ministry.

To his surprise, after he entered prison, Behnam learned that he'd be forced to spend five years in prison for previous convictions also related to his Christian work. It's not yet clear whether he'll be forced to serve five years total, or six. Either way, the 43-year-old man will be in prison for a significant portion of his life because of his work for Christ.

For the first few months, he was held in solitary confinement. Later, he was moved to a room so full of prisoners they couldn't lie down. Due to stress and regular beatings, Behnam's salt-and-pepper hair has now gone completely white.

Recent reports have detailed how sick Behnam has been. And that's what brought him to my mind that morning in the shower. Mentally I'd been complaining about feeling rough, about not being able to accomplish things I'd wanted to do. But Behnam had voluntarily submitted to prison, and now is dealing with a bleeding ulcer and weakness, in addition to beatings, lack of food, and little medical attention.

Can you imagine bleeding, needing to use the bathroom constantly, having little to no privacy, not having access to a doctor or pharmacy and all the while missing your family?

And yet, Pastor Behnam wrote in a December letter to his church members, "Despite the pressure and difficulties in prison, I am pleased to share … my Christian joy with you. … Even if I were sentenced to many years behind bars for the salvation of one of you, there would never be any complaint."

If it were you in prison, do you think this is what you would write home?

Will you take time today to write an encouraging letter to Behnam? You can also write a letter to Iranian officials asking for Behnam's release. Simply click on the "Petition Official" link on the page.

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 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 also serves with VOM's international department.

1971: An “Expression of Love”

The communist guard taunted Aida with packages of food sent by Christians in the West. "He told me that it contained chocolate and other good things," Aida said. "It was not given to me, but it was an encouragement to know that my friends cared about me. That fact meant much more than the food."

Aida was serving her fourth prison sentence in her homeland of Russia, this time in a labor camp where conditions were horrid and food was scarce. She had been outspoken in her witness, and her frail body was paying the price as the communists tried to crush her spirit. Despite their best efforts, Aida's faith and perseverance only grew stronger.

Aida, a gifted poet, had defended herself at her previous trial. Her words were secretly recorded and smuggled out of the country. They were translated and widely distributed as an encouragement to Christians around the world.

During her trial, she defended herself with this bold statement of faith:

For the Christian there is only one course. The Christian can't be anything but confrontational. Once you know the truth, this means following it, upholding it, and if necessary suffering for it. I can't be different. I can't act any differently. I love freedom and would very much like to be free with my family and friends. But I don't want to act against my conscience. What good is freedom to me if I can't call God my Father?

Aida's first formal arrest came at the age of 25 when she and her friends were caught worshiping in a forest. All attempts to "re-educate" this bold young woman during her one-year prison term were unsuccessful. Upon release from prison, she was neither intimidated nor weakened in faith.

Aida continued to speak about the persecution of Christians in Russia, distributing their stories throughout the underground church. This enraged Soviet authorities even more, leading to her three-year term in a labor camp.

When The Voice of the Martyrs published Aida's story (the picture above is from the November, 1972 newsletter), she began to receive care packages from several of our worldwide missions. "It is a great joy for us to experience definite spiritual fellowship with Christians in different parts of the world," Aida said. "This gave us hope in prison. I want to send an expression of love from us all to those who have cared about us and prayed for us."

Aida currently lives in St. Petersburg, Russia. The Voice of the Martyrs is privileged to continue providing her with support. You can read Aida's story in VOM's book, Hearts of Fire.

Editor's note: VOM's newsletter this month focusses on writing letters to Christians in prison in hostile and restricted nations. You can order a Letter Writing Kit from VOM, and also use the online tools at www.PrisonerAlert.com.

Richard Wurmbrand’s tea recipe

Pastor Richard Wurmbrand, the founder of The Voice of the Martyrs, spent a total of 14 years in prison during two long confinements in communist Romania. During the time between his two prison sentences, he spoke boldly of his faith, including a series of lectures in the university town of Cluj shortly before his second arrest.

There were about 50 students and a few teachers of theology present for the first lecture, on Monday. The audience doubled on Tuesday, and by the end of the week of lectures more than 1,000 people crowded in to hear the bold pastor. Wurmbrand recounts the story in his book, In God's Underground:

I looked out at the silent congregation. It was, for a moment, as if I were back in my church during the war on the day when the Iron Guard bullies filed in with their guns. Menace was around us; not only in the place where Rugojanu [a government spy sent to monitor the meetings] was taking notes.

I continued: "Don't let suffering take you by surprise! Meditate on it often. Take the virtues of Christ and His saints to yourself, by thought. The pastor I spoke of, my teacher who died for his faith, gave me a recipe for a tea against suffering, and I will give it to you."

I told them the story of a doctor of early Christian times who was unjustly imprisoned by the emperor. After some weeks his family was allowed to see him, and at first they wept. His clothes were rags, his nourishment a slice of bread with a cup of water every day. His wife wondered and asked, "How is it you look so well? You have the air of one who has just come from a wedding!" The doctor smilingly replied that he found a remedy for all troubles, and his family asked him what it was. The doctor told them, "I have discovered a tea which is good against all suffering and sorrow. It contains seven herbs, and I shall number them for you.

"The first herb is called contentedness: be satisfied with what you have. I may shiver in my rags as I gnaw on a crust, but how much worse off I should be if the emperor had thrown me naked into a dungeon with nothing at all to eat!

"The second herb is common sense. Whether I rejoice or worry, I shall still be in prison, so why repine?

"The third is remembrance of past sins: count them, and on the supposition that every sin deserves a day in prison, reckon how many lives you would spend behind bars—you have been let off lightly!

"The fourth is the thought of the sorrows which Christ bore gladly for us. If the only man who ever could choose his fate on earth chose pain, what great value He must have seen in it! So we observe that, borne with serenity and joy, suffering redeems.

"The fifth herb is the knowledge that suffering has been given to us by God as from a father, not to harm us, but to cleanse and sanctify us. The suffering through which we pass has the purpose of purifying us, and preparing us for heaven.

"The sixth is the knowledge that no suffering can harm a Christian life. If the pleasures of the flesh are all, then pain and prison bring an end to a man's aim in living; but if the core of life is truth, that is something which no prison cell can change. In prison or out of it two and two make four. Prison cannot stop me from loving; iron bars cannot exclude faith. If these ideals make up my life, I can be serene anywhere.

"The last herb in the recipe is hope. The wheel of life may put the emperor's physician in prison, but it goes on turning. It may put me back into the palace, and even put me on the throne."

I paused for a moment. The crowded church was still.

"I have drunk barrels of this tea since then," I said, "and I can recommend it to you all. It has proved good."

“Your cause is Christ’s gospel”

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.