Persecution Blog

Good Friday

All those who see Me ridicule Me;
They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
“He trusted  in the Lord, let Him rescue Him;
Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!”

     Psalm 22:7-8

I gave My back to those who struck Me,
And My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard;
I did not hide My face from shame and spitting.

Bulldozed Chinese Church

     Isaiah 50:6

But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He opened not His mouth;
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.

He was taken from prison and from judgment,
And who will declare His generation?
For He was cut off from the land of the living;
For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.
And they made His grave with the wicked—
But with the rich at His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was any deceit in His mouth.

Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him;
He has put Him to grief.
When You make His soul an offering for sin,
He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days,
And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.

He shall see the labor of
His soul, and be satisfied.
By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many,
For He shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great,
And He shall divide the spoil with the strong,
Because He poured out His soul unto death,
And He was numbered with the transgressors,
And He bore the sin of many,
And made intercession for the transgressors.

     Isaiah 53:5-12

"Your Old Life is Finished"

Today on the Persecution Blog we'll share an excerpt from the testimony of "Mohammed," an Iranian Muslim who came to know Christ through one of VOM's ministry partners. Mohammed's story is one of those told in VOM's April newsletter. You can read his complete testimony on the newsletter media page.

One day I was high on drugs and I turned on the television and was checking out the channels on satellite. For just a few seconds I was on a Christian channel and I only heard one sentence. The only phrase I heard was a brother saying: when I give my heart to Jesus — and I switched [the channel]. I only heard that phrase before I changed the channel.

I thought, “Christians are crazy they give their heart to somebody.” These days nobody gives somebody even a pen. [Ed’s note: the Farsi words for heart and pen sound similar.]

Ten days later I got drunk and again I turned on TV. And I was just flipping channels. Again with the Christian channel I just heard a lady say: when I gave my heart to Jesus — and I switched. These Christians are crazy just sitting down and giving their hearts away. I know this was God’s timing and miracle because I never heard that phrase [before].

It was 2 a.m. I was tired of taking drugs. I was taking drugs on the roof of my house. I was taking crack and it was the end of it in the glass. Just a few days before [that night], my family was going somewhere and said, “Let’s not take him, he doesn’t look good.” I hated to hear that. So that night I was on drugs and I was tired of life. I realized I may be powerful over many things but I have no power over my drug addiction.

So I lifted my head and said, “God, save me.” I asked him to save me from my addiction to drugs. I couldn’t even imagine that I could live without drugs for even one day. Because I had tried before to be free from drugs and had failed. I told myself even if I could put away drugs, I would just live a little bit longer so what was the use. I said, “God, this is like another accident I am in. Would you save me again?”

Suddenly I found myself in the memory of the [car] accident 15 years earlier. All the things in these 15 years came together. I didn’t know what hand saved me 15 years earlier but I tried to hold on to that hand. I always said there was a hand that saved me. So I realized it was the hand of God that saved me. The hand of God that saved me from this accident today saved me from this. It was revealed to me that night that it wasn’t my brother or the prayer of my parents, but it was God who saved me.

I fell on my knees and I repented. I said, “God I am sorry. I repent of saying that the prayers of my parents saved me or the spirit of my brother saved me.” I said, “God you have to save me from these drugs tonight.” I was praying and lifting my hands for two hours and my hands were numb. I expected to hear a voice or that I might see a light. I didn’t see that and I was really disappointed. I went back to sleep in my bed.

Before I went back, I looked in the sky and said, “God it doesn’t match your character to let me go empty handed. Either you are not real or I am too sinful that you would do anything for me.”

I got back and I turned on TV. I was changing channels. A few minutes before that I was on the roof asking God to save me and then I was flipping channels and again [I came to] this Christian channel and I heard, this time the whole sentence: when I gave my heart to Jesus I was saved. Exactly the same word – save; because I was asking God to save me when I was on the roof. All my life I was paying attention to these details. Pray for salvation, and the same words were used here in this sentence. I was always looking for main points of things and I would use them in my life. So suddenly it was revealed to me that salvation is in this.

So I continued watching that channel, and when I heard the testimony, I realized the person giving the testimony had a similar life to me. And his face, you know, to me he didn’t look like a drug addict, and I wanted to be like him. So he finished his testimony and then the pastor was talking and said, “Those who are watching this program, God wants to save you. You are in bondage to drugs and Satan and this is the way of salvation.”

I was a person testing everything and I tested that. The person said whatever heart and expectation you go with to God he will fill it. If you go with a small heart you will get small things from God, if you go with a big heart you will receive big things from God. I want to follow my heart completely. I prayed the prayer of salvation and I repented from the ignorance of my ancestry. I repented because I was following [Islam] without doing research. It might be strange for you but at that point I gave everything. I wanted to experience the whole thing.

When I closed my eyes to pray, I felt the presence of Jesus beside me 100 percent. I felt if I had opened my eyes at that point I would have seen him. I was too ashamed of myself and my sins to open my eyes. As a sinner, I don’t deserve to see him but my feeling was telling me God is here.

When I opened my eyes, a power inside me told me it was finished, your old life is finished.

Watch for Mohammed's story in the April edition of the VOM newsletter; if you live in the United States and don't yet receive VOM's newsletter, you can subscribe here. If you'd like to read the testimonies of other Iranians who left Islam to follow Jesus, order VOM's book, IRAN: Desperate for God.

The Lens of Compassion

“There is something about experience . . . When somebody becomes a Christian after he has persecuted the church, he knows what persecution is about and it is important to support him to be able to go back and live the Christian life and be an evangelist because he has something to say to persecutors. He can say, ‘I have been there; I know what it means.’ He has a message that is not only theoretical but personal—a message that is out of both the Bible and personal experience that will reach out to the people because of his personal experience.”

Chibundu has pastored seven churches and now works exclusively with Muslims to evangelize them. He cautions others who are dealing with Muslims who seek to harm them: show love, not anger. For God can use anyone to build His kingdom.

“It is very easy for people to become so angry with those who are persecuting them. If you look at it humanly, logically, there is a reason to be angry. But as Christians we need to see them from the lens of compassion,” he explained. “When somebody is lost, when somebody is operating from a point that he’s almost blindfolded, he doesn’t know what he’s doing—he is just programmed and brainwashed. We need to see it from that perspective and have compassion and mercy on this person and see where he is coming from. Our reaction should be to consider what we can do to help this person come to an understanding of what he is doing so that the love of Jesus Christ will show him the light. People like this are blindfolded; they don't know what they are doing. They think this is the only way to heaven, but there is another way and they don't know about it. That's why we need to go and lovingly call them to the One who said, 'Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.'" (Matthew 11:28).

“Chibundu" was a radical Muslim persecutor of Christians until he met Jesus. His story is one of those told in VOM’s new book, Saul to Paul: From Persecutor to Christ Follower. Order your copy online.

A Prayer that Convicted

Last year VOM shared this video produced by one of our ministry partners, Iran Alive Ministries:

 

For a Muslim in Iran to leave Islam and follow Christ could lead to the death penalty. Yet this family recorded evidence of their "crime" and sent it across the internet!

It may seem strange to an American audience that this family wanted someone to "check" their prayer, to see if they were saying it "correctly." But remember that Islamic prayers are very proscribed; there are specific words to be said, and specific times of the day to conduct your prayers. There are even specific ways to wash before you say your prayer! It is easy to see how people raised from birth in that environment would wonder if they were praying the "right" way.

After sending out the email, VOM received the following response from one of our readers, Linda H.:

I opened my email from you of the video of the Muslim family giving their hearts to Christ ~ the humbleness of their prayers touched my heart in such a way that I had to admit to God I had been very against Muslims and WANTED salvation for them, but I was not Christ-like in my attitude towards them. 

I asked God’s forgiveness and realized their prayer was so much more than my own “self-righteous” prayers.  I want to help other Muslims find Christ and will do all I can to help spread the Good News of Jesus Christ to them!  ... Thank you for sharing the video and for showing me the sin in my heart!!  God bless and Love to them!

Linda

Thank you, Linda, for sharing your heart. We are thankful for the way God used the video to bless you, and thankful for His Spirit moving all across Iran and drawing Muslims to follow Jesus.

YOUR TURN: Has God ever used a story from the persecuted church to convict or challenge you? Share how you responded in the comments.

You may also choose to give online to support VOM's work in the Muslim world.

No Sacrifice Too Big

In 2007, Babasola’s oldest son was attending classes at his university [in Nigeria] when three Muslim men armed with machetes approached him. They called out his name.

“We have not come to rob you,” they said. “We have come to kill you because you are your father’s son.” The men slit his throat.

“It was very difficult,” Babasola said of the loss of his son. “But there is no sacrifice that is too big for God.”

Babasola continues to minister to Muslims. He secretly counsels Quranic teachers, mullahs, and sheiks who want to become Christians. He is a lamb among wolves who has intimate knowledge of the wolf’s lair. So many men in Muslim villages come up to him and tell him they are Christians because of him. He works a lot with persecutors. He even visited the man who had planned his son’s killing to offer forgiveness.

The man rebuffed Babasola, but after hearing about the exchange on a radio program, the man’s son showed up at Babasola’s home seeking to know Christ. “I discovered that love is the ultimate,” Babasola said. “If you want to win Muslims to your side, you have to love them—not with the human type of love, but with the love you yourself have experienced through Christ.”

In our work around the world we have met many Saul-to-Paul conversions like Babasola’s. They cause us to ask, “Who is my enemy?” For if we treat our persecutors as enemies, how will we ever win them to Christ? When VOM founder Pastor Richard Wurmbrand encountered vicious persecutors while locked inside a Romanian Communist prison, he viewed them not as enemies but as harvest. And indeed one of his violent captors became a Christian. Believers like these show a special love—God’s love—toward our so-called enemy.

“Instead of treating them as enemies, pity them, because it’s not them, it’s something that is motivating them,” Babasola said. “Because when I was there I did not know what I was doing. I was once a persecutor, but now through His grace He has forgiven me. This is God’s love. And though we have been persecuted we are not crushed...We are willing to die so that others will live.”

“Babasola” was a radical Muslim persecutor of Christians until he met Jesus. His story is one of those told in VOM’s new book, Saul to Paul: From Persecutor to Christ Follower. Order your copy online.

Extreme Temptation (repost)

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.

Moving Toward Muslims: The Only Intercessor

Kris kept a little notebook on hand. The Name Notebook. On her trip through several Muslim countries, she met dozens of people. At a salon, Kris took the names of the beauticians she met. From bathroom cleaners to teenagers sitting beside her in a coffee shop, if she got to know them personally, she asked their names and wrote them down in the Name Notebook. Why? To pray for them.

As believers, we have many people praying for us: perhaps Bible study leaders, parents, and friends from church. But most Muslims don’t have that privilege. If you know a Muslim by name, have you ever considered that you may be the only praying Christian in his life? Perhaps no one else but you is bringing him before our Father God, interceding for him in prayer.

If Jesus has made you right with God, you are particularly poised to intercede for Muslims in a powerful and effective way (James 5:16). Petition, prayer, intercession and praise in the name of Jesus draws on the authority of His Name as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Don’t know how to begin praying? Like Kris, you could record the name of any Muslim you meet and begin to pray for his salvation. Or, if you meet a Muslim, you could pray with him right then and there! First ask his permission then pray aloud a simple prayer of blessing upon him, his business, or his family. 

Or maybe your new friend has an immediate need, like Abdullah did. I met Abdullah on his way home to visit an ailing sister. After listening with concern, I asked for his sister’s name. Sara. “I will pray for Sara to be well.” I went on to explain, “Jesus the Messiah has power and authority to heal our bodies as well as our hearts.”

Perhaps you don’t know any Muslims personally? Then pray through the Middle East news, naming specific Muslim dignitaries, authors and artists. Or pray through VOM’s newsletter. As you come upon the name of a Muslim persecutor, or someone’s hostile family member, could you find it in your heart to pray for him? First repent of any hatred you might be harboring (Psalm 66:18) and then pray for his salvation.

I heard of a man who walks around a mosque in his city once a week, interceding for the Muslims who worship there. He prays for Jesus to reveal himself in an undeniable way in their lives. Quietly and simply, with no banners or megaphones, he asks the Lord for a harvest of souls among Muslims in his city.

There are many ways to go about praying for Muslims. You might even start a Name Notebook like Kris. However you pray, know a unique privilege is yours: you could be the first believer to truly intercede on a Muslim’s behalf.

Your turn: What creative ways have you discovered for intercession? Are there specific Muslim friends you pray for regularly? Please share in the comments.

"Anna" blogs about friendship, culture, and Kingdom-living from her home in the Middle East. She loves Jesus and wants to see Him cherished by her neighbors and people everywhere. Anna will be posting on the Persecution Blog each month. Feel free to ask questions or suggest future topics in the comments section for this post. Anna is a pseudonym, and all names in her posts are changed for security reasons.

How’s your “up-look”?

"Our Lord commanded us to remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy," Florea calmly told the prison guards. "I cannot work on this day."

The Romanian prisoners were forced to labor every day, but each Sabbath Florea refused. For his refusal, the guards routinely beat him so badly he lost the use of his arms and legs. He could only move his head.

Because he could no longer labor, Florea was forced to sit in his cell all day long. He had to rely on other prisoners to feed him. In spite of his situation, Florea was not downcast.

When other prisoners would complain about their situation, Florea would encourage them. "If the outlook is bad," he would say, "try the 'up-look.' When Stephen was stoned, he looked up and saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God. This comforted Stephen's heart, and it will comfort yours too." He encouraged his fellow prisoners not to "look out" to their circumstances but to "look up" at Jesus.

One of Florea's fellow prisoners was Richard Wurmbrand, who was later released from the prison and found Florea's nine-year-old son. He told him what a blessing his father had been in prison.

The boy smiled and replied, "I would like to become a sufferer and encourager for Christ as my father has been."

A Christian is not privileged with a certain set of circumstances. Nice home. Perfect family. Good health. No, a Christian is a person with a certain attitude toward any and all circumstances. A person's attitude makes the difference, regardless of circumstances. A heavenly attitude focuses on God's presence amid trials. Fixating on our hardships distracts us from a heavenly outlook. We feel burdened. Depressed. Hopeless. In contrast, a godly "up-look" on our troubles brings confidence that God is at work. We relax in God's presence, waiting to see how he will work out our concerns. Are you undergoing a trial right now? Where are you focused? Ask God to redirect your energies so you can look beyond your troubles and feel his presence near you.

Excerpted from Extreme Devotion, a daily devotional written by The Voice of the Martyrs. Order your copy online.

When the Holy Life is Unacceptable

It is hard to conceive that anyone would be against holy living. To be God-like in character, it would seem, would be a benefit to one's family and society. Who could you trust more than a truly God-like person? Of course, we are assuming that we would be like the living God who has revealed himself to us through his Word. Not all "gods" are righteous or trustworthy. The pantheon of gods from ancient times to the present day had no idea of righteousness, goodness, or fairness. Because we know and seek to emulate the character of the living God through Jesus Christ we know perfectly well what righteousness, goodness, and fairness means.

So what is the problem? The Apostle Paul said in 2 Timothy 3:12 that anyone who sought to live a holy life would be persecuted. That seems, on the surface, to be a rash statement. How could anyone persecute a holy person? The problem is not the holy person but the holy God. We represent a God the world rejects. We represent the God many in our society reject. The main reason is that what God represents, primarily in the sense of morality and ethics, appears to restrict the one thing that people of the world wants—autonomous individual freedom without restrictions. The only restrictions that are allowed are what a person decides for him or herself.

There are some further reasons why Christians seeking to live a holy life will be persecuted. They are derived from the desire to live one's life autonomous from God. The holy life is counter-cultural. Cultures by nature try to coerce people to follow its dictates and any deviation from what is culturally approved is subject to correction. Christians resist the "gods" of culture, the ultimate loyalties that everyone in culture bows down to. Power, success, and autonomous individual freedom for the West but it may be group conformity, respect for traditional religions, and total submission to the leader. Another reason is that the holy life causes people who are living the unholy life to feel that they are being judged. It exposes their sins and forces them to deal with aspects of their lives from which they wish to hide. The Holy Spirit is using the holy life to convict people of their sins and they are not happy about that.

It is possible and desirable for people to see the error of their ways and repent and be transformed. If they do not, they may react in a negative way to the holy life and lash out at the Christian. On the personal level, it can be anything from mild resistance to rejection. On the societal level, it may take the form of social disdain and ostracizing, the pressure to conform that may include various forms of coercion like prison, fines, or public humiliation. Governments may carry this resistance to the level of persecution.

The theme of suffering for living a holy life is discussed further in the www.vomclassroom.com class titled Theology of Persecution and Suffering in Module 3. For those who want a deeper understanding of the issues of persecution and suffering, this is a great place to find material that will aid your journey to the deeper life.

Roy Stults, PhD, is the Online Workshop Coordinator and Educational Services Coordinator for The Voice of the Martyrs. He graduated from Olivet Nazarene University (BA and MA), Nazarene Theological Seminary (M.Div.), Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (Doctor of Missiology), and The University of Manchester (England) with a PhD (theology). A Vietnam veteran, Dr. Stults served as a missionary for 19 years and pastored U.S. churches for eight years. Prior to joining VOM, he was a Professor of Religion at Oklahoma Wesleyan University.

The Souls of the Martyrs: resting under the altar

As we meet with our family members around the world, we often celebrate with them as they share miraculous accounts of God’s direct intervention in their lives. A specialized team of four women from VOM just returned from two weeks in Nigeria. These women offered listening ears, hours of prayer and profound words of encouragement to a dozen widows of Christian martyrs.

During one of their sessions, a widowed sister shared that one year after her husband’s death, she was seriously contemplating abandoning her faith. She had three young children at the time and life was extremely difficult for her. Every day was a long struggle to provide for her family and to try to guide them spiritually. Then a friend came to visit, bringing with her a ray of hope in the midst of this widow’s darkness.

During their time together, her friend turned to Revelation 6, and read, “When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed” (Rev.  6:9-11).

These words pierced this widow’s heart like a dart. She felt a strong confirmation that her husband did not die in vain and that he was now part of a communion of martyrs sheltered under the altar of Almighty God.

It is a deep honor and a gift to be able to serve as one of many “voices” for the sisters and brothers we serve. We learn more from their example each day. We can’t leave any of our family members behind. And, in the process of serving them, we are able to draw strength from their victories, and to learn from their examples. Please pray that God will help us, and the family members that we serve, to keep our eyes fixed on the distant horizon, knowing that God is with us and that we too will find “rest” at His altar.

Dr. Jason Peters serves in VOM’s International Ministries department, traveling frequently to meet with our persecuted brothers and sisters around the world. He lived overseas for five years and has ministered in 28 countries as diverse as Cuba, Nepal, Iraq and Indonesia. He and his wife, Kimberly, along with their five children, count it a great honor to serve with the persecuted church. Dr. Peters will be one of the speakers at VOM's regional conference in Colorado Springs, CO on April 6.