Persecution Blog

Extreme Places

ROMANIA: PASTOR RICHARD WURMBRAND

Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Matthew 5:11

Richard Wurmbrand, a Romanian pastor who suffered in prison for fourteen years, once told a story that he had heard from a fellow prisoner. It had helped him through his most difficult times of torture. The brother told him:

“I once went to a circus and witnessed a most impressive scene. A sharpshooter placed a burning candle on his wife’s head. He then stepped out of the center of the arena and, from quite a distance, shot the candle off her head."

“After the show was over, I approached her and asked if she was ever afraid the arrow would strike her. She replied, ‘Why should I be? He was aiming at the candle, not at me.’”

When Pastor Wurmbrand heard this story he thought, “Why should I be afraid of the torturers? They don’t aim at me. They may beat my body but my real being is Christ within. I am seated with him in heavenly places, and therefore they cannot touch my real person. From this incredible viewpoint I can look down and see the futility of their efforts.”

Pastor Wurmbrand lived through years of suffering and had neared death many times. But he was encouraged with this simple lesson and even flourished spiritually because he knew his place with Christ was secure, no matter what happened to his body.

Persecution, though indescribably painful, has its limits. Neither physical torment nor emotional trauma can destroy the deepest parts of who we are. What we carry on the inside is the most valuable part of ourselves—our souls. Christ’s Spirit lives within us and protects our soul from emotional and physical harm. True, our enemies may strike us and even kill our bodies. However, when our enemies take a swipe at us, they are really maligning the name of Christ—the one who lives within. And he can never die again. However personal and pointed the opposition, it is really part of a bigger picture. The battle may involve us, but it concerns an overarching war between good and evil. 

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.

The Response to Persecution

Christians in Indonesia continue to worship at the Bait el Dokulamo church, eight years after jihad extremists burned their church building and killed 35 people.

The testimonies of persecuted Christians challenge us. Reading their stories nearly every day, I often ask myself if they are challenging me in the right way. What is our response to their testimonies?

Some believers that VOM work with are not persecuted for being Christians but rather for their evangelistic activities and because they share the gospel. In some places the government or other religious groups can be tolerant of other beliefs and officials will even tell believers they that have no problem with them being Christians. It’s the activities that accompany their Christianity that they take issue with. It’s the active evangelism that causes the persecution.

I had a convicting thought about this. If the United States became opposed to all evangelistic activities and anything that involved openly sharing our faith outside of the church, how long would it take for me to get into trouble? Would it take a week for someone to notice? A month? Or could possibly years go by before anyone would ever take issue with me for boldly sharing the gospel with an unbeliever? Somehow it can be so easy to be involved in all kinds of church and ‘ministry’ but we can still miss the basic mandate of sharing the good news of Christ with the lost.

It’s not that Christians in America don’t care about the lost; I think it’s that some of us are so distracted by everything else. I heard a pastor once say, “If God answered every one of your prayers from the last week- how many people would be saved?” It’s a sobering thought when I realize that often the majority of my prayers are not for lost people that I know. My prayers demonstrate where my attention is and my actions even more so. Where is our attention? How active are we with the lost?

One of the main things that VOM does is support what we call ‘front-line’ workers. We should also ask ourselves if live like we are on the front-lines. We, who don’t face as strong of an opposition to being on the front-line can sometimes get so distracted by our homes and retirement and vacations and investments that if we aren’t careful, we will forget the spiritual battle that we are in. It is important to remember that it’s not just in the countries where we see blatant persecution that the battle exists. The battle is here. It’s everywhere that people turn their worship towards something other than Jesus, whether or not they say it’s a deity.

I hope that our response to the testimonies of those who are persecuted for sharing their faith don’t just cause us to feel sorry for them, feel guilty, or wonder why we are spoiled. I can take this even further; I hope these stories don’t only cause us to want to advocate for the freedoms of Christians in closed nations, or make us more grateful that we can go to bookstore and purchase a Bible, or cause us to pray for persecuted Christians, or send them something they need. None of these last things are bad, in fact they are very good things.

But more than anything I hope their stories of astounding faith cause us to act, to stand up in our front-line and in our own sphere of influence and do exactly what they are doing: advance the Kingdom; share the good news of Christ and His gospel. I hope the stories of our persecuted brothers and sisters compel and inspire us to a deeper walk with Christ, and a deeper desire for people to know Him, and I think that is what they would want as well.

“Grace Taylor” serves on the staff of VOM. She was first introduced to the ministry of VOM by her parents and grandparents, who received the VOM newsletter, and through the VOM book Jesus Freaks. She has served in 12 different countries and is passionate about helping expand God’s Kingdom throughout the nations of the world.

Endurance in India

Christians in India have been suffering from a variety of trials. In recent months, numerous Christians have faced legal action for practicing their faith. Some have been beaten and others killed as a result of their faith in Christ.

I am reminded of James 1:2–4, which says, “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”

While the Indian constitution guarantees freedom of religion, there are six states which have laws against “forced conversions.” Often, these types of laws are specifically used to target Christians.

In one local church where many have come to Christ, there are three men and two women that are very active in evangelizing to those around them. They are subsistence farmers and they work hard to feed their families. Udhaykumar and Meenakshi have two toddlers, a boy and girl, and they reach out to other families. Basavaraju and his wife, Rathna, as well as Yogesh are all local evangelists who share the gospel with others, pass out gospel tracts and hold prayer services in their homes. They do this on a daily basis and as a result of their faithfulness and patience, many are coming to Christ.

Radical Hindus in the area have taken notice and become upset. On Feb. 4, after the group complained to police because the three families were spreading Christianity and converting people, local police filed charges and began searching for the evangelists to arrest them. As a result, they have had to go into hiding while they wait for bail to be set. A lawyer is helping the three families and has gone to local authorities to try to bring action against those who accused the evangelists but had no proof.

Not long ago in another part of India, Pastor Philip was at a house where Christians had met for worship services. Radicals became angered and attacked the Christians, causing injury to the pastor, six men, three women, and a 7-year-old girl. Police were called and although the injured were taken to the hospital, charges were still filed against the Christians. The radical group also threatened the Christians by telling them that they would burn the house and kill the people there if caught worshipping God again.

By all recent accounts, they have not given up. They continue to have faith in Jesus Christ and know that what they are doing matters. These brothers and sisters are living testimonies of what it means to “fall into various trials” and still count it all joy and continue their work.

“Ann Kay” is a writer for VOM. She learned about VOM five years ago when she read Tortured for Christ and began receiving the newsletter. She is passionate about reaching the world for Christ and sharing stories of the persecuted church.

Australian Christian Expelled from North Korea

Media reports early this week stated that Australian Christian John Short has been expelled from North Korea after being detained there last month, allegedly for distributing Christian literature while visiting the secretive nation as a tourist.

North Korea’s official media reported that Short was released “thanks to the tolerance of the law of the DPRK and in full consideration of his age.” Short is 75.

THANK YOU for praying for John Short and his family during the time of his detention. His wife Karen has publicly said how much the prayers of God’s people around the world meant to her. Please continue to pray for Christians in North Korea, especially those suffering in the country’s notorious labor camps.

Prior to leaving Pyongyang on a flight for Beijing, China, Short was required to read out loud and sign a statement of apology, including a statement that, “I wanted more Korean people to be Christians therefore I secretly spread Bible tracts written by me.”

In his first public comments after being released Short said he was interrogated for two hours each morning and two more hours each afternoon during his detention. He also said he was kept under guard in a room and not allowed to go out at all.

We will post updates about Mr. Short’s condition on www.Persecution.com as more information becomes available. 

Bonhoeffer: "Only at the Hour that God Has Chosen" (Repost)

The following is excerpted from a letter written by German pastor and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer and circulated to a hundred or so of his former students during World War II:

...To be sure, God shall call you, and us, only at the hour that God has chosen. Until that hour, which lies in God’s hand alone, we shall all be protected even in greatest danger, and from our gratitude for such protection ever new readiness surely arises for the final call.

Bonhoeffer is honored on The Martyrs Wall at VOM headquarters in Bartlesville, Oklahoma.

Who can comprehend how those whom God takes so early are chosen? Does not the early death of young Christians always appear to us as if God were plundering his own best instruments in a time in which they are most needed? Yet the Lord makes no mistakes. Might God need our brothers for some hidden service on our behalf in the heavenly world? We should put an end to our human thoughts, which always wish to know more than they can, and cling to that which is certain. Whomever God calls home is someone God has loved. “For their souls were pleasing to the Lord, therefore he took them quickly from the midst of wickedness” (Wisdom of Solomon 4.)

...Death reveals that the world is not as it should be but that it stands in need of redemption. Christ alone is the conquering of death.

...Only in the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ has death been drawn into God’s power, and it must now serve God’s own aims. It is not some fatalistic surrender but rather a living faith in Jesus Christ, who died and rose for us, that is able to cope profoundly with death.

In life with Jesus Christ, death as a general fate approaching us from without is confronted by death from within, one’s own death, the free death of daily dying with Jesus Christ. Those who live with Christ die daily to their own will. Christ in us gives us over to death so that he can live within us. Thus our inner ding grows to meet that death from without.  Christians receive their own death in this way and in this way our physical death very truly becomes not the end but rather the fulfillment of our life with Jesus Christ. Here we enter into community with the One who at his own death was able to say, “It is finished.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s life on earth ended when he was hanged in Flossenburg Concentration Camp on April 9, 1945. To learn more about his life, ministry and death, read BONHOEFFER: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas.

Extreme Fear

LAOS: LU

The LORD is my light and my salvation- whom shall I fear? Psalm 27:1

The unwritten code of the police was clear: If you catch the Khmu or other tribesmen converting to Christianity, arrest them. If you catch anyone evangelizing the tribesmen, kill him.

After “Lu” had been shackled at the hands and feet and shamefully marched through the village, the Communist police threw him in a pit. “We will let you go,” they said, “when one hundred Christians in your village renounce their conversion to Christianity.” But they were unable to find believers willing to turn their backs on Christ.

Then tragedy struck the police. One officer’s son broke both legs in an accident. His other son became critically ill. The officer who had beaten and harassed new Christians suddenly died of a heart attack.

Other officials fearfully pulled “Lu” from the pit and allowed him to return home. Government authorities were too frightened to take action against the Christians in the village after seeing what happened to their leader.

Seeing God’s show of power, more Khmu became believers. Where there had been one hundred Christians, now there were seven hundred. They even sent Christians out to tell other villages about Jesus. While the Laotian authorities were controlled by their fear, the Christians in Southeast Asia overcame theirs.

Fear is one of the most basic human motivations. It drives stock markets and fuels wars. Its unruly energies can be used for great harm or channeled for great good. Professional boxers are often told fear is their friend. Fear can make them better fighters. It keeps them alert. It sensitizes their determination. In the same way, God can use our fears and make us better fighters for his cause. Whenever we are afraid, we have the potential to do the impossible. Why? That which is impossible in our own strength is made possible with God’s help. Fear makes us more likely to forsake our own resources and rely on God instead. In this way, extreme fear can lead to extreme faith. 

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

Personal Rights and Injustice

There are occasions when we must let go of our God-given personal rights and suffer for the sake of Christ, even though it is the result of injustice. God is a God of justice but may wish to use the occasion to reveal His character and will to a watching world. There are times when the world needs a lesson on sacrifice and selflessness, and we may be required to give up our rights to fulfill God’s will for that particular occasion.

The fact that justice is a part of the nature of God and that God is a just God raises the expectation and hope of Christians, since they are followers of the just God, that they should always receive justice. Life should be fair; but, of course, it is not. At the same time, acknowledging the biblical principle of suffering for others may mean that giving up one’s rights on behalf of others is often necessary. It is a part of God’s plan to reach the world. The rights are legitimate but forgoing certain personal rights for the right reasons and for the sake of the kingdom is also legitimate.

To forgo one’s personal rights does not mean that we set aside the desire for justice. It is perfectly legitimate to desire that persecutors be held accountable, for example (see Psalm 119:84). Giving up our personal rights does not alter the need for social justice, administrated by God or the courts. We love our persecutors and desire their salvation but neither do we want justice to be perverted. We may forgive those who are unjust and we do not seek vengeance, but a higher authority (God and/or the justice system of a particular country) may exact a penalty for their unjust behavior. We may appeal for appropriate justice but we do not seek revenge. The Apostle Paul, who was the master persecutor, was confronted by Christ about the injustice he was perpetrating on Christians and on Himself (see 1 Timothy 1:13). He was held accountable by God and it led to his conversion. We want our persecutors to become fellow believers.

Forgoing personal rights is based on the premise that justice will ultimately prevail because the God of justice will ultimately prevail when His kingdom comes in its fullness. To give up our rights is not to say that we agree with injustice, but in the same way that suffering and death can bring life, allowing ourselves to experience injustice for the sake of Christ can ultimately bring about justice. We are deferring to Christ who will “lead justice to victory” (Matthew 12:20; Isaiah 42:1, 4). It is a part of our struggle and present groaning for resolution—for a time when sin, evil, injustice, and persecution are ultimately defeated.

Come, Lord Jesus!

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.