The Voice of the Martyrs' blog, sharing powerful stories and timely information that invites and inspires American Christians into fellowship with their persecuted family around the world.
Recently a VOM international worker made a trip to visit persecuted Christians in China. He kept a video diary of the trip, which we will be sharing this week on the Persecution Blog.
Today our worker travels to Hefei and shares how China is different than it has been in the past, and looks into the state-approved Three-Self Patriotic Movement. We'll also meet Pastor Jacob, another house-church leader who has experienced first-hand what it means to be jailed for serving Christ.
"If you are a real Christian, if you want to do God's work in China, you will experience persecution," Pastor Jacob tells us.
Pray for Pastor Jacob and the church in China.
If you missed the first days of this China trip, go back and watch Day 1 and Day 2.
Recently a VOM international worker made a trip to visit persecuted Christians in China. He kept a video diary of the trip, which we will be sharing this week on the Persecution Blog.
On this second day, he visits a house church pastor in southwest China, a pastor recently released from prison. Listen in on their conversation about the benefits of persecution for Christian believers.
If you missed the video report of Day 1 of the trip, you can view it here.
Recently a VOM international worker made a trip to visit persecuted Christians in China. He kept a video diary of the trip, which we will be sharing this week on the Persecution Blog.
On this first day, he attempts to attend services at a church in Beijing that has been forcibly closed down by the government.
Come back tomorrow to travel along on Day 2 of his trip.
Muslim women face oppression in society and even in their own families, sometimes forced to hide even their very faces from the world. JoAnn Doyle leads an outreach to share the truth with Muslim women that they are Not Forgotten, that Jesus Christ loved them so much He even gave His life for them. Listen in as JoAnn shares how we can reach out to Muslim women, even through simple acts of kindness and conversation. We’ll also answer a question from a reader about how Christians inside the world’s most closed nation—North Korea—pray and worship Jesus Christ.
Imagine discovering that your home has the Arabic “N” scrawled on it and that you have been targeted by ISIS?
That is exactly what happened to one sister from Mosul, Iraq, that I met with recently. She shared a harrowing tale of fleeing her city, being separated from her family, and living now as a displaced person in a new city.
She was wealthy, by almost any standard. She had a four-story house in Mosul, was a business owner, and owned three vehicles. She also had a prominent family, another form of status in her community.
However, when the “N” was spray painted on the wall of her home, she knew exactly what it meant. Her options were limited. Before long, her family was on the run.
Listen to her describe, in her own words, how she wonders what is next for her family:
In this 90-second video, you also hear the voice of the father of a 15 year-old girl who was kidnapped in Iraq. By God’s grace, she has been returned to her family, and I had the privilege of meeting her and encouraging their family. They are still suffering, please pray for them.
Finally, you will learn how The Voice of the Martyrs provided one of our partners with tools to serve those who have been displaced.
He said, “When they arrive, they find that brothers and sisters are waiting for them.”
He continues, “We had 500 families arrive in our town here and we take care of them…We have several people help us from outside. One of them is The Voice of the Martyrs. They really helped us in the very beginning and gave us some opportunities to give a new arrival kit.”
He shares, “For those people, they really appreciate it…you can see the tears and the joy in their heart when they receive new hope.”
Thank you for standing with VOM as we stand with those who are suffering! If you have supported this effort, may God fill you with joy as you witness some of the fruit of your investment!
Dr. Jason Petersserves in VOM’s International Ministries department, traveling frequently to meet with our persecuted brothers and sisters around the world. Jason and Kimberly have been married for over twenty years, and have five children who are actively engaged in standing with their persecuted family members.
James Chalmers was a carefree, high-spirited Scottish boy. “I dearly loved adventure,” he later said, “and a dangerous position was exhilarating.” Perhaps that’s why he listened carefully one Sunday when his minister read a letter from missionaries in Fiji. The preacher, tears in his eyes, added, “I wonder if there is a boy here who will, by and by, bring the gospel to the cannibals.” Young James said quietly, “I will!”—and he wasn’t even yet converted.
In 1866, having been converted and trained, he sailed for the South Pacific as a Presbyterian missionary. Chalmers had a way with people. “It was in his presence, his carriage, his eye, his voice,” a friend wrote. “There was something almost hypnotic about him. His perfect composure, his judgement and tact and fearlessness brought him through a hundred difficulties.” Robert Louis Stevenson, who didn’t like missionaries until he met Chalmers, said, “He is a rowdy, but he is a hero. You can’t weary me of that fellow. He took me fairly by storm.”
In 1877 Chalmers sailed on to New Guinea. His ministry was successful there. Packed churches replaced feasts of human flesh. But as the years passed he grew lonely. He was delighted when young Oliver Tomkins came to join him in 1901. The two men decided to explore a new part of the islands, and on Easter Sunday they sailed alongside a new village. The next morning, April 8, 1901, Chalmers and Tomkins went ashore. They were never seen again. A rescue party soon learned that the men had been clubbed to death, chopped to pieces, cooked and eaten.
News flashed around the world. “I cannot believe it!” exclaimed Dr. Joseph Parker from the pulpit of London’s famous City Temple. “I do not want to believe it! Such a mystery of Providence makes it hard for our strained faith to recover. Yet Jesus was murdered. When I think of that side of the case, I cannot but feel that our honored and noble-minded friend has joined a great assembly.”
In John chapter 11 we read that Lazarus is dead. Jesus tells his disciples that he needs to go to Bethany in Judea, and that he wants them to go with him. The purpose for going is for God’s glory but also so that the Son can be glorified through it. Jesus intended to raise Lazarus from the dead, but the disciples did not know that. All they knew was that the last time Jesus was in Judea there were those who tried to kill him. So Thomas, assuming that Jesus would go back to Judea and risk being killed, rallies his colleagues to go with Jesus and die with him.
It is hard to know what motivated Thomas to say those words. Was it submissive resignation—“It looks like the Messiah will be killed and, since we are all in with Him, we may as well die too”—or was it an enthusiastic realization that if this is the program that the Messiah wishes to follow, let’s follow it wholeheartedly?
Most likely he was speaking out of genuine love and loyalty, and the best proof of his love and loyalty would be to go and suffer and die with him. He was urging his fellow disciples to join him. “Let us not in this hour forsake him but stand beside him and die with him if necessary.” For Thomas, his faith may have been weak, seen in subsequent events, but his love was strong.
How strong is our love? For us it is not so much going with Jesus to die with him but going for Jesus and suffering for him. The April 2015 VOM newsletter had an article about those who print and distribute Bibles. The average ministry lasted only 6-18 months before they were found out and punished, some with imprisonment and beatings. I am still impacted with the thought of the Nigerian VOM volunteer who was killed while handing out VOM newsletters awhile back. Would we be willing to invest so much energy into something that with all likelihood would lead to our suffering or even death?
It is well known among brothers and sisters who are persecuted for their faith that the target of the rage and hatred is really Jesus Christ and not them. Consequently, when persecutors lash out at God they focus their rage on his followers. Those that are persecuted are aware that they suffer on his behalf and that is a source of encouragement for them, both because they don’t see persecution as a personal attack on them but also because they have the privilege and honor of bearing the pain for the One whom they love and are passionately loyal to. But the pain is still pain, and they do not take the prospect of suffering for Christ lightly.
Nor should we take it lightly. When there is violent rejection of and resistance to Christ, we realize that it is not a personal attack on us but on Christ. We are rejected and attacked because of our love and loyalty to him. That should be a great source of encouragement and affirmation for us, as well as a great privilege and honor. But it may include intense suffering and we need to be spiritually prepared for it. The first step, of course, is the willingness to follow Jesus, no matter what. Like Thomas, we must be willing to go and die with him.
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.
Tom Doyle, author of the books Killing Christians and Dreams and Visions, shares more in the current episode of VOMRadio about the true nature of Islam and how the God of the Bible is reaching and rescuing Muslims in the Middle East.
Tom also shares how he deals with fear as he goes into dangerous places, and suggests ways American Christians can reach out to Muslims living in our cities and neighborhoods, even if we don’t have a graduate degree in apologetics. We'll also discuss specific ways to pray for people in the Middle East, both our Christian brothers and sisters and Muslims who live there.
May the words of the old hymn inspire you as you consider Christ's sacrifice for us on this Good Friday:
On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross, The emblem of suff’ring and shame; And I love that old cross where the Dearest and Best For a world of lost sinners was slain.
Refrain: So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross, Till my trophies at last I lay down; I will cling to the old rugged cross, And exchange it someday for a crown.
Oh, that old rugged cross, so despised by the world, Has a wondrous attraction for me; For the dear Lamb of God left His glory above To bear it to dark Calvary.
In that old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine, A wondrous beauty I see, For ’twas on that old cross Jesus suffered and died, To pardon and sanctify me.
To the old rugged cross I will ever be true; Its shame and reproach gladly bear; Then He’ll call me someday to my home far away, Where His glory forever I’ll share.
While in Iraq recently, I was pleased to meet several Christians who are serving their neighbors, even in the midst of their own personal suffering. These “Jesus followers” have lost almost everything that this world values, and they continue to boldly proclaim their faith. They shine brightly in a place that has been darkened by loss, sorrow and hopelessness.
I was reminded of Zephaniah 3:9, where God promises to restore. He will restore so that “they all may call on the name of the Lord, to serve Him with one accord.” Another translation reads “serve him shoulder to shoulder.” That is exactly what we are called to do: to serve God shoulder to shoulder with our family members.
One of the deepest joys for field workers who serve with The Voice of the Martyrs is to stand with these sisters and brothers who are courageously and faithfully following Jesus in the most difficult circumstances.
An Iraqi sister lost everything in Mosul and was forced to flee to a neighboring city. Now, she labors every day, ministering to those who have also been displaced. As she suffers personally, she ministers to those who are suffering in similar ways, at the same time and in the same location.
In this brief video, listen as she asks for your prayers.
You will hear her say, “We ask them to pray for the Muslim Iraqi people. We pray for peace for our Iraq. We love Iraq so much.”
She continues by asking Christians who are praying for Iraq to pray specifically for one profound request. She says, “Pray for the Christians not to leave Iraq. Really, we are here, the light and the salt of this nation.”
Will you take a moment, wherever you are, right now, to pray with her? Please join her in praying that Christians will not leave Iraq. Pray that they will stay and shine. And pray for VOM as we stand “shoulder to shoulder” with Iraqis who are giving everything they have in service to our King!
Dr. Jason Petersserves in VOM’s International Ministries department, traveling frequently to meet with our persecuted brothers and sisters around the world. Jason and Kimberly have been married for over twenty years, and have five children who are actively engaged in standing with their persecuted family members.
