Persecution Blog

VOM Radio: "Heaven is Rejoicing!"

When a fully veiled woman came to his church and asked to be baptized, this pastor from Iraq wasn’t sure how to respond. But the woman had been reading and memorizing the New Testament, and her faith in Christ was genuine. After the pastor and another church leader met her and asked many questions, she was baptized in their church.

In spite of terrorism and radical Islam, God is moving in Iraq. Listen this week to hear an Iraqi pastor's first-hand account of how God is working, how the church is growing and how the Islamic State is pushing Muslims toward Christ. You'll also hear specific ways that you can pray for our brothers and sisters in Iraq.

 

You can also access every episode of VOM Radio as a podcast.

On the Way to Mongolia: "Do You Know Jesus?"

As I write this, I am flying at 30,000 feet on my way to a restricted nation in North Africa to meet with some of our sisters and brothers. It is an incredible honor to serve alongside people who are willing to advance the Kingdom in the most difficult places on earth.  

The day before I left our offices, I met with two of my colleagues, Jonathan and Nick, who just returned from China.

(Click here to listen to their VOM Radio interview describing their trip.)

They shared that, in many ways, this year has been a tough year for Christians in China. There have been crackdowns on house church networks in several regions.

The Chinese government has expanded their efforts to "purify" the Communist Party.

Christian beliefs and practices often get in the way of that effort.

However, in many other ways, this has been a wonderful year for Christians who live and serve in China. 

When we meet them, we see the joy in their eyes, and the broad smiles on their faces as they describe their spiritual journeys and the deep growth that they are experiencing.

I remember meeting a Christian inside China who shared the story of his years of imprisonment. As he told the story, he couldn't help but smile contagiously. Since his release from prison, he has been able to personally witness the impact he had on his fellow prisoners, and on the guards who were forced to listen to him singing and praying.

Like Richard Wurmbrand, this man’s years in prison were marked by incredible moments of God's light piercing the darkness.

Following Jonathan and Nick’s most recent trip, they shared an encouraging story that may help explain why the Church is growing like a wildfire in China.

As they boarded a domestic flight in China, Jonathan settled into a seat next to a young, petite Chinese lady.

As they began to taxi for takeoff, she turned to Jonathan and simply asked, “Do you know Jesus?”

Jonathan, a longtime pastor and missionary, was surprised by her question, but responded affirmatively.

She continued, “Are you a real Christian?”

During the next few minutes, she asked about Jonathan’s daily Bible reading habits, his prayer life, and even his evangelistic efforts. 

After she was satisfied with Jonathan’s answers, she turned to a Chinese man on the other side of her and began to chat with him. After a few minutes, she turned toward Jonathan again and said quietly, “You should pray for him because he doesn't want to hear about Jesus.”

When Jonathan discovered that her husband was sitting on the other side of the plane, one row in front of them, he asked if she wanted to switch seats so that she could sit with her husband.

She politely declined the seat swap and Jonathan soon realized that her husband was sharing about Jesus with his seat mates.

As Todd Nettleton says in the radio interview, “If you want your church to grow, you want people like that in your church!”

Dr. Jason Peters oversees Global Partnerships and travels frequently to meet with our persecuted sisters and brothers. He has ministered in 40 countries, as diverse as Cuba, India, Sudan, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, Burma, Sri Lanka, Colombia, Kyrgyzstan, Bangladesh, Thailand, Indonesia and Nigeria. Jason ministered as a military chaplain for more than 18 years, with assignments at the Pentagon, the US Air Force Academy and as a faculty member of the Air Force Chaplain Corps College, where he directed Crisis and Trauma training. Jason and his wife Kimberly lived overseas for several years, where two of their five children were born.

Reader Question: Is Allah Only an Islamic Word?

VOM Executive Vice President Cole Richards answers a question received recently from a VOM reader.

Then [Christ] said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.”  And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!”  John 20:27-28 (NKJV, emphasis mine)

Question:  I’m concerned about liberal Christians here in the U.S. who are advancing the idea that Christians and Muslims worship the same God. I have heard Arab Christians and American missionaries say that the word “Allah” is not Islamic and that it is used by Christians in some countries today. When I hear someone say that the word “Allah” is not Islamic, I worry that this is evidence that they have joined the movement that says Christians and Muslims worship the same God. Are people departing from biblical Christianity when they say that the word “Allah” is not Islamic?

Cole: First, let me say that you are correct to be concerned about the idea that Christians and Muslims worship the same God. There is a movement in the U.S. that is advancing the idea that because all three monotheistic world religions (Christianity, Islam and Judaism) claim to worship “the one true God,” they are therefore worshipping the same God. That is an unbiblical idea, and it is offensive to Bible-believing Christians and all but the most theologically liberal Muslims and Jews. The idea that the god of the Qur’an is the same as the God of the Bible is illogical (these texts are mutually exclusive), and it is an idea Christians must firmly and openly reject. Nothing less than the divinity and lordship of Jesus Christ is at stake!  Both Islam and Judaism reject the Christian belief that Christ is divine. Therefore, when we as Christians say “God” we mean something that is very different, and completely irreconcilable, with what Jews or Muslims mean when they use the same word (in any language).

Now, to the question:  Thankfully, the answer is “no.”  Christians are not departing from, or watering-down, biblical Christianity when they point out that the word “Allah” is not of Islamic origin. In fact, as Christians, we do not want to allow Muslims to revise history in an attempt to claim that the Arabic language belongs to their religion. A quick look at the historic timeline will demonstrate the truth.

Islam and the Historic Timeline

Muslims propagate the myth that the Arabic language is the holy language of Islam. The problem with this argument is that Islam is the newcomer among world religions. It is roughly 1,400 years old (whereas Christian faith was fulfilled in Christ approximately 2,000 years ago, but the Bible is a record of our faith tracing back well over 5,000 years). Muslims want to claim that their religion traces to Abraham and Ishmael, but that is only a faith claim for Muslims – it is not backed up in any way by the historic record. The origin of their faith is entirely with Muhammad in (relatively) recent history. Muhammad established Islam in the year 622 A.D.

The Arab people and the Arabic language predate Muhammad. There were Christians among the Arab people hundreds of years prior to Muhammad. In fact, Acts records that Arabs heard the gospel in their own language on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:11). Arab Christian families I have met personally trace their heritage all the way back to the first century!  Imagine knowing that the Christian faith has been in your family for almost 2,000 years. Some of our Arab Christian brothers and sisters have that knowledge, and continue to stand faithfully in places like Syria and Iraq to this day. What a wonderful Christian family we have! 

The word “Allah” is (and always has been) simply the word in the Arabic language for “god” and it was used by Arab Christians long before Muhammad’s birth and the advent of Islam. At the time of Muhammad’s birth, most Arabs in Muhammad’s vicinity (which is now Saudi Arabia) were polytheists, but we can see clearly in the Qur’an that Muhammad was influenced by Christians. Neither Muhammad, nor any Muslim living today, can claim the Arabic language as belonging to Islam. It was spoken by Christians first!

Why this Issue is Important

Let’s be resolved not to let Muslims claim Arab culture and language. Let’s be resolved to understand and pray for the millions of Arab and Arabic-speaking Christians. Let’s join our Arab brothers and sisters as they boldly reach their Muslim neighbors with the truth.

We must love Muslims and seek their salvation, but let us be clear that Islam is false in any language. No matter which language’s word for “God” is used – whether it be “Gott” (German), “Elohim” (Hebrew), “Boch” (Russian) or “Allah” (Arabic) – Christians must lovingly and boldly assert that there is only one true God, and He is the triune God revealed to us in the Bible. It breaks my heart that so many Muslims reject His true identity because of the false identity ascribed to Him in Islam.

The true God, the God of the Bible, was worshipped by the Arab people – in their own language! – for hundreds of years before Muhammad’s false teachings about Christ led so many Arabs astray. God is drawing them back to Himself today like never before, and here at VOM we are honored to be part of this special epoch of church history. There have never been so many Muslim Arabs converting to Christ as there are today. Praise God!

VOM Radio: Bold Witnesses in China

Why is the church in China growing so quickly? One reason is because Chinese Christians are focused and intentional about sharing the gospel message with others.

Jonathan and Nick, two of VOM’s international workers, just returned from visiting bold Christian workers all over China. They saw first-hand the witnessing efforts of Chinese Christians when a Christian woman on their flight began to share the gospel with them! And a couple of rows away her husband was on the same flight, in a middle seat, sharing the gospel with the passengers on either side of him.

Listen in to this week's episode of VOM Radio to hear how God is at work in China, even in the midst of a serious crackdown by Communist Party leaders. You’ll also hear how VOM is helping support persecuted Christians all over China, and about the adventure of landing at one of the world’s highest airports.

 

You can also listen to VOM Radio as a podcast.

Listen to every episode of VOM Radio, and give feedback or ask a question for use on the broadcast, at www.VOMRadio.net. 

Danjuma: A Scar and a Smile

His face is marked with a vicious scar…and a brilliant smile.

Thirteen–year–old Danjuma Shakaru was critically injured during an attack on his village in northern Nigeria. Muslim militants struck Danjuma on the head, arm and body with their machetes. Thinking he was dead, the villagers who found him dug his grave.

But Danjuma’s grave is empty. He is alive in part because of the care he received through VOM’s medical program. Violence against Christians in Nigeria continues to rise, and VOM helped more than 500 believers with serious medical injuries during the past year. VOM pays for travel costs, hospital bills, prostheses, tests and medicines for severely injured Christians. Will you help us serve others like Danjuma?

To Be Lost in the Glory of Christ

I often wonder about our persecuted brothers and sisters: do they struggle with things westerners usually struggle with? Do they struggle with drugs or lust or depression or alcoholism or laziness like we might? They’re humans too, the temptations are evident everywhere in the world, why wouldn’t they struggle with it too? Working at VOM, I’ve heard powerful stories of people in cultures that are also saturated in drugs, alcohol and promiscuity who turn their lives to Christ and are then persecuted. But their eyes are focused completely on Christ, it’s as if their past struggles with these addictive things are completely gone. How is that?

Now I’m not saying that persecuted Christians are “super-Christians” and don’t internally struggle with these things. And I’m not saying that they are so super that they might not succumb to the temptations of this world. But, I’ve noticed a pattern of Christians that are so focused on Christ and have a real eternal perspective, that they don’t follow the world. And these people are facing losing their homes, losing their jobs, losing their lives or the lives of their families.

How do I get that? How do I get that eternal perspective every single day and that focus on Christ so front and center in my brain, that anytime I’m tempted to follow the world instead of Christ, I remember what He did for me on the cross?

Persecution. Having everything taken from you except your faith in Christ and then someone even attempting to have you recant that. All you have left is Jesus. Richard Wurmbrand says in his book, Tortured for Christ,

“One great lesson arose from all the beatings, tortures, and butchery of the Communists: that the spirit is master of the body. We felt the torture, but it often seemed as something distant and far removed from the spirit which was lost in the glory of Christ and His presence with us.”

Lost in the glory of Christ. That’s where I want to be.

But I’m in America, where religious freedom abounds. It’s unlikely that I would be persecuted or tortured for my faith (not that I really have a desire to be tortured). How do I get lost in the glory of Christ when my flesh wants to focus on something un-Christlike?

I wasn’t quite able to grasp it until I went to a VOM conference in South Dakota. I realized it in the middle of listening to Todd Nettleton telling about a Brother in Laos who heard one sermon when he was looking for food in a city one day, accepted Christ, went home to his faraway village and led 16 families to Christ. I thought: what an amazing story, what a courageous brother in Christ, what a God-led occurrence.

A familiar feeling began sweeping over me. Almost euphoric, I’ve gotten this feeling before: when I hear crazy stories of what God is doing in the world, or when I feel God is leading me in writing something, or when I hear stories of the persecuted church. It’s what I’ve come to realize is the feeling of the power of the Holy Spirit inside me. Except this time, I felt it around me too. I could feel the Holy Spirit moving in the room, stirring the hearts of the people at the conference, pushing their hearts into a more committed relationship with Christ, including mine. No worldly thought could penetrate my mind at this moment, because I was simply lost in the glory of Christ.

That’s it. That’s what I need to remember. That feeling of the Holy Spirit moving in and around me. That feeling that is better than anything this world has to offer. The Holy Spirit is in me, ready to fight temptation, ready to lead me in my daily actions, ready to guide me in what to say in difficult situations. I forget that too often.

Christ is better than anything this world has to offer. Our persecuted brothers and sisters know that, that’s why they’re willing to lose everything, even their lives, to follow after Christ. Am I not willing to lose the desires of my flesh to follow after Christ?

Valerie O. recently finished her summer internship at The Voice of the Martyrs. This fall she will be a junior at California State University, Long Beach studying journalism. She first heard of VOM through a Bible study when someone handed her a VOM newsletter. Since then, she has felt drawn to VOM and its primary goal and has desired for God to use her skillset to help in reaching that goal. 

Preparing for Persecution in North Africa

"Brother Jay" continues the conversation about working in North Africa, including the biggest challenge that new Muslim converts to Christianity face, and how they prepare Christians—from their first days walking with Christ—to face persecution and rejection. Jay also shares ways that American Christians can reach out to Muslims who live right here in the United States.

Then we’ll talk with Christian recording artist Nicole C. Mullen about her love for VOM’s book, Jesus Freaks, how she prays for persecuted believers and why she shares the stories of the faith of persecuted Christians with her children.

 

If you missed the first part of our conversation with Jay, you can listen here.

VOM Featured on Moody Radio

Earlier this week, VOM's Todd Nettleton was a guest on In the Market with Janet Parshall, aired nationwide on the Moody Radio Network.

In the conversation with Parshall, Nettleton shared some good news about what God is doing, including the recent release of two pastors in Sudan who could have faced the death penalty. He also discussed the case of Asia Bibi, as well as the story of a young woman recovering after escaping from Boko Haram in Nigeria.

Please click here to listen to this interview (a new window will open; Nettleton's interview begins about the 27:00 mark). We are thankful to our media friends who help VOM share the stories of our persecuted family.

Sudan: Pastors’ Release Still in Progress

In a stunning and controversial announcement on Aug. 5, a judge in Sudan ruled that two South Sudanese church leaders would not face execution for their crimes. Following eight months of waiting for an outcome, Pastor Yat Michael and Pastor Peter Yen were charged with less serious convictions, given credit for time served and told that they could go home.

I celebrated in my office and shared the good news with several coworkers and friends. One coworker said it best, “The judge may have successfully split the baby.” 

Under pressure from two sides, the Sudanese judge was forced to carefully navigate local expectations by upholding Islamic law as well as appease the international call for human rights. Both pastors were facing charges of “spying” and “undermining the constitutional system.” Each charge is punishable by death, life imprisonment, or prison and confiscation of property. With one side calling for death, it was difficult to speculate what the outcome might be.

The announcement that the men were not charged with either of these crimes was surprising. Given that the government has steadily persecuted Christians through both legal channels and violent attacks, it seems like a revolutionary change of heart.

Last year, Meriam Ibrahim was on trial for apostasy and sentenced to death. Jailed with her then twenty-month-old son, she was still shackled by the ankles when she gave birth to her second child, Maya. The birth of this child began a countdown to Meriam’s death sentence. Once Meriam had weaned her children, Sudan was free to carry out her execution. Her case raised an international uproar.

Though a judge in Sudan pardoned the woman, the celebration was interrupted by Sudan’s National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) who kept her from leaving. They claimed she did not have the appropriate travel documents. A nearly one-month battle ensued before the family was able to flee the country.

In a similar turn of events, both Pastor Yat Michael and Pastor Peter Yen and their families were prevented from leaving the Khartoum airport on Aug. 6. Authorities kept them from boarding the plane. The attorney swiftly took action and went back to the judge, but a meeting could not be arranged for three more days. It was unclear who had issued the ban, and if it was the NISS, things would not be easy. Whether the NISS, led by hardline Islamists, would allow the men that they arrested to leave the country was of deep concern.

A relative of one of the pastors shared, “your prayers are very needed.”

According to the latest information, it may take a few more days before the pastors and their families will be able to leave Sudan. The pastors’ attorney has been informed that the prosecution initiated the travel ban, giving the judge the authority and jurisdiction to lift the ban. If all goes well, the two Christian pastors and their families will be allowed to leave Sudan within the next couple of days.

"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.

Sources: Morningstar News, World Watch Monitor Photo credit: CBN News

Seeing God Bring Good Out of Evil

The LORD is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made. Psalm 145:9

According to this verse, the Lord is always good. We see things in small pictures, but God sees the big, beautiful pictures that He is creating.

The week of the shooting in Charleston, my heart broke. For the past twelve years I have lived in South Carolina. It’s where I call home away from home. To hear that something like this occurred just a few hours away from my home wrecked me.

As I watched the news, I thought that if this is what the world is becoming then I don’t want to be here to witness all this chaos. I was reminded of one of my favorite Bible verses, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.” (Genesis 50:20, NIV)

My heart is saddened for those that were killed. They welcomed this boy into their congregation with joy and gladness. Because of the color of their skin, he didn’t see the need for them to be alive anymore, so he took lives that were not meant to be taken. It’s difficult to see the big picture in this. It’s difficult to see God in this. But that is the good news; He is in this and has always been. What this boy meant for evil, division, and hatred, there was good.

It fills me with fury. How is any of this good?

The Scripture verses “But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven” (Mathew 5:44-45) and also “Beloved let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.” (1 John 4:7) came almost immediately to mind.

Through this time of tragedy, for the first time, I have seen people unite in such unspeakable ways. With tears in my eyes as I am writing this, there is so much joy in me that Christ has been magnified in such a huge way. When He tells us to love, he doesn’t list options for who we are to extend that grace and love to. In the culture we live in, often we forget about the grace and mercy that the good Lord daily showers on us. It’s so beautiful to see a community united in the face of tragedy. This is something I have not seen previously. The young man appeared in court. In the courtroom, just days after the senseless shooting, a video shows each of the victim’s families say, “I forgive you.” 

God is in control. I even heard one person say, “We would like you to take this opportunity to repent. Repent. Confess. Give your life to the one who matters the most…Christ.”

Likewise, there is a similar video depicting a woman in Kenya whose husband was killed by radical Islamists. Sarah Ambetsu shared that she was shot in the leg, her husband, also the pastor of the church, was shot in the heart. She sees the need for forgiveness. I truly believe that this spirit of forgiveness is from the Lord. In her heart, she knew that he belonged to God and she is at peace about it. It is so unimaginable and a diversion from what culture tells us to do. Sarah had similar words to say of the men who killed her husband, “I always pray one day God can change their hearts and they get saved and they can become the biggest servants of the Lord.”

No bitterness, no anger, just such sweet dependence on our sovereign God.

That is such a true example of grace upon grace. Because of the grace that has been shown to them through Christ, in both circumstances, they are able to extend that to a person who hatefully ended the lives of their loved ones. I pray that even in our own lives we will not combat evil with evil, but evil with the love of Christ.

As an intern for VOM, I’m learning so much about God’s big picture and forgiveness. So often we look at things from our own small perspective, but then we have to repent and see that He is powerful. He is not limited in the things that He does or will do. It makes us stop looking at ourselves and look to the Heavens at Him. I think to myself at times, ‘His mercies are new every morning and His grace is enough.’ I am so thankful for both of these reminders by the community in Charleston and also Sarah Ambetsu. God is good.

Oluwatosin S. served this summer as a VOM intern in the Young Adults & Conferences Department. Born in Lagos, Nigeria, she moved to the United States with her family when she was 8 years old. She will be a senior this fall at Lander University in Greenwood, SC.