Persecution Blog

Openness in Pakistan?

It’s easy to think of Pakistan—a nation where 96.4% of the people are Muslims—as a nation completely closed to gospel witness. Brother Charles, an American teaching at a university in Pakistan, has found that there is much more openness than you might expect. Charles interacts every day with Muslims in that nation, helping create dialogue and initiate relationships that can lead to faith in Christ. One of the keys, he says, is presenting the core of the gospel, because so many Muslims have never heard a genuine, clear presentation of the true gospel. Charles will share how God led him and his family to Pakistan and why they stay in spite of political ups and downs and safety concerns. He’ll advise listeners on how we can dialogue with Muslims in ways that plant gospel seeds, and equip us to pray specifically for the nation of Pakistan.

ONLINE BONUS: Click now to hear more of our conversation with Charles, including specifics of how he interacts with his university students from across the religious spectrum, how he structures his course work, and other information about his ministry work.

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Nine Year Old Writes to his Persecuted Family

Nine year old Cole Staples from South Carolina is making a difference in the lives of his persecuted family. Below, Cole shares in his own words how he got involved with VOM:

Photo: Cole explains in a letter what “I Am N” means to him.

“When my Mom got home from the (VOM) conference she gave me a packet that had many mail forms and people that are in jail. So when she gave me the packet, I looked through the people who were in jail and saw Mrs. Asia Bibi and so I decided I would pray for her. Then once I saw the envelopes I told myself every day after school I would work on the letter to her.

Once I mailed my first letter, I couldn’t stop writing letters. I just felt awesome writing to people overseas! So I wrote to people like Farshid Fathi, and Alireza Seyyedian and Imran Ghafur. Then by the time the month was over I had written like 6 letters to persecuted Christians.

Then I signed up for the Prisoner Alert. Then on Monday, October 10, 2016 I got a (VOM) email saying that a judge would tell Mrs. Bibi if she would be released or killed on Wednesday, October 13, 2016. So my family and I prayed hard. Then that day came. The (VOM) email said that the judge would not handle the case. We were relieved and still nervous the next judge would say to kill her. We have been waiting ever since for the next email. It makes me feel sad thinking about families that must go into hiding because of persecution. I really hope my story will inspire other kids to learn about and pray for our persecuted families.”

Find ways for your children to get connected with their persecuted family members at www.kidsofcourage.com and you can write a letter to Asia Bibi and other believers imprisoned for their faith at www.prisoneralert.com.

Asia Bibi Appeal Hearing Delayed

The scheduled Supreme Court hearing in the case against Pakistani Christian wife and mother Asia Bibi was postponed today when one of the judges scheduled to hear the case recused himself. No new hearing date was announced.

Justice Iqbal Hameed-ur-Rehman stepped down from hearing the case, saying that he had also been a judge in a related case. "I was a part of the bench that was hearing the case of Salmaan Taseer, and this case is related to that," he told the court. Taseer was a provincial governor who spoke out on behalf of Asia Bibi and was subsequently assassinated in 2011. His killer, Mumtaz Qadri, was executed earlier this year, which led to great unrest in Pakistan.

VOM contacts in Pakistan say thousands of extra policemen had been deployed in Islamabad ahead of the hearing in an effort to maintain law and order.

VOM's Todd Nettleton was asked to comment on the situation for this story from WORLD Magazine.

You can write a letter to Asia Bibi, as well as a letter to Pakistani government officials, at www.PrisonerAlert.com. Please continue to pray for Asia Bibi and her family.

VOM Shares Asia Bibi Update on Moody Radio

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

In the 30-minute interview with Parshall, Nettleton shared an important update about the case against Asia Bibi in Pakistan, what the peace deal in Colombia means for Christians, and the story of a police captain's wife coming to Christ in Laos.

Please click here to listen to this interview (a new window will open; Nettleton's interview begins at about the 24:35 mark). We are thankful to our media friends who help VOM share the stories of our persecuted family.

China: We Are Light And Salt

Bob Fu is a former prisoner for Christ in China. He is also the founder and president of the China Aid Association and one of the most knowledgeable and widely-heard voices speaking out on behalf of persecuted Christians in China.

This week Bob will share with us about an ongoing crackdown against Christians and churches in China, a crackdown that includes Christians in prison, church buildings destroyed and even Christian children prevented from pursuing their education. But Bob will share good news, too: in the midst of that persecution, God is at work. One fruit of the current campaign against the church is a newfound unity among believers from different backgrounds and denominations.

Bob will also share an update about Gao Zhisheng, a Christian human rights attorney who has been terribly abused and persecuted, but has found God faithful even in the depths of human suffering. (Order a copy of Bob’s outstanding book, God's Double Agent).

Finally, we'll hear an update on brand new developments in the case against Asia Bibi in Pakistan.

 

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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.

COLOMBIA: "We All Know The Risk"

Pastors in the "red zone" areas of Colombia--areas controlled by FARC guerillas--are targets. The FARC resents the gospel message which makes it harder to recruit the population to support the guerilla movement. Pastors in such areas face danger and threats. This week on VOM Radio we'll discuss how The Voice of the Martyrs provides such pastors with training and encouragement and how these encounters bless them, as well as the VOM workers involved.

Listen in also to hear an update on two ongoing court cases; the case against Asia Bibi in Pakistan and the ongoing trial of two pastors accused of espionage in Sudan.

 

More Asia Bibi Petitions Delivered

Yesterday, I was part of a VOM delegation delivering Call For Mercy petition names to the Pakistani Embassy in Washington DC. It was an honor to represent so many American Christians who have prayed for Asia Bibi and her family, and who have added their voices at www.CallForMercy.com, asking the Pakistani government to let this Christian wife and mother out of prison and return her home to her husband and daughters.

This means that almost 700,000 people have signed the petition and had their voice shared at the embassy during our three visits there.

Once again, we were received cordially and courteously. The embassy official that we met with on the first two occasions is no longer at Pakistan’s Washington DC embassy, and so this time it was a new contact there. He was very kind, and seemed appreciative that Americans would make the effort to speak out on behalf of a Pakistani woman.

He told us that the petition papers we delivered would be put into a diplomatic pouch and returned to Pakistan and to the national government there—something we were not promised on our first two visits.

He said Asia’s appeal is currently filed with the Supreme Court, but didn’t offer any insights about how soon the case will be heard. Our VOM contacts in Pakistan have said that it could be years before the Supreme Court rules. I asked if he felt the judges could rule fairly in spite of threats and the assassination of political leaders who have spoken out in Asia Bibi’s behalf, and he expressed confidence that they could.

I asked if there was any chance of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws—the ones under which Asia Bibi was sentenced to death—being changed. He shook his head with what might have been sadness and said that, at least in the near term, he did not see changes happening.

As we finished our time together, I told him that there were thousands of American Christians who were praying for Asia Bibi, but who also were praying for Pakistan. He expressed his gratitude for our prayers.

We don’t know the impact these petitions will have, but we do know it sends a clear message that the world is watching Asia Bibi’s case; freedom-loving people in every corner of the globe are waiting to see how Pakistan will rule in this important case. Please join me in praying that God will use our visit today to plant seeds that may grow into blessing and even acquittal for Asia Bibi.

If you have not yet signed the petition—and shared it with your Christian friends and invited them to sign as well—please go to www.CallForMercy.com now. Our goal when we launched the petition was a million signatures. We're more than two-thirds of the way there; we need your help to reach our goal.

Todd Nettleton has served with The Voice of the Martyrs for 16 years. He’s travelled to more than 20 restricted and hostile nations and interviewed hundreds of believers who’ve faced persecution for their Christian witness. As VOM’s principle media spokesperson, Todd has done more than 2,000 interviews with media outlets ranging from Moody Radio to the BBC and Los Angeles Times. He is the host of VOM’s weekly radio show, VOMRadio. He is the principle author ofRestricted Nations: North Korea and was part of the writing team for four other VOM books.

BBC Interviews Asia Bibi Family

Last week the BBC broadcast an interview with the husband and daughters of Asia Bibi, the Chrisitan wife and mother sentenced to death in Pakistan under that nation's harsh and unjust blasphemy laws.

Here is the resulting BBC story:

 

Asia remains in jail after the High Court in Lahore upheld the guilty verdict and death sentence last year. She has appealed the case to Pakistan's Supreme Court, the final step in the legal process in Pakistan. No timetable has been set for when the Supreme Court will take up the case.

The Voice of the Martyrs continues to stand with Asia Bibi and her family. You can write a letter of encouragement to her, as well as sign a petition asking the Pakistani government to release her. Please continue to pray for this brave Christian woman.

In Spite of Court Decision, "He Will Be With Us Forever"

VOM's Todd Nettleton spoke yesterday with Gary Lane of CBN News about the recent decision of the High Court in Lahore to uphold the guilty verdict against Asia Bibi and the death penatly against her. Here is the rusulting CBN News story:

 

Sign the petition to free Asia Bibi.