Persecution Blog

Moody Radio Hears Christmas Care Delivery Report

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 30-minute interview with Parshall, Nettleton shared about his recent trip to Asia, where he was part of delivering VOM Christmas Care packs to Christian children in a restricted nation. He also shares about a Bible worker he met on his trip, and the story of a Pakistani Christian's amazing journey from being dedicated to idols to being a dedicated follower of Jesus Christ.

Please click here to listen to this interview (a new window will open; Nettleton's interview begins at about the 24:30 mark of the file). We are thankful to our media friends who help VOM share the stories of our persecuted family.

Thank You

Our blog post today comes from a 14-year-old Christian in Kenya who received one of the Christmas Care packs sponsored by a VOM reader, and it comes in his own hand. (For security reasons we have blocked his name.)

Thank you to all who give generously to allow VOM to help Christians like this one.

Dangerous to be a Kid

The recent stories of the radical Islamic group ISIS indiscriminately and sometimes intentionally killing children has been on my mind these days, especially as we focus on children during the Christmas season. It is hard to comprehend what it takes for an adult to kill children for whatever reason but it is most incomprehensible when it is done to make an ideological/political statement to the world.

Yesterday we saw the unthinkable again with the attack on a school in Peshawar, Pakistan which saw more than 130 children killed. In Nigeria, Boko Haram continues to kidnap girls and sell them as wives or slaves, treating them in an inhuman manner for their own pleasure and profit, and to spread their religion. Christian girls are forced into Islam, disappearing forever from their Christian families. It is a cruel and unthinkable method of proselyting.

The mistreatment of children is not a new phenomenon—it is even a part of the Christmas story. When Jesus was born he was already under threat of being killed by King Herod. He was a threat to the existing order, and Herod would seek to keep his position no matter what it took to do so. When the wise men failed to return to Herod with the news as to where Jesus was located, Herod ordered the killing of boys two years and younger in and around Bethlehem. In the middle of the glorious picture of the baby born in a manger and worshipped by shepherds and wise men is the gut-wrenching story of the killing of innocent children. Jeremiah’s words about the bitter weeping of Rachel for the loss of her children are especially gripping, because in many ways these words are being reenacted over and over again in our time.

Jesus treated children like important, valuable human beings, worth the time to be with them and nurture them. This attitude pervades many Christian organizations which seek to help and support destitute orphans who are left in a helpless state by uncaring and hostile adults. Christian children are also subjected to severe difficulties when their parents are killed for their faith and they are left orphans. They not only suffer the trauma of losing parents but they become especially vulnerable since they have no way to provide for their basic needs. This is where The Voice of the Martyrs steps in to help support these orphaned children and to provide a means of existence in often hostile environments. It is our way of countering the evil that they have experienced and to provide some positive, loving care.

I often pray that those who commit such atrocities against the innocent suffer in their hearts and consciences for their actions. I pray that God’s Spirit will convict them of their sins and that they not be able to sleep at night until they turn to Christ. Only God can penetrate their hard hearts and their very dark minds but it has been done and God can reach them. In the meantime, we need to step in and take care of God’s children. It can be a dangerous world for them.

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.

Christmas Greetings from VOM’s President

Next week, my wife, Peggy, and I will be traveling to spend Christmas with our children and grandchildren. We’re already looking forward to celebrating the birth of our Savior with our family. We love the looks of joyful anticipation on the faces of our grandkids on Christmas morning. Yes, there will be gifts!

But our earthly gift-giving is merely a shadow of the ultimate gift that we should celebrate throughout the year. Jesus Christ came to earth in the form of a helpless newborn babe in order to give us the ultimate gift of salvation and fellowship with Him.

Our brothers and sisters in hostile and restricted nations celebrate this gift, too, and as I unwrap presents and sit down for a wonderful meal I’ll also be thinking of those who suffer for receiving the same gift that we are celebrating. I look forward to opportunities to share with my grandchildren the stories of some of those I’ve met this year who sacrificed so much to accept and to give to others the gift of Jesus.

I will also remember—as I do every day—those who give to support VOM’s work of standing with these precious brothers and sisters. Thousands of people across the United States contribute sacrificially so that we can deliver Bibles to Christians in Egypt, provide prosthetic limbs to victims of Islamist attacks in Nigeria, buy a motorcycle for a traveling evangelist in Vietnam and stand with our persecuted family in many other ways. Thank you!

My prayer for you is that the Christ of Christmas—Emmanuel, God with us!—will minister to you in a deep and personal way as we celebrate the ultimate gift, Who came to us wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.

 

Merry Christmas!

 

 

Jim

Jim Dau has served with The Voice of the Martyrs since 1999, and was named President in 2006.

Photo credit: Christmas by Staphane Mignon via Flickr. Used under Creative Commons license.

From Nepal: Thank you!

On behalf of the children and pastors in Nepal who received Christmas Care and Village Outreach Packs, thank you to all who gave to support this ministry project! Your gifts blessed these Christians — and their families — who pay a steep price for representing Christ in this Hindu nation.

“The children’s packs [mean] God loves all the children. … He knows our needs.”

— Pastor S.

“It brings encouragement to serve the Lord more. … I feel valued.”

— Pastor K., who oversees 50 other pastors

We hope you'll be encouraged by this video shot during Christmas Care distributions in Nepal:

 

Christmas Care Nepal

Nepal is one of the world's poorest nations. In addition to poverty, our brothers and sisters there face persecution from Hindu and Maoist fanatics. Attacks on individuals and churches are not uncommon for believers living in this hostile nation. Just recently, a pastor was stabbed to death by a man who had asked him to come pray for his healing.

You can join us in remembering our persecuted family members in Nepal this Christmas by sponsoring Christmas Care Packs or Village Outreach Packs.

Christmas Care Pack

Christmas Care Packs include a
backpack filled with items such as a children's Bible, school supplies, clothing, shoes and basic toiletry items. These packs can be sponsored for $25 each.

Village Outreach Packs include a small library of materials that will help a pastor or evangelist further the gospel in Nepal. These packs, which include study materials, walking shoes, a coat and a digital music player, can be sponsored for $75 each.

Thank you for standing with our persecuted family.

North Korea Update and Year-End Donation Opportunity

The following was sent to our The Voice of the Martyrs supporters in email yesterday. In case you don't receive our email updates, I wanted to share it with you also. — Stacy

As this e-mail is being written, VOM-sponsored workers are on a boat off the coast of North Korea launching helium-filled scripture balloons over one of the darkest nations on earth. As workers packed the vessel and prepared to leave, they learned that North Korea's iron-fisted dictator, Kim Jong Il, had suddenly died of a heart attack.

While the world speculates about the future of North Korea, VOM's field director says, “It's business as usual. We're in ministry, not politics.”

Christians in North Korea continue to face brutal persecution. Many are imprisoned in labor “death” camps, where they are subjected to starvation and torture.

Sister Yang was tortured for a month after being suspected of being a Christian. A woman sitting near Sister Yang had overheard her praying quietly and reported her to authorities.

“They beat me with a shovel,” Sister Yang told VOM. “Eventually my whole body had turned blue.”

Learn more and watch a short video clip of Sister Yang's powerful testimony of faith and perseverance.

O Little Town: Christians Vacating Bethlehem

The following news item is courtesy of our friends at The Christian Broadcasting Network.

JERUSALEM, Israel—Tourists are expected to return to Bethlehem in droves for Christmas, but many Christians living in the town of Jesus’ birth want to leave.

Unpredictable—that’s how Israeli author and human rights lawyer Justus Weiner describes the plight of Christians in Bethlehem and the West Bank.

For years they've suffered from human rights violations such as land theft, beatings, and even forced marriages between Christian women and Muslim men.

The worst persecution has come against converts to Christianity. Full story here.

Family Waits to See if Mother, Accused of Blasphemy, Will Be Hanged

CNN has done a wonderful piece on the situation with Asia Bibi. Please continue your prayers. Full story here.

Attack on Coptic Christians in Egypt Leaves 7 Dead

At least seven Coptic Christians were killed and another half dozen were wounded - many seriously - after a Thursday morning drive-by shooting after a Christmas midnight mass in Nag Hamadi in Upper Egypt.

Egypt's Coptic Christian community was celebrating midnight mass on Christmas Day, according to the Coptic calendar, when the shooter sprayed a large crowd in front of the church with a hail of gunfire. Many died on the spot. Others were taken to the hospital, in serious condition.

Eyewitnesses indicate the crossroads in front of the Virgin Mary Church in Nag Hamadi was crowded because of the Christmas ceremony. The shooter escaped during the chaos. Read the full story here.

Here is also a video report showing protesters after the attacks.