Persecution Blog

IDOP: Less Than Two Weeks Away

With less than two weeks to go before this year’s International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church (IDOP) on November 3, is your church planning to “Remember them that are in bonds” (Hebrews 13:3) on this significant Sunday?

The Voice of the Martyrs has created a short film to invite and inspire your church to pray for our persecuted family around the world. This year’s film focuses on Christians in Northern Nigeria, and was shot on location in that nation with help from Christians there.

 

VOM will send you—FREE of charge—a DVD of this powerful film to share with your church congregation or Sunday School class. You can also purchase additional resources to remind your church to pray for persecuted Christians, not only on IDOP Sunday but throughout the year.

Order today in order to insure delivery in time for November 3.

"If You Love Me"

“For me the issue has been settled. The Lord called me to reach out to my people and I have to. So whether they are killing me, I will still love them with the love of God. I do not see them as my enemies because they killed my son. I have forgiven them because they do not have Christ and that is all they can think at their level.”

These are the words of Reverend P, a pastor in Northern Nigeria whose son was murdered by the militant Muslim group, Boko Haram. Reverend P had received threats from Boko Haram because of his Christian faith and ministry. One day while his son was out walking they attacked him, cutting him to pieces with machetes.

Nigeria

I don’t know about you, but it’s easy to find Rev. P’s response of love and forgiveness astounding. Oftentimes, we like to talk about how much we love God. Love makes us feel good. But love isn’t just kindness and good feelings. God’s love is fierce. It’s jealous, unyielding and all consuming, in a pure and holy way. God’s love for us caused him to give up what he held most dear, his son Jesus Christ. And that same love asks much of us in return.

How do we show God that we love him beyond just giving lip service? The Bible says “If you love me, you will obey my commands” (John 14:15).  If we can show God we love him through obedience to commands then that begs the question, which commands? Isn’t the Bible full of commands?

There is a story in the book of Matthew where a lawyer asks Jesus what the greatest commandment is (Matthew 22:34-39). He wanted Jesus to pick just one. However, when pressed with the issue, Jesus couldn’t pick just one—he had to pick two: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.” What Jesus is saying here, which he reaffirms in scripture elsewhere, is that you cannot separate loving God from loving people. In fact, you can show God how much you love him by loving other people.

The Bible says “what you have done unto to least of these you did to me” (Matthew 25:40). Often we think of “the least of these” as a poor orphaned child or abandoned widow; that could certainly be true. But the least of these could also be a Muslim militant member of Boko Haram. Those hardest to love are often “the least of these.” So when Rev. P choose to love his son’s murderers and to obey the Bible’s command to “Love your enemies” (Luke 6:27), he is showing God how much he loves Him.

The Bibles says faith without deeds is dead (James 2:26). God wants our faith to consist of more than us telling Him we love Him, he wants us to show it. And one of the best ways to do that is by loving others, even when it’s difficult.

The good news is that this love is not contingent on our own abilities. Rev. P said “I will still love them with the love of God.” God is the only one who can grant us miraculous love in such a tragic situation. But it starts with a choice, like Rev. P, you get to decide daily if “the issue has been settled” in your heart or not. Will you show God your love for Him by loving the hardest of people?

"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.

When Does Forgiveness Come?

For Agnes, forgiveness was a long time in coming. Agnes is a Christian widow, living in northern Nigeria. In 2004, her shop-keeper husband was caught in a religious riot in Kano. Muslim rioters entered his shop and shot him with arrows. Bleeding, with arrows hanging from his chest, he ran home. The mob chased him and broke down the door. He was killed in front of Agnes and his four kids, who were barely able to convince the mob not to kill them, too.

After the riot, Agnes stayed in the community. She had nowhere else to go. When she saw her husband’s attackers on the street, she crossed to the other side. She was able to move on with her life, but she still resented the men who had taken her husband away.

In January of this year, Agnes was invited to a prayer conference through The Voice of the Martyrs in Nigeria. She spent three days with several other widows and some trained facilitators. They listened to teachings on several subjects over the three days, including forgiveness. They also spent time in prayer every day.

While praying with a group of women on the second day, Agnes felt a nudging in her spirit. She realized she needed to forgive her husband’s killers all these years later. She prayed, “Father, I need to forgive. Help me to know how to do so.” As soon as she prayed, she felt a shift in her emotions. Suddenly, she had compassion for her persecutors, and she felt sorry for them.

Today, when she sees the men on the street, she doesn’t need to cross to the other side. She can walk by calmly and even offer a greeting. Her attitude has changed so much that she was able to forgive another man who stole from her. She was given a rooster to raise for an income, and a Muslim man stole the rooster, sold it, and donated the money for construction of a new mosque. But with her new-found compassion in Christ, Agnes can smile at the man when she sees him.

For some, forgiveness is a long process. For others, it’s quick. For Agnes, it took almost 10 years for her to reach forgiveness, but now that she has, it’s a practiced habit.

YOUR TURN: In the comments, share a time in your own life where you had to forgive someone. Was it a long process or did it happen instantly for you?

Nigeria Trip Report

Last month VOM's Todd Nettleton visited the nation of Nigeria to meet with and interview persecuted Christians, including several who have been treated in the new prosthetics clinic provided by VOMedical. Last week Todd was a guest on Moody Radio's program, “In the Market With Janet Parshall,” and talked about the trip and the people he met with in Nigeria. Listen to the interview below.

Nigeria: In The Market Interview

Special thanks to Moody Radio, Janet Parshall and the producers of "In The Market With Janet Parshall" for permission to post this interview on the PersecutionBlog.

HELPING HANDS

Photo of the day: this photo was taken recently by a VOM team visiting Nigeria. The team was blessed to meet with Nigerian Christians, hear their stories of persecution and faith, and pray with them for God to bless them and to bless the church in Nigeria.

Please pray for Christians in Nigeria.

VIDEO: New Limbs Give Hope in Nigeria

The support of VOM readers provided 16 patients with prosthetic legs in January 2013. "I feel so happy!" said Esther, a woman who received one of the prosthetic legs.

Attacks against Christians in Nigeria have increased over the past three years. As the number of victims has grown, VOM has responded with a one-of-a-kind medical clinic. This special prosthetics lab will greatly improve the lives of amputees. "Providing them with mobility will impact not only their own quality of life, but also that of their families," said a VOM medical worker.

Enjoy this video of some of those blessed by this ministry:

 

You may also give online to support the vital work of VOMedical.

The Lens of Compassion

“There is something about experience . . . When somebody becomes a Christian after he has persecuted the church, he knows what persecution is about and it is important to support him to be able to go back and live the Christian life and be an evangelist because he has something to say to persecutors. He can say, ‘I have been there; I know what it means.’ He has a message that is not only theoretical but personal—a message that is out of both the Bible and personal experience that will reach out to the people because of his personal experience.”

Chibundu has pastored seven churches and now works exclusively with Muslims to evangelize them. He cautions others who are dealing with Muslims who seek to harm them: show love, not anger. For God can use anyone to build His kingdom.

“It is very easy for people to become so angry with those who are persecuting them. If you look at it humanly, logically, there is a reason to be angry. But as Christians we need to see them from the lens of compassion,” he explained. “When somebody is lost, when somebody is operating from a point that he’s almost blindfolded, he doesn’t know what he’s doing—he is just programmed and brainwashed. We need to see it from that perspective and have compassion and mercy on this person and see where he is coming from. Our reaction should be to consider what we can do to help this person come to an understanding of what he is doing so that the love of Jesus Christ will show him the light. People like this are blindfolded; they don't know what they are doing. They think this is the only way to heaven, but there is another way and they don't know about it. That's why we need to go and lovingly call them to the One who said, 'Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.'" (Matthew 11:28).

“Chibundu" was a radical Muslim persecutor of Christians until he met Jesus. His story is one of those told in VOM’s new book, Saul to Paul: From Persecutor to Christ Follower. Order your copy online.

No Sacrifice Too Big

In 2007, Babasola’s oldest son was attending classes at his university [in Nigeria] when three Muslim men armed with machetes approached him. They called out his name.

“We have not come to rob you,” they said. “We have come to kill you because you are your father’s son.” The men slit his throat.

“It was very difficult,” Babasola said of the loss of his son. “But there is no sacrifice that is too big for God.”

Babasola continues to minister to Muslims. He secretly counsels Quranic teachers, mullahs, and sheiks who want to become Christians. He is a lamb among wolves who has intimate knowledge of the wolf’s lair. So many men in Muslim villages come up to him and tell him they are Christians because of him. He works a lot with persecutors. He even visited the man who had planned his son’s killing to offer forgiveness.

The man rebuffed Babasola, but after hearing about the exchange on a radio program, the man’s son showed up at Babasola’s home seeking to know Christ. “I discovered that love is the ultimate,” Babasola said. “If you want to win Muslims to your side, you have to love them—not with the human type of love, but with the love you yourself have experienced through Christ.”

In our work around the world we have met many Saul-to-Paul conversions like Babasola’s. They cause us to ask, “Who is my enemy?” For if we treat our persecutors as enemies, how will we ever win them to Christ? When VOM founder Pastor Richard Wurmbrand encountered vicious persecutors while locked inside a Romanian Communist prison, he viewed them not as enemies but as harvest. And indeed one of his violent captors became a Christian. Believers like these show a special love—God’s love—toward our so-called enemy.

“Instead of treating them as enemies, pity them, because it’s not them, it’s something that is motivating them,” Babasola said. “Because when I was there I did not know what I was doing. I was once a persecutor, but now through His grace He has forgiven me. This is God’s love. And though we have been persecuted we are not crushed...We are willing to die so that others will live.”

“Babasola” was a radical Muslim persecutor of Christians until he met Jesus. His story is one of those told in VOM’s new book, Saul to Paul: From Persecutor to Christ Follower. Order your copy online.

The Souls of the Martyrs: resting under the altar

As we meet with our family members around the world, we often celebrate with them as they share miraculous accounts of God’s direct intervention in their lives. A specialized team of four women from VOM just returned from two weeks in Nigeria. These women offered listening ears, hours of prayer and profound words of encouragement to a dozen widows of Christian martyrs.

During one of their sessions, a widowed sister shared that one year after her husband’s death, she was seriously contemplating abandoning her faith. She had three young children at the time and life was extremely difficult for her. Every day was a long struggle to provide for her family and to try to guide them spiritually. Then a friend came to visit, bringing with her a ray of hope in the midst of this widow’s darkness.

During their time together, her friend turned to Revelation 6, and read, “When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed” (Rev.  6:9-11).

These words pierced this widow’s heart like a dart. She felt a strong confirmation that her husband did not die in vain and that he was now part of a communion of martyrs sheltered under the altar of Almighty God.

It is a deep honor and a gift to be able to serve as one of many “voices” for the sisters and brothers we serve. We learn more from their example each day. We can’t leave any of our family members behind. And, in the process of serving them, we are able to draw strength from their victories, and to learn from their examples. Please pray that God will help us, and the family members that we serve, to keep our eyes fixed on the distant horizon, knowing that God is with us and that we too will find “rest” at His altar.

Dr. Jason Peters serves in VOM’s International Ministries department, traveling frequently to meet with our persecuted brothers and sisters around the world. He lived overseas for five years and has ministered in 28 countries as diverse as Cuba, Nepal, Iraq and Indonesia. He and his wife, Kimberly, along with their five children, count it a great honor to serve with the persecuted church. Dr. Peters will be one of the speakers at VOM's regional conference in Colorado Springs, CO on April 6.

Cease-Fire in Nigeria?

Although it hasn't received a great deal of media coverage, late last month a Boko Haram commander spoke publicly about a cease-fire in the group's ongoing war with the Nigerian government.

It's too early to tell if this is a legitimate change in direction for the Nigerian-based radical Islamic group, and the Boko Haram commander who made the statements isn't the group's top leader. One of the principal demands of the cease-fire is the unconditional release of all Boko Haram members currently imprisoned in Nigeria, a demand the Nigerian government seems unlikely to meet.

Boko Haram (loosely translated as "Western education is a sin") has pushed for the adoption of Sharia law in northern Nigeria and has publicly stated that Christians in the area have three choices: leave, become Muslims or die.

Nigeria's leaders and military have viewed recent developments with guarded optimism; the military has said it will wait 30 days to see if attacks continue before deciding how serious Boko Haram is about a cease-fire. Meanwhile, the media have reported increased business activity and more people on the streets in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state and "headquarters" of Boko Haram.

Please PRAY with Christians in Nigeria for lasting peace. Pray that Muslims there will be reached with the gospel and come to know Christ personally. And pray for God's protection of our Christian brothers and sisters, regardless of whether the cease-fire holds. If you'd like to contribute to support VOM's work in Nigeria and other Muslim nations, you can do so here.