Recently I had the privilege to travel to Laos and to meet Christians there who face persecution. One of the brothers we met with is an evangelist who leads people to Christ almost every day. He has seen numerous people miraculously healed through the power of God, and many overcome drug addiction with God’s help. He told us that his cel phone rings regularly with people who say, “I need help.”

In giving instructions to his disciples as they set out on a limited mission to Israel (Matt 10:16), Christ tells them that he is sending them out as sheep among the wolves, so they needed to be shrewd and not be seen as a threat. They were to remain innocent but not be foolish. While the instructions were meant for this limited mission, it makes good sense in our approach to the world. There is no need to rush out, foolishly crashing headlong into the opposition. That would be reckless. Why purposefully provoke those who are hostile when the point of the mission is to win those who are hostile to Christ? The message may invite and incite hostility but our behavior should not provoke them.

Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Matthew 5:11

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Corinthians 12:9

Each month VOM produces "The Jesus Freaks Minute," a daily radio-PSA that shares the stories of the persecuted church with Christian radio listeners all over the United States and around the world. Here's the script for one of the spots that aired this month, a spot entitled DON'T PRAY:

“I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3).

A young girl in Laos named “Alani” was extremely sick from a pain in her stomach, to the point that she couldn’t even eat. Her parents first took her to the hospital where they spent a large sum of money running tests, but the doctors couldn’t find anything wrong with her.

This month we celebrate one of the highlights of our faith history: the time God sent his son into the world to be born as fully human and fully God at the same time. We celebrate that God’s plan for the salvation of man began to be realized when Jesus came into the world that night in Bethlehem.

I have a painting hanging in my office that gives me constant perspective. You may have seen it before: it’s called Safely Home and was painted by Ron Dicianni. Working at VOM, I consistently hear amazing testimonies; people are miraculously saved, protected, released from prison and provided for. God answers our prayers. Just last week after 220 days in prison, Pastor Farhad Sabokrouh was released from imprisonment in Ahvaz, Iran. All of the hundreds of letters and prayers were not in vain. I also consistently hear other stories. Also just this week we heard updates of continual attacks on Christians Egypt, homes were destroyed, at least two Christians were confirmed dead and a 15 year old girl was thrown from the second floor window of her home as her punishment for being a Christian, causing her severe injuries.

Walter Brueggemann, Old Testament scholar, says that Israel’s experiences of pain as recorded in the Old Testament are answered by God’s actions. He hears their cries of pain and responds. Hope in ancient Israel was expressed by “the relentless insistence that social hurt is not permanent, that oppression is not for perpetuity” (Old Testament Theology: Essays on Structure, Theme, and Text, 7). Israel believed that God would change things abruptly (“an inversion of circumstances”). It is a radical idea—that the present is not permanent and that there is genuine hope for the future. Things will change because God will change them. It was an optimism based on the intervention of God into human history. His kingdom would come and it would last forever. The kingdom of God has come in Christ, and will be consummated when he comes again.