MERRY CHRISTMAS! This week, as we celebrate the birth of Christ, we will be looking back on the most-read posts on the Persecution Blog this year. Today we look back on the #2 most-read post. We will continue this countdown until we unveil number 1 tomorrow. Look back to see which posts drew the most attention, readers and shares over the course of 2014, and come back tomorrow to see the most-read post of the year.

This week, as we celebrate the birth of Christ, we will be looking back on the most-read posts on the Persecution Blog this year. Today we look back on the #3 most-read post. We will continue to count down until we unveil number 1 on Friday. Come back each day this week to learn which posts drew the most attention, readers and shares over the course of 2014.

This week, as we celebrate the birth of Christ, we will be looking back on the most-read posts on the Persecution Blog this year. Today we look back on the #4 most-read post. We will continue to count down until we unveil number 1 on Friday. Come back each day this week to learn which posts drew the most attention, readers and shares over the course of 2014.

This week, as we celebrate the birth of Christ, we will be looking back on the most-read posts on the Persecution Blog this year. We begin today with the number-5 most-read post, and will count down to number 1 on Friday. Come back each day this week to learn which posts drew the most attention and readers over the course of 2014.

One of the ways that VOM sometimes encourages American Christians to support our brothers and sisters facing persecution is by asking our government leaders to speak out and act on their behalf. These efforts go back even to VOM’s founder, Richard Wurmbrand, who testified before a Senate committee and even took off his shirt in the hearing to show the deep torture scars on his body.

On December 17, 1912 Bill Borden boarded ship for China via Egypt. His missionary career would be among history’s briefest—and most effective.

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.

A Ho Chi Minh City Bible school that has often been the target of police activity in recent years was attacked and destroyed for the seventh time on Wednesday, Nov. 12 by hired thugs accompanied by the police. The thugs used hammers and metal cutters to destroy doors, walls, and furniture. Police then raided the college and arrested nine Christians who did not have proper paperwork — documents that had been confiscated by police in earlier raids. The Bible school leader, Pastor Nguyen Hong Quang, said this was the seventh attack on the college since June 2014.

Hope is birthed out of some of the most surprising of places.

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!