Gary Lane, Chief International Correspondent for CBN News, filed this report last week after visiting a persecuted pastor in the Philippines:
We thank the Lord for sparing Pastor Danial's life. Please pray for pastors working in Islamic areas of the Philippines and other nations, who daily face risk of death to share the name of Christ.
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Recently a VOM international worker made a trip to visit persecuted Christians in China. He kept a video diary of the trip, which we will be sharing this week on the Persecution Blog.
Today our worker travels to Hefei and shares how China is different than it has been in the past, and looks into the state-approved Three-Self Patriotic Movement. We'll also meet Pastor Jacob, another house-church leader who has experienced first-hand what it means to be jailed for serving Christ.
"If you are a real Christian, if you want to do God's work in China, you will experience persecution," Pastor Jacob tells us.
Pray for Pastor Jacob and the church in China.
If you missed the first days of this China trip, go back and watch Day 1 and Day 2.
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Recently a VOM international worker made a trip to visit persecuted Christians in China. He kept a video diary of the trip, which we will be sharing this week on the Persecution Blog.
On this second day, he visits a house church pastor in southwest China, a pastor recently released from prison. Listen in on their conversation about the benefits of persecution for Christian believers.
If you missed the video report of Day 1 of the trip, you can view it here.
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Preaching in Taliban territory. Passing out Bibles under ISIS’ nose. Sharing Jesus one on one in Saudi Arabia.
You and I can’t go there, but they can. Throughout nations hostile to the gospel, God has raised up men and women willing to share His name despite the risks involved. Today, The Voice of the Martyrs invites you to “adopt” one of these front-line workers and commit to pray for him or her for one year.
The Voice of the Martyrs also invites you to make a monthly recurring gift to help equip these front-line workers with the tools they need to advance the kingdom. These tools include Bibles and Christian literature for training and distribution as well as bicycles, motorcycles and even horses for transportation — anything that will help the front-line workers share Christ’s love in hostile and restricted nations.
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December 3, 2014
My name is Hua Van Tuong. I am a gospel preacher, pastoring for Immanuel Church in Danang city, Vietnam.
I would like to present to you one issue as follows:
Our church with more than 41 members had gathered to worship the Lord at above address from 2009 to the present. And now, we also have service for the Deaf church with more than 40 members.
Pursuant to Directive Instruction #01 of the Vietnam Prime Minister dated 04/02/2005 and the Guidelines of the Central Board of Religious Affairs, our church has applied [multiple times] for registration in order to be recognized as a Christians meeting point. We have applied many times as follows:
After five times of applying for our church to be recognized, the local Authorities rejected [our application] and have not licensed our church.
For many years, our church and my family have living in panic and fear of being beaten by local authorities. My house was demolished; dirty things such as dung and animal blood were thrown on our house. I myself was beaten, and some of the children of God also threatened mentally and physically. I have repeatedly sent petitions asking for help to all levels of governments from local to central but my applications are still unresolved and officials are silent.
On Oct. 10, 2014, the chairman of the Thanh Khe Tay Ward asked me to give a list of Christians in our church in order to give a license for our church to be recognized as a meeting point. He also asked me to make a commitment to ensure public order.
I did as requested by the chairman. But then, he sent the list of believers to authorities (police). So our brothers and sisters were threatened, and persuaded to have commitment not to worship God at our church any more.
On Nov. 28 2014, the Committee of Religious Affair in Danang city invited me and the pastors of the Vietnam Christian Mission Executive Board to their office to talk. Our pastor leader asked the Committee of Danang Religious Affairs to recognize Immanuel Church as the instructing of #01 directive document of the Prime Minister, but Mr. Ngo Khoi – the Head of City’s Religious Affair Committee – disagreed and had a threatening attitude toward us saying that they will take actions to close the church.
After the meeting with Danang’s Religious Affair Committee, on Sunday, Nov. 30 2014, a lot of police, militia and civil defense forces from city level to district and ward level departments came and made a raid to forbid our meeting. They seized and confiscated 19 motor bikes of the Deaf Church members. They requested that we have no more worship God in this address here.
I realize this is a sign of religious persecution to my family and Christian brothers and sisters. The Religious Affair Committee of Danang city and the local government have cornered us in a place with no way out.
So we wrote this letter. Again, we are earnestly calling for help from you to intervene in order to ensure the freedom of religious belief, spirit of people unity and human dignity are protected.
Hua Van Tuong
Editor's Note: This letter was also posted at www.Persecution.com. Please pray for Brother Hua and for other Christians in Vietnam. Watch the newsroom at Persecution.com for updates on this story.
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It is hard for most of us to imagine how difficult life is for Christians in many parts of the world. Living as a minority in a hostile context is a daily struggle. Many times, our Christian family members are threatened or attacked because of their faith.
Other times, they are simply overlooked by the judicial system, healthcare providers and local tribal leaders. They are not afforded the same protections and avenues for justice that their neighbors experience.
I met with a brother recently in one of the southernmost Islands of the Philippines, Mindanao. He is a pastor who is ministering in a predominately Muslim area. His church has been burned down by local hostile Muslims and he still fears for his life. He wears a medium-length, wispy goatee (much like an Imam) to avoid unwanted attention from the majority Muslim community. He and his wife do not have any children of their own, but they have reached out to many of the youth in their community.
He shared a provoking story with me about a time when he was kidnapped, along with 29 students that he was leading on a youth retreat. As the pastor and his students walked to the retreat location, they were captured by 25 Islamic rebels.
They were marched uphill into the jungle for three hours. The male students were forced to disrobe, while the female students were allowed to stay dressed. The rebels groped some of the female students, but when the pastor asked the commander to make his soldiers stop, they relented.
After the rebels took their clothes, they discovered that that many of the students had Bibles in their bags. When the commander realized they were carrying Bibles, he was scared to touch or desecrate the holy book. The rebels decided to let 28 students go, but kept one student, along with the pastor.
After a total of eight hours, the rebels released the pastor and the other student with nothing but their boxers. As they made their way down the mountain through the thick and thorny greenery, they met crying students who were hiding along the way. It was an incredibly traumatic experience for all of them.
As he clutched his Bible, I asked him to share any scriptures that were especially meaningful to him during this intense ordeal. Without pausing, he quoted, from memory, two verses: “Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know” (Jeremiah 33:3) and “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you” (John 15:7).
As he related the story to me with tears in his eyes, he said that they were cut-up and humiliated, but grateful to God that they were released. And, in spite of the opposition, he continues to minister faithfully in this difficult place.
May God enable each one of us to stand strong for Him, wherever He leads us, knowing that He will be with us!
Dr. Jason Peters serves in VOM’s International Ministries department, traveling frequently to meet with our persecuted brothers and sisters around the world. Jason and Kimberly have been married for over twenty years, and have five children who are actively engaged in standing with their persecuted family members.
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A couple of weeks ago, we taught at two conferences for pastors in Mindanao, a Muslim-dominated region of the Philippines. We were there to equip and encourage leaders in this very difficult area to stand strong under intense pressure.
Following one of the sessions, we chatted with one of the pastors and offered to share our teaching notes with him.
We said, “Sure, we can email you a copy.”
He replied with a nod that expressed he was both grateful for our offer, but had no idea what we were talking about.
“We can send all these notes to you on a computer. How many pastors do you think have internet and a computer?”
“I think not many,” he told us. He pulled out his cell phone (a minimal feature “dumb phone”).
“This is my only gadget!” the pastor proudly exclaimed. “Do you want to know how I got it?”
Of course we did.
“My sister owns a gas station. One day she had a customer who didn’t have the money to pay for his gas, so he offered his cellphone as payment. Then, my sister gave the cellphone to me!”
You could see the excitement in his face as he told us about his phone:
“I get to use it for my ministry! I can call other pastors with it, and they can call me. And I can call my church when I’m away from them like at this conference.”
Here are two ways that our faith is attacked:
1. Persecution. The Voice of the Martyrs team works tirelessly to stand with those who are experiencing this type of attack. Our staff has been “sprinting” recently to keep up with the pressing needs of our sisters and brothers in several hot-spots around the world. Please pray for wisdom and endurance for us. But there is another way we are threatened…
2. Preoccupation. This tactic is more subtle, but still extremely effective. When we heard our brother sharing about his sole “gadget,” we were reminded that our enemy has thousands of devices at his disposal to pull Americans away from our singular, essential focus.
What was most striking to us was not the clichéd reminder that other pastors do not have as much as we do, but the singular, utilitarian focus this pastor had with his “only gadget.” For him, it was truly a tool assisting him in his ministry to advance the Kingdom of God.
We thought about our iPads, smartphones, laptops, and VGA cables. We were using them for teaching, connecting with other pastors and field workers, showing PowerPoint presentations and persecution videos. But, we have also been sidetracked many times when they failed to work exactly how we want them to.
Our Filipino pastor friend was able to use his “only gadget” as a tool for ministry. Ironically, the tools we have to help our ministries can sometimes be used to hinder our ministry. Ephesians 6 reminds us that our enemy uses many “schemes” to attack, and distraction may be one of his favorite tactics.
YOUR TURN: What are some ways that you find yourself getting distracted from the calling God has for you? How have you seen “distractions” hinder ministry in your experience? Share your story in the comments to this post.
Anthony H. serves with VOM’s International Ministries department. He has ministered in 5 countries and was recently a guest speaker at two conferences for persecuted pastors serving on Mindanao Island in the Philippines.
Dr. Jason Peters oversees Global Partnerships and travels frequently to meet with our persecuted brothers and sisters around the world. He recently joined Anthony as part of the teaching team for the conferences in Mindanao.
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Recently one of my coworkers was in the Middle East to attend a conference for Syrian Christians. These conferences, which VOM sponsors, are designed to encourage and train Syrian Church leaders, who have been ministering in the midst of war for the past three years, in addition to the heavy persecution they face as gospel workers in a Muslim nation.
One evening several of the pastors and church leaders gathered in a group for a “breakout” discussion; the topic at hand was the story of Ananias from Acts 9. For these believers, some of whom live and minister in the city of Damascus in which the story took place, the discussion was both deeply personal and very current.
You remember the story: Saul was on his way to Damascus to hunt down Christ’s followers there and arrest them. Instead he encountered the very Christ he was persecuting and his life was changed forever. He goes into Damascus, his eyes blinded but his heart finally seeing clearly.
The Lord sends a messenger to meet, encourage and disciple this brand new believer: a man named Ananias. But it isn’t an assignment Ananias wants:
Then Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name.” (Acts 9:13-14)
Ananias had heard of this Saul; he knew he was a threat to the church and a man to be avoided. If Saul were to find him, it might cost Ananias his freedom, or even his life!
Yet God said go and meet him, and Ananias set aside his fear and hesitation and answered the call of God.
As our Syrian brothers and sisters discussed this story, they translated it into their modern situation. What if a known radical Muslim member of ISIS or Al Nusra Front called up their church and said, “I’ve had an encounter with Christ. I need someone to come and bring me a Bible and help me learn more about Him”? How would they respond?
Around the table the discussion went, each person answering with honesty. “I would be very afraid,” some said. “How would I know if his conversion was real or if it was just a trap?”
They discussed the risks of working among radical Muslims; they discussed questions they might ask the caller to try to determine if his intentions were genuine or not.
And at the end, these bold believers came to a conclusion: Of course we would be afraid, but we have to be faithful to Christ. If we have opportunity to bear His love and witness for Him, we must go, even if it is dangerous; even if we are afraid.
I am challenged and encouraged by the faithfulness of my Syrian brothers and sisters. They know the risks. They know the dangers. Yet they continue to serve God in the midst of a war zone and terrorist threats. They continue to answer His call, just as Ananias did.
Our prayer is that as they do God will take many more Sauls in Syria and turn them into Pauls who will carry His message to their nation and even to the broader world. Will you join in that prayer?
YOUR TURN: Has God ever lain on your heart to do something that, from your perspective, didn’t make any sense? Share your story in the comments to this post.
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 principle author of Restricted Nations: North Korea and was part of the writing team for four other VOM books.
Photo credit: Conversion of Saint Paul by Parmigianino (1503-1540)
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Recent remarks by Indian political figures have underscored a growing Hindus-only attitude in India. And while the situation for Christians there may grow more difficult, it’s encouraging to know that God can and is working in the hearts of those who are active persecutors of Christians. And VOM workers in the region see the potential upcoming events not as something to be feared, but as motivation to reach more people with Christ’s love.
“Ranjay” was an area leader for the Shiv Sena, a radical political group in India which, like the Hindu nationalist RSS group, seeks to establish India as an entirely Hindu country in which no other religious or political organization is welcome. One of Ranjay’s roles was to inform on the Naxalites, a Maoist insurgent group operating in India. After providing information which led to the arrests of a large group of Naxalites, Ranjay learned that he had been given no credit and his reward money was stolen by the police officer he had helped.
Angered and frustrated that he had been cheated, he began doing some soul-searching. As an alcoholic and heavy drug user, nothing seemed to bring satisfaction. It was about this time that he was invited to a prayer meeting.
At the meeting, Ranjay assumed it was a Hindu prayer meeting because a woman in attendance was worshipping a picture of Jesus as though it was one of Hinduism’s 30 million gods. At the meeting, a pastor handed him a New Testament.
“I have read Hindu scriptures, and they left me empty. Why should I believe this book will be any different?” Ranjay asked the man, who told him that the Christian Scriptures contained living words that would change his life. Desperate, Ranjay took the New Testament, and began immediately reading when he got home.
When he read the Great Commission in Matthew 28, Ranjay was struck by Jesus’ claim to have “all authority in heaven and on earth.” He kept thumbing through pages, next landing on Romans 3:10, “There is none righteous, no not one.” Within three weeks, Ranjay had committed his life to Christ and was completely drug free.
He immediately began talking about Christ with others. Now that he understood the true nature of Christ, he wanted to help correct the woman who had been worshipping Jesus’ image. He returned to the home where the prayer meeting had been held and shared the Gospel with the woman who had been worshipping the picture of Jesus. After sharing Christ’s true message with her, the woman was born again into new life in Christ.
Today, Pastor Ranjay maintains his passion to share the message with others and is known for his fearlessness. He has distributed more than 3,000 tracts and over 1,700 New Testaments in his area.Once one who sought out Christians to persecute them, now he must hide from those who want to persecute him. The recent election of Prime Minister Narendra Modi of the BJP party has only intensified the risk of persecution for Christians, but especially for those who openly share the gospel.
The BJP party is the political party backed by the RSS movement. RSS members are some of the chief persecutors of Christians in India because of their commitment to pursuing a purely Hindu nation. Christians are often forced from their homes, jailed, beaten, or even killed by RSS members.
In spite of the prospect of greater difficulties for Christians in India, VOM workers there have shared that Indian Christians are not worried. As one VOM partner said, “God is in control, not Congress Party or BJP.”
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In this video shot by VOM staff on a recent visit to India, a pastor shares about the persecutiong that he has faced in his work trying to open a new church in a Hindu-controlled village. But the pastor also shares how some of his fiersest persecutors are now followers of Christ and loyal workers in the church.
Please share this video with your Christian friends and encourage them to pray for Christians in India.
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