His Tender Voice

In 2005 I went to Eritrea to meet with Christians there. One of the Christians I met was “Letay,” who spent six months in a military prison camp because of her faith in Christ. The particular camp where she was held was out in the desert. It was miserably hot, and the facilities were primitive.

You know what verse God gave her during that time? Hosea 2:14:

 "Therefore, behold, I will allure her,
Will bring her into the wilderness,
And speak comfort to her."

Letay didn’t think prison was that bad…because she heard from God. She testified to the truth of this verse, that He spoke tenderly (as the NIV translates the verse) to her. She didn’t think that time in prison was some huge hardship. Instead, she thought it was a special time God arranged to meet with and speak lovingly to her.

Some of the brothers and sisters we met on that trip to Eritrea were later arrested. Some of them are still in prison today. Sources say there are more than 2,000 Christians currently in prison in Eritrea—TWO THOUSAND! Not a single one of them has been formally charged with a crime, or had a trial, or been allowed to consult a lawyer. They just disappear into the Eritrean prison system, sometimes for years. And sometimes forever.

I hope and pray that my friends who are in those prisons, and those two thousand others of my brothers and sisters, are experiencing some of what Letay experienced. I hope they too are hearing God’s voice; that He is speaking tenderly to them.

Please pray for them.

There are three Eritrean prisoners currently listed on www.PrisonerAlert.com. The site will help you to write them letters of encouragement.

Todd Nettleton has served the persecuted church and VOM 15 years. He has been interviewed more than 1900 times by various media outlets. He's the author of Restricted Nations: North Korea, and served on the writing team for FOXE, Extreme Devotion, Hearts of Fire and other VOM books.