Having experienced the presence and forgiveness of God prepares a person to forgive others and be a gracious influence in their lives. Gracia Burnham, along with her husband Martin, were abducted and held by Marxist guerillas in the Philippines. They were in captivity for a year. Martin lost his life in a rescue attempt by government forces. Gracia described Martin’s attitude and spirit during those days in the following terms:

“Brother John” helps lead the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. He has served as a missionary in Muslim nations, and today is involved in recruiting and sending mission workers to the hardest and most unreached places in the world.

Today marks 15 years since Martin and Gracia Burnham were kidnapped in the Philippines. The missionary couple was on a getaway to celebrate their 18th wedding anniversary when they were kidnapped by radical Muslim Abu Sayyaf fighters. For more than a year, and under the total control of their captors, they were constantly on the move, living in primitive conditions in the jungle, evading capture from the Philippine military, enduring gun battles and witnessing unspeakable atrocities committed by the men of Abu Sayyaf Group.

VOM’s Dr. Jason Peters recently shared stories of Christians facing Islamic extremists with Andrew Hess of ChurchLeader’s Podcast.

In the front section of the New York Times on Sunday was a story on the ongoing destruction of churches and removal of crosses from church buildings. The article says as many as 1700 crosses have been taken down in the past two years in Zhejiang Province; Bob Fu, president of China Aid Association, told VOM Radio the number may be even higher.

Telling inspiring stories of our persecuted family has always been at heart of VOM's ministry. We are thankful for wonderful ministry partners who come alongside to help us tell those stories in various forms—books, songs, films—to impact and inspire more Christians with the courage of our persecuted family and the faithfulness of God.

A brief reminder to pray about and to carry with you into this weekend, from Sabina Wurmbrand, the wife of VOM's founder, Richard Wurmbrand. Sabina spent three years in a labor camp in communist Romania because of her Christian work alongside her husband. Pastor Richard spent 14 years in prison.

Last week CBN News aired a piece by Gary Lane, Gary Lane | CBN.com (beta) // // // // // // // // // // Senior International Reporter and long-time friend and coworker of VOM, from inside the Syrian city of Maaloula, one of the world's oldest Christian cities.

A part of Christian eschatology is the conviction and belief that evil will intensify in the last days (Cullmann, “Eschatology and Mission in the New Testament,” Theology and the Christian Mission, 46). This began at the Day of Pentecost when the church was born and continues until today. There have been times of relative peace and times of the intense manifestation of evil, but there is little doubt in the minds of many that the situation in the world is not getting better. It seems especially intense at the moment.