In the sixteenth century, King Philip II took a hard line against those who would try to interpret Scripture for themselves. Anyone found studying the Bible during this time was hanged, burned at the stake, drowned, torn in pieces, or buried alive.

One of the things The Voice of the Martyrs has consistently encouraged readers to do is to write letters to Christians in prison. In the museum space in our headquarters building is a list of prisoners in Soviet prisons in the early 1970s, as well as a poster of prisoners from that era that was sent out to US readers and churches to encourage them to write letters. Today VOM offers a letter writing kit for people who prefer writing with pen and paper and an online tool for those who prefer electronic tools in their communication.

Pastor Richard Wurmbrand, the founder of The Voice of the Martyrs, shared this story in his book, Alone With God, a book of sermons composed while Richard was in prison:

It was Sunday, and the congregation of Grace Sonmin Church in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, had gathered for their weekly worship service. Even though their country was now free from oppressive Communist rule, radical Muslims still blatantly opposed the church. The oppression had simply changed hands from one terrorist authority to another.

Since the beginning of our ministry, VOM has encouraged Christians in the West to write letters of encouragement to prisoners. Over the years VOM has sent out lists of prisoners, pre-printed postcards to send and even encouraged readers to put a stick of gum inside their letters to a particular prisoner.

On Friday we brought you the interview with Semse Aydin, the widow of Necati Aydin, a Turkish martyr for Christ. Today we bring you the other half of that video, an interview with Wolfgang Haede, Semse and Necati's brother-in-law.

The day after her husband was brutally murdered in the offices of a Christian publishing house in Turkey, Semse Aydin announced on national TV that she had forgiven the men who committed the murder.

In January, 2007, the Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, publisher of the political weekly newspaper Agos, was shot to death on the street in Istanbul. The murder was the work of extremist Turkish nationalists. Hrant Dink was no evangelist. For a long time he had lived pretty aloof of the faith of his Christian Armenian people. When he died, it became known that his wife Rachel Dink was a believing Christian and that Hrant Dink had also personally accepted Christ in the last years of his life.

Before his conversion, Chang Shen had been known as a gambler, womanizer, and thief. When he was stricken blind in midlife, neighbors said it was the judgment of the gods for his evildoings.

"Where is it?" Gowda asked.