Persecution Blog

After Arrest, "I Was Terrified"

“Dr. Andrew” is working to share the gospel in the Middle East, but he hasn’t always had a heart to share Christ’s love with Muslims. Growing up in a nominal Christian family, Andrew was harassed by Muslims his whole life. But God changed his heart and gave him a passion to share Christ’s love with Muslims.

His gospel work has brought him to the attention of secret police, who have detained and questioned him many times. Andrew says each time he is detained, even though he feels fear, he also sees an opportunity to share the gospel.

Listen as Andrew talks about how he overcomes the fear by focusing on the reality of Who God is rather than on his immediate surroundings. He’ll also share some of the blessings that can be found in persecution, and help us understand the mindset of Middle Eastern Muslims.

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Being a True Vessel for God's Use

“Brother Matthew” is a pastor and church planter in South Asia, working among Muslims to share the gospel.

After threats against his life and an attack on his brother, he was encouraged by family members to leave his country. He fled to a safe place, but God clearly called him to go back to his home country, in spite of the danger. Matthew obeyed, and since his return he’s seen explosive growth in his church planting work.

Matthew says persecution is something God uses to purify and unify the church, and further it’s something that every Christian should be ready to experience. Let Matthew’s story inspire you to walk boldly with Christ, and remember this week to pray for Christians in South Asia.

Never miss an episode of VOM Radio! Subscribe to the VOM Radio podcast on iTunes or Google Play Music.

"Holy, Holy, Holy" in a Sudanese Prison

What verse of Scripture would you grab onto if you were locked in prison for your faith? Perhaps you'd choose Isaiah 61:1: 

"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me,
Because the Lord has anointed Me
To preach good tidings to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives,
And the opening of the prison to those who are bound"

Petr Jasek, a Czech national and VOM’s Africa regional director, was released last month after 445 days in prison in Sudan. Listen below as he shares the verse that God brought to his mind which became a theme for him during those long months in prison, Revelation 4:8:

The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying:

“Holy, holy, holy,
Lord God Almighty,
Who was and is and is to come!”

That verse became a theme for Petr; he would use it to guide his prayers and recite it over and over each day throughout his imprisonment.

Meditating on God’s holiness provided strength for Petr as his radical Muslim cellmates began to pressure, persecute and torture him. Listen also for the story of the opportunity God provided that encouraged Petr as he began to lose hope after four months in prison. Petr’s story challenges each of us to think about how we deal with hardship or opposition, and reminds us to seek God’s plan and His will, even when we’re uncomfortable or suffering.

Never miss an episode of VOM Radio! Subscribe to the VOM Radio podcast on iTunes or Google Play Music.

Reaching Out to Refugees

Selena grew up in the home of a pastor in the Middle East. Today she’s working among Muslim people in the US—including refugees from the Middle East.

Selena has seen firsthand that Muslims who choose to follow Christ face persecution, even in the United States. She will share how Christians in Lebanon have responded as their country has been flooded with refugees, and encourage American Christians with how we can respond to Muslims and refugees that we encounter here in the US.

Finally, she’ll equip us to pray for the church in Lebanon, and for outreach ministries to Muslims right here in the US.

 

Never miss an episode of VOM Radio! Subscribe to the VOM Radio podcast on iTunes or Google Play Music.

Openness in Pakistan?

It’s easy to think of Pakistan—a nation where 96.4% of the people are Muslims—as a nation completely closed to gospel witness. Brother Charles, an American teaching at a university in Pakistan, has found that there is much more openness than you might expect. Charles interacts every day with Muslims in that nation, helping create dialogue and initiate relationships that can lead to faith in Christ. One of the keys, he says, is presenting the core of the gospel, because so many Muslims have never heard a genuine, clear presentation of the true gospel. Charles will share how God led him and his family to Pakistan and why they stay in spite of political ups and downs and safety concerns. He’ll advise listeners on how we can dialogue with Muslims in ways that plant gospel seeds, and equip us to pray specifically for the nation of Pakistan.

ONLINE BONUS: Click now to hear more of our conversation with Charles, including specifics of how he interacts with his university students from across the religious spectrum, how he structures his course work, and other information about his ministry work.

Never miss an episode of VOM Radio! Subscribe to the VOM Radio podcast on iTunes or Google Play Music.

Best Moments of 2016 on VOM Radio: Part 1

Join us as we look back on some of the most-impactful testimonies shared with us this year on VOM Radio.

We’ll hear from Dale Rhoton of Operation Mobilization—one of the first Westerners to visit VOM’s founder, Pastor Richard Wurmbrand, after Richard’s release from prison in Romania. We’ll hear how God used a nameless woman walking along a road in Kenya to grab the heart of an American woman, Jami Staples, to reach Muslims for Christ. We’ll hear from Bob and Kasey, who left behind an American-dream retirement to serve Muslims half-a-world away. We’ll hear from two gospel workers—Hannelie Groenewald and Nik Ripken—who experienced gut-wrenching loss while serving overseas, yet found God faithful even in that loss. And we’ll hear how a passion for God’s Word kept John and Karen Short connected to Him and to each other, even while John was detained in the world’s most-closed country.

Your faith will be inspired by the faithfulness and courage of these brothers and sisters—and by how God worked through each of them to further His Kingdom aims. (Note that you can hear our entire conversations with each of these guests by searching in the VOM Radio archives.)

 

Never miss an episode of VOM Radio! Subscribe to the VOM Radio podcast on iTunes or Google Play Music.

Top 8 in 16: #1

We've been looking back at the most-viewed posts on Persecution Blog in 2016. Today we look back at #1, the most-read post of the year on Persecution Blog. It's a post from September that looks at the nation with the fastest growing church in the world, a nation whose official name starts with "The Islamic Republic of..."

Country With Fastest Growing Church May Surprise You

VOM was featured recently on Mission Network News in a story about the country with the world's fastest growing church. And the location of that church may surprise you: The Islamic Republic of Iran. Here's an excerpt from the story from MNN:

Why is the Iranian Church going through such a growth spurt?

[VOM's Todd] Nettleton shares, “I’ve had Iranian Christians tell me, ‘The greatest missionary in Iran, the greatest evangelist we’ve had in Iran was the Ayatollah Khomeini.’ This is the guy who took power in 1979, he converted Iran to the Islamic Republic [saying], ‘We’re going to run our country according to what Mohammed would have us do, we’re going to run our country according to the Koran.’

“Now here we are thirty-plus years later, and most Iranians have rejected Islam precisely because of that. The country is run by the Mullahs. The government says, ‘We’re doing everything according to Islamic principles.’ So if the government doesn’t work, if there’s still corruption, if there’s still poverty, then that must mean Islam doesn’t work…. That failure has really, in the eyes of the people of Iran, become the failure of Islam.”

According to Nettleton, the Iranian people are going through honest introspection about what they’ve witnessed in their country, and what that means for their lives…and their souls.

“I’ve heard statistics as high as 70 percent of Iranians have rejected Islam. If you ask them in an honest conversation, ‘Do you believe Islam is the truth? Do you believe Islam is the way?’ They would say, ‘No! Of course not!’…. Then the Gospel comes and they say, ‘Wait, this is true. This is right.’ And I think that’s really the root cause of the growth in the Iranian church we see.”

A challenge to American Christians

All of this poses a thoughtful question: how would the American Church respond if we were in a similar situation? How would Western Christians react under restriction and persecution?

Nettleton reflects, “I think the story of the Church in Iran is an incredibly timely message for American Christians. If you think back to 1979, Ayatollah Khomeini takes power, the Mullahs are now in charge of the country. The natural response to that from the Church there would be, ‘Oh no! This is horrible! This is terrible! The Muslims have taken control of the government. What’s going to happen to us now?’ Now thirty years later it’s the fastest growing Church in the world.

“There are many American Christians who look at what’s happening in our country, they look at the presidential elections, they look at the Supreme Court decisions, and they say, ‘Oh no! The government is turning against Christianity, Christian principles are no longer being honored in Washington D.C., what’s going to happen to us?’”

We can take a cue from our Iranian brothers and sisters in Christ.

“The people of Iran would say, ‘Hang on. Serve the Lord, and see what He does. We’re not dependent on the government, we’re dependent on Christ.’”

To be clear, persecution is not something to be sought after for the sake of persecution. Religious freedom is an ideal to be sought after and advocated for.

But when persecution does enter our lives, we can respond as Paul did in 1 Corinthians 4:12b, “When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure.”

Therein lies our witness for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Therein lies our opportunity to share our eternal hope with others who see us responding to hurt and shame in a way that doesn’t make sense to the world.

Nettleton emphasizes, “Our reliance needs to be on God, not on the protections offered by the Constitution, or the political process, or the U.S. government. Now I’m not saying don’t vote, I’m not saying don’t speak out. But understand that ultimately our reliance is on God.”

Read the full article on Mission Network News' web site. We appreciate our media partners, helping VOM to share the stories of God's faithfulness and the faithfulness of our persecuted family around the world.

Top 8 in 16: #3

In the remaining days of 2016 we'll look back on the most-viewed posts on Persecution Blog in 2016, including a post that is more than 10 years old but is still one of the most-read posts on the blog! Today we look at #3, a post from February in which we encouraged readers to show hospitality to Muslims living in their communities.

Hospitality 101: Reaching Out to Muslims

Last year author Tom Doyle and his wife JoAnn were guests on VOM's weekly radio program (You can listen to Tom's interviews here and here; listen to JoAnn here). One of the things both of them challenged listeners to do was to reach out to Muslims living right here in the United States by inviting them into our homes. Tom shared the joy of one Muslim family they'd invited over who said in seven years living in the U.S. it was the first time they'd ever been inside an American's home. But how do we make sure our hospitality is a blessing? What do we need to know to make our Muslim friends feel welcome and not trip over any cultural differences? Here's advice from "Anna," who lives and works among Muslims in the Middle East:

Did you know that the majority of Muslim international students living in the United States have never set foot inside a Christian home?

The home can be a place where hospitality is offered and deep values are communicated. When a meal is shared, it ups the stakes even more. For Easterners, to share a meal is to commit to one another in friendship. You can hear similar overtones in Jesus’ words in Revelation 3:20: “Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends” (NLT, emphasis mine).

So what prevents us from sharing a meal as friends with Muslims? For me, it was the feeling that I wouldn’t “do it right.” My rented house was sparsely decorated and I didn’t know how to cook any Arabic dishes. And what about conversation – what would I talk about with students who were still learning English?

Your home will probably never be perfect for entertaining, and you’ll never say and do all the right things. But by learning some basics, you could drum up the confidence to invite a Muslim to your home.

Here are some basic guidelines when hosting Muslims:

On the table. Steer clear of pork products and all alcohol. Rice, curries, and roasted lamb or chicken will please almost any Muslim dinner guest. (Takeout from an ethnic restaurant is also a fabulous idea.) The larger the quantities of food you serve, the more honor you bestow on your guest!

What to wear. Modesty is important to all Muslims in differing degrees. Most will feel comfortable in your home if you dress modestly. For women, that could mean a long skirt or loose-fitting pants, and a high-necked shirt with sleeves. For men, long pants are more respectful than shorts.

In the doghouse. Dogs make some Muslims uncomfortable. If at all possible, keep your dog in another room while your guests are present.

Gender divide. Ask a Muslim couple if they prefer to segregate inside your home. If so, prepare a separate space for the women to sit - even an office or spare bedroom will do. (It should go without saying that single men and women should only invite Muslims of their same gender.)

I have found that Muslims almost always accept a meal invitation. Or you can begin gradually with tea or coffee together. They may bring a small hostess gift – chocolates or a trinket from their country – as a way of saying thank you. Don’t be surprised if they remove their shoes and take detailed notice of the room’s décor and pictures.

Perhaps the most important way you can prepare to host a Muslim is to bathe the visit in prayer. You could even place your hand on the chair your friend will sit in, praying for him or her to encounter Christ in a real way inside your home.

Don’t let fear or perfectionism hold you back. Can you think of a Muslim – a co-worker, an international student, or an employee at a store you frequent – that you might bless with the gift of hospitality? All you have to do is extend the invitation. In opening your home, you are sealing the bonds of friendship that can eventually point a Muslim to Christ.

Your Turn: Are there lessons you have learned hosting Muslims? What holds you back from welcoming Muslims into your home? Share in the comments to this post.

Read More: Both men and women can benefit greatly from the cultural insights shared in Joy Loewen’s book Woman to Woman: Sharing Jesus with a Muslim Friend. (Also available for Kindle.)

Anna loves Jesus and wants to see Him cherished by her neighbors and people everywhere. Anna is a pseudonym, and all names in her posts are changed for security reasons.

Disclosure: VOM is a part of the Amazon Associates program. If you click on the links above and purchase a product, a small referral fee will be paid to VOM.

Last year author Tom Doyle and his wife JoAnn were guests on VOM's weekly radio program (You can listen to Tom's interviews here and here; listen to JoAnn here). One of the things both of them challenged listeners to do was to reach out to Muslims living right here in the United States by inviting them into our homes. Tom shared the joy of one Muslim family they'd invited over who said in seven years living in the U.S. it was the first time they'd ever been inside an American's home. But how do we make sure our hospitality is a blessing? What do we need to know to make our Muslim friends feel welcome and not trip over any cultural differences? Here's advice from "Anna," who lives and works among Muslims in the Middle East:

Did you know that the majority of Muslim international students living in the United States have never set foot inside a Christian home?

The home can be a place where hospitality is offered and deep values are communicated. When a meal is shared, it ups the stakes even more. For Easterners, to share a meal is to commit to one another in friendship. You can hear similar overtones in Jesus’ words in Revelation 3:20: “Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends” (NLT, emphasis mine).

So what prevents us from sharing a meal as friends with Muslims? For me, it was the feeling that I wouldn’t “do it right.” My rented house was sparsely decorated and I didn’t know how to cook any Arabic dishes. And what about conversation – what would I talk about with students who were still learning English?

Your home will probably never be perfect for entertaining, and you’ll never say and do all the right things. But by learning some basics, you could drum up the confidence to invite a Muslim to your home.

Here are some basic guidelines when hosting Muslims:

On the table. Steer clear of pork products and all alcohol. Rice, curries, and roasted lamb or chicken will please almost any Muslim dinner guest. (Takeout from an ethnic restaurant is also a fabulous idea.) The larger the quantities of food you serve, the more honor you bestow on your guest!

What to wear. Modesty is important to all Muslims in differing degrees. Most will feel comfortable in your home if you dress modestly. For women, that could mean a long skirt or loose-fitting pants, and a high-necked shirt with sleeves. For men, long pants are more respectful than shorts.

In the doghouse. Dogs make some Muslims uncomfortable. If at all possible, keep your dog in another room while your guests are present.

Gender divide. Ask a Muslim couple if they prefer to segregate inside your home. If so, prepare a separate space for the women to sit - even an office or spare bedroom will do. (It should go without saying that single men and women should only invite Muslims of their same gender.)

I have found that Muslims almost always accept a meal invitation. Or you can begin gradually with tea or coffee together. They may bring a small hostess gift – chocolates or a trinket from their country – as a way of saying thank you. Don’t be surprised if they remove their shoes and take detailed notice of the room’s décor and pictures.

Perhaps the most important way you can prepare to host a Muslim is to bathe the visit in prayer. You could even place your hand on the chair your friend will sit in, praying for him or her to encounter Christ in a real way inside your home.

Don’t let fear or perfectionism hold you back. Can you think of a Muslim – a co-worker, an international student, or an employee at a store you frequent – that you might bless with the gift of hospitality? All you have to do is extend the invitation. In opening your home, you are sealing the bonds of friendship that can eventually point a Muslim to Christ.

Your Turn: Are there lessons you have learned hosting Muslims? What holds you back from welcoming Muslims into your home? Share in the comments to this post.

Read More: Both men and women can benefit greatly from the cultural insights shared in Joy Loewen’s book Woman to Woman: Sharing Jesus with a Muslim Friend. (Also available for Kindle.)

Anna loves Jesus and wants to see Him cherished by her neighbors and people everywhere. Anna is a pseudonym, and all names in her posts are changed for security reasons.

Disclosure: VOM is a part of the Amazon Associates program. If you click on the links above and purchase a product, a small referral fee will be paid to VOM.

Top 8 in 16: #7

In the remaining days of 2016 we'll look back on the most-viewed posts on Persecution Blog in 2016, including a post that is more than 10 years old but is still one of the most-read posts on the blog! Today we look at #7: information and a request for prayer on the day when Muslims everywhere are looking for their lamb.

Today (September 12, 2016), the Muslim world shifts its eyes to one thing: The lamb.

Today is Eid al-Adha, the Feast of Sacrifice.

Last year Saudi Arabia reported more than 4 million pilgrims for the Haj. (Photo: AsiaNews)

Marking the end of the haj, the pinnacle event of this feast is sacrificing a lamb — literally slitting its throat while reciting verses from the Quran. After reserving a portion of meat to give to the poor, Muslims will clean the meat and rub it with fennel seed, turmeric and other aromatic spices. Then they will braise or roast it until the tender meat falls off the bone.

In almost every country, new clothes are a must for this special day. In the Middle Eastern country where I live, local men attend prayers early in the morning, and then receive guests as early as 6 a.m. Women with henna-decorated hands pass out chocolates and money to children who knock on their doors. But the lamb takes center stage, and some Muslims don’t even know why.

The event behind Eid al-Adha is Prophet Ibrahim’s (Abraham) willingness to sacrifice his son. Muslims know that God stopped Abraham as he raised the knife and sent a ram from heaven so the son could go free. But the deeper significance of this story — and how it points to Jesus — most will never know.

Several years ago I had coffee with a South Asian woman near the celebration of this meaning-packed holiday.

A few simple questions led to a topic most Americans would avoid: sin. As a Muslim, Hanna explained to me how she views sin: Everyone sins, at least a little. But the payment for sin is good works.

It gave me the entrance to share about the seriousness of sin, its penalty of death and that no amount of good works are good enough for God. Ever.

The table was silent. Suspense had sufficiently been built. Hanna appeared deep in thought when she looked up from her drink and asked, “So how can anyone go to heaven?”

I was so glad she asked! “You know about Nabi Ibrahim?” I ventured, referring to the Eid ul-Adha story. “The ‘ram from heaven’ was given in place of Abraham’s son, and this sign points us to Jesus.” (As a note, some Muslims insist the son was Ishmael, not Isaac, so I used “son” in general to avoid confusion or an argument.)

After relating the story to Jesus the spotless Lamb of God who gave his life so we could go free, I asked Hanna, “Have you ever heard this before?”

“No. Never.” At the end of our coffee date, Hanna thanked me for explaining about Jesus. She said, “I have always wondered why he came.”

The Quran ends the story of Abraham and his son with this: “And We ransomed him with a momentous sacrifice” (as-Saffat 37:107, Yusuf Ali Translation). So, every year on the occasion of Eid ul-Adha, astute Muslims are left wondering, What is the “momentous sacrifice?” Surely it means more than a ram caught in the brambles.

God in his wisdom tucked this meaning-packed story in the Quran and made it the focal point of the biggest feast in Islam. Having woven this account into the fabric of Muslims’ lives, God has prepared these precious men and women to hear about His provision of the “momentous sacrifice,” Jesus, the Lamb of God.

This Eid, may they not be left wondering.

YOUR TURN: Have you ever taken part in an Eid al-Adha celebration? Do you know any Muslims who are celebrating today?

"Anna" blogs about friendship, culture, and Kingdom-living from her home in the Middle East. She loves Jesus and wants to see Him cherished by her neighbors and people everywhere. Anna will be posting on the Persecution Blog each month. Feel free to ask questions or suggest future topics in the comments section for this post. Anna is a pseudonym, and all names in her posts are changed for security reasons.

Stories and Cookies

Lily and I had been friends for several months and I looked for ways to spend time with her. Christmas was approaching and as I wanted to bake cookies for our family and friends, I invited Lily over with the promise of lots of cookies as payment for her help. She readily accepted.

Lily and I worked to roll cookie dough, melt chocolate, and strategically place tiny Christmas bells on dozens and dozens of cookies as I shared with her the story behind the Christmas celebration. My telling of the Christmas story was sprinkled with comments such as, “Can you hand me the baking soda?” and “Don’t add too much flour as it makes the cookies too hard.” Stories and cookies go well together.

“Have you ever heard that story of Isa (Jesus) before?” I asked Lily. “No,” she replied, and we kept talking as I packed cookies in containers for her to take home.

We continued to meet a couple times a month over a meal, a movie or taking walks around our beautiful city.  Our friendship was a strange one at best; she was a Muslim, I was a Christian. I was born in the United States, and she had never left her city. I was twenty years her senior, married with children and she was still single, visiting her parents in the village on weekends. In spite of the differences, our friendship blossomed. We got together often that year.

The next year, I invited her again to make cookies at my house. I asked her if she remembered the story of the birth of Christ and she told it back to me just as she had heard it the year before! Then the questions came: “Do you believe it was a miraculous birth? Why did God plan for Isa to be born in a stable? Why was Herod so determined to kill him? Is this a true story? Really?”

I had invited Lily and several other people over for a Christmas Day meal, but as several things came up, I decided to cancel the meal. A few days earlier my husband had to make an unexpected trip back to the US, two of my children couldn’t make it home for the holidays and our youngest was sick in bed with an unexplained fever. What was to be a day of celebration seemed to be one of calamity.

My mood was cloudy and sullen. I didn’t feel like having company. I didn’t feel like celebrating at all!

“I just can’t do this, Lord. What a poor witness I will be for my Muslim and Christian friends today. I do not have the strength nor the joy to celebrate and tell the story of your birth today. I just can’t!”

I waited for Him to speak. He whispered to me, “My grace is sufficient for you TODAY.” His words flooded my soul with peace and a renewed strength to get to work, His work. As I prepared the meal, I began to think of our lives like a pair of lifeless mittens lying on a table. We are useless unless the hand of God fills us and brings us to life, an abundant life, filled with His Spirit, His strength, His joy.

My thoughts began to turn and give Him praise for all that He is, all He did for me and all that He will do.

My guests came, we prayed, ate, and then sat around the table, laughing, talking, asking questions and discussing the topic of God well into the night.

It was a wonderful day. A day of sustaining grace. A day of amazing grace.

The last person to leave was my friend Lily. As she was putting on her shoes, she looked at me and said, “I want to know more. I want to study your book and go to church with you.”

As she studied God’s Word and learned of his love for her, God touched her heart. My friend Lily is now my sister in Christ. The simple act of making Christmas cookies together, plus a little faithfulness on my part, opened up the possibility for Lily to meet God. Gloria in Excelsis Deo!

TM is a VOM staff member. She lived for many years in Malaysia and Indonesia before coming to VOM.