Persecution Blog

VOM Radio: "We Have to Apply What Jesus Said"

“Brother Sam” is a gospel worker in the Middle East, where part of his ministry is reaching out with help to refugees displaced by ISIS from Iraq and Syria. By helping with practical needs—shelter, education, medical aid—Brother Sam and other Christians have the opportunity to share the gospel and introduce Muslim refugees to Jesus Christ.

Such work comes with risk and threats, but Sam tells us that persecution creates “a healthy environment for the Lord to work.” And God is working! Listen this week to hear stories of divine healing, Muslims coming to faith and Christians passionately reaching out in the name of Jesus. Your faith will be inspired!

 

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Meet Your "I Am N" Family Members

"This [I Am N] book changed my life. It’s changed how I am raising my two boys.

It’s changed how I read and value the Bible! The Bible has come back to life for me!"

-Ashley, Oklahoma

The Voice of the Martyrs’ I Am N curriculum is changing lives. When your persecuted family members become real to you and you realize what they face every day, it changes how you read the Bible and how you live your faith.

Have you met your “I Am N” family members yet? With VOM’s new six-session DVD curriculum, you will see the Christians who are experiencing persecution every day and hear their stories in their own words.

VOM’s I Am N video curriculum helps you get to know your Iraqi brothers and sisters who have been displaced by ISIS. By experiencing their dramatic stories, you will be following Christ’s mandate to unite with His body as you learn more about the intense persecution occurring today.

Our brothers and sisters have given up everything to proclaim that they are followers of Christ.

Take the challenge. Are you N?

ORDER THE KIT

Experience Exile for One Night

EXILE NIGHT

Our brothers and sisters choose Christ over safety, homes and jobs. For one night, you can share their experience — and be inspired by their choice.

Exile Night is an opportunity for you to identity with your persecuted family members in a tangible way. You will eat what they eat, sleep how they sleep and gain a deeper understanding of what they learn through severe trials — Christ is what matters, even when He costs everything.

Exile Night is designed to be as simple to implement as possible, and VOM provides almost everything you’ll need for the event (most of which is free).

Host an Exile Night

Exile Night is an overnight event that can be held indoors or outdoors. The goal of Exile Night is for attendees to gain an understanding of what Christian refugees experience on a daily basis, to be encouraged in their faith in Christ and to stand with their persecuted family through prayer. Click on the link above to learn more, and begin to plan how your church, youth group or university will host an Exile Night.

Middle East Update on Moody Radio

Yesterday VOM's Todd Nettleton was a guest on In the Market with Janet Parshall, aired nationwide on the Moody Radio Network.

In the 30-minute interview with Parshall, Nettleton shared highlights from his recent visit with VOM contacts and Christian workers in the Middle East.

Please click here to listen to this interview (a new window will open; Nettleton's interview begins at about the 24:45 mark). We are thankful to our media friends who help VOM share the stories of our persecuted family.

Christians in Syria Rebuilding

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.

Gary's video shows clearly how radical Muslim terrorists damaged the city, focusing in particular on churches and other Christian sites. But it also shows how Christians are rebuilding after Syrian government forces freed their city. Pray for Christians in Syria as you watch Gary's report.

 

Finding God in a Refugee Camp

“Be careful! Slow down!” I call to the young Syrian refugee girl as she dashes after her friend, stumbling over rocks and trash as she goes. Not that she could understand my English; they all spoke only Arabic.

We’d had an interesting time explaining the game of “Duck, Duck, Goose” to the group of 20-plus refugee girls without a translator. They seemed to have caught on well, though, even if we did have to play the game standing up instead of sitting. There wasn’t enough room to sit between the tents, and the ground was littered with trash and sharp rocks.

My husband and I were with a Syrian VOM partner, “Samir,” at one of the schools they had opened for children in a refugee camp. My husband took the boys and I took the girls, and we played games until their lunch arrived. For many of them, I was told, the school-provided lunch was all they would eat that day.

The girls’ high-pitched laughter was contagious as they continued around the circle. “Daa, Daa, Gahh!” It didn’t quite sound like “Duck, Duck, Goose,” but throughout the rest of the afternoon, the girls had a great time patting each other’s heads and yelling “Gahh!” For a moment, they seemed to have forgotten they were refugees, that they have constant runny noses, dirty clothes, and have seen and experienced far too much for their young age.

On our way to the camp earlier that day, we passed multiple checkpoints. Samir told us that a month earlier a suicide bomber had blown himself up at one of those checkpoints. He explained that even though the Syrian refugees are now away from the immediate danger of ISIS and other radical groups, they are still not in a good situation. The children aren’t allowed to go to the country’s schools, the adults aren’t allowed to work and, being so close to the Syrian border, they are still exposed to kidnappings and other violence.

Samir then told us that all of this has provided an opportunity for Christians to reach out to Muslims with the love of Christ like never before. That’s why they have opened a school in the refugee camp. The school welcomes both Muslim and Christian refugee children, giving them the only sense of normalcy they have in the camp, even if “school” is in a tent. They are taught the Good News of Jesus, and Muslim parents and guardians who see Christians as the only ones caring for their children also become curious, asking Samir to meet with them and tell them about this Jesus.

I left the refugee camp knowing one thing for certain: God’s light is breaking through the darkest places, and He is doing it through His church — the body of Christ of which we’re a part. I’m honored to be in the same family as some of these incredible men and women of God. They value their pursuit of Christ’s calling over their safety or security. Samir knows he puts himself and his family at risk every time he goes to the refugee camp, boldly sharing the love of Christ with Muslims.

With everything we have heard about the Syrian refugee crisis, with everything we are hearing about terrorism and about ISIS, it’s important for us to remember that our God is never in crisis, that Jesus’ kingdom never falters or is afraid. Samir and his wife believe that when Jesus said, “Go and make disciples” that this is what He meant. “How could I not go?” Samir asked pointedly.

I could have left that trip wondering if I should even call myself a Christian compared with someone like Samir. But instead, I was inspired that this is who we are called to be as Christians, to “go and make disciples.” We are all a part of this kingdom; we are all ambassadors of Christ’s hope, love and freedom. When the world cries in confusion, turmoil and despair, we can remain steadfast because we know that our God is bigger, that His love is stronger than death and that there is always victory in Christ … even in a dirty refugee camp.

Brooke Parks serves on the staff of VOM as the leader for women’s ministry and student outreach. She has worked in 16 different countries and is passionate about helping expand God’s kingdom throughout the world.

I tell our persecuted Christian family that you will pray for them. Will you make it true this Sunday?

I travel continually to meet with members of our persecuted Christian family in the world’s most hostile and restricted nations. When I am with them, I am usually involved in VOM’s work to provide them with material aid, Bibles and ministry tools. But I am also there to carry out our most important work: providing spiritual encouragement, which always includes a prayer commitment. I look them in the eyes and tell them that you, their Christian brothers and sisters in the U.S., will be praying for them.

Our commitment to pray means everything to our persecuted Christian family in places like Syria, Nigeria, Iran and Afghanistan. Our Christian brothers and sisters realize that, in our prayers, they are not forgotten. They do not stand alone because they have Christ’s presence and our prayers. I am always humbled and challenged when they testify that since they have Christ and His Body, the Church, they have everything they need. They have the right values and priorities in this way — something I struggle to achieve each and every day.

Recently, I returned from the ISIS front-lines in Iraq and tearfully appealed to our U.S. staff here at VOM with a challenge that I give you now:

I have just been with our persecuted Christian family members. They are suffering for Christ and serving Him faithfully in the midst of extreme peril and great need. I told them that you will be praying for them, and I challenge you now… in fact, I plead with you… Make it true!

This Sunday, April 17^th, our friends in several organizations that represent religious freedom interests — including Family Research Council, Open Doors, Christian Solidarity Worldwide and others — are challenging American Christians and churches to lift up our persecuted Christian family in prayer. Here at The Voice of the Martyrs, we want to join in that appeal.

April 17^th has been dubbed, “Stand with the Persecuted Sunday.” You, and your church/group will be blessed by participating. Please go to frc.org/stand to learn more.

Cole Richards is the Executive Vice President of The Voice of the Martyrs. See persecution.com/bios to learn more.

Bold Believers in Syria

VOM’s Kids of Courage resources help parents and educators teach children ages 5 to 13 about persecuted Christians. The resources provide opportunities for children to serve and pray for their suffering brothers and sisters around the world.

The following story for children comes from the Bold Believers in Syria activity book, available free from the Downloads section of www.kidsofcourage.com  Bold Believers in Syria includes stories, activities, crafts, recipes, and history and culture facts that help children understand the daily lives of their brothers and sisters who are facing Islamic extremism.

To find information and resources for youth and adults about bold believers living under Islamic extremism, go to www.i-am-n.com.

Syrian Kids Protected from Bomb

At a Christian school in Syria, the students fast and pray for peace in their country. They memorize Psalm 91, and they use the psalm to guide prayers for their families. “We shall not be afraid of the terror by night,” they pray. Thankfully they have seen answers to their prayers.

One night, a driver made a serious mistake in the city where the children go to school. He got into his car after he had been drinking alcohol, and he tried to drive. But he could not drive straight. His car ended up sideways, blocking the road. The driver got out of the car and walked away.

The next morning, no vehicles could drive on the street because the car blocked the way. The school children were stuck on the road in their buses as people looked for the car’s driver.

While the children waited for the road to clear, a bomb exploded farther down the street. At that time of the morning, the school buses were usually near the place where the bomb exploded. The car that blocked the road prevented them from possible injury.

Read Psalm 91. Why do you think the Syrian children use it to guide their prayers? (Share your answer in the comments to this post.)

Assyrian Christians Are “N”

In the early morning hours of Feb. 23, 2015, guards in the Assyrian Christian villages along the Khabur River in northern Syria left for duty in Hassaka. An hour later, ISIS militants burst into the homes of villagers, taking hundreds of men, women, and children as captives.

In one village, ISIS militants forced 21 people into a small room. Most in the group were men, but there were a few women, including one man’s aunt and his six-year-old daughter, Mariana. For three hours, they listened to gun battles and explosions just across the river as ISIS militants battled with Assyrian soldiers and Kurdish forces. It was not clear what the extremists intended to do. Death seemed imminent.

Photo credit: Assyrian International News Agency

Caption: In the weeks before the attack, ISIS fighters told the villages to remove the crosses from their churches. After crosses came down, some of the men defied the Islamic extremists and put the crosses back on top of their churches.

During a lull in the fighting, the Christians hear the village church bell ring three times. It gave them hope that God was still with them.

Immediately, their ISIS guards became fearful and demanded to know who else was in the village. No one could explain why the church bell rang. Thousands of those who once lived in these villages had already left, and only 3,000 or so remained. Taking no chances, ISIS loaded group into trucks and took them into the mountains. Eventually the Islamic extremists would bring 253 hostages into this area. Nearly every day, the ISIS fighters pressured the Christians to convert to Islam.

The Islamic extremists began negotiations to exchange the hostages for ransom almost immediately. Within a week, the 21 who were held in the room were among the first to be released. However, just as they were releasing the hostages, the extremists decided to keep 6-year-old Mariana. Her father and great aunt pleaded with the extremists, who tried to force them to leave without the girl. Finally, the men relented and told the father to bring more money for his daughter’s release, and they allowed Mariana’s great aunt to stay as her guardian.

Mariana and her great aunt were eventually released along with around 30 of the others after ransoms were paid.

In November 2015, ISIS released a video showing three men from the Khabur region dressed in orange jumpsuits and kneeling in front of black-clad ISIS members. The men stated that they were Christians from the Khabur region, and they were executed on-camera. The video threatened that if ISIS did not receive $10 million dollars,

ISIS demanded nearly $10 million dollars for the remaining hostages, then believed to be about 202 people. The Assyrian Christians remained committed to their faith. None of them would convert to Islam, despite the pressure to do so.

On Feb. 22 of this year, following their year-long captivity with ISIS militants as their guards, the last of hostages from the Khabur River region were released. The 43 men, women, and children are thankful for all the Lord has done.

They ask that Christians remember them in prayer. While all of those who were taken captive from the villages along the river are accounted for, there are still hundreds of missing Assyrian Christians who have been taken from other villages. More than 200 were taken from another village in Qaratyain, Syria this past August. They too, need Christian brothers and sisters who will not allow them to suffer in silence and will stand with them in prayer for their faithfulness, courage, and perseverance.

Mining the Depths of Depravity

In Richard Wurmbrand’s time (and in many communist countries still), persecutors did all they could to hide their persecution of Christ’s followers. Communists even gave Richard a different name in prison in an effort to hide him from the world and from Christians trying to find and help him. Communists in China have told us for years that there is no persecution of Christians there, that raids on house churches aren’t about faith but about government policy and Christians’ refusal to register their meetings. Hide, deny, obfuscate: the old-school persecutor’s playbook.

Radical Islam is different. They WANT you to know they are persecuting Christians and others. They WANT you to see their power. They want the whole world to know their devotion to Mohammed’s teaching and to following the example of his life. There is no hiding. In fact, there is promotion. They shout it from the rooftops. Islamists dive deeper into the pool of violence and depravity to find ever-more-creative ways to cause suffering. Beheading isn’t violent enough? How about crucifixion? Or what if we soaked a man with gas and then lit him on fire? What if we locked men in a cage and then sank the cage into a swimming pool? We’d keep the hi-def video cameras running, of course. If you don’t have video, it’s like it didn’t even happen.

If Richard Wurmbrand were alive today and held by ISIS, there’d be a live online video feed into his cell. ISIS is the most obvious example, but Boko Haram, al-Shabaab and others follow closely in ISIS’ footsteps.

This truth came home to me earlier this month when I was in northern Iraq. While there, we met a Christian worker specifically reaching out to Yazidi people displaced by ISIS. The Yazidis are not Christians, and because they aren’t what the Quran calls “people of the book” (Jews and Christians) they are treated even worse than Christians by ISIS.

We met some of the Yazidi elders our Christian friend is working with. One showed us a video on his phone, a video shot and released by ISIS. Here’s the video he showed us. I must warn you: there’s no graphic violence, but it is deeply disturbing.

 

The video, our Yazidi friend told us, shows ISIS fighters separating Yazidi women from men. The women are separated out to be given or sold as sex slaves, what Mohammed called “captives whom your right hand possesses” (Quran 4:24), essentially depraved door prizes for loyal ISIS fighters. The Yazidi men, likely, were killed after their women were taken away.

One of the pastors we met in Iraq gave us a deeper insight to what this scene means. “[In Middle Eastern culture] our honor is in our women,” he told us. “The Yazidis lost their women—and their honor.”

ISIS is proud of this video. It’s no accident their ugly black flag is being waved in the background. It’s no accident fighters shout “Allah is the greatest!” before they begin separating women from men. They want to create fear in their enemies, and they want to recruit more fighters. “Come and join us!” their recruiters shout. “Look at the rewards for fighting on the side of Allah! He provides for your every pleasure!”

I don’t have an answer to the desperation and hopelessness felt by the Yazidi people. I can’t even comprehend hoping that your wife or daughter is dead, because the thought of what she’s enduring if she’s still alive is simply too much to bear and stay sane.

But Jesus does have an answer. He told those “weary and heavy-laden” to come to Him. I’m thankful those reaching out to the Yazidi people offer help, hope and a window into Jesus’ heart for them.

ISIS is not hiding the depths of depravity that they’re willing to dive to. They aren’t hiding who they serve or under what authority they act.

As followers of Christ, we must be equally bold. We cannot hide the Light we have inside of us, whether we are dealing with displaced Yazidis or the family that’s lived next door to us our whole life. We don’t need to take video and post it online; but we must let His light shine.

Todd Nettleton has served with The Voice of the Martyrs for 17 years. He’s traveled 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. In 2014 VOM launched a weekly, half-hour radio show with Todd as the host.