During a public gathering on Feb. 15, police ordered 10 families to renounce their Christian faith. When they refused, an officer singled out one of the Christians, a woman named Sri, and ordered her to sign a document stating that she had stopped following Jesus. After Sri refused to sign, the officer wrote her family members’ names on the document and forged her signature.
Read MoreThree Christians were killed on Feb. 25 in an attack on a predominantly Christian community in eastern Nigeria, near Chibok. The attackers, thought to have been members of the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), also destroyed a local church building.
Read MoreWhen a front-line worker was arrested for possession of 30 Bibles that he intended to distribute, a high-ranking official protected the Christian, scolding the police officers who arrested him. “Why did you take these books from that man?” he demanded.
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They moved to an area of Pakistan known to be influenced by the Taliban. Despite the danger, Chinese citizens Li Xinheng and Lu Ling Lina felt compelled to share the Gospel in the radicalized area. While studying Urdu, the language spoken in Pakistan, and starting a school in one of the poorest parts of the country, they built relationships with their neighbors. But their witness was not welcomed by some in the city of Quetta. In late May, Li and Lu were taking their lunch break when three armed men dressed as police officers forced them into their vehicle. A third woman, also Chinese, was kidnapped along with them, but it is unclear whether she was released because there wasn’t room in the vehicle or because she escaped and called for help. A Pakistani man saw what was happening and tried to help, but he was shot in the foot by the kidnappers. Li and Lu were held hostage for several days before their executions,which were recorded on video. The self-proclaimed Islamic State (ISIS)claimed credit for their deaths, and the Pakistani government eventuallycarried out a raid on the ISIS hideout. However, by that time the Islamistshad fled. The Chinese government
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Tony Benjamin travelled to meet persecuted Christians long before he was the president of a ministry serving such believers. In fact, he wasn’t even an employee when he joined a missions trip to Vietnam. But meeting and ministering alongside persecuted Christians there left a permanent mark on Tony’s life and faith—and today he leads The Voice of the Martyrs Australia. Tony says more and more Christians in Australia desire to be part of “the fellowship of Christ’s suffering,” and the ministry is growing dramatically each year. He and the staff are finding ways to speak directly to Australia’s Christians—including airing VOM Radio broadcasts. They also are reaching outside Australia’s borders and inviting Christians across the South Pacific into fellowship with persecuted believers. Listen as Tony shares about witnessing the start of a flourishing ministry in Egypt that today reaches Muslims all over the Middle East and North Africa. As the difficulties Christians face intensify, Tony encourages each of us to enhance our relationship with God, the ultimate source of our strength. Tony will also equip listeners to pray for VOM Australia and its ongoing work to serve and bless persecuted Christians. Merv Knight, the co-founder of VOM Australia, has previously been a guest on VOM Radio, including remarks he shared on his retirement from the board of VOM-USA and memories of serving with Richard and Sabina Wurmbrand, the founders of The Voice of the Martyrs. Never miss an episode of VOM radio! Subscribe to the Podcast
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Growing up in predominantly Muslim Bangladesh, Fedu’s life was permeated by Islam. His father was an imam, and his grandfather told him stories of pilgrimages to Mecca. Fedu studied at an Islamic school, and, like his father and three brothers, became a Muslim scholar and imam, eventually teaching at a mosque in the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka. While working at the mosque one day in 1996, Fedu met a student named Azad from a nearby college. The two struck up a conversation and quickly became friends. However, when Fedu learned two years later that Azad had become a Christian, he began to worry about him. He knew Muslims at his mosque would find out about Azad’s conversion, and he also knew the local Muslim authorities were some of the worst persecutors of Christians in Bangladesh. Instead of standing up for his friend, Fedu stopped talking to him altogether. Then, 15 years later, Fedu received a call from Azad, who had felt God nudging him to reconnect with his old friend. As the two caught up on each other’s lives, Azad mentioned how Jesus had changed his life. And when they finally met in person, Azad gave Fedu a Bible and
Read MoreChristians are among the lowest members of Pakistani society, and many do not have access to discipleship opportunities to grow in their faith. Working long hours in restricted areas as servants in wealthy households or toiling away in brick kilns, these brothers and sisters have little access to biblical instruction and Christian fellowship.
Read MoreA bomb planted by members of the al-Shabab Islamic terrorist group exploded on Feb. 28, killing seven and injuring more than a dozen others. This attack occurred after another recent attack on the predominantly Christian community where at least 13 people were killed and many homes were burned.
Read MoreOn Jan. 3, 17-year-old Anh and her father, Chinh, visited a village several miles away to pray for a family that had contracted the coronavirus. Because of their Christian faith, local authorities forced them to pay a quarantine fee after they prayed for the sick family; non-Christians they spoke with didn’t have to pay a fee.
Read MoreHindu radicals in the area had warned him to leave. Pastor Gideon Periyaswamy and his church were attracting a lower caste of people to the area, and that was unacceptable to the high-caste villagers living nearby. “Leave this village, or else we will make life difficult for you,” they had told him. But Periyaswamy knew the risks of serving the Lord in his homeland of India. “If the Lord permits it, I would die as a martyr for Christ,” he had told a fellow pastor. Periyaswamy had left Hinduism for Christ when he was a young man and had served in ministry for most of his life. In 2015, he planted a church in a high-caste Hindu area near the city of Chennai in Tamil Nadu state, India. Unsurprisingly, he was not welcomed by local Hindu activists. Radical Hindus harassed him nearly every Sunday, and in 2017 they even beat him. Still, Periyaswamy urged his congregation to try to live peacefully with their neighbors. Then, on the morning of January 20, 2018, members of Periyaswamy’s congregation discovered his body hanging from the ceiling of hishome. Upon closer investigation, it was apparent that the unmarriedpastor had been murdered and then hanged
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