Aisha Granger is not your typical seminary student. She’s 43, a divorced mother of two children, and she’s Fulani, a member of the predominantly Muslim nomadic tribe spread across West Africa. Her journey started with a desire to learn. “I really wanted to go to school,” Aisha said, “but growing up in a Muslim environment as a Muslim girl, your orientation is toward growing up and being a good Muslim, a good mother.” Aisha followed cultural norms by marrying at age 18 and giving birth to her first child a year later. As a young woman, she studied at the College of Islamic Studies in Bauchi state and became a state representative for the Federation of Muslim Women. She even converted her living room into a mosque where women could pray, since Islam does not allow women to mix with men for prayer at the community mosque. “I used to be a very fanatical Muslim,” she said. “We were taught that Christians are infidels and we should not befriend them; we should not listen to them because they are not worshipers of Allah. We were always encouraged to stay away from Christians because they will make us turn away from
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Christians have suffered greatly from civil war in the Central African Republic (CAR) since 2012. They are targeted and attacked by Muslim rebels who accuse them of assisting militias that have carried out revenge killings against Muslims. They have been driven from their towns and villages as attackers loot and destroy their homes and churches, forcing tens of thousands into emergency camps for Internally Displaced Peoples (IDPs).
Read MoreThree brothers in Christ and their families in southeast Asia have faced severe persecution from government authorities. The men are now serving prison terms for their faithfulness to Christ.
Read MoreSix Christian families in a village in Chhattisgarh State, India, have experienced community pressure from the time of their conversion. They were socially excluded, and the adults lost their jobs. On August 18, 2022, Hindu radicals disrupted their church service and took the Bibles of all the believers.
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Eighteen-year-old Margaret Wilson could see the older woman,Margaret MacLachlan, roped to a stake, waiting for the tide tocover her. This slow, methodical death by drowning was orderedby the court at Wigtown for their refusal to swear allegiance to CharlesStuart, King of England, and to his church. Wilson, too, had refused theoath, yet her stake was deliberately closer to shore so that she, witnessingthe death throes of the other woman, might think better of her Covenanter convictions and save her own life. The elder Margaret, MacLachlan, farmed the pitiful soil granted to peasants near the small village of Wigtown, Scotland. Not educated, yet intelligent and full of wisdom, widow MacLachlan had been convinced by Presbyterian preacher James Renwick that the Church of England had surrendered its integrity to the corrupted English king. It was a lost church, loyal to the Stuarts above all, not to be confused with Christ’s church of the Gospel and true sacrament. Against both tradition and law, MacLachlan declined to worship in her parish church but met with Covenanters in her own home. For this she was a marked woman. Margaret Wilson, a teenager, was the oldest of three children of a prosperous farmer near Wigtown named
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Richard and Jeanette had served in China for several years when—around 2018—they began hearing stories of foreign Christians forced to leave the country. “Everyone knows it happens, but no one thinks it’s going to happen to them,” Richard says. The couple decided to stay in China as long as God kept the door open—even when Covid put the entire country under lockdown. They were prepared to be kicked out; they’d even begun to think about when it would happen instead of if it would happen. The threat gave them a sense of urgency in their ministry as they continued shepherding and teaching God’s Word to Chinese people. Richard and Jeannette felt the Lord work in their hearts during their college years, and both knew that overseas gospel work was God’s call for them. They met after Jeanette returned from two years working in China, married, and then received an invitation to serve in China. Listen as Richard and Jeanette share how they thought about risk and danger of serving in a Communist country, and the joys and challenges of their first years of missions service, including learning Chinese. You’ll also hear about the day Richard opened the door of their apartment to find 25 uniformed Chinese national police and knew their time of serving the Lord in China was coming to an end. Richard and Jeanette will return to VOM Radio next week to continue their story. Never miss an episode of VOM Radio! Subscribe to the podcast. Or listen each week in the new VOM App for your smartphone or tablet.
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As villagers watched Ritesh exchange the emptiness of worshiping idols for a relationship with the one true God, they accused him of converting his family to Christianity. For 35 years, Ritesh regularly performed puja at a temple in southern India. Like millions of other Hindus who practice the ritualistic prayer, he lit sticks of incense, displayed colorful flowers, listened to meditative music and worshiped various Hindu idols. He often spent more than an hour in the temple meditating on Hindu texts. But as much as he longed for spiritual growth through these rituals, he and his family never felt a connection with their gods or found the peace for which they were yearning. Then, one day in 2016, a local shopkeeper named Pascal gave him a Bible after a lengthy discussion about how to know God. Ritesh read the book daily … and soon learned that finding peace with the true God would mean losing peace with his neighborhood. finally meeting god On an invitation from Pascal, Ritesh attended his first church service a few months after receiving the Bible. He was deeply moved by the Scripture readings, the sermon and the way the Christians worshiped. “It was like something
Read MoreIn 2019, Rebecca, her husband, and their three children were kidnapped by rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). She managed to escape with her youngest child, but her husband and older children haven’t been seen since.
Read MoreDeepa and her husband, Surya, were overwhelmed with fear when witch doctors predicted an early, unnatural death for Surya. When Deepa confessed her fear to her brother, a Christian, he shared the gospel and led Deepa and Surya to place their trust in Christ. Deepa and Surya shared a house with Surya’s parents and grandparents, who were devout Hindus.
Read MoreWhen Kam was told in January 2023 by a police officer to stop following Christ and evangelizing, he boldly responded that he would not stop believing in Christ, no matter what happened, and that nothing could stop the work of God.
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