Tied to a chair in a small room, struggling to breathe after a severe beating, Pastor Dharala Francis awaited his death. For nearly 30 years, he had faithfully led a ministry that served the disadvantaged in India, but on July 9, 2015, his reputation for sharing the gospel caught up with him. That day, an angry mob beat him severely and conspired to burn him to death. “I didn’t have fear,” he recalled eight months later, sitting with his wife and daughter at a guest house in India. “I was ready to die that day. I said, ‘If this is the last day for me, I want to go to heaven directly.’” Instead of dying, however, Pastor Dharala saw a surprising work of God. A Threatening Love The pastor and his family had spent the first six months of 2015 building relationships with villagers in western India, praying for those who were sick, serving the poor and distributing Christian literature. Gradually, Hindus — and even some Muslims — started following Christ. “Every Sunday we would go to that village and share the Word of God, and day by day the number was increasing because of many miracles taking place there,”
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Richard Wurmbrand had a comfortable life as a pastor in Communist Romania. He had a salary that supported his family and a congregation that loved and trusted him. But as he watched other Christians suffer for their faith while a tyrannical dictatorship destroyed everything around them, Richard was not at peace. Why, he wondered, had God spared him from persecution and trial? Desiring to answer Christ’s call to take up his cross and follow him, Richard and his wife, Sabina, began to pray that God would give them a cross to bear. And on Feb. 29, 1948, their prayers were answered. As Richard walked to church that winter morning in Bucharest, members of the secret police abducted him, taking away not only the comfortable life he had known but also his identity. “From now on,” they told him, “you are Vasile Georgescu,” labeling him with a generic Romanian name to conceal his true identity. He disappeared without a trace, and Sabina had no information beyond the outrageous rumors she had heard: One said he had been taken to Russia, while another claimed he had died under interrogation. Though overwhelmed with worry from not knowing where Richard was or if he
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Gospel workers in restricted and hostile nations risk their lives to spread the gospel. One worker in the Middle East, Jacob, was kidnapped last month and held by a terrorist group. He was kept blindfolded, not knowing if it was day or night. The group threatened to hang him. Even in captivity, this young newlywed pastor’s heart was to share the good news and help build God’s church by spreading his Word. Thankfully, Jacob has been rescued from captivity and reunited with his wife and baby. Listen as John Samara, founder and executive director of Ananias House, shares how Jacob had memorized Scripture before being taken captive, and how he held onto several passages during his time in darkness. With the scripture indelibly written on his heart and mind, Jacob was encouraged by the promises of God despite persecution for his faith. One verse that encouraged Jacob was Psalm 27:14, “Wait for the Lord, be strong and let your heart take courage. Wait on the Lord.” John also shares about a new book, Through the Eyes of a Child: Encounters with God in the Middle East. Ananias House is working in schools, sharing the gospel as they provide an education to children who might otherwise not receive one. John will share stories from the book of a teen imprisoned and violated for her faith, yet praising and glorifying the Lord in the midst of it; and of a young child who prayed with his classmates over their small amount of food and saw God perform a miracle. You’ll also hear how John and his team are training up women, who often face disrespect in that culture. Now many are reaching other women with the gospel and even leading their husbands to Christ! John will equip listeners to pray for Ananias House and for the Body of Christ in the Middle East and North Africa. Never miss an episode of VOM Radio! Subscribe to the podcast. Or listen each week—and get daily prayer reminders—in the VOM App for your smartphone or tablet.
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“We are all mortals until God says, ‘Your time is finished,’” said Mauricio, who works as a pastor in a Colombian “red zone” along with his wife, Dena. “We understand that we live in constant danger.” The stranger sat down in Dena’s living room chair and made himself comfortable. “Your husband has been gone for three days,” he said knowingly. “He is far from home.” The man then began pulling his shirt off, revealing a crudely stitched knife wound on his shoulder. “I need a shower,” he demanded, “and I need some food.” Realizing that he could be a member of the paramilitary group that controlled her area, Dena wasn’t surprised that he knew her husband was gone. Villagers often shared information out of fear of the paramilitary, which emerged as one element of a long-standing conflict involving government forces, drug cartels and guerrilla groups like the FARC (Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colombia). Dena could tell that the man was only trying to frighten her into doing what he wanted. “Give me your money,” he ordered, staring at the paper pesos in her hand. Church members had brought her the timely gift earlier that day; the church knew it wasn’t
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Shiva and Kamleshor are leaders of a group of 20 Christians who have been meeting for fellowship in a Maithili-speaking region of Nepal. On June 24, a group of more than 40 Hindu radicals surrounded the home where they were meeting to threaten and mock them, live-streaming their abusive actions on social media for three hours. These brothers were discouraged but thankful for the body of Christ remembering them in prayer.
Read MorePastor Filadelfo, a former drug trafficker who is now an evangelist, has been jailed repeatedly for his gospel witness and was kicked out of his village for refusing to renounce Christ and return to the traditional religious practices of the village. Because of the prayers and support he has received through VOM, Filadelfo is able to continue to share the gospel in Southern Mexico, praying for the sick and providing Bibles to believers who don’t have one.
Read MoreOnly a fraction of 1 percent of the population of Morocco are Christians, and lack of access to Bibles limits the growth of Christian communities. “Believers and seekers in this country face a shortage of physical Bibles and are usually obligated to interact with God’s Word in an online or digital format, which is not accessible for everyone,” a front-line worker said. Additionally, new followers of Christ are often threatened by family members, discriminated against by landlords, and forced to relocate unexpectedly.
Read MoreThere had been reports of a pending terrorist attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, when Hannelie Groenewald went in work as a medical doctor on November 29, 2014. Hannelie didn’t know that the Taliban attack would target her own home and family. When she arrived home that evening, a sea of police and military personnel were all around the smoking ruins of her house. Reporters were already there, asking her for comment. She still didn’t know what had happened; that her husband, Werner, and two teen aged children, Jean-Pierre and Rodé, had been killed in a Taliban attack on their home. She was taken to a neighbor’s house, where she read, over and over, Psalm 91, praying through its promises of help and divine covering. God’s overwhelming peace washed over her. As a mother, she wished to have been with her children, to comfort them during the attack. But Hannelie is reminded that God is sovereign. Listen as she shares how God carried her through the days following the attack, and how Afghan people were impacted by her peace and spirit of forgiveness. Hannelie also tells of God’s blessings to her even as flames engulfed her home. Pray for new believers in Afghanistan, that God would use the martyrs blood that has flowed there to bring forth a spiritual harvest, and that God’s church will be built up, even after the Taliban takeover of that nation in 2021. Listen and watch Hannelie’s story on the new VOM App, and find her new book, (affiliate link) to learn more about how God remained faithful and encouraged her as she continued to serve Him. Never miss an episode of VOM Radio! Subscribe to the podcast.
Read MoreAbdu grew up wanting to be an Islamic scholar, so he attended schools focusing solely on the Quran. After studying the Quran for 15 years, he became an Islamic teacher. But in 2022, he met an old friend who had become a follower of Christ. The friend shared the gospel with Abdu on numerous occasions, and Abdu began to question his beliefs. Eventually, Abdu put his faith in Christ. His enthusiasm for teaching the Quran waned, and local Islamic leaders noticed.
Read MoreChristians in eastern Turkiye are often isolated with limited opportunities to fellowship openly with other followers of Christ. But a small Protestant church in eastern Turkiye, in an area close to the Syrian border populated mainly by Kurds and some Syrians and Iranians, has developed a good relationship with a long-standing Orthodox church. Its leaders are willing to allow the young church to repurpose one of their dilapidated buildings, but doing so will require the approval of local officials.
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