A Christian in Morocco is experiencing regular pressure and intimidation by police authorities. “His moves are constantly monitored, and he is regularly questioned by police,” a front-line worker shared. He is under gradual but increasing pressure from officials, and the continual surveillance and interrogations have negatively impacted his health.
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If not for a North Korean government training video, the testimony of Cha Deoksun’s life would never have been known. Produced to train state security agents how to identify and silence those who promote religion inside North Korea, the film denigrates anyone who practices religion. According to the film, Deoksun received Christ in China and then returned to North Korea to share her faith. Incredibly, the propaganda film gives many details about the life of this courageous Christian. It states that during North Korea’s “Great Famine” in the mid-1990s, when an estimated 2.5 million people died, Deoksun was a strong revolutionary whose faith in the government had wavered. After visiting a woman in the northwest to ask for help, she illegally crossed the border into China in search of her uncle. But instead of finding her uncle, who had died, Deoksun found the Seotap Church, where she heard the gospel for the first time. The video says she became a “fanatical believer” who was inspired to return to North Korea and form an underground network of Christians inside the country. When she returned to North Korea, Deoksun apparently turned herself in to authorities for crossing the border illegally. The video
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“I didn’t know anything about my faith, but I knew I couldn’t deny Christ.” A Christian for less than two months, a 15-year-old girl shared this with Ben and Kimberly when she came to their church for discipleship. Her father, one of the most powerful witch doctors in the village, kicked her out of the house and out of their village after she chose to follow Christ. Ben and Kimberly are gospel workers in South Asia, involved in outreach, pastor training and discipleship of new believers. Listen as they share their testimonies, including how Ben rebelled against the Lord, got involved in drugs, eventually facing 35 felony charges and landing in prison. Yet, in prison, he gave his life to the Lord and miraculously the Lord allowed him to be released. Ben and Kimberly will also share how the Lord called them out of a comfortable life in America to go to the mission field. Listen as they share the dedication they see in new Christians, sometimes even immediately after they hear the gospel. “One of the amazing things has been to see the wholeheartedness. The way Christians in our village are fully sold out to Christ from the very beginning. Most people we talk with can’t even consider walking away,” Kimberly says. Christian persecution in South Asian nations like India, Nepal, Bhutan or Bangladesh often involves being ostracized and kicked out of homes and communities. Kim says that’s why church is so important as the Body of Christ becomes a new family for the persecuted Christians. Ben’s story of coming to faith calls to mind a previous guest on VOM Radio, who also came to faith in an American prison and is now involved in Bible distribution in the Middle East. Listen to Joe share his testimony of coming to faith and experience God’s call to overseas ministry. Never miss an episode of VOM Radio! Subscribe to the podcast. Or listen each week—and get daily prayer reminders—in the new VOM App for your smartphone or tablet.
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Weeks before his wife’s death, James had a casual discussion with her about whether either of them would remarry if the other died. James told her he wanted to die first so their two daughters would have a mother to care for them, and his wife, Mary, teased him by saying she would remarry. But then she grew more serious, telling him she had a sense that she would die first. James didn’t think much of the conversation until later, when Mary was killed in an attack on their Christian village in central Nigeria. James was in the city donating blood at a hospital on the day of the attack. When he called home around noon, Mary told him not to come home because they had heard gunshots in a nearby community and she wanted him to avoid traveling through an area of conflict. She was not yet aware that Fulani Islamic militants were attacking the entire region of Barkin Ladi, outside Jos. Beginning at 7 a.m. that Saturday, June 23, 2018, the heavily armed militants swept through the area, using plastic garden sprayers to spray gasoline on houses before setting them ablaze. Mary called James back a little later,
Read MorePastor Matthew leads a small church in northern Kenya. Every Sunday as he preaches, Muslims from the surrounding neighborhood pummel the church with rocks. They occasionally throw stones at the home where he, his wife and their four children live. Their family and other Christians in the town are regularly discriminated against, especially at funerals, which are usually communal events. Pastor Matthew recalled attending a funeral where he was served a meal and sat down to eat with a group of men.
Read MoreA Christian imprisoned in Eritrea several times for his faith expressed gratitude to the global body of Christ for their ongoing support in prayer: “You have been praying for us, and I want to thank you,” Joseph said. He also shared how communism is Eritrea’s most significant challenge and that its president, who trained in China, launched a brutal crackdown on the Christian community in 2004, closing most churches and arresting many Christian leaders. Those imprisoned without trial are held in inhumane conditions, including metal shipping containers.
Read MoreOn Dec. 26, 2021, Pastor Jawahar was in his home in Madhya Pradesh state, talking with other members of the church, when Hindu fanatics – including police officers – entered, accusing these Christians of trying to convert Hindus by fraud. After interrogation and intimidation in the home, the police took Jawahar and two elders to the police station and charged them with coerced conversion under the state’s so-called “Freedom of Religion” law. Pastor Jawahar was jailed for 45 days without due legal process.
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Abdu Oganesyan and his father were determined to keep their workshop open, despite the civil war that was destroying their Syrian homeland. Abdu’s mother, sister and two younger brothers had moved to a larger city for safety when the war broke out in 2011, but he and his father had stayed behind to continue managing the shop. They were also concerned about protecting the land that had been in their family since 1920, when their ancestors had fled the Armenian genocide in Turkey and immigrated to Syria. When clashes between the Free Syrian Army, al-Nusra Front, Islamic Front and self-proclaimed Islamic State (ISIS) would erupt in their neighborhood, Abdu and his father would hunker down and try to avoid getting caught in the crossfire. Still, they fully expected to keep the shop open until the fighting was over. On June 1, 2014, however, their plans for the future were shattered when members of the Islamic Front, composed of foreigners from Iraq and Turkey, surrounded Abdu and a Muslim employee on the street in front of their shop. Kidnapped by Muslim Extremists The Islamists allowed the Muslim employee to leave, but they slid a black bag over Abdu’s head, held a
Read MoreYoung, married, and with a baby on the way, Cynthia Anderson and her husband set out for Nepal to “take new ground for the gospel,” bringing Jesus to the unreached. But God was already working in Nepal. “We weren’t taking Him there,” Cynthia says, “He was [already] there!” Today, decades later, Cynthia is a longtime gospel worker in multiple nations and a trainer of pastors, mission agency and other Kingdom-minded leaders in how to multiply disciples and catalyze Jesus movements in their areas. She is a leader in YWAM Frontier Missions. Listen as Cynthia shares what it truly looks like to make disciples and train others to continue making disciples, launching Disciple Making Movements (DMM). Her new book, The Multiplier’s Mindset: Thinking Differently About Discipleship, examines the mindset shifts that need to take place in order for multiplication of the gospel to happen. As a young missionary, Cynthia was drawn to examples from the gospels and the book of Acts. “I was so convinced by scripture. Wow! God uses ordinary, broken people; people who don’t have their act together. Faith rose up in my heart to believe: ‘God can do it here; God can do it through us!’” The harvest fields are ripe, even in Western nations. Research shows that only 3 out of 10 unchurched people in America have had a Christian explain the gospel to them. Listen to Cynthia share stories of persecuted Christians who have become obedient disciples of Christ passionate to reach their people with the gospel. “Keep disciple making easy and actionable,” Cynthia advises. “When we have a simple repeatable pattern and people are like, ‘I can do that,’ it is reproducible, even by a brand-new believer.” As you listen, you’ll also learn how you can pray for our persecuted family who are making disciples among their own people. You can learn more about Cynthia’s work on her blog and by listening to her first interview on VOM Radio. Never miss an episode of VOM Radio! Subscribe to the podcast. Or listen each week—and get daily prayer reminders—in the new VOM App for your smartphone or tablet.
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The thin, 13-year-old girl shifted painfully in the dark, trying to remember how long she had been locked up. Although she wasn’t exactly sure, she knew it had been months. Her stomach rumbled with hunger, and she hoped that her brother might soon slip another roasted banana under the door. Her father hadn’t fed her since locking her in the cramped space. Soon after Susan Ithungu came to know Christ in 2009, her Muslim father began to beat her, once even threatening to kill her with a knife. After trying for months to persuade Susan to deny Christ, he finally locked her in a small space in their mud shanty. Six months passed before neighbors realized what was happening to Susan and notified the police, who rescued her and took her to a hospital. A pastor who visited her immediately after her rescue said she was extremely thin and unable to walk or talk. “Her hair had turned yellow, she had long fingernails and sunken eyes, and she looked very slim, less than 45 pounds,” he said. Abused and Rejected Sadly, Susan’s story is not unique in Uganda. While 85 percent of the country’s population is Christian, those who convert
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