The life change for Henry Lyman was dramatic. A fellow alumnus of Amherst College described him as “one of the worst, boldest in wickedness, defying the authority of God.” But after his conversion, “he became as ardent and bold for Christ as before he had been in opposition to all good.” After studying theology at Andover Seminary and medicine in Boston, Lyman became one of the first missionaries sent to Indonesia by theAmerican Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. Less than ayear into his service, Lyman and his companion, Samuel Munson, metsome Batak warriors near Tapahuli in northern Sumatra. Servants traveling with the missionaries reported that each was speared and then eatenby the Batak. Lyman’s intense, shortened, but dramatic life ended in violence, but work among the Batak continued. Today the Batak worship Christ and train others for missionary service in the region. This story is an excerpt from Foxe: Voices of the Martyrs. You can get your own copy free with any donation to The Voice of the Martyrs.
Read MoreIt was 7:30 on a Sunday morning when two brothers, ages sixteen and eighteen, rode their motorcycles to the Santa Maria Catholic Church in Surabaya, Indonesia, and detonated their explosives, killing themselves and six others in the blast. Five minutes later, the boys’ father drove a car filled with explosivesinto the Surabaya Center Pentecostal Church. The bombs detonatedoutside the building, killing the driver and six churchgoers. In another part of town, the boys’ mother and two sisters, ages nine and twelve, approached the Diponegoro Indonesian Christian Church with explosives strapped to their bodies. When a security guard stoppedthem, they detonated their explosives, killing themselves and the securityguard. No church members were killed in the blast. A single family attacked three separate churches within a span of ten minutes. Twelve Christians were killed, and more than forty men andwomen were injured. Shortly after the attacks, the self-proclaimed Islamic State (ISIS) claimed responsibility for the bombings. Investigators eventually learned that the family had spent time in Syria and was working with the group Jemaah Ansharut Daulah, an Indonesian militant group with close ties to ISIS. Indonesia is the most populous Muslim nation in the world. Althoughattacks against Christians there have become less
Read MoreDalo arrived at the hospital with second-degree burns over most of his body. He had been left for dead by Fulani Islamic militants after one of a series of attacks that June that had killed hundreds, including his parents and siblings, while leaving thousands homeless. But eight-year-old Dalo did not despair. Though he had lost everything, the words on Dalo’s lips were not filled with anger or revenge. He was praying for those who had attacked him and his family. Life for Christians like Dalo in central Nigeria had not been considered especially dangerous relative to what believers faced in the north. Muslims in northern Nigeria have long desired to create a separate country governed by Islamic law, and the extremist group Boko Haram has served as the primary weapon in that fight, recently enlisting the help of Fulani Islamic militants. But violence from the northern states has gradually crept southward, and in late June 2018, five hundred armed Fulani Islamic militants attacked the areas of Barkin Ladi and Jos South, killing two hundred and displacing ten thousand — mostly Christians. The attacks ripped apart families and left thousands grieving. Oneyoung girl arrived home from school to find that her
Read MoreMonica Ogah’s grandmother was dying, and all she wanted was to return to her home in the village of Godogodo, Nigeria. Ogah’s younger brother, Zwandien, urged them not to go; militant Muslim Fulani herdsmen, who had been radicalized by the Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram, had attacked the village just six weeks earlier. But wanting to honor her grandmother’s request, Ogah and her mother decided to take her back to Godogodo. On October 15, 2016, Zwandien’s fears were realized when the militant Islamic Fulani herdsmen returned to Godogodo, shooting villagers and setting homes ablaze. Ogah, her mother, and her terminally ill grandmother hid in a small room inside their home as the sound of gunfire and shouting grew louder. They waited in silence, hoping the attackers would soon pass. Then, during a pause in the gunfire and shouting, Ogah’s grandmother coughed uncontrollably, alerting the attackers to their hiding place. Five men barged into the room and surrounded the women, pointing their weapons and shouting threats. Ogah and her mother begged the men to spare their lives, to allow them to care for Ogah’s aging grandmother in her final days. Finally, the attackers agreed to a compromise: They would kill only
Read MoreChristians in coastal Kenya were targeted in multiple Islamic attacks during June and July 2014. While Christians compose the majority of the population in Kenya, Muslim influence has grown, and Christians have faced increasing persecution from Islamic militants in recent years, notably from the Somali-based al-Shabab. Al-Shabab first targeted the village of Mpeketoni in June. Nearly fifty militants stormed the village, going door-to-door asking villagers if they were Muslim or Christian, and then killing the Christians. “My husband told them we were Christians, and they shot him in the head and chest,” said attack survivor Samantha. The attack lasted five hours, leaving sixty people dead. Days later, Poromoko, Kenya, was targeted in an attack in which fifteen were killed and twelve women abducted. As in the Mpeketoni attack, armed men went door-to-door in the middle of the night, dragging people outside and ordering them to recite the Islamic creed. Those who couldn’t or wouldn’t were killed. Almost two weeks later, fourteen were killed in an attack on the village of Hindi. Militants again went house-to-house and dragged Christians out of their homes. They tied up the Christian men before shooting them or slitting their throats. One man who refused to
Read MoreCheryl Beckett was excited about the opportunity to accompany a medical team on a service trip to remote Afghan villages. During her nearly six years of living there, she had traveled to several places outside Kabul, but this new trip was to an area she had never visited before. It was also an area featured in one of her favorite stories by Rudyard Kipling, “The Man Who Would Be King.” She knew in her heart that it would be a memorable, life-changing experience, albeit one that might also hold some danger. Certainly, the thirty-two year-old humanitarian aid worker never could have foreseen that it would be her last adventure on Earth and the beginning of her eternal adventure in Heaven. To some degree, living in Afghanistan always held the prospect of danger, yet Beckett had felt a calling from the Lord to serve there, leadingcommunity development projects. Mainly, she taught villagers how toprovide food for themselves through nutritional gardening, and she alsoworked in women’s clinics, teaching mothers and children how to keepthemselves healthy. Whenever the opportunity arose, she shared about herfaith in Jesus. This new trip with International Assistance Missions wouldtake her to the province of Nuristan, meaning “Land of
Read MoreThey 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
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
Read MoreNo one was more surprised by the court’s sentence, or treated with greater cruelty, than the early Scottish martyr Patrick Hamilton. He was royalty, after all, related to the Stuart King James V. Through that relation he was educated in Paris, and knew Erasmus, one of Europe’s premier scholars. Hamilton had been appointed abbot of Ferne the same year MartinLuther posted his Ninety-Five Theses on the church door at Wittenberg.Hamilton had met the German reformer and also knew Philip Melancthon, whose written works powered the Lutheran Reformation. Patrick was a gifted musician, composing and directing in his home cathedral. This promising young man, brilliant and connected, faltered at only onelife skill, so it seemed: a sense for danger. In the summer of 1523, Hamilton returned from Europe to join thefaculty at St. Andrews University. Recently challenged on the continentto reconsider the meaning of Christian faith, he took every opportunityto teach and debate his recovery of biblical truth: God’s mercy in Christapart from indulgences and other contrived interventions. But the archbishop, James Beaton, was scrutinizing the young scholar from afar.Utterly devoted to the papacy, the archbishop would make sure this vileteaching of faith and grace at St. Andrews would not ruin
Read MoreFazal’s wife, Shahnaz, smiled as she watched her husband put onhis new shoes, excited to attend church that morning. Christmaswas just a week away, and he looked forward to taking communion that day at Bethel Memorial Methodist Church in Quetta, Pakistan.Shahnaz quietly chided him for running late, then kissed Fazal and theirson goodbye, not realizing it would be the last time she would see herhusband. Fazal and his son arrived at a church packed with people who hadcome to watch the children’s Christmas celebration. But as the congregation lined up to receive the elements of communion, four men wearing suicide vests approached the church. Seeing their intent, security personnel tried to prevent the men from entering, shooting one as he entered the compound. Two of the others fled the scene, but the fourth man managed to push his way through the entrance and detonate his explosives. Fazal’s son was preparing to receive the elements when the explosion occurred, and the woman next to him was injured in the blast. Eleven Christians, including Fazal, were killed in the attack, andmany others were wounded. The self-proclaimed Islamic State (ISIS) laterclaimed credit for the bombing. While composing less than 1 percent of the
Read More