Persecuted Christians Know God is Greater than All Their Fears

Many Christians are afraid. They are afraid as they watch American culture and society continually turn away from the biblical teachings and Christian values they hold dear. They are afraid that the persecution our brothers and sisters face in nations like China, Nigeria, North Korea and Libya may soon be much more than something we read about. It may be the path that we — Christians in the “land of the free” — are called to walk.

The problem with this attitude is that the Bible tells us not to be afraid.

When communist authorities in Romania forced VOM’s founder, Richard Wurmbrand, into a van as he walked to church on Feb. 29, 1948, he had good reason to be afraid. Here’s how he recalls his thoughts that morning in his book In God’s Underground:

I knew that I faced questioning, ill-treatment, possibly years of imprisonment and death, and I wondered if my faith was strong enough. I remembered then that in the Bible it is written 366 times — once for every day of the year — “Don’t be afraid!” 366 times, not merely 365, to account for leap year. And this was February 29 — a coincidence that told me I need not fear!

Pastor Wurmbrand learned this surprising information in a book of sermons while serving as a pastor in Romania. The most common imperative among Jesus’ words in the gospels is some variation of the words “Do not be afraid.” Paul reminded his protégé, Timothy, that “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Tim. 1:7).

It is easy to quote these verses. But in the darkest hours of the night, it can be hard to quiet our hearts and trust fully in God’s plan for us, for our children, for our grandchildren and for our nation. Many of our persecuted brothers and sisters around the world have gained a deeper trust in Christ through repeated, sometimes daily persecution. Rather than looking at our future with anxiety and fear, we can learn from them how better to rest in the promises of our sovereign God.

“I Will Tell You What to Say”

“Hussein,” an Iranian Christian who converted from Islam, committed his life to ministry in Iran’s house churches soon after God saved him from a life of drugs and crime.

His ministry had been going well, until one night when the secret police raided an apartment where he was leading a Christian meeting. Everyone was videotaped, the apartment was searched and Hussein and three other leaders were arrested.

After separating the leaders, the police blindfolded Hussein and drove him to an unknown location, where he was led to a solitary cell. They kept a bright floodlight on in the cell 24 hours a day, making sleep difficult.

Hussein’s thoughts were a jumble of confusion and fear. He wondered what he should tell them and whether the other believers would tell them something different. He knew there were Bibles hidden in the apartment where they had been meeting, but he didn’t know whether the police had found them. Hussein’s mind raced from one fear to another.

And then Hussein began to pray, and God’s presence filled his solitary cell.

“This was the greatest experience of my life, with Jesus beside me even telling me how to pray and what to say,” Hussein said. “I was in the presence of Jesus, and I was praying more boldly and confidently that Jesus had brought me there for a purpose.

“To hear God, like you hear water or anything else, I heard God. I felt like Jesus put everything aside, the whole world aside to come to me and whisper in my ear. Jesus said to me, ‘There is no need for you to say anything because I am going to tell you what to say. Why are you afraid?’”

After 10 days in solitary confinement, Hussein was charged with apostasy and assigned to death row. Thinking it must be a mistake, one of the prison guards made a phone call to make sure Hussein was supposed to be on death row. “Why did you send this guy here?” the guard asked. “They are going to kill this guy.” But the guard was told that there was no mistake. “This is a special request for death row,” he was told.

On Hussein’s first night in prison, one of the gang leaders ordered him to meet him in the bathroom at midnight. “Until 12 that night I couldn’t sleep because I did not know what was going to happen,” he said.

But even on death row God was stronger than Hussein’s fear. Somehow the gang leaders had heard that Hussein had contacts outside of Iran. They wanted him to get the word out about the terrible conditions in the prison. Although Hussein didn’t really know many people outside the country — and certainly not people in a position to question Iran’s prison conditions — he told them he’d do whatever he could.

That night Hussein was accepted into the gang’s inner circle. In an overcrowded prison where some prisoners had slept on the floor for years, Hussein spent his very first night on a top bunk, a place of status. He was also given the responsibility of distributing water to the prisoners, so they all treated him well to ensure that they got their daily ration.

A couple of days later, Hussein received the necessary paperwork for transferring to a “safer” part of the prison. However, Hussein chose to stay on death row. His fear had been overcome by God’s provision. Death row — if that’s where God wanted him — was the safest place for him to be.

“I Cannot Handle a Jail Cell”

A pastor from an Islamic country in the Middle East recently shared the story of one of his church members, “Shani,” who was filled with fear.

Shani’s husband was the leader of a house church … until one day when he simply disappeared. For three months, Shani had no idea where he was. The authorities who had taken him had filed no charges against him, and he wasn’t allowed to see a lawyer or his family. In fact, the authorities wouldn’t even admit they were holding him.

Shani was left alone, worrying about her husband and about herself. She knew her husband was strong and that his faith would endure even if he were tortured. He would never give up names of other Christians or details about their secret gospel work.

But Shani was afraid she wasn’t that strong.

“Dear God,” Shani prayed one night, “please don’t allow them to find me. I can’t handle torture. I cannot handle a jail cell. You said you won’t give us more than we can handle, so please, please make them not come and arrest me. I’m not strong like my husband. I can’t handle torture. If they torture me, I’d probably give up the names of every single Christian. I might even deny my faith completely.”

She prayed that prayer, then went to sleep.

Shani was awakened at 6 a.m. the next morning by someone banging on her door. When she looked out the window, she saw two police cars in front of her home. They saw her looking out the window and yelled, “Are you going to come down here, or do you want us to come up and get you?”

“Wait,” she yelled back. “I’ll come down.” But as Shani was getting ready to open the door for the police, she was fighting with God.

“God! I told you that I can’t handle arrest and torture,” she prayed. “And this is what happens? Whatever happens now, God, it’s your fault.”

The police took Shani to the local jail, which was filthy and smelled like a sewer. She had grown up in a wealthy family and had never been in a place like this. “I have to sleep there?” she exclaimed.

In the middle of the night, the guards pulled her out of her cell and took her to an interrogation room. The interrogator across the table from her looked very angry.

“Why did you evangelize?” he demanded. “Why do you talk about Jesus to Muslims? What do you want from these people, you and your husband? Don’t you know that is illegal here? You are not permitted to evangelize.”

The only thing she could think to say was, “Dear God … Lord.” Then she suddenly felt God’s presence and peace.

Shani looked up at the interrogator. “You know what?” she said. “I have a right to evangelize. And I’m happy that I’m evangelizing. We’re supposed to evangelize. This is a commandment from Jesus Christ. Everyone needs to hear this Good News. You need to hear this Good News, too! God sent me here to tell you about Jesus. You are a poor man. I feel bad for you. You don’t have peace, you don’t have joy, you don’t have hope. You don’t even know why you are alive. The only way to the truth is Jesus Christ. You are an interrogator, but one day you are going to stand before the ultimate judge, Jesus Christ, and He is going to examine you. Without Him, there is no hope for you. And Jesus is going to ask you, ‘Why did you do this to My servants?’”

The interrogator was shocked by her bold words. “OK … I see,” he replied. “I know exactly who you are now. Now your punishment has just increased. You are really going to get it now. Go back to your cell, and I’ll deal with you tomorrow.”

As Shani was escorted back to her filthy cell, she prayed, “Oh, Lord, what did I do? How could I have been so stupid? Why did I even say all of that stuff?”

After further thought, she decided she would apologize to the interrogator and take it all back. She decided she would say whatever he wanted her to say.

The following night, the guards again dragged her out of her cell and into the interrogation room. Despite her plan, she again felt the Holy Spirit’s guidance and began to share the gospel with her interrogator.

The third night, it happened again. Each night, Shani entered the interrogation room with the intent of apologizing to the interrogator, and each night she instead boldly proclaimed the gospel.

After the third interrogation, Shani went back to her cell hoping to give her mind a rest and fall asleep, despite the stench. She hadn’t slept since her arrest and she was exhausted.

In the middle of the night, however, she heard a knock on her cell door. To her surprise, it wasn’t a guard — it was the interrogator. “Let me come in,” he said.

Shani was terrified. Was he coming to beat her or even kill her because of her disrespect toward him?

“Don’t worry,” the interrogator said calmly. “I will not harm you. I want to ask you for a favor. Would you pray for me tonight?”

The interrogator entered Shani’s cell with tears in his eyes.

“Did you know that you are an angel of God?” he asked. “Did you know that God sent you here at this particular time in my life? The past three days I’ve been going through hell. How did you know that my life is so crazy, so messed up? I tried everything in my religion, and I could never seem to be happy. I learned today that the only savior is Jesus Christ. When you were talking in the interrogation room, that wasn’t really you. I saw myself in God’s presence. Please help me to be saved.”

The interrogator stayed in Shani’s jail cell for three hours, and before he left, he placed his trust in Christ. He then ordered the release of both Shani and her husband (on the secret condition that they agree to meet privately to disciple him), and he even gave them advice on how they could evangelize more safely.

“You Are Invincible!”

Maybe you have prayed prayers like Shani’s: Lord, I can’t handle cancer. Lord, I can’t work for this difficult boss for one more day. Lord, I can’t handle a rebellious teenager. Lord, I can’t endure the betrayal of my unfaithful spouse or the possibility of parenting alone.

Shani told God that she couldn’t handle arrest, that she would probably give up the names of every Christian she knew if tortured, and that she might even deny her faith.

And yet three times this seemingly timid, fearful woman boldly shared the gospel with her interrogator and everyone else in the room. A frightened woman who thought she might deny her faith ended up leading an enemy of the gospel into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.

The interrogator had it right when he said, “That wasn’t really you.” He knew instinctively that God had done the work through Shani.

It is not about Shani, or me, or you. It is not about our ability to endure pain, our willingness to suffer for the name of Christ, or our personal courage. It is all about about God’s power working in us and through us. It is about His Holy Spirit giving us the words to say or the ability to forgive or an opportunity to tell someone what Jesus has done for us.

Several years ago, Pastor Wally Magdangal, a Filipino Christian who lived and worked in Saudi Arabia, visited our VOM offices. He had been arrested for his Christian ministry in Saudi Arabia and sentenced to death. But God had miraculously intervened, and Pastor Wally is still alive and serving the Lord today.

As he shared his story, Pastor Wally said something profound: “Until God is finished with you, you are invincible!”

Until God says your time on earth is over (and He is the only one who can make that determination), you cannot be stopped. We don’t have to live in fear of persecution, Muslim extremists, medical diagnoses, Supreme Court decisions or whatever policies are supported by whoever is sitting in the Oval Office. It’s not about us anyway — it’s about God and His power in us. Our persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ are living proof of God’s power working in and through those who cry out to Him.

Because of God’s power in us, we should not be afraid. Do not fear.