Persecution of Christians is intensifying around the world, possibly at its worst since the early days of the church, but the courage and steadfastness of believers in these hostile areas are a great testament to their Savior and of immense encouragement to believers around the world, according to the editor of a new devotional from Voice of the Martyrs.
Voice of the Martyrs is one of the leading organizations assisting the persecuted Christian church. The devotional is entitled “I am n,” with the “n” referring to the symbol ISIS and other radical Islamic groups have used to designate “nazarenes” or followers of Christ. It contains 90 days worth of devotions.
Each day’s selection includes a gripping story of a Christian refusing to renounce their faith or insisting on sharing their faith, regardless of the cost. That is followed by commentary to help Christians apply the lessons to their own and then a prayer.
Examples of stories include Abu, a Christian in Mosul, who refused to deny Jesus, even when threatened with death and Kazim, a believer in Pakistan, who was severely beaten and stripped of his home and family but refused to stop preaching the gospel.
While the acts of courage and faith are gripping, Voice of the Martyrs Associate Vice President Dr. Jason Peters hopes readers focus on the most important takeaway.
“The hero of the story is Jesus Christ. He gives grace in these situations that we just can’t explain from an earthly perspective,” said Peters, who adds that believers are able to endure torture and heartache because their hope is not in this world.
“That’s the heart of it. The key to all of this is eternal perspective. These brothers and sisters have got an eternal perspective in ways that we can’t even begin to imagine,” he added.
While the symbol used by ISIS to identify Christians is on the cover, the devotional shares accounts from many different countries where proclaiming Christ can put one’s life in danger. But he says those places have one thing in common.
“There are really nine Islamic hot spots around the world. These are areas where Christians face Islamic extremists and many of them have been severely persecuted. So we wanted to tell their stories. That’s what we’ve been doing since 1967,” said Peters.
“We’re in the field. We’re working all the time, meeting with brothers and sisters, hearing their stories. Then we put 48 of those stories into a book, which I think people will find very helpful,” said Peters.
Peters says reading and understanding what Christians go through in many parts of the world will serve as a humbling, eye-opening experience for western Christians who never experience such persecution and give all believers an additional glimpse of the God they serve.
“Somehow [God] gives them grace which is really remarkable. Some of the themes that come out from these stories are themes like sacrifice, courage, faithfulness. Some of the stories and themes are shocking really. Some stories about forgiveness and joy,” said Peters.
“When you think about what it would take to forgive somebody who raped your daughter or killed your husband or burned your house down. It’s incredible,” added Peters.
He says it may be hard to for western believers to relate at first.
“They don’t have a comfortable existence. Many have been minorities their entire lives. Many of them live in difficult circumstances. In one sense they’ve just trained themselves to focus on their eternal reward. In the United States, we get a bit comfortable and it’s easy for us not to have an eternal perspective because we’re pretty comfortable here,” said Peters.
Some stories of Muslims converting to Christianity may seem unusual, particularly the frequent testimonies of vivid dreams in which Christ appears to them. An Afghan man named John was on his pilgrimage to Mecca when he says Jesus appeared to him in a dream.
Peters admits that will strike some as odd, but he says the evidence is very strong for these accounts being true.
“It’s incredibly frequent. We hear about dreams and visions all the time. I’ll be honest with you. I’ve never had a dream or a vision personally, but I’ve met those who have. When you hear these stories, it’s really hard to deny the fact that it happened,” said Peters.
Peters says Tom Doyle, a fellow Dallas Theological Seminary graduate, has chronicled some of these accounts in his book, “Dreams and Visions.” He shared one in particular.
“I remember the story of one guy who said, ‘I had a dream. I started to take notes when I would wake up. I make a note of what I heard from this man in white.” And he said, ‘Interestingly, I found out later when I ran into a Christian and I shared my notes that it was literally the gospel of John, almost word for word,'” Peters shared.
He believes there’s a good reason accounts of dreams and visions are much more common among the persecuted.
“In many of the 68 countries we work in, the bible is in chains. The bible is not accessible. We have bibles everywhere. But when you don’t have access to God’s word, I believe he works in some miraculous ways,” said Peters.
The devotional also makes it clear that whether the story ends happily, miraculously or in death, God is always sovereign. Peters says there are always times he and other believers don’t understand why God lets things happen but he says scripture provides encouragement on that front as well, in the Genesis account of Joseph’s brothers wanting him dead and selling him into slavery. Ultimately, God uses those circumstances to elevate Joseph to prominence in Egypt and save God’s people.
Peters says God is working in the midst of heavy persecution and is even changing some hearts among the terrorists themselves.
“There was a guy who was coming through Lebanon recently. He was actually teaching jihad to ISIS. He came back transiting through Lebanon. He asked his taxi driver, ‘Do you know where I can find a bible,'” said Peters.
“[The taxi driver] was obviously a little concerned. This fully-bearded, rogue teacher of jihad is asking him for a bible. He said, ‘I’m sick of the killing,'” shared Peters.
“In the midst of all this evil, everything horrific that ISIS has done, God is drawing people to himself and we’re actually seeing many Muslims come to Christ after seeing some of these horrific activities and these brutal actions that ISIS is prosecuting right now,” said Peters.
Peters says persecuted believers want all other Christians to know they are prayed for, even in the midst of terrible suffering.
“They want us to pray for them. They’ll often follow that up with, ‘And by the way, we’re praying for you because we know that you’re facing challenges too in your culture,” said Peters.
