Follow Me

Posted on October 7, 2016 by Editor

It’s Sunday morning and the last thing you want to do is haul yourself out of the bed, wake up the family, and head off to church. Work this week was challenging. There were several family emergencies. Plus, you had a misunderstanding with the woman who always sits two chairs in front of you and the last thing you want to do is see her again.

God will understand if I miss a week, you tell yourself.

But then a week becomes a month and a month becomes a year.

Life keeps throwing things at you that you never could have planned for. God continues to take the backseat in your life—but at least he’s there, right?

One thing we tend to forget is that there’s a difference between knowing of God and knowing God. Anyone can say they know Jesus’ story. Anyone can say they’ve read the Bible. As a former atheist, I can give credence to the fact that atheists sometimes read the Bible much more extensively than Christians—many of us like to find the small details which we can use when arguing with Christians. But knowing the Bible, knowing Jesus is the son of God, knowing that Jesus came to save sinners—anyone can say they know these things.

To be a Christian, we have to know God and know Jesus. When we read the Bible, we have to become familiar with their character. When we live life, we must do our best to imitate their character. By imitating God to the world, we become more familiar with his character and learn things about him that people who know of God never really learn.

We learn to sacrifice the comfort of a comfortable Sunday in bed for an opportunity to gather together with the community of believers to practice mirroring God’s character.

We learn how to sacrifice the entitlement of being frustrated with work in an effort to make work better for others (and, inadvertently, make work better for ourselves).

We learn how to sacrifice our pride in an effort to repair relationship with the woman who we had a misunderstanding with.

We learn that there is a cost to following God and that this cost is our own life and comfort:

To watch other Voice of the Martyrs videos, visit the Voice of the Martyrs Video Page!

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Sudan: Christ Is In Prison Again

Posted on October 1, 2016 by Pastor Foley

For nearly 300 days a Czech Christian, Petr Jasek, has been imprisoned in Sudan for serving and helping Sudanese believers. Now Mr. Jasek’s family has asked VOM Korea to raise prayer and letter support from Korea on behalf of Petr and the two Sudanese pastors with whom he is imprisoned and with whom he may be sentenced to death. Please join Dr. Foley and I and our VOMK team in writing and sending a letter of encouragement today and in speaking to the Lord daily about these brothers and their families. Details follow here and on our website. Thank you for your prompt action and your fervent, daily attention to this matter with the Lord.
—Pastor Foley

Two pastors and a Czech aid worker are among four people standing trial for “crimes against national security” in Khartoum, Sudan. If found guilty on all charges, the men could be sentenced to death.

Those being tried include Rev. Hassan Abduraheem and Rev. Kuwa Shamal, both pastors in the Sudan Church of Christ; Petr Jasek, an aid worker from the Czech Republic; and Abdulmonem Abdumawla, another Sudanese national.

sudan-four-on-trial

Mr. Jasek’s family has asked The Voice of the Martyrs to bring his situation to the attention of Korean Christians, asking for prayer and advocacy as the trial continues.

“We are literally fighting for these men’s lives,” said Dr. Hyun Sook Foley, President for The Voice of the Martyrs Korea. “The case against two pastors, an aid worker and another Sudanese man revolves around providing medical care to an injured Darfur native, Mr. Ali Omer,” Foley said. “These men are not spies. They were not inciting a revolt. They aren’t pushing a political agenda. These four are simply trying to serve and help. Only tyrants consider helping people a crime, and the four men should be released immediately.”

Sudan’s president, Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir, is the only current head of state under indictment by the International Criminal Court. Considered a fugitive by the court, al-Bashir stands charged on five counts of crimes against humanity, two counts of war crimes and three counts of genocide. Sudan is one of three nations, along with Iran and Syria, that the U.S. State Department identifies as a State Sponsor of Terrorism.

Mr. Jasek has a 20-year background in the medical field, including 10 years as a hospital administrator. This experience and training uniquely qualified him to serve suffering people in places like Sudan. Mr. Jasek has assisted Voice of the Martyrs on different occasions to provide care to persecuted Christians in Sudan and Nigeria, including medical care for Christians attacked by Boko Haram.

In the first letter Mr. Jasek sent to his family after his arrest in December 2015, he stated that “God holds the key to my cell. He will open the door in His timing.”

The Voice of the Martyrs invites you to stand with Rev. Abduraheem, Rev. Shamal and Mr. Jasek in two ways:

1. Pray for these three men. Please e-mail us your prayers for these brothers at [email protected]. We will provide the families of our Christian brothers with a link to these prayers so they can see that believers from all over the world are praying for them and for their imprisoned husbands and fathers.

2. Write a letter to each of these brothers. Please see instructions at www.vomkorea.kr. The website provides information on composing your letters and mailing them to each prisoner, in care of the Sudan Embassy in Seoul, South Korea. Your letters will show the Sudanese government that Christians around the world are watching the trial and praying for these imprisoned Christians.

Posted in Ransoming the Captive | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Are You a Terrorist?

Posted on September 30, 2016 by Editor

Our children learn that there are two kinds of people in the world: good people and bad people. Bad people, they learn, must always be defeated. Knights must defeat the dragon, Harry Potter must defeat Voldemort, and Batman must defeat the Joker. Children also learn, however, that good people can do anything in their quest to defeat evil. Knights can steal, Harry Potter can lie, and Batman can kill—as long as it helps good people defeat bad people.

Pastor Tass Saada disagrees.

What makes a terrorist a terrorist, Pastor Saada argues, is not the cause. A person is not a terrorist only because they fight for the wrong side. A person is a terrorist because they use the wrong tools—killing, stealing, lying—to achieve this end.

“The moment you decide to steal, lie, or kill,” Pastor Saada says, “you become a terrorist.”

This is because stealing, lying, and killing are all tools of the devil—not tools of God. The moment we use these tools to achieve our end, we become a terrorist—regardless of how “good” our cause is.

This is a message that Pastor Saada, a former assassin for Yasser Arafat, understands all too well. Pastor Saada readily admits that he was a terrorist in his youth. But, he argues, he was not a terrorist simply because he worked with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Pastor Saada was a terrorist because he chose to fight at all.

“God sculpted each person with his own hands,” Pastor Saada explains. “How can anyone even think of destroying someone that God went to such lengths to create?”

Today, Pastor Saada is a Christian.

Pastor Saada speaks to Christians all over the world about the importance of peaceful solutions. Satan’s tools, he explains, can never accomplish God’s purposes.

“Today, my weapon is not a Kalashnikov or a knife,” Pastor Saada said. He grabbed his Bible and hoisted it into the air.

“Today, this is my weapon.”

And, truly, Pastor Saada’s life is a testimony to Bible’s efficacy as a peaceful solution:

Posted in Forgiving and Reconciling, Healing and Comforting, interfaith, Making Disciples, Martyrs Spirit Series | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment