The Voice of the Martyrs
April 18:
SLOVAKIA: ANNMARIE
This water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also-not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. 1 Peter 3:21
Annmarie, a young Slovak Christian, had been in prison for months because of her involvement with the underground church. She was regularly brought to a room where a guard would beat her in order to get information about other Christians in her church.
By God’s grace she was able to resist. She even used these times to tell the guard about the love of Jesus. The guard mocked, “If you don’t tell me secrets of the underground church, I will beat out of you all your loves.”
Annmarie responded, “I have a boyfriend, the sweetest of all. He is love. His love does not seek pleasure but seeks to fill others with joy. Since knowing this boyfriend, I, too, can only love. You love hatred now. I beg you to love Love.”
The guard was so angry that he slapped her until she passed out. When she came to, she saw him sitting quietly as if in deep thought. Finally he asked, “Who is this boyfriend of yours?” Annmarie told him all about Jesus and why he came.
When he asked how to make Jesus his friend too, she told him that he must repent and be baptized. “Then baptize me immediately or I will shoot you,” he demanded.
Annmarie did baptize him, and he later became a prisoner with the very ones he used to beat.
When people are in love, they let everyone know it. They tell their families, their friends, their neighbors, and anyone else who will listen. Love so consumes them that they cannot help but talk about their beloved. In the same way, one’s baptism is a public announcement of being identified with Christ and his community, of being in love with Jesus. Baptism of an adult is a sign to all who witness it-even if only by another prisoner in a cell-that one is ready to follow Christ at all costs. Our love for Christ motivates us to proclaim our commitment to the world. Even if not threatened, do we have courage to tell of our love for Jesus?
April 16:
SIBERIA: VICTOR BELIKH
For our God is a consuming fire. Hebrews 12:29
“With the flames of love’s fire that Jesus kindled in my heart, I caused the ice of Siberia to melt. Hallelujah!”
Bishop Victor Belikh’s face lit up as he spoke these words. He had learned the powerful secret of letting God take over one’s heart even in the worst of circumstances. For twenty years he had suffered in the lonely prison cell in Communist Russia without a visit or news from his family or friends.
Every evening, a simple straw mattress was placed in his small cell. He was allowed to sleep for seven hours before the mat was removed. He spent the remaining seventeen hours of each day walking circles in his pathetic little space, and if he stopped or broke down, guards would beat him or throw water on him until he continued. After twenty years of such incredible hardship, he was sent to a forced-labor camp for another four years in Northern Siberia, where the ice never melts. He survived only because he allowed the fire of God to melt away all bitterness and anger.
Belikh’s situation is rare, but his resolve through Jesus Christ is available to everyone who suffers. Jesus stoked the fire of love in Belikh’s heart-a godly furnace that was able to keep him warm for twenty years.
Fire. The mere word ignites powerful images. It implies danger when shouted in a crowded building. It embodies comfort when camping on a frosty night. It is connected with strong emotions during the “heat” of the moment or a “fiery” temper. Fire is also used to refine and to harden metals through the smelting process. Fire illuminates and consumes darkness. In all these images, one thing remains constant. Fire is associated with change. Like an encounter with fire, an encounter with God is life changing. Has the fiery love of Christ ignited, sustained, refined, comforted, and ultimately liberated you as it did Belikh? Human cruelty can never extinguish the flame of God’s love. Is the flame of God’s love alive in you?
April 15:
RUSSIA: GEORGE JELTONOSHKO
Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun. Psalm 37:5-6
George Jeltonoshko knew his government did not want people propagating the gospel of Christ, but he had a stronger conviction to obey the commandments of Christ-even if it conflicted with the laws of his country.
It was not a huge surprise to him when the police came to his door. He figured it was inevitable that they would find out about his ministry activities because of the literature he had been spreading. When his trial date came, he was given a state-appointed Communist attorney. George boldly told the judge, “I don’t want a lawyer. I feel I am right, and righteousness needs no defense.”
The judge asked him, “Do you plead guilty?”
He replied, “No. To spread the good news of God’s love is the duty of all Christians.”
The judge then asked him to join the ranks of the “official churches,” which were nothing more than state-run puppet churches. But George refused. The state church followed the commandments of the state, not the commands of God.
The judge was getting frustrated. “Where do you meet for worship?” he demanded.
George answered, “True believers worship everywhere.”
He was sentenced to three years in prison where George Jeltonoshko continued to carry out his work and worship. He was right. Righteousness needed no defense.
Doing the “right thing” may be a popular motto. That’s easier said than done, however, because what is right in God’s eyes often conflicts with popular opinion. The dispute between right and wrong often becomes apparent in a classroom, a workroom, and even a courtroom or church. We can’t rely on our environment to tell us what is right. People can persuade us to confuse compromise with righteousness. God’s Word is the only defense for determining what is right in every situation. Others may not understand or agree with the choices we make. However, God promises to honor our commitment to doing what is right. Those who observe us will see the light and feel the warmth of our righteous actions.
April 10:
LEBANON: MARY
But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. Philippians 2:17
Mary was only seventeen when Muslim fanatics raided her village in Lebanon. Mary and her parents were confronted with a grueling choice: “Become a Muslim, or you will be shot.”
Mary boldly told the man, “I choose God. Go ahead and shoot.” Mary and her family were shot and left for dead. Two days later, the Red Cross arrived in the village and found a miracle. Mary was alive-paralyzed by the bullet wound.
Devastated and grieving, Mary clung to her faith and prayed. Finally a strange peace came over her. She made this commitment to God: “Everyone has a job to do. I can never marry or do any physical work. So I will offer my life for the Muslims, like the ones who killed my father and mother and tried to kill me. My life will be a prayer for them.”
Her prayers and her undeniable witness of Christ brought many Muslims to faith in the Son of God. In Lebanon, 1990 was the fiercest year of the fifteen-year civil war. Thousands were killed or wounded, and hundreds of thousands fled. However, Mary’s offering of her wounded life encouraged many Christians to stay and take a stand for Christ.
The greatest gift to God’s service will not fit in an offering plate. When we view our entire lives as offerings to God, our resources to benefit his kingdom are unlimited. Many of those who have been persecuted like Mary share a similar story. They continue to offer their lives to serve those who oppress them as an act of worship. Therese of Lisieux once noted, “Sufferings gladly borne for others convert more people than sermons.” The majority of Christians will find it easy to make the usual excuses for offering their lives: “too busy” and “too much going on.” However, God can reveal unique ways that we can be witnesses for Him.
April 09:
ROMANIA: THE VILLAGERS OF DOBROGEA
For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession. Deuteronomy 7:6
Nicolai Ceaucescu had a brainstorm called “collectivization.” As the vicious dictator of Romania, he probably thought it was a good idea to get the people to voluntarily surrender all of their possessions to the state for the common good of all.
Farmers, landowners, and peasants everywhere lost everything: fields, sheep, cattle, houses, and furniture. The once-thriving agricultural sector of Romania was destroyed. Every farmer now became a slave of the state, working for pathetic wages on the state’s field. Families stood in line just to obtain bread.
To keep the people from becoming resistant to his strategy, the dictator himself helped in the initial launch. In the Romanian province of Dobrogea, all of the villagers were gathered together in the town center and asked to willingly give up their possessions. When no one volunteered, Ceaucescu shot ten people with his own gun. The vote was taken again: “Who is willing to give up all of their possessions?”
They played military music and chanted the praises of Communism. As the people were forced to dance, a video was made propagating their enthusiastic adherence to socialism. One farmer who had lost everything reported later, “They thought they took everything. But they left something very important-our hymnals. So we sat down and sang praises to the Lord.”
People often play games to get new people talking and learning about each other. One of the more revealing questions is to ask people what one thing they would bring if they were stranded on a deserted island. Most people have a hard time deciding and have to be reminded that this is only a game. However, the people of Romania did not have the luxury of playing a game; they were experiencing real life. Their government didn’t even allow them one possession. However, the villagers realized the presence of those overlooked hymnals brought joy to their village, which now resembled their own deserted island. The people treasured the hymnals, and God treasured the people.
PAKISTAN
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. Isaiah 55:8
Now everyone wanted to see the movie. They whispered about it in the market and even in the mosque. “What is it about?” “Is it really that bad, that people should get arrested for having it?”
The movie in question was the JESUS film-a high-quality film that portrays the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It shows the plan of salvation on the big screen, bringing the story of Jesus to life. In Jacobabad, Pakistan, two men were arrested for distributing the film and other Christian materials. Both men were beaten, and local mullahs, Muslim religious leaders, urged that charges be filed against them and others who had been involved in distributing the materials. They went one step beyond, encouraging Muslims in the city to take action against all Christians. Soon, a local pastor’s possessions were stolen, and shots were fired near a Christian school. The town seemed on the verge of outright violence.
However, things soon began to change. Instead of boycotting the movie, everyone in town wanted to see the “sinful” film. They wanted to know about all the fuss first hand. Black-market copies began making the rounds, and eventually the JESUS film was even shown on local television. The city judge watched the movie, and he declared that it was not anti-Islam.
Through the unintentional efforts of the mullahs, the gospel message reached an entire community. They planned to erase the JESUS film from their country. However, their campaign actually promoted the ministry. God does not turn evil into good by conventional methods. He blesses the efforts of his servants, but not in ways we might anticipate. Christians in restricted nations are learning this the hard way, but they rejoice to see the mystery of God at work in their nations. God makes a way for us even when it doesn’t make sense. There are times when everything seems to be going wrong. Are those the times when you trust God the most? He knows what he is doing even when you do not.
