Ranveer* and Vitia* are Bible Workers in India. They have been conducting Bible studies with 15 families in their ministry, and 6 people have been baptized.
We recently received news that a few Sabbaths ago, local villagers who are part of a Hindu militant group surrounded the Bible Workers’ home where they held their weekly church services. The villagers beat the church members and stopped the service. They threatened them with an ultimatum:
Forsake Jesus and return to Hinduism, or
Leave the village and never come back.
Initially, Vitia shared that all the church members fell to their knees and apologized for their mistake in following the path of Jesus Christ. Praise the Lord; some have repented and decided to continue following God. Others have gone back to their old life.
Those who have decided to follow Jesus have been thrown out of the village and are unable to buy or sell.
One of the local church leaders commented on the situation: The ferocious, defeated, fallen devil is afraid that JESUS is coming soon and wants to bring hindrances to our remnant church.”
In another more sensitive country, a Bible Worker named Asif* has planted many house churches in his area. Because he has been successful in his ministry, many people in his village complained that he was destroying the culture and peace of their society. A couple of months ago, the local religious and village leaders from three villages called all the people together for a meeting to discuss Asif and his evangelism. After some discussion, the leaders sent people to Asif’s home to forcefully bring him and his family to the meeting. When he arrived, some villagers tried to harm him physically, but others helped to protect him.
The leaders told him that he could no longer do any evangelism and that they would be watching him closely for the next 15 days. If he tried to do any evangelism, they threatened to have him arrested. Despite the warnings, Asif continued to share the Gospel quietly and carefully.
These are just a couple of examples of the persecution Bible Workers and believers face as they try to live and share their faith. Many are facing much more severe persecution.
For the believers in these situations, the temptation to play it safe, to give up, to protect self can be very strong. We praise God for Bible Workers like Ranveer, Vitia, and Asif, who have stood firm for Jesus. But they cannot do it in their own strength.
We invite you to pray that God will strengthen these Bible Workers and believers to continue standing firm, no matter the cost. We invite you to pray for those believers who have given in to fear to repent and claim Jesus once again, as did the martyr Jerome. We invite you to pray for the protection of God’s workers and believers according to His will, but more importantly, for God to be glorified in their lives and in the lives of those around them–even those of their persecutors.
Please continue to keep those mentioned in these stories in your prayers, as well as others around the world who are facing persecution daily.
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- Contributed by Jesus for Asia