On Monday, April 16, American pastor Andrew Brunson will begin his trial in a Turkish court room. He’s charged with espionage and terrorism, and a guilty verdict could carry a 35 year prison sentence. Andrew and Norine Brunson have served the people of Turkey for 23 years. This week on VOM Radio, their daughter Jacqueline shares about her dad’s arrest and how he’s doing as he awaits the opening of the trial.
Sam Brownback serves as the United States Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom, leading the State Department’s efforts to promote religious freedom and the protection of religious minorities around the world. Listen this week as he shares about how religious freedom serves as a foundation for many other freedoms, and which countries he sees moving the wrong direction on the issue.
Brother Harold has lived and ministered in Central Asia more than 15 years, serving among Muslims and seeing the challenges faced by those who choose to leave Islam and follow Christ. Listen this week as he challenges American believers to be more committed and more involved in gospel efforts to reach the unreached.
Sister Sahar was born into a Muslim family in Saudi Arabia. When she came to the U.S. to attend university, a Christian friend shared the love of Christ and a Bible with her, and Sahar came to realize that Jesus was more than a prophet—He is the Son of God. But choosing to follow Christ came with a price.
Brother Hamid from Iran is back on VOM Radio to finish telling the story of his conversion to Christ, and the persecution he faced in Iran after choosing to leave Islam.
Hamid was born into a Muslim family in Iran. As a computer science student, he regularly visited different online chat rooms. One day he saw a chat room called “God is Love.” Hamid was intrigued, because the god he knew in Islam was not love. Christians in the chat room encouraged Hamid to read the Bible, and he began to do so. Soon he was convinced that the God of the Bible is the true God, and that Jesus was the Son of God.
Manfred Mueller leads Hilfsaktion Martyrerkirche (HMK), The Voice of the Martyrs’ sister mission in Germany. Listen as he shares about the early days of HMK’s work in Germany, including the rejection of the message of Richard Wurmbrand when he first came out from behind the Iron Curtain.
God is alive in Syria! This week we talk with "John," a Christian worker from Syria who shares that in spite of the civil war and advances by radical Muslims, God is still at work in Syria. You’ll hear how Christians are responding in the midst of the strife there, how VOM is assisting Syrian Christians and you’ll learn specific ways you can pray for God’s people in Syria.
"Are you willing to go to jail for three years in order to keep working with us on this project?" It is an intimidating question, but those who secretly deliver Bibles to China's Christians know that it is a very real risk. "Brother Joel" is one of VOM's Bible distribution partners, helping deliver Bibles into every province of China. Every single year he asks each one of his workers that question: are you ready to go to jail to keep giving away Bibles? Listen in this week to learn about Joel's work and how his workers answer that question.
Join this week in looking back on some of the most moving moments on The Voice of the Martyrs Radio in 2023. We thank the Lord for allowing VOM Radio to share these amazing stories of the power of the gospel and God’s peace in the midst of persecution throughout 2023. We also THANK YOU for listening and praying for our persecuted brothers and sisters in hostile nations and restricted areas.
This month we are commemorating the 10th Anniversary of The Voice of the Martyrs Radio. This week we look back on one of the most powerful conversations ever shared on VOM Radio airwaves. Sister Amber spent more than a decade in Tibet providing vocational training to local people and sharing the gospel. She felt God’s call especially to work among Tibet’s nomadic tribal people. Amber watched as God brought about a great ministry breakthrough: people who’d been completely closed to her message were now asking to learn more about Jesus! But just days after the breakthrough Amber experienced persecution. Listen as Todd Nettleton interviews Amber on this episode of VOM Radio.
Over the last decade, God has allowed VOM Radio the opportunity to bring you into fellowship with persecuted Christians and tell the stories of what God is doing around the world even amid suffering and persecution. This week we’ll look back on some of the most moving moments of the first decade of VOM Radio.
The anxious mother in India had tried everything. Her son was very sick. It seemed he would soon die. She’d been to the Hindu temples and made offerings to many Hindu gods. Nothing had worked. Her son only became sicker. Then, a traveling salesman suggested that she pray to Jesus. She did—and her son was healed! Amazed and awe-struck, the mother and son hunted down the salesman to find out more about this Jesus who answers prayers. Today, her son is a pastor and evangelist who’s travelled more than 40,000 miles sharing the gospel. God is at work in hostile and restricted nations!
That’s just one of the stories you’ll hear this week from David Witt, CEO of Spirit of Martyrdom and a former staff member at The Voice of the Martyrs. David will also share stories from his encounters with Richard and Sabina Wurmbrand, VOM’s founders, and the “holy experience” of visiting one of the prison cells where Richard was held in Communist Romania.
David will also tell how he became aware of and involved in ministry to persecuted Christians, and how God used the attacks of 9-11 to draw the attention of American Christians to radical Islam and the scriptural call to love our enemies.
Today, the ministry David leads is training up church planters and leaders in multiple countries—with an eye on training that’s easily reproducible to other potential leaders. Listen as he shares how those being trained immediately put their learning into action, and how we can pray for these frontline gospel workers.
The International Day of Prayer for Persecuted Christians is coming soon. CLICK HERE to access resources—including a video about a persecuted Christian in Nigeria—to help your church, small group and family pray for persecuted Christians on this important day.
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As a young woman in an Islamic culture in Central Asia, Sara was drawn to stories of Jesus. He was a good man, she thought, one whose life matched his teachings. But how could Jesus be God? Sara wrestled deeply with this question in her search for truth. Intellectually, she found the Bible to be true, but she couldn’t commit to everything it said. Listen to hear how Sara came to understand Jesus as the perfect sacrifice for her sin and the peace he gave to overcome her anxieties as Todd Nettleton interviews her on this episode of VOM Radio.
