A shining light in a small container

I was reading an article from Compass Direct about a young girl, only 13, who was dragged away from her house and raped by five men in the middle of the night in Bangladesh. She was then left for her Father, a local pastor responsible for bringing 25o souls to Christ, and family to find the next morning on their lawn. It's not just because I have two daughters that tears sprang to my eyes. It's not just because of the horrible tragedy of innocence and purity lost. A sentence leaped out at me when I was reading.
"Elina Das has identified two of the rapists and could identify the others if she saw them or their pictures, said Das[the father]."
Young Elina had the courage to identify who attacked her. Her courage is amazing when you consider that she is so young, just went through something horrific, and her family is in danger. The police, authorities that we teach our young people to trust, even went and heaped insult onto that small hurting soul.
“Police told me that it was a false case,” Das said. “They also said that it was a fabricated drama. Police spoke with my daughter in filthy language and showed prurient interest in the details of the incident in front of us rather than filing the case quickly.”
And she still spoke out to who did this too her. I see the strength only God can bring in this girl. It is only because of God that when we are weak, we can be strong. To have such trust in the Lord when so young is beautiful.
Lord, may I raise my children to know you and stand firm in your strength in the harshest of tragedies. I pray that you will encourage, heal, and strengthen Elina Das and her family that they may continue to show your light.
This story can be found at http://www.compassdirect.org/en/display.php?page=news&lang=en&length=long&idelement=5368
Stacy L. Harp at the Voice of the Martyrs blog wrote also about this tragedy. You can read her blog at http://www.persecutionblog.com/2008/05/muslims-gang-ra.html.

A daily blessing to the Persecuted Church

A daily blessing to my Christian walk and to many persecuted brothers and sisters is:

17. Voice of the Martyrs.

I'm constantly in awe of the good this innovative ministry performs for the persecuted. They have a wonderful, multi-faceted ministry that branches out of their Bartlesville, OK office and their website, http://www.persecution.com/ They have a free newsletter, an action pack program to give goods to Sudanese and Pakistani Christians, and they seek to help the persecuted in many ways. For example, they send thousands of balloons into North Korea with the Gospel imprinted on it. People from their ministry enter into very hostile territory to evangelize.
They do a service called Prisoner Alert, http://www.prisoneralert.com/, that features persecuted Christians suffering in other countries. Through this website you can compose letters to the prisoner's in their own language or write a letter to their government asking for their release. Through this a believer is enabled to aswer the call of Hebrews 13:3 for Christians across the sea in hostile lands.
Hebrews 13:3 "Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering" . NIV

As VOM says in one of their description snippets, those who are persecuted aren't just heroes or statistics, they're family. Whats more, there has been a visible impact of the support for jailed Christians. Just last month a man who was featured on Prisoner Alert was set free from prison and his charges dismissed!
Another ministry they do that I'm in love with is Bibles Unbound. Your donation of $30 dollars a month gains you the ability to help get bibles into countries hostile to the word. They send you five copies of the New Testament to mail to people within either China, Egypt, and Columbia, along with the addresses they are to be mailed to. You can find out more at http://www.biblesunbound.com/.
They have many other programs like a way to find a meeting with VOM workers , a kids ministry, and a Basic fellowship site. The link to all their various websites is http://www.persecution.com/ministryLink/index.cfm.

I think that being given the chance to help the persecuted church along with my brothers and sisters in Christ is a daily blessing with an eternal reward. Thank you Voice of the Martyrs for all the work you do for the body of Christ.

Persecuted Christians

I have a deep desire to help the persecuted church in other countries. It's weird , but my desire partially stems from a wish to repay them! Their contention for the faith zapped me out of a spiritual rut I didn't even know I was in. I learned of the plight of the persecuted at a time when I was growing in knowledge of God but not necessarily in love. I was not continuing to apply what I was learning of the character and nature of God to my life. Its sad but I never really thought of Christians being persecuted in other countries. I lived in a Christianity of America bubble. Then I learned of the Voice of the Martyrs, a ministry that helps the persecuted church. I was curious, all I'd really heard was of the pastor who'd started the ministry, Richard Wurmbrand, and how he'd suffered for 14 yrs in a communist prison. So I went to check out their website, http://www.persecution.com/, and I was blown away. Finding out about the persecution that exists for Christians in the world today was overwhelming. I learned of the suffering people were willing to go through just to get a Bible. Of people who were beaten, locked up, chained down but still faithful. 2 Cor 4:8-10 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed ; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. NIV These people lived this verse! My eyes were opened to people who ran their spiritual races in a very harsh environment, but still ran with such vigor. From that moment, my own walk changed, I too wanted to spiritually run with God.