Insights From Cole Richards, VOM President, On Responding to Evil The following reflection is written by Cole Richards, President of The Voice of the Martyrs. In this insightful passage, he offers insight on how the global body of Christ can respond to acts of violence against fellow believers. There are often stories in our magazine that describe acts of cruelty. We present these true testimonies carefully and responsibly, yet readers will surely experience strong emotions as they enter into fellowship with our precious Christian family members who have suffered. The word “inhuman” is sometimes used to describe acts of cruelty and abuse, and that usage has merit in declaring the truth of evil spiritual powers that inspire the acts of wicked men. However, scripture informs us that abominable acts are inherently part of the fallen condition of lost and sinful people. We may be shocked by cruelty and wickedness, but we should not be surprised. The Apostle Paul describes the lost as being “dead in their trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2) and quotes the Psalmist in Romans 3:13–18 to explain the extreme depth of this lostness. Apart from God, he says, “all have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no
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Insights From Cole Richards, VOM President, On the impact of god’s word The following reflection is written by Cole Richards, President of The Voice of the Martyrs. In this insightful passage, he reflects on the impact of the Bible on the global body of Christ. Most of us are like Timothy, who from childhood was “acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:15). We have had access to Scripture all our lives. But hundreds of millions around the world have not had a chance to hear of their Savior, Jesus Christ our Lord, and millions of those who have come to Christ in restricted nations are still waiting for their first Bible. Our enemy is the father of lies (John 8:44), and among his most powerful deceptions are the false hopes he designs to resemble God’s truth. Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution is one example of such a deception. The Iranian people, convinced of the virtue in rejecting secularism, embraced the false hope of an Islamic theocracy. Since then, the Iranian people have suffered the failures of a false religion for four decades. Islam, like other deistic or
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Insights From Cole Richards, President Of The Voice Of The Martyrs, On Our Call to martyrdom The following reflection is written by Cole Richards, President of The Voice of the Martyrs. In this insightful passage, he dives into the call to martyrdom every Christian has received from Christ. Persecution has been part of the experience of serving and following God from the beginning of human history. Abel, the second human born into God’s new creation, was killed for his faith and obedience by his brother Cain. In response, God told Cain that his brother’s blood was “crying to me from the ground” as a testimony against Cain’s sin (Genesis 4:10). Only a perfect blood sacrifice could redeem the sin of mankind, and the writer of Hebrews points out that the blood of Christ declares a better testimony than that of the blood of Abel (12:24). Abel’s blood cries out for justice and vengeance, whereas the blood of Christ cries out for forgiveness and redemption. Our Lord’s death is the completed work of our salvation: “It is finished!” (John 19:30). He bled to save us from our sins, and we cannot add anything to what he has done to set us free.
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At 21, Mehfri enrolled in a Bible school in Indonesia with no intention of studying the Bible. Although he had grown up in a Christian family, he enrolled in the school only to hide from the police, who were after him for selling drugs. “I was not in the Bible school to get born again,” he said. “When I was in the Bible school, I was thinking how I could sell drugs to the students to get money.” After a few months at the school, and three years of selling cocaine and Ecstasy, Mehfri was arrested and put in jail. Then, one day, a pastor who visited the jail every Friday gave Mehfri a Bible. As Mehfri began to read the Scriptures, he recalled the few lectures he had paid attention to during his time at the Bible school. The lessons on God’s love spoke to him in his time of need, and his heart was softened toward the Lord. “I read Romans 10, and at that time I confessed that Jesus is my Lord,” he said. Twenty days later, his father, who had always struggled to make ends meet, came up with the money to pay his bail. Following
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Each time a new customer walked through the door of the small coffee shop in South Korea where Min-jae shared his story with VOM workers, he hesitated or stopped talking completely. The middle-aged North Korean studied each person’s face anxiously, searching for clues to his or her intent. Min-jae knew from experience that he could never be too careful, even outside North Korea. Spies often cross the border into South Korea to find defectors and report their names to the North Korean government, which then punishes their relatives still living in the country. “In North Korea, no one trusts each other,” said Min-jae, who even suspected his wife of being a spy. “We have to be very cautious about how we think and always careful with our words. I still have that kind of tendency. I get a little nervous, looking back and forth.” With the coffee grinder providing background noise, Min-jae gradually grew more comfortable sharing the story of how he became a Bible smuggler in the most restricted nation on earth. The Bible: Dangerous Cargo in North Korea Min-jae became a believer during a lengthy business trip to China in 2004. While there, he had visited a friend’s
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