The Bible was small and barely holding together, but it effectivelydelivered God’s Word through the preaching of Abram Yac Deng.With only minimal training, he faithfully shepherded his largecongregation near Turalei, Bahr El Ghazal Province in Sudan. He taughtthe church of four hundred Sudanese with the only Bible of the entirecongregation. Although many of the people were illiterate, his desire wasto provide literary classes for men, women, and children. When a Christian ministry brought in hundreds of Bibles, Deng was thrilled that everymember of his congregation would have access to the Scriptures. Four days after receiving the Bibles, radical Islamic raiders invadedthe village. Deng was shot in the head at close range, killing him instantly.The church was torched and many people made it out just in time.Almost one hundred villagers were killed that day, and many people werekidnapped and forced into slavery. The newly delivered Bibles thatbrought them such hope and joy were destroyed in the fire. One of Deng’s favorite verses was Romans 6:23: “For the wages ofsin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus ourLord.” Today, he is reaping that free gift in eternity. By Western standards, the possessions of a Sudanese
Read MoreJames Pino and his wife, Rocio, had already gone to bed for the nightwhen they heard an unexpected knock at the front door. When Pinoopened the door, he was met by two men asking for help with theirmotorcycle. He went outside to help while one of the men stayed by thedoor, where Rocio stood watching her husband. “Is your name Maria?” the man asked her.“No, I am Rocio Pino,” she replied. Suddenly three gunshots shattered the stillness of the night, andwhen Pino turned around he saw his wife fall to the ground. The attackers then jumped on their motorcycle and sped away. Because they lived in one of Colombia’s “red zones,” areas controlledby the Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colombia (FARC), no emergencyservices would respond. The road to their village was heavily mined andguarded by armed FARC guerrillas, so Pino and his daughters were leftto watch Rocio die on their front doorstep. Rocio was known for sharing the Gospel with everyone she met,especially the guerrilla fighters. “All who come here will hear aboutChrist,” she had said. Pino later learned that Rocio’s killers were probably retaliating against her for witnessing to a female guerrilla who hadstopped by their house a few weeks
Read MoreThe day started out like any other school day for teacher Christianah Oluwatoyin Olusase. There was nothing to suggest thatanything out of the ordinary might happen, though as a Christian teacher in predominantly Muslim northern Nigeria, she surelyunderstood the risk to her life that daily hovered. Still, Olusase took herwork seriously and was open about her faith. It was not a secret that shewas a Christian, and this is what eventually led to her death. It was time for an Islamic Religious Knowledge exam at the Government Day Secondary School in Gombe, Nigeria, where Olusase taught.As was her custom during any test, she collected the students’ bags, books, and papers, and set them aside for the girls to pick up after completing their tests. She then handed out the examination papers. Somewhere during this routine activity, one of the girls grew very upset and began spreading the word to the other students that a copy of the Koran—the Islamic holy book—had been in her bag. She supposedly didn’t agree with the way her teacher had handled it, and she accused Olusase of desecrating the Koran by touching it since she was a Christian. The other students in the all-girl class
Read MoreIt was a typical Sunday morning for four-year-old Melissa and hermother, Sandra. They woke up, got dressed for church and joinedthe rest of the congregation for worship and fellowship at AfricaInland Church in Garissa, Kenya. Sandra dropped Melissa off at herSunday School class before joining the adults in the sanctuary. But worship that morning was far from typical. In the middle of theservice, attackers threw grenades into the sanctuary. The panicked congregation ran for the exits amid the chaos and explosions, but they were met with automatic gunfire as they tried to escape the carnage inside the church. Melissa and the other Sunday School students huddled quietlyin their classroom, trying to wait out the attack.When the violence ended, fifteen were dead and more than fiftyothers wounded. Members of the militant Islamic group al-Shababclaimed responsibility for the terrorist attack, one of the worst Kenyahad suffered in years. Kenya’s Christian population has been an al-Shabab target eversince the group began its “holy war” against the enemies of Islam in 2006. The group, whose Arabic name means “the Youth,” was foundedin Somalia before extending its reach into Kenya. Tensions in Kenyaintensified after Kenyan military forces invaded Somalia, leading al-Shabab to vow revenge on
Read MoreChet Bitterman went in with his eyes open. He knew that sharingthe Gospel could be costly. It could cost everything. But hewillingly went to Colombia to bear the Good News. “…I findthe recurring thought that perhaps God will call me to be martyred forHim in His service in Colombia. I am willing.” Bitterman penned thosewords in his diary before he and his wife, Brenda, arrived in Colombia.Bitterman’s devotion to his Savior was evident: “I am willing.” When the gunmen came into the Wycliffe Bible Translators guesthouse in Bogotá, Colombia, early the morning of January 19, 1981, theywere looking for the mission’s leader, a more high-profile hostage whosecaptivity could somehow help their cause. Who they got instead wasChester A. Bitterman III, “Chet” to his friends. The next day PresidentRonald Reagan took the oath of office, and American hostages left Iranafter 444 days in captivity. Their ordeal was over, with the Bittermans’just beginning. They hadn’t been in Colombia long. Their mission career and theirtranslation work lay before them. They had gone to language school andhelped in various tasks for Wycliffe, including managing the guest house,serving as buyer for goods needed by mission workers and even as radiooperator. Finally, it seemed God was
Read MoreHe was young and brave, a Scotsman who believed that nohuman, peasant or king, was head of Christ’s church, butChrist alone. Hugh McKail said so in the last sermon he preached, on the Sunday before all Presbyterian Covenanters were deposed in favor of Charles II’s episcopacy. His words that day were food to the people but poison to the state. Young Pastor McKail fled to Europe and safety. Virtually nothing is known of McKail’s birth and growing years.After studying at the University of Edinburgh, he was ordained at theage of twenty, only a year after Charles II had rejuvenated the monarchyfollowing Oliver Cromwell’s failed experiment in popular sovereignty. McKail was a Scotsman. He could neither travel forever nor ignorehis calling to the Scottish church. Four years in hiding was enough. Hereturned to Galloway to watch and wait. When his fellow Covenanterstook up swords and clubs against the British, he couldn’t be content sitting quietly at his hearth. Whether McKail became a fighter is uncertain, but certainly heknew the Covenanter captains and likely traveled with them. In November 1666 he was captured and tortured for information, which apparently he withheld despite a metal wedge being hammered into his leg,shattering the bone.
Read MoreHe loved the sea, this rebellious Scottish lad. The fishing villageof Ardrishaig was his home, and the fishermen his friends. Thesea was wild when the wind blew strong, like young Chalmershimself. He breathed the sea air and wondered what lay beyond the rolling waves. Later, when God’s call to missionary service touched hisheart, he spent many perilous days on the sea, searching out peoples whohad never heard God’s story. Chalmers was eighteen when he converted to Christ in an evangelistic meeting led by two preachers from Ireland. Chalmers had come withfriends to break up the meeting, to mock the zealots, to make sport ofthe timid who sought their peace in religion. Perhaps the heavy rain thatnight dampened the youths’ recklessness, but Chalmers listened andbelieved. The message was from Revelation 22:17: “The Spirit and theBride say, ‘Come.’” It was an invitation to make his heart’s home in God;Chalmers gladly accepted. “I was thirsty, and I came,” he said later.A few years later he received pastoral training and a commission bythe London Missionary Society to serve in the Pacific Islands. Chalmersand his wife, Jane Hercus, were standing at water’s edge in New Guinea.Suddenly a mob of painted warriors surrounded them, demanding giftsand
Read MoreDemerara was one of three counties in the Caribbean colony ofBritish Guiana (now Guyana). Slavery was the rule in Demerara, the way of life, the engine of its sugar cane economy. Whatever else happened there, slavery was never to be questioned or threatened. Of those who might do so, missionaries were the most culpable. The London Missionary Society (LMS) sent John Smith to BritishGuiana in March 1817. In Demerara he took over from the ReverendJohn Wray, who had been transferred to neighboring Berbice County.Such transfers helped keep relations transitory between the missionarypreacher and the slave population. Bonds of sympathy were dangerousto the economy. Smith’s first interview with Governor Murray made it quite clear:Teaching the African slaves to read was forbidden. The job of the missionstation was to teach contentment, not to educate, nor to “insinuate anything which might… lead them to any measures injurious to their masters.” In British Guiana, sugar cane was lord and king. So the honorable Reverend John Smith set about his work in one ofthe most thankless, humid, and oppressive mission stations in theworld—far from the British homeland where William Wilberforce andother Christian leaders were challenging the foundation of slavery andmapping out its legalized extinction. Smith
Read MoreHis purpose was to bring as many people to Christ as he could—to point them to the Savior. It didn’t matter the danger. Godhad called him to this work, and he would follow to the end.So he packed up his belongings and began working in an outreach ministry with Campus Crusade for Christ in his native Bangladesh. Redoy Roy walked quickly up the stairs to his home in the late evening of April 23, 2003, after being dropped off by the rickshaw. It hadbeen a wonderful evening as he showed the JESUS film to almost twohundred villagers. He loved to watch the audience and the beautifulexpressions of fascination and hope that showed on their faces. And heloved even more when the film finished and some in the audience choseto follow this Jesus—their newfound Friend and Savior. Roy turned the handle, pushed the door open to his rented home, andmade his way through the dark house. Before he could reach the lightswitch, he was hit in the face and knocked to the ground. Angry radicalMuslims grabbed him and dragged him over to his bed. A couple more heldhim down as they tied his hands and feet to the bedposts. Roy screamed
Read More“The blasphemy law in its present form has become more of aninstrument of persecution and vendetta than of justice,” a Pakistani newspaper editorial stated. Blasphemy means showingextreme irreverence toward something sacred, and for centuries Christians have been accused of blaspheming Islam. Often in Pakistan, contrived witnesses with false accusations have spoken out against believers, sending them to jail and even to death. Such was the case with Samuel Masih, whose body was found bloodied and battered, his skull smashed. Masih spent his days as a whitewasher and painter. He had justfinished a job and stopped at the local mosque in order to use the restroom. As he returned outside, bystanders grabbed him and shoutedaccusations. Masih’s accusers, knowing he was a Christian, claimed thathe had spit on the walls of the mosque; two false witnesses confirmedthis story. Samuel was immediately arrested and put on trial. Under the maximum penalty for violating Section 295 of the Pakistani penal code, Masih could have been jailed for two years and fined,if convicted of “defiling a place of worship with the intent of insultingthe religion (Islam).” The pungent odor of urine and sweat filled the dirty prison. Thesounds of coughing and scuffling feet echoed along
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