Written by: Peter Hammond
Article source: Supplied
“in as much as you did it to one of the least of these brethren, you did it to Me.”
Matthew 25:35-40
During more than 43 years of missionary work, I have had the privilege of serving persecuted Churches, including in Mozambique, Angola, Romania, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Albania, Rwanda, Sudan, Northern Nigeria, the Congo and Zimbabwe. During this time, I have endured aerial bombardments, ambushes, artillery and rocket barrages and I have been arrested and imprisoned for missionary work.
Bibles for Sudan
Over 400 million Christians live under 67 governments, which restrict religious freedom and persecute believers. Every year, an average of 400,000 Christians are killed for their Faith.
Anti-Christian Violence
On numerous occasions, communist Cuban soldiers in Angola placed the heads of cattle, or an AK47, on altars or pulpits demanding that the Christians commit idolatry and bow before them. They have walked into services and taken the Bible off the pulpit and thrown it by the door and demanded: “You may all leave – one by one – just spit on the Bible and you can go free. If you don’t – we will kill you!”
Communist troops burst into church services declaring: “You Christians – you say that you worship the Lamb – well here is a lamb!” The Cubans taunted the worshippers as they started pouring the blood of this lamb over the believers saying the blood of the lamb is shed amongst you – worship the lamb! The head of the lamb was placed mockingly on the pulpit and people were dragged and forced to their knees to bow down before it.
Bile is the best gift
More than Half of the World’s Population live in Countries where Christians are Persecuted
Of the 8 billion people living in the world today, More than half of the world’s population live in countries where Christians are persecuted. For example, More than 1.4 billion people live in Red China. In communist China, young people under 18 years old are constitutionally prohibited from attending church. Adults are only allowed to attend state controlled Registered churches that are very severely restricted. Pastors of unregistered underground churches are regularly arrested and sentenced to slave labor in the concentration camps. Sharing the Gospel on the Internet is a crime in China people are arrested for illegally Disseminating religious information and suspicion of the illegal use of information networks. Christian cyber criminals are subjected to detention for years without charge or trial, abuse, torture and death.
India has a population of 1.4 billion people. Hindu extremists have attacked and ransacked church buildings, assaulted church attenders, sometimes beating Christians to death. Worship services can be disrupted by mobs. Bibles and Christian literature have been confiscated and burned on bonfires. In the state of Manipur, hundreds of churches have been burned and over 100 Christians have been killed, just in recent months.
Indonesia has a population of 283 million people of which 220 million are Muslim. Radical Islamists have frequently attacked Christian communities, destroyed Christian church buildings and murdered Christians.
Nigeria has a population of 232 million people, with half of the population being Muslim and half Christian. In the last 15 years over 20,000 churches and Christian schools have been attacked, at least 52,000 Christians killed and 18,500 abducted/kidnapped, most considered unlikely to have survived. Just in the first seven months of this year over 7000 Christians were killed in northern Nigeria, mostly by Boko Haram terrorists and Fulani tribesmen.
Remote village in Cuando Cubango province
Pakistan has a population of 250 million, most of whom are Muslim, but there is a large Christian minority who are discriminated against and often targeted for violence: believers are jailed if they are found to have violated the nation’s strict blasphemy laws. Christian women who have reported being raped, have been sentenced to death, under the Sharia law principle that the woman is 90% to blame for a rape, because women have the power of enticement.
Afghanistan has a population of 42,000,000. Christianity is illegal and believers face detention, torture and death.
Iran has a population of over 90 million. Any Muslim who converts to Christianity is guilty of apostasy which faces the death penalty. Evangelism is strictly illegal. Christians are forbidden to share their faith with a Muslim.
North Korea has a population of 26,000,000. Christianity is completely illegal. The state is officially atheistic and communist. If a person is discovered to be a Christian they could be shot dead on the spot. If one person is found to be a Christian, their entire family can be arrested and condemned to slave labour in a concentration camp, indefinitely, until they drop dead from overwork or starvation.
One in seven Christians in the world live in countries where Christianity is persecuted. In Africa it is one in every five Christians lives in a country where the Church is persecuted. 400 million Christians live under persecution, in 67 countries, today. An average of 300,000 Christians are murdered for their Faith every year. Christians are the most persecuted people in the world today.
Only Bible of a remote village congregation in Cuando Cubango province
The Aim of Persecution
Christians who have escaped from communist concentrations camps and prisons have told how they were often tortured by the Marxists. One prisoner told me of a time in Angola when they were near breaking point and one of them shouted out: “Why don’t you just kill us and get it over with?”
The response of the communist concentration camp guards was most enlightening: “Oh no, we do not want to kill you! We do not want to send you to Heaven to be with God! No, we want you to curse Christ and to come to hell with us, for all eternity!”
The aim of persecution is not to kill Christians. There is no victory to the kingdom of darkness for Christians to go to Heaven. The aim of persecution is to intimidate Christians into silence. To persuade believers to compromise. To terrify Christians, to giving in to cowardice. If the devil cannot stop us being converted, he at least wants to discourage, divert us and distract us, preferably even to derail us, so that we are not effective in fulfilling the Great Commission and winning other souls to Christ. So, as long as you refuse to be intimidated into silence, neutrality and compromise, persecution fails. “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? And what will a man give in exchange for his soul?’“ Matthew 16:24-26
Remote village congregation in Cuando Cubango province
Resistance in Romania
The wife of Romanian Pastor Richard Wurmbrand, Sabina Wurmbrand, testified that before she went to prison, she was very poor. But once she went to prison, she became very rich. This was because she was poor in the things of the world, but rich in the things of God. When she came to prison, she had the only currency that was of any value, she had much of the Word of God memorised and stored up in her heart and mind. Therefore, in prison she was able to make many people rich!
After years in the slave labour camps of Romania, Sabina was finally released. Sometime later, a man came to her claiming to have been in prison with her husband and having a message from him to share with their congregation. Knowing how the communist state sought to infiltrate congregations by infiltrating spies and blackmailing members into being informers, Sabina was cautious. Please, before we go any further, would you lead us in prayer? She bowed her head.
There was an awkward silence and then the man, who claimed to have a message from her husband, stuttered and stammered. Sabina Wurmbrand looked up and, gazing directly into the man’s eyes, said: “Now then, aren’t you ashamed of yourself? Wouldn’t you like me to explain to you how you can become a real Christian?”
Nicolae Moldoveanu is called “The Bach of Romania.” In his lifetime, he composed more than 6,000 Hymns, hundreds of those while suffering excruciating torture in the communist prison system of Romania. Without access to the Bible, or any books, without any musical instruments, without pen or paper, Moldoveanu determined to compose Hymns of praise to God and commit them to his memory, to later be put down on paper, when finally released from prison.
Arrested
In 1987, while leading a Frontline mission team across the border, we were arrested. That was my first prison experience. We were stripped and beaten. Thrown into cells covered with human filth. Deprived of water and food, blindfolded and transported from Livingstone to Lusaka. There we were thrown into an overcrowded prison. The cells, which were 15 feet by 25 feet, were crammed with an average of 60 prisoners per cell. There were no beds, furnishings, plumbing, or electricity in these cells. The whole prison seemed to be one big stinking disease factory. With our shoes taken away, walking barefoot, with cut and bleeding feet, amongst this filth, we could only imagine how many infections and diseases God protected us from.
In our prison cell, there was Isaiah Moyo, a 26-year old black South African, who had been imprisoned on trumped up charges of being a South African spy! Actually, he had lent money to some ANC refugees in Lusaka, who had decided, rather than repay him, to accuse him of being a spy!
Isaiah had been severely tortured. He had many pussy sores on his body where red-hot pokers had been pushed into his skin. His knees were calloused from the many hours he spent kneeling on the concrete floor praying to the Lord. When, by God’s grace, international prayer and pressure forced the Zambian government to open the prison doors and let us free, I determined to campaign for the release of Isaiah Moyo.
Opening Prison Doors to Set the Captives Free
American Christians that I met in Cape Town encouraged me to come overseas and testify of the reality of communist persecution in Africa. I received an invitation to speak at the International Society for Human Rights Conference in Frankfurt, Germany and used that as the launching pad for my first overseas ministry trip. This involved radio and TV ministry in the USA, testifying to government officials of the atrocities I had witnessed and documented in communist Mozambique and Angola and speaking on the BBC World Service.
En route to Angola
Later I heard that prison wardens had rushed with their radios to Isaiah Moyo in Lusaka Central Prison shouting: “Isaiah, that white South African missionary who was locked in here, he is speaking on the radio – and he is talking about you!” Isaiah heard the tail end of my interview as I gave people his prison address and requested people to send care packages, with salt, soap, sugar, vitamins, pens, pencils, paper, etc.
Isaiah told us later that from that time on he was never mistreated again. Mail sacks of letters and parcels were dragged into the cell. He became the most popular person in prison. He had so many trading items, which everyone wanted. People could not do enough favours for him. The BBC World Service radio programme had raised him to celebrity status in the prison. The prison guards treated him with great respect and soon he was set free and allowed to travel back to South Africa to be reunited with his wife and two children.
Sunday Shool books for Remote village congregation in Cuando Cubango province
Publicity Provides Protection for the Persecuted
That was my first experience of seeing what an influence Western Christians can have through prayer and pressure. Publicity provides protection for the persecuted. As our Lord Jesus taught in Luke 18:1-5, even an unjust judge will do what is right, in response to persistent prayer and pressure.
As virtually every Marxist dictatorship in the world is a beneficiary of vast amounts of foreign aid from Western nations, this provides leverage. Most dictators prefer foreign aid to foreign prisoners. If given a choice, they will let the prisoners go free in order to continue to receive the Western dollars, pounds, or euros.
Whatever we bind will be bound, whatever we lose will be loosed. By the power of prayer and through persistent pressure, we can see the powers of darkness limited, prison doors opened and captives set free.
Jesus said: “For I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me. Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or imprisoned and come to You? And the King will answer and say unto them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, in as much as you did it to one of the least of these brethren, you did it to Me.’“ Matthew 25:35-40
“And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honoured, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are the Body of Christ and members individually.”
1 Corinthians 12:26-27
Liepzig Prayer Meeting behind the Iron Curtain 7 Year Jericho Prayer March
Praying for the Persecuted
In the Book of Revelation, the Apostle John was given a glimpse into Heaven. He sees the martyrs and he hears their prayer. What are the martyrs who have died for Christ praying?
The Martyr’s Prayer
“When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the Word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, ‘how long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?’ Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed.” Revelation 6:9-11
The Christian martyr’s last prayer in the Arena
Praying for Justice
Here we obtain a glimpse into Heaven. Those who had been faithful to God’s Word and had been slain for the testimony that they had maintained, are in the very presence of God and they are praying: “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Throughout the world, I have come across many people who are praying for peace. However, it is notable that the martyrs in Heaven are praying for justice.
How does the Lord respond to these prayers? Does He rebuke them? No! Each of them is given a white robe signifying their right standing with Almighty God. They are told to be patient for a little while. When the full number of their fellow servants and brethren have died for Christ, their prayer for justice will be answered.
The Wrath of the Lamb
The rest of Revelation 6 illustrates that judgment: “And the kings of earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and the rocks of the mountains and said to the mountains and rocks, fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the Wrath of the Lamb! For the Day of His wrath has come and who is able to stand?” Revelation 6:15-17
Lenin idol toppled in Addis Abbaba, Ethiopia
If the World Hates You
The Lord Jesus warned us: “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the Word that I said to you, ‘the servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.” John 15:18-20
The Sufferings of Paul
The Apostle Paul testified: “In labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness – beside the other things which come upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches.” 2 Corinthians 11:23-28
The Suffering is Temporary
The Apostle Paul wrote: “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” Romans 8:18. The suffering is temporary – the glory is eternal.
Egyptian Coptic Orthodox service
Following in His Steps
The Apostle Peter wrote: “For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His step” 1 Peter 2:20-21
Will Suffer Persecution
“Yes and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” 2 Timothy 3:12
The Scripture does not say some, nor does it say many, nor even most. “All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.”
The Scripture does not say may, or could, suffer persecution. “Will suffer persecution…”
Faithful Under Fire
If we are seeking to be faithful to our Lord Jesus, we will suffer some persecution for it. By God’s grace, perhaps, not the violent and vicious persecution which Christians in communist and Muslim lands have suffered. However, if we remain faithful to the Lord, there will be times when we will be misunderstood, slandered, discriminated against, threatened and abused. Whether from family or friends, neighbours or co-workers, whether at school, or at the work place, those who maintain a consistent testimony for the Lord are bound to suffer some abuse.
DC 3 Bibles Smuggled behind Enemy Lines to Sudan
Watch and Pray
When the Lord warned his disciples of coming persecution (Matthew 16:21-16; 26:31-35), they responded with disbelief. Because they did not believe Christ’s warning, they did not “watch and pray.” As a result, they denied the Lord and ran away (Matthew 26:40-46; 56; 60-75).
The Apostle Paul strengthened the disciples and encouraged them to remain true to the Faith by teaching: “We must through many tribulations enter the Kingdom of God.” Acts 14:22
Rooted in the Word
Jesus taught that many believers would forsake Him (Matthew 24:9-10) when trouble or persecution comes because of their superficial commitment. Those with no roots in God’s Word would fall away quickly (Matthew 13:21).
In response to the clear warnings of these Scriptures and in the light of the increasing hostility towards Christianity in so many circles, it would be wise for every Christian to study what the Word of God has to say about persecution.
Victorious Faith
“And they overcame him by the Blood of the Lamb and by the Word of their testimony and they did not love their lives to the death.” Revelation 12:11
Christians can overcome satan by the Blood of Christ’s Atonement and by the Word of God. Not only by the Word known and memorised in our hearts and minds, but by our living testimony, applying the Word of God to every area of life. Our Lord Jesus Christ taught that we should not be afraid of those who can only kill the body and after that can do no more. The Lord told us whom we should fear. We must fear God, who after the killing of the body has power to throw both body and soul into hell, forever (Luke 12:4-5).
Courage
It is this kind of courage that we see in the apostles in the Book of Acts. When Peter and John were dragged before the Sanhedrin, they courageously responded: “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.” Acts 4:19-20.
In response to the threats of the Sanhedrin, Peter and John gathered with the other disciples and prayed for the boldness to continue to proclaim God’s Word “Now Lord, look on their threats and grant to your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your Word…” Acts 4:29
The Scripture records that “when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and they spoke the Word of God with boldness.” Acts 4:31
To Obey God or Man?
Then you read that the High Priest rose up with great indignation and arrested the apostles, casting them into prison. “Did we not strictly command you not to teach in this Name? And look, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine and intend to bring this Man’s blood on us!” But Peter and the other apostles answered: “We ought to obey God rather than men.” Acts 5:28-29
Suffering Shame for His Name
The Sanhedrin then had the Apostles flogged and commanded them not to speak in the Name of Jesus. We read that the Apostles left the council “rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His Name. And daily in the temple and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.” Acts 5:41-42
The Steadfastness of Stephen
We then read of the martyrdom of Stephen who is described as “full of Faith and power” and who did great wonders and signs among the people (Acts 6:8). The people were stirred up against Stephen and false witnesses were produced. Stephen’s courageous stand before the Sanhedrin is recorded in Acts 7: “You stiff necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of Whom you now have become the betrayers and the murderers, who have received the Law by the direction of angels and have not kept it.” Acts 7:51-53
Romania Church behind the Iron Curtain
Scattered by Persecution
We read, “a great persecution arose against the Church which was at Jerusalem; and they all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria… those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the Word.” Acts 8:1-4
The Martyrdom of James
In order to please the people, king Herod had James, the brother of John, beheaded. He then ordered the Apostle Peter to be arrested. However, God opened prison doors and set the captive free – in answer to prayer. God judged Herod. “An angel of the Lord struck him, because he did not give glory to God. And he was eaten by worms and died. But the Word of God grew and multiplied.” Acts 12:23-24
Power Amidst Persecution
Throughout the Book of Acts, we see peace and power amidst persecution. Paul and Barnabas boldly proclaimed the Gospel and responded to persecution with joy.
“But the Jews stirred up the devout and prominent women and the chief men of the city, raised up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and expelled them from their region. But they shook off the dust from their feet against them and came to Iconium. And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.” Acts 13:50-52
Christians in Egypt Pray in Burned out Church Building
Singing in the Cells
In Acts 16, we read of Paul and Silas seized and dragged before the authorities, “Then the multitude rose up together against them; and the magistrates tore off their clothes and commanded them to be beaten with rods. And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailor to keep them securely… he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing Hymns to God and the prisoners were listening to them.” Acts 16:22-25
Triumph Amidst Tribulation
Stripped and beaten, flogged and imprisoned, chained in the prison cells, Paul and Silas determined to praise God amidst their persecution. “Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed.” Acts 16:26. By God’s grace, Paul and Silas were able to see their captor converted and his entire family brought to Salvation.
Christian Martyrs in Egypt
The Testimony of the Apostles
Indeed, all of the Apostles suffered severe persecution for Christ:
Peter was crucified upside down in Rome after much outreach.
James the Elder was beheaded by Herod in Palestine after fearless preaching.
John, after a life of evangelism, was boiled in oil and banished in exile to Patmos.
Andrew was crucified in Greece while spreading the Gospel there.
Philip died as a martyr in Asia Minor after preaching the Gospel to the Gaul’s.
Nathaniel preached the Gospel in India and Armenia before being flayed alive and beheaded.
Thomas established churches throughout Babylonia and India before being axed to death.
Matthew was burned to death while preaching the Gospel in Ethiopia.
James the younger was crucified while evangelising in Egypt.
Jude preached the Gospel throughout Syria and Persia where he was finally martyred.
Simon the Zealot preached the Word of God throughout Syria and Mesopotamia and was sawn in half in Persia.
Matthias was crucified on a missionary outreach in the Crimea (in what became Russia).
Tested by Fire
“In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your Faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honour and glory at the Revelation of Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 1:6-7
Bombarded in Sudan
Some of what Christians suffer in Marxist and Muslim lands has been documented in: Tortured for Christ by Richard Wurmbrand, Bill Bathman wrote: Going Through and Going On. Some of my research has been published in Faith Under Fire in Sudan; Holocaust in Rwanda; In the Killing Fields of Mozambique; and Slavery, Terrorism and Islam – The Historical Roots and Contemporary Threat and in documentary films that we have helped to produce such as: Sudan: The Hidden Holocaust; Terrorism and Persecution – Understanding Islamic Jihad and Behind Enemy Lines and Mission to the Nuba Mountains of Sudan film in English, German or French.
Bomb that failed to explode in Sudan
Frontline – Behind Enemy Lines for Christ, is a first hand, eyewitness account of war and persecution during tumultuous events. From the Bush War in Rhodesia to the Border war in South West Africa and Angola, to the killing fields of Mozambique, capture, interrogation, imprisonment, smuggling behind the Iron Curtain, the Seven year Jericho Prayer March that led to the Fall of the Berlin Wall, the collapse of the Iron Curtain, Revolution in Romania, Missions to Albania, the most atheist country in Europe, the Holocaust in Rwanda, under artillery and rocket fire and aerial bombardment in Sudan, to the successful struggle for secession of South Sudan, Frontline – Behind Enemy Lines for Christ covers 40 incredible years of Frontline Fellowship missions throughout 38 countries and eight wars in Africa and Eastern Europe. You can Find the book online or from CLB. It is also available through Print on Demand and as an e-book.
Behind the Iron Curtain in Bulgaria
You can help make these books and films better known and more widely available and also join the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted event on the IDOP-Africa and Frontline Fellowship Facebook pages. Please like, link and share these pages and posts with your family and friends. See the https://idop.africa/ website for articles, news and resources to mobilise your church, prayer fellowship, or school, to pray for the persecuted.
9 November is International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted.
Visit https://idop.africa / for resources to mobilise prayer and action on behalf of those suffering for Christ.
“Remember the prisoners as if chained with them – those who are mistreated – since you yourselves are in the Body also.” Hebrews 13:3
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Date published: 03/11/2025
Feature image: Remember the Persecuted
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