DANGEROUS FAITH

By Ronald E. Keener

During the 9/11 weekend, it was worth remembering those who daily share their faith with unbelievers, in places to their own peril, because we are commanded to do so.

Whenever my wife and I have $100 to put toward Christian ministry, at the top of the list of recipients are Voice of the Martyrs and Open Doors, the two organizations doing in-the-trenches work against the persecution of Christians and seekers around the world.

When I sit in my comfortable suburban home, attend my well-off congregation with their new and well-equipped worship center, and on the job talk daily to pastors worried about keeping up the giving and avoid laying off staff, my thoughts go to those who work for the world-wide church at great risk to the lives of themselves and those of their families.

Russell Stendal is one of them, who works through Voice of the Martyrs. He was raised on the mission field in Columbia, South America, and became a missionary jungle pilot at age 17. I wrote him and asked about his work and he responded:
“In Colombia where I live and work the cities are somewhat normal, but there is intense persecution in many rural areas some of which are under control of different types of violent groups hostile to Christianity.

“There is an area larger than North Korea in southern and eastern Colombia where no church buildings are allowed, no meetings are allowed, and no pastors or missionaries are allowed. All along the fringes of this vast area churches and pastors are under fire. VOM has identified and helps almost 400 widows of pastors who have been killed. I have personally known of or witnessed the deaths of several. Many of the widows continue in ministry.

“We target these dangerous areas with radio broadcasts on a variety of stations and supply solar radios tuned to our frequencies. We also drop Bibles and other materials by air on locations where people are turning to the Lord and we are unable to get in on the ground.

“In some of the most difficult areas we estimate that close to half the population has turned to the Lord even though in most cases meetings and even Bibles are still prohibited.

“At present it is impossible for us to know how many rank and file Christians have been killed in Colombia. We have more than two million displaced persons due to all the violence and many of them are Christians. Also, when communist guerrillas are converted and declare themselves for the Lord, there is a very high probability that they could be killed.

“It is, however, in the midst of the most intense persecution that the Gospel is spreading like wildfire. We are making every effort to keep our radio broadcasts on the air and to keep the Bibles and other materials flowing into these areas. We also help provide special books and even entire libraries designed to encourage and help pastors and other leaders who are under fire.”

For me, that account is gut-wrenching and disturbing. The task is huge, the dangers are real. Even if we are only checkbook-participants in this endeavor, we are at least doing important work “alongside” those like Stendal.
Voice of the Martyrs is in the midst of a series of road trips and nearly 1,000 people came to the Phoenix meeting, where Stendal spoke, and four others working in Israel and the Palestinian territories, Pakistan, and Ethopia, and a dozen other countries. Their testimonies were confronting and a call to decision-making for those of us who are more armchair evangelists — safe, comfortable, and, well, done remotely.

Stendal himself was kidnapped in 1983 by Marxist rebels and held hostage for five months. He chronicles the experience in a book, Rescue the Captors. His work today in Columbia and surrounding countries includes radio stations, literature publishing and air drops (VOM parachute project) and support of underground churches deep in the jungles.

As this is written during the 9/11 weekend, it seems like the country has sidestepped a possible conflagration that might have only raised the threat of persecution against Christians around the world. It’s an example too of how one small, senseless act might have fueled needless harm and persecution in what is already a dangerous world. It was a weekend in what columnist Michael Gerson called “an invitation to global crackpotocracy.”

Those who carry the Christian message to the world need our support, and organizations like Voice of the Martyrs www.vom-usa.org and Open Doors www.opendoorsusa.org are daily on the front lines for the faith.

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