Latest / Crosswalk Talk: Celebrity Christian Interviews / Perpetua Died at 22, What Her Story Says to Christians Today

Transcript

Perpetua Died at 22, What Her Story Says to Christians Today · Crosswalk Talk: Celebrity Christian Interviews

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Life Audio. Hey Dot, thanks for joining me. Thanks for
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: having me.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: Todd Nelton. Of course you are with Voice of the Martyrs,
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: where you serve as a vice president. You're the host
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: of Voice of the Martyrs Radio Todd On June twenty ninth,
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: upcoming here as we record this, Christians worldwide will mark
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: the Day of the Christian Martyr. It's a global day
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: of remembrance and this year Voice of the Martyrs is
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: spotlighting Perpetua, a young woman and I read about in
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: My Whole life. She died for her faith back in
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: two three AD. Her story is really inspiring and I
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: want to get you in here to talk about it.
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: Tell us about who Perpetual was and why do you
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: think her story still resonates today.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: Great question. Perpetua's a pretty amazing example of faithfulness. She
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: was twenty two years old. She was killed in a
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: Roman colisseum in the ancient city of Carthage, which was
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: a Roman outpost in North Africa. The arena is actually
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: still there, it is in modern day Tunisia. And she
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: was from a well educated from a noble family, a
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: high ranking family in the culture, and she met Jesus
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: and the Roman authorities were demanding everybody has to offer
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: sacrifices to the Roman gods. You have to offer sacrifices
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: on behalf of the emperor, and perpetuous that I can't
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: do that. I'm a follower of Jesus Christ. And because
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: of that, she was arrested, she was locked in jail
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: and ultimately killed in the arena. The thing that's so
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: amazing about her story, and frankly, the reason we know
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: so much about her, is she kept a journal while
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: she was in prison, talking about what was going on,
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: talking about her own father bringing her baby to the
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: prison and saying, listen, Perpetua, light the candle, say whatever
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: they want you to say, just come home and raise
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: your baby, and her literally telling her father father, I'm
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: a Christian, I can't do that. The reason we know
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: her story is because that journal has survived. In fact,
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: as I looked into this ahead of day the Christian Martyr,
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: it is one of the earliest examples, maybe the earliest
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: example we have of a woman's writing that still survives today.
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: So that's part of why this story is so significant.
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: But it's also significant just because she was faithful.
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, and this is two hundred and three eighty so
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: this is about one hundred and eighty or so years
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: after the ascension of Christ. You might have had great
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: great grandchildren of people who knew Jesus. I don't know
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: how that carries out in terms of the great grates,
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: but it's surely after the time of Christ. And another
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: part of the story that I want to mention here
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: as well, as her father used her nursing infant son
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: as kind of an emotional temptation for her to deny Christ,
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: pleading have pity on your baby. I think those were
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: the words. And of course many persecuted Christians today are
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: ridiculed and shunned and ostracized by their faith family and
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: intended to deny Christ as well. You've spend more than
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: two decades, I believe, Todd, supporting the persecuted church nationwide
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: or worldwide. When you read stories like Perpetua, what parallels
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: do you see about her experience and maybe the stories
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: you're hearing from Christians today. You know, it's interesting because
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: as I mentioned, this was modern day Tunisia. Well, they're
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: still Christian persecution in Tudition. It happens right right around
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: that same arena.
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: Now. Typically today the first line of persecution. There is
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: your family members. If you leave Islam and choose to
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: follow Jesus Christ, typically the first person who's going to
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: ask you about that is your dad, or your big
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: brother or your uncle. Somebody's going to come along and say, listen,
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: we're a Muslim family. And now you say you're a Christian,
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: So you're not part of our family anymore. We don't
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: have a place for you anymore. And you know that
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: sounds harsh and hard for us as Americans, but in
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: that culture, you're family connections are the key to your
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: whole future. It's the key to your education, it's the
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: key to your job prospects, it's the key to finding
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: a spouse. All of that happens through family connections. And
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: so when your family says we have no place for you,
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: you do not belong among us, your future evaporates. In
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: that moment, your future is gone. And so people are
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: still willing to make that sacrifice. And you know, one
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: of the conversations I had when I was in Tunition
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: was with a pastor and he said, you know, we
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: as the church, we have to be ready to be
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: the family for these new believers because they are likely
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: to lose their family here on earth. They're losing their
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: birth family, so we need to be ready to step
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: in and say, hey, you still have a family. It's
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: the family of God. Wow, that's that's that's powerful.
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: Of course, we're talking about June twenty ninth, which is
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: the Day of the Christian Martyr or Global Day of Remembrance.
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: You kind of answered some of my questions. My next
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: question there, Todd, but I'm going to ask it anyway.
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: Why are for those it's easy for Americans to realize
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: that it's easy for Americans to forget the fact that
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: many people of faith the worldwide are just persecuted for
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: just what we take for granted, which is just to
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: read your Bible, to go to church. So for those
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: who you know are kind of just catching up here,
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: what are the reasons for persecution worldwide? What are the
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: most common reasons that governments and communities and families oppose them?
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: In other words, what's the big deal? Why can't people
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: worship freely worldwide?
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: That's kind of the question, you know, why do you
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: care as the government, as the leader of the local mosque,
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: Why do you care if I follow Jesus and then
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: don't follow what you're doing honestly, if you boil it down,
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: Oftentimes it comes down to power. I think of you
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: know Communist China, why do they persecute Christians? Well, the
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: Communist Party of China wants you to wake up every
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: morning and think, how do I be a good Communist today?
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: How can I honor the Communist Party today? I'm a
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: follower of Jesus. Hopefully I wake up every morning and say,
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: how can I bring glory to Jesus today? How can
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: I follow him? Well, the Communist Party doesn't want competition.
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: They don't want you thinking about following Jesus. They want
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: you thinking about the party in an Islamic context like Tunisia,
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: like North Africa. There is a religious element to that, like, hey,
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: we're Muslims. We think now if you leave Islam, you're
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: an apostate. But often again it comes down to power.
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: We don't want you to do something different. We're going
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: to enforce our will on you and make you do
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: what we do, what our family does, what our culture does.
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: And so like say, there's different ideologies that sort of
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: drive it or animate it, but oftentimes it comes down
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: to just power. We want to be in charge, we
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: want you to do what you're told, and now you say,
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: I'm not doing what I'm told, I'm following Jesus. Yeah.
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: Oftentimes it's a misunderstanding of what Christians are, which which
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: are the best citizens at at least we should be.
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: In China, they're todd The government of China, of course,
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: claims that Christians can worship freely. They have a church
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: that's supported by the government, but it seems like on
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: the ground it's a different story that the Christians there say, no,
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: that's not a free church. What is the truth there
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: in China? Can you worship freely?
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: In China? You cannot worship freely? The yes, there is
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: a state sponsored church. In fact, there's a state sponsored
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: Protestant church. There's a state sponsored Catholic church. There are
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: I understand state sponsored mosques if you're a Muslim and
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: you but at the end of the day, those institutions
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: answer to the Communist Party. They answer to the Chinese government,
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: and we should never forget the Communist Party teaching is
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: there is no God, so yes, you can worship God
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: who doesn't exist according to our rules. So obviously many
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: Christians say, well, I'm not going to do that. I'm
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: not going to subjugate my religious expression, my religious experience
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: to a government that denies the existence of God. And
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: so you have what's called the unregistered church. And to
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: be in a registered church is to go to a
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: state of proof building, to be led in a service
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: by a state of proof pastor, and not to take
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: anybody under eighteen years old, because the state does not
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: want the children to be indoctrinated. So if you're wanting
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: to do any of those things, you don't have a
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: pastor who can preach the whole Bible without checking in
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: with anybody. If you want to take your children with
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: you to church, you need to go to an unregistered church.
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: Every time those unregistered churches meet, that's an illegal act.
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: They are breaking the law. Just by gathering together. They're
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: breaking the law, and so they are subject to being
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: raided by the police. Oftentimes the leaders are arrested and
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: carted off to jail, but everyone is harassed, everyone is
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: photo id, their documents are taken. Oftentimes they will go
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: to work the next day and hear from their boss, oh, hey,
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: I heard you were caught at an unregistered religious gathering.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: That doesn't look good for your employment. Prospects, or you
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: go to rent an apartment and they say, oh, well
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: you have this on your record. Sorry, we can't rent
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: an apartment to you. So there are lots of penalties,
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: lots of ways that they pay a price just for
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: gathering together to worship, to pray together, to study God's
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: word together. That is a crime in China.
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and you mentioned not able to take your children
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: to church. I think that's one thing that would shock
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: many Americans. But also you also reference this as well,
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: that the sermons there are checked by communist authorities and
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: sometimes stuff's taken out. Sometimes oftentimes stuff is put in.
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: They want the sermons to be Chinese centric to Communist centric.
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: Am I correct there?
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: You are correct about that. And we have been told
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: pastors are not allowed to preach in registered churches about
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: the Second Coming. Uh. The Chinese government calls that the
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: doomsday theory. We're not going to have you spouting off
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: about the doomsday theory from our pulpit. And so you know, obviously,
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: as you think as a Christian, as someone who reads
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: the Bible, well wait, if you can't talk about the
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: Second Coming, you know that leaves out a big part
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: of the story. How are we going to how are
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: we going to get the whole gospel out there if
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: we don't talk about that. But that is not allowed
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: in Chinese registered church.
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: Let's talk about Nigeria and Nigeria as a as a
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: country that is often mentioned in mainstream media as a
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: place where there is persecution, and there's often a debate
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: over what is happening there because Nigerian I think the
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: government of Nigeria or the authorities there claim that it's
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: it's a competition for land, that it's it's an age
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: ode I guess, a competition for competition for land, and
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: that it's not religious in nature. But of course I
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: think Voice of the Martyrs and others say that no
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: Christians are being persecuted there. What is going on? That's
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: my first question. And secondly, is there any nuance here
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: in terms of what is happening in Nigeria?
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: So what is happening is primarily happening in the northern
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: part of the country, and you see, yes, there is
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: competition for land that is a part of it. And
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: yes there is some tribal or ethnic animosity that sometimes
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: factors into some of the violence. But what our staff
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: in Nigeria have seen is when you go to a
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: village that has just been attacked and the Christian home
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: was burned down and the Muslim's house right next door
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: was left alone, and you're like, well, wait a minute,
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: that doesn't seem to be about you know, farmers versus
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: herders or about land. It seems like the Christians houses
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: all got lit on fire and the Muslim houses didn't. Well,
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: that was Christian persecution. That was targeting of Christians. And
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: we actually I just recorded an interview last week for
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: Voice of the Mars radio. We haven't even aired it yet,
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: with a guy who met some Fulani Christians. Now Fulani
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: Christians had been persecutors of Christians, and they talked about
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: targeting Christians like when they are looking for a place
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: to take their cattle, they are specifically looking for a
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: Christian guarden, a Christian farm. That's where they're going to
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: go and eat up all the crops, and so it
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: is targeted persecution. So you have that going on, and
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: then you also have terrorist groups like Boko Haram. There
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: is an Isis branch that is active in northern Nigeria.
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: They also are threatening and targeting Christians and churches, especially pastors.
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: That's one of the things we've seen, especially in the
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: last couple of years, the targeting of pastors and Christian leaders.
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: They want to take away the shepherd so that the
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: sheep will scatter, as the Bible says, and so we've
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: seen the targeting of pastors, especially in northern Nigeria. And
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: one of the amazing things is there are pastors who
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: are choosing to stay. I know one of the pastors
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: we work with has actually sent his wife and children
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: further south to a safer place, but he says, no,
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: God has called me here. This is where my flock is.
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: I'm going to stay in ministry. You guys go someplace safe.
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: I'm going to stay here. That's the courage of our
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: Nigerian brothers and sisters. Yes, I know persecution is here.
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: Yes i know I'm in danger, but God has called
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: me here, so I'm going to do what He's called
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: me to do.
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: Are there any places in the world where persecution it
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: is decreasing, where the actions on the ground are getting
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: better for Christians or is it mostly just getting worse.
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: Unfortunately, it's mostly getting worse. There are some places where
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: you look and you think, oh, is it even yes,
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: it's not worse than it was a year ago or
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: five years ago. There are very few places you could
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: point to where you would even could make a case
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: that things were better than they were five years ago
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: or ten years ago.
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: Why do you think persecuted Christians? Why do you think
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: the persecutor Christians sometimes leads to growth of the church,
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: Because we saw that, of course mentioned Perpetua earlier, church grew,
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: and it seems like that happens in modern day times
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: as well.
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: Why I wish I knew. I wish I had an
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: answer for that. You know, one of the things that
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: happens is the reality of the Gospel is proven in
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: crisis and in suffering. And I think of I think
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: of somebody, a lady named Pauline Iod that I met
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: in the Middle East. Her husband was the leader of
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: the Bible bookstore in Gaza. This was, you know, fifteen
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: years ago. He was kidnapped and murdered. And she said
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: she struggled to forgive the people who kidnapped and killed
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: her husband like she was angry at them. In fact,
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: she said the Muslim called a prayer five times a day.
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: Every time she heard that, anger would rise up in
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: her like, those are the people that killed my husband.
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: And over a course of five years, God brought her
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: to the point of truly forgiving the people who had
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: killed romy her husband. And she didn't just be quiet
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: about that. She actually posted on social media, you know,
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: I forgive them a prayer for blessing for them, a
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: prayer that they would know Christ. And millions of people
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: across the Middle East have read that social media post
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: and been impacted by that. So part of the way
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: the church grows is because you can't explain that from
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: a human perspective, like you can't forgive and wish blessing
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: for the people who killed your spouse out of our
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: own human power. That just doesn't that. There's no way.
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: The Holy Spirit must be real. God must be real
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: if He has empowered her to do that. And so
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: that's part of how the church is spreading is the
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: example and the witness and the forgiveness of persecuted Christians.
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: Even in their suffering, even in their loss, even in
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: their grief, even in their pain, they are willing to
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: love their persecutors to show Christ's love. That's part of
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: the reason the church is spreading in the midst of persecution.
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: Final question for you, possibly Todd. You've talked to many
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: persecuted Christian, percuted Christians nationwide and worldwide. I should say,
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: how does that impact you personally? Does it inspire you?
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: Does it motivate you to become more devoted to God?
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: Yes? I have been so impacted by by my time
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: meeting persecuted Christians and hearing their stories. And one of
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: my coworkers here often says, you know, when I'm with
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: persecuted Christians, I feel like the least spiritual person in
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: the room. And that is often true, and I often
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: pray as as I leave their presence, Lord, make me
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: more like that person, Make me more like them, give
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: me the faith that they have. I think a couple
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: of really practical things that I have learned from them.
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: One is to be a person of God's Word. I
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: have made a commitment to read through the Bible every year.
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: I have done that probably eight or nine years now.
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: My wife and I are now reading it together every day.
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: We're reading through the Bible. We want to be people
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: of God's Word because we've been inspired by our brothers
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: and sisters who memorize the scriptures. They study the scriptures
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: Sometimes I've met Christians who prayed for five years that
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: they might someday own a copy of the Bible, and
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: I pull out my phone and I have like six
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: Bible apps on it, and it's like, well, what's the
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: good of having them in your pocket if you don't
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: actually read them? So that is one thing. The other
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: really practical thing that I have learned from persecuted Christians
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: or that God has taught me through their stories. My
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: church box or denominational box has been completely blown up
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: by my encounters with persecuted Christians. And I don't care
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: what the name on the door of your churches. If
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: you stand with Jesus, I want to stand by you.
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: And we are truly the family of God. We are
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: truly brothers and sisters. And that's true regardless of what
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: name is above the door of your church. And so
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: that has been a great blessing to me to be
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: able to draw on and be inspired by Christians from
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: many different denominational streams and traditions, but to know that
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: they are serving Jesus, and if I'm serving Jesus too,
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: then we're part of the same family.
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: Briefly tell me about Voice of the Martyrs. And what
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: it does.
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: Voice of the Martyrs is a ministry to persecute a Christians.
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: So we are serving alongside Christians in more than seventy
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: countries around the world, typically overseas. That falls into three categories.
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: One of those is persecution response. Your house gets burned down,
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: you need a place to stay tonight, that's persecution response.
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: The second one is Bibles. Just like it sounds, we
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: have delivered the last several years over a million Bibles
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: a year into hostelaries and restricted nations. The third is
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: what we call frontline ministry, and that is coming alongside
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: pastors and evangelists and church planters helping to advance the Gospel.
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: And then the fourth part of our ministry is just
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: what we're doing right now, just telling the stories of
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: persecuted Christians so that we can pray for them, so
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: that we can be inspired by them, and so that
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: we can build unity in the body of Christ.
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: If you like today's episode, please subscribe and leave a
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: five star review.
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: That's how we help more people just like you find
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: the show.
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: A big thanks to the team at life Audio for
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: their partnership with us on the podcast. If you go
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: to lifeaudio dot com you will find dozens of other
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: faith centered podcasts in their network. See you next time.