Page 19 - Voice of the Persecuted Christians - Apr-Jun 2023 - 122

MIDDLE EAST
money and told her mother: ‘Tell your daughter, if she returns [home] we will cut her head off and play football with it.’ Shortly afterwards her uncle died in an accident with the van.
Fatima thanks the Lord for His protection
LWhen your family wants you dead
Eventually he too, like Fatima, moved to another country in the Middle East, but by this time his marriage had broken down and his mother had disinherited him. Nevertheless questions about God kept coming, and after visiting many churches he became a believer.
Jack Norman meets converts who have paid a high price for their faith
Then his troubles really began. His mother found out and sent family members to beat him up. On one occasion he was attacked by a group of men who included his cousin. Forcing him to the ground, his cousin placed
ife for Christians in the Middle As a result, she gave her life to Christ. his foot on Michael’s neck and held
East is challenging, although However, when her father found out
a knife to his throat. Michael said to him: ‘If you kill me, cousin, and I am right, then it is good news for me; I will be with Jesus.’ One of the others persuaded his cousin just to beat him instead.
there are areas within the he threatened her over the phone, region where the Church is able to saying, ‘Tomorrow look out for a car experience a degree of freedom. with men who are coming to cut off
For one particular group though
– believers who have come from a Initially afraid she then felt a sense of Muslim background – that freedom is strength in herself and told him she rare, if not completely non-existent. was now a Christian. The next day her
Fatima* fled from one Middle Eastern country to another with her family and began going to a church to pick up food parcels. When she heard that the Christian God was a God of peace and love, she became curious.
your head.’
mother rang to tell her that her father had died of a sudden heart attack.
Later on his daughter from his first marriage visited him. As they were about to eat, she tipped over the table and confessed that her grandmother, his mother, had sent her to poison him, but she couldn’t go through with it.
Initially, she was advised to go to the church only for food parcels; in fact her husband would beat her to reinforce the message. However, she continued praying, and God gave her a vision of herself walking up a staircase followed by four children and her husband (she only had two children at the time).
Then her uncle stole her inheritance from her father, bought a van with the
Michael still faces threats but wants his story to inspire others; and asks us to pray that his family will come to faith.
Fatima thanks the Lord for His protection, although she still faces threats from her family. She is also grateful that God fulfilled the vision He gave her: she now has four children, who along with her husband, all follow the Lord!
Recounting to me a similar experience was Michael*, who was brought up
in a strict Islamic home, but began
to question his faith while a student. Much to his family’s shame, he was thrown out of college.
Michael
I am thankful for the many such as Michael and Fatima who are turning to Christ but am reminded of the price they pay. Let’s hold them constantly in our prayers.
*Names changed to protect identities
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