Todd Nettleton with The Voice of the Martyrs, USA (VOM USA) says that the last five years have marked a rise in persecution of Christians.

“It’s certainly true in China. It’s true in the Middle East, it’s true in North Africa. And some of that is a good news story, because part of the reason for that is there’s more Christians in these places. There’s more Christians in the Middle East. So yes, there are more Christians who are facing persecution. The church is growing in China. So yes, there are more Christians who are potentially arrested or beaten or put in prison. There’s a good news side to that story; the church is growing, so there’s more persecution. But there’s a bad news side too, because that means there’s more of our brothers and sisters who are suffering.”

Persecution in Unseen Areas

According to the 2024 World Watch List from Open Doors, more than 380 million Christians face very high persecution for their faith. With fast internet and phone connections, the Church can often share stories within minutes of persecution. However, there are harder-to-reach areas where information is scarce. Nettleton notes that many of these difficult-to-reach places include areas of Africa like Eritrea, Mozambique, and Burkina Faso or places in the Middle East like Afghanistan.

(Photo courtesy of VOM USA)

“There were, I believe, five pastors who in 2024 marked 20 years in prison in Eritrea,” Nettleton states. “Some of those pastors I met. It’s great to talk about the joy of the Lord, and it’s great to talk about how the church is growing, but that’s 20 years that those guys have been in prison, and they’ve been away from their families. I know that the Lord is with them. I trust that He is caring for them and encouraging them, but that’s such a hard thing. So I never want to get depressed, but I also never want to forget that this is very real suffering that our brothers and sisters are encountering and dealing with.”

Yet, despite the intense persecution and years left languishing, many persecuted Christians truly exemplify James 1:2 by counting all their troubles as joy for the spread of the Gospel.

“One of the counterintuitive things about interviewing and talking to persecuted Christians is our picture of them is these sad, depressed, downtrodden people who have just suffered so much they can barely put one foot in front of the other,” Nettleton says. “Then when you sit down with them, they are filled with joy and excitement about what God is doing. Yes, it’s coming at a cost, but boy, look at what God is doing. They are not depressed.”

An Impetus for Sharing Truth

The bigger picture of what is happening fuels these brothers and sisters. Ultimately, the enemy they face is not men, but Satan and the forces of darkness. Pastors in the Middle East have told Nettleton that they don’t hate Muslims who persecute them. They know sin holds people hostage. Those in darkness need to be rescued. And whatever happens to the Christian, God will ultimately win the battle.

For many in the West, persecution is not a personal trial, but there are still ways to be faithful. The number one thing persecuted Christians ask for is prayer.

(Photo courtesy of VOM USA)

Nettleton challenges Christians. “Number one, commit to pray. Number two, educate yourself so that you can pray more effectively. And then number three is whatever God asks you to do. Do it because as you’re praying and as you’re learning, God’s going to put his thumb on something and say, ‘Okay, I want you to x’… We have to choose to be obedient when God asks us to do that.”

VOM USA offers many different ways for the Church to support persecuted Christians. Their app makes specific prayers simple. VOM USA also shares many resources and ways to get involved on their website. Commit to praying for the persecuted Church today.

Header photo courtesy of Voice of the Martyrs, USA

“If you are an ethnic Malay, the government says you are a Muslim. You have to be a Muslim. No one should talk to you about not being a Muslim. That ethnicity is sort of seen as off limits for the gospel by the government,” Nettleton says.

Those questioned are not known to be associated with mainstream American Christianity. But Nettleton points out: 

“In the minds of most of the Muslim world, to be an American is to be a Christian.”

In Malaysia, it’s not just the Malay people who are facing pressure. Hannah Yeoh is a member of Malaysia’s cabinet. Despite being ethnically Chinese, she’s taking flack for a book she authored which mentions her involvement with a Christian discipleship group in college. She is one of few Christians who hold positions of authority in Malaysia. 

“The fact that so many people seem to be so threatened by that is a very interesting insight into the country and into the pressure that our brothers and sisters there are facing,” Nettleton says. 

He says we need to be praying that Malaysian believers would grow in and share their faith. 

“They know there is pressure against them. They know there is a risk in that, and so I think we can pray for continued boldness and encouragement,” Nettleton says.

We can also pray that authorities would come to Christ.

Courtesy of Umaraffan via Pexels

“Because I think as we see people in authority living out that Christian faith, it really can have an impact on the entire country,” he says. 

While there is a place for street evangelism, these kinds of endeavors can’t replace the long work of ministry in Malaysia. 

“It is not one conversation. It is many conversations,” Nettleton points out. “It is not just meeting someone in a supermarket. It’s a cup of tea and then another cup of tea and then a chance to pray for them in the name of Jesus and to see Jesus answer that prayer. Yes, there is a place for gospel tracts. There is absolutely a place for people who are on vacation to have conversations about faith to hopefully plant some gospel seeds. But in terms of the effort to really reach the Malay people, that is a long-term commitment that is going to require people to have long term relationships with Malay people.” 

Featured photo courtesy of Deva Darshan via Unsplash

Todd Nettleton with Voice of the Martyrs, USA says the problem is two-fold. There are problems both with the Church and the government.

The Church’s Neglect

1 Corinthians 12 talks about the Body of Christ. The Church should be eagerly watching and caring for every member. However, often the Church does not see or seek out those actively suffering with persecution.

(Image courtesy of VOM USA)

Nettleton says, “It’s a misapplication of Scripture, which calls us when one part of the body is suffering, the other parts of the body are supposed to feel that. If we are cut off, [we] can’t feel that and so there’s the aspect of the Church and why doesn’t the Church pay more attention?”

Some of that answer may be ignorance. Voice of the Martyrs, USA seeks to change that. One of their purposes is, “To promote the fellowship of all believers by informing the world of the faith and courage of persecuted Christians, thereby inspiring believers to a deeper level of commitment to Christ and involvement in His Great Commission.”

However, the Church is not alone in a quiet response.

The Government’s Disinterest

Government leaders do not often actively pursue these issues for several reasons. Nettleton details two of those reasons.

1. Government officials work for re-election. Many elected officials do what they believe voters want to see. Nettleton says, “I think in some cases, it is, they don’t think their voters care about that. And they work for voters. And so we as voters, we need to let them know this is a priority to us. This is something we think about when we go to the ballot box.”
2. America is in debt. Telling a foreign government to change their laws and treat Christians better is tricky when we owe them more than we can pay. Nettleton explains, “It’s hard for us to do that because the borrower is the servant of the lender. And so, there is an economic reason why some of our government officials are hesitant to raise the issue of persecution with foreign governments.”

“This is a chance for us to affect their behavior.”

(Image courtesy of VOM USA)

There are ways to help believers around the world who are facing persecution. One way is by seeking change through political means. Voters in democratic nations wield a lot of power.

Nettleton says that after speaking with a congressman he realized that seeking out officials and calling or writing letters really does matter. Each call is recorded and cataloged. Officials are given a record on what constituents are asking about and eventually it affects their actions.

“So it really does make a difference, that we have a voice and that we let them know and we ask questions we ask educated questions about you know, special cases.”

Get Involved

You can make a difference. Go to persecution.com to learn more about Christian persecution worldwide and how you and your Church can help.

Also get involved politically. Nettleton states, “You know, as Americans, we have an opportunity to have a voice in our political process. Hopefully, our faith in Jesus Christ and our relationship with Him affects how we see the issues that we get an opportunity to have a voice in. And so hopefully, the things we believe the Scriptures that we’re reading, and our prayer life is going to affect how we interact with our politicians. It’s also going to affect how we vote for our politicians.”

Call your congressman with specific requests for helping persecuted Christians around the world. Make your voice heard.

But most of all, pray. Pray for the encouragement of believers facing trials. Pray that those who have a voice would stand for those who are being silenced.

(Header image courtesy of VOM USA)

On September 27, Fulani men stormed a Jos neighborhood and murdered 20 people in their homes. Nigerian military personnel did nothing to stop them. This led to a community riot when villagers became fed up with both the Islamist Fulani attacks and the lackluster military response.

These attacks continued for several days. During that time, more people were killed and properties destroyed. Seven students at the University of Jos were also murdered.

The Voice of the Martyrs has local staff in the area. One staff member reports, “The people who have been injured include children as young as 2 years old. We have been attacked multiple times starting from 2001. However, this is one of the most brutal attacks.”

Todd Nettleton, VOM’s Chief of Media Relations and Message Integration explains, “One of the things that’s very concerning about the attacks in September [is that] some of the Fulani attackers were dressed as soldiers. So if someone knocks on your door wearing an army uniform, you open your door…. Well, if it’s the attacker, then that raises all sorts of questions. How did they get these uniforms? Why were they wearing these uniforms? And why weren’t soldiers stopping these attacks?”

(Photo courtesy of Voice of the Martyrs)

Nettleton adds this caveat: “When I say Fulani, I always want to be careful to say Islamists from within the Fulani tribe, because Fulani is a very large tribe. We don’t want to paint all of them with the same brush also because thousands of Fulani are becoming followers of Christ. So we want to be very careful to say these are radical, Muslim Islamists from among that tribal group who conducted these attacks.”

Militant Fulani Muslim attacks are motivated in part by land wars and in part by religious zeal to drive out Christians. Both Nigerian Muslims and Christians have been targeted and feel unprotected by the government.

“Nigerians are frustrated that these attacks keep happening because they think there should be security.”

For Nigerian Christians, however, they also have a supernatural response. Nettleton says, against all odds, they are embracing joy, growing in their walk with the Lord, and even praying for their persecutors.

But here’s one of the best, untold stories in the midst of Nigeria’s dismal circumstances. Nettleton says, “Thousands of Fulani are following Jesus Christ. So this traditionally Muslim tribal group, ethnic group, thousands of them have left Islam behind and are now following Jesus Christ. So the Church there sees that and that tends to bridge some of these gaps.”

(Photo courtesy of Ray and Denice with Voice of the Martyrs, Canada)

Staff on the ground with VOM are responding to the tragedy in Jos with aid and encouragement. The ministry is in a position to respond to situations like attacks and displacement across Nigeria.

“Earlier this summer, there were more than 10,000 Nigerian Christians displaced. Voice of the Martyrs was able to help several thousand of them just with basic necessities — food and mosquito nets and a sleeping mat.”

Click here to support VOM’s ministry!

It may seem like a situation far-removed from the lives of believers outside Nigeria. But their story is not the story of “others”. It’s the story of “us”.

“We should care because this is our family. These are our brothers and sisters, they are going through a very difficult time, they are being attacked.” Nettleton says, “I have two brothers and I often think if one of my brothers was being attacked, of course, I would be upset about it and I would be like, ‘Wait a minute, I’m going to help, I’m going to step in, I’m going to bang the drum and make sure everyone knows my brother is being attacked.’”

So what can you do? “It’s interesting because the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church is coming up in just a couple weeks. That’s the number one way that we can help is to pray for these Nigerian Christians as well as for the attackers. We pray for our enemies as well, just as Christ asked us to do.”

As we pray for the attackers to come to Christ, the Church in Nigeria is growing more diverse with believers from various backgrounds. “We pray for unity within the Nigerian Church, that these ethnic tensions won’t spill over into the Church but that there will be unity there.”

Header photo courtesy of Voice of the Martyrs.

Brijesh Singh, the complainant’s advocate, alleges that these Christians were convincing people from local districts to attend a church in Baldeh village. According to Singh, they were even distributing “prohibited medicines and drugs” and prompting conversions while users were under the influence.

The Voice of the Martyrs’ Todd Nettleton explains, “The court, instead of saying that’s ridiculous, they actually allowed the charges to go forward. So now we have a First Information Report against 271 people for this charge of talking bad about Hinduism and it all goes back to those anti-conversion laws that are written to keep Christian groups and other groups from talking to Hindus about changing their faith.”

(Photo courtesy of World Watch Monitor)

The names of three Pentecostal pastors were released with the charges — Durga Prasad Yadav, Kirit Rai, and Jitendra Ram. The others accused are merely noted as their accomplices.

“This situation pretty clearly illustrates how the anti-conversion laws in India are being used against Christians. This is a case where an advocate from a radical Hindu group went to court and said, ‘Hey, look, these Christians are inducing people to change their religion.’”

Nettleton recently spoke with Pastor Kumar from the All India Christian Council on the Voice of the Martyrs Radio podcast. During the podcast, Nettleton shares, “[Pastor Kumar] talked about one of these anti-conversion laws, [which] says if you want to talk to someone about changing their faith,…six months before you are going to have that conversation you need to go before a magistrate and say, ‘I’m planning to have this conversation with this person about changing their faith,’ and get the magistrate to sign off on that.”

(Photo courtesy of Voice of the Martyrs Australia)

Anti-conversion laws like this are often used to target Christians and other religious minorities in India. They are also used to prevent Hindus from leaving the faith.

“That’s what these anti-conversion laws are. They are completely unreasonable, they completely undermine the promise of religious freedom that the Indian Constitution contains, and yet here we are again with a case where 271 people have been charged based on these completely unjust laws.”

It’s not just legally dangerous for Christians in India. Believers there also face physical danger. Uttar Pradesh is known for being one of the harshest Indian states for Christians to live. According to ADF-India and Project Doto, Uttar Pradesh had the most violent attacks and hate crimes committed against Christians in the first half of 2018.

Nettleton reminds us, “Yes, there are political aspects to it, but it’s a spiritual battle. We need to pray for Christians in India to continue to be bold witnesses even though they know this could happen. They know they could be taken to court. They know they could face charges when they have those conversations, but let’s pray that they stay encouraged and that they stay bold.”

Please pray specifically for the 271 Christians, including three pastors, who are facing these accusations. Pray for the charges to be cleared and for their faith to grow stronger in this situation.

(Photo courtesy of Voice of the Martyrs USA)

Also, he adds, “As the Bible tells us, let’s pray for the persecutors. Let’s pray for this radical Hindu group that is coming against the Church. Pray for the judge in the case and the attorneys involved, and pray for God’s spirit to move in the nation of India.”

Check out VOM Radio’s new website here!

Today, however, we rejoice to hear that Pastor Oqbamichel has been finally freed from prison, according to The Voice of the Martyrs Australia. He is currently in need of medical care.

Todd Nettleton with The Voice of the Martyrs USA says, “Many pastors [in Eritrea] have been arrested. Many Christians have been arrested. Typically, however, they’re not held as long as Pastor Oqbamichel was… We don’t know exactly why he was released at this time. Why not a year ago? Why not a year from now? We don’t know what the logic behind that is — or if there is any logic behind it.”

Pastor Oqbamichel Haiminot (Photo courtesy of The Voice of the Martyrs Australia)

Pastor Oqbamichel was the senior pastor of the Kale Hiwot (Word of Life) Church. His case garnered international attention in 2003 when he became the first senior church leader to be arrested in Eritrea for religious activities. Since then, Pastor Oqbamichel has been in and out of prison until he was jailed long-term in 2007.

“Eritrea is a country that has gone through a real crackdown against the Church since 2002. The government actually closed all of the Evangelical churches in Eritrea. [They] basically called in the church leaders and said, ‘Your churches can’t meet anymore.’ Every Christian activity after that became illegal.”

Open Doors ranks Eritrea on their World Watch List as the sixth worst country for Christian persecution.

Over the past several years, thousands of other Christians like Pastor Oqbamichel have been jailed in Eritrea for their faith. While we praise God for Pastor Oqbamichel’s release, your prayers are still needed.

“One of the things that’s amazing is the courage that it takes to continue to serve Christ when you know you could go to prison…. None of these Christians has ever actually even been charged with a crime. None of them has had a trial. None of them has gotten a lawyer or been allowed to present their case. They just get arrested and they kind of disappear.”

Nettleton offers this prayer: “Lord, give the Christians in Eritrea that kind of courage. Help them to be bold in spite of the risk, in spite of what they know could happen.”

(Screen capture courtesy of Prayercast)

Please pray also for the families of those who have been arrested for their faith. Ask God to draw near to the families missing their loved ones in prison. And pray for others in Eritrea who are not Christians to come to know Jesus as their Savior.

“I just hope that people will pray for the country of Eritrea. This is a country that a lot of Americans couldn’t find on a map…. So it’s a country we don’t think about a lot. It’s a country we don’t hear about a lot. But it is a country where it is very, very hard to be a Christian.”

The Voice of the Martyrs exists to encourage and equip the persecuted Church around the world. Click here to learn more about VOM’s ministry and how you can support them!

Previously, any Mauritanian who committed blasphemy or left the Muslim faith had three days to repent before they were punished. Penalties included prison terms or a death sentence.

However, a new law was passed on April 27th by the Mauritanian National Assembly. Todd Nettleton with The Voice of the Martyrs explains, “This new law sort of becomes more stringent — that three days to repent disappears. Everyone is going to be punished. Even if you do repent, you are still going to be punished. And in the case of blasphemous remarks or sacrilegious acts, according to the law, the death penalty is now mandatory.

Mauritania on the map. (Image courtesy of Open Doors USA)

“The other thing that was very fascinating to me is, in explaining this change in the law, the Minister of Defense said that ‘what we had before was actually in contradiction with official Sharia code, the official Sharia law. We want to be as close to the real Sharia law as possible, so we needed to eliminate that discrepancy between the two.’”

Mauritania is a Muslim nation and while no Christian has been given a death sentence yet, this law is especially concerning for new converts. A mandatory death sentence for apostasy could cause someone who is considering following Jesus to think twice.

Even though the CIA World Factbook reports that Mauritania is officially 100 percent Muslim, there is an underground Church presence. The Holy Spirit cannot be stopped at the Mauritania borders, and Mauritanian believers are living out their faith in secret. One of their biggest needs is fellowship.

“What often happens to someone who comes to faith in Christ is they are cut off. They are cut off from their Muslim friends. They are cut off even from their families. So having fellowship with other believers, having a way to be encouraged and to be discipled, those are challenging things in a country where there are so few Christians.”

There are a few things you can do to stand with our Christian brothers and sisters in Mauritania today.

First, Nettleton says, “People can call the Mauritania representatives in their home country and say, ‘We would like you to consider not having this apostasy law.’ The chances of that being effective are probably pretty slim, but it does send a message that the rest of the world is paying attention.”

And especially, you can pray. “Let’s pray that God’s Spirit will move. The Bible talks about God directing the hearts of kings, God directing governments, and so let’s pray that there is a change of heart and that Mauritanians would be free to choose their own religious path.”

Learn more about Voice of the Martyrs and how you can support their ministry!

(Header photo courtesy of The Voice of the Martyrs)

After the failed 2016 coup in Turkey, the government conducted sweeping arrests. Andrew Brunson and his wife, Norine Brunson, had been in the country for 23 years serving the Turkish Church. When they were summoned to a local police station, they thought it was to collect their permanent residence permits. Instead, they were arrested.

Todd Nettleton with Voice of the Martyrs says, “The early thought was they were going to revoke their visas and send them home. They arrested both Andrew and Norine. She was then released and at that time, Andrew was transferred instead into a kind of immigration holding cell, into an actual prison. That’s when it came out [that] this isn’t just an immigration issue.”

Andrew and Norine Brunson (Photo courtesy of World Watch Monitor)

Brunson was charged with terrorism and espionage in collaboration with Fethullah Gulen, a Muslim cleric the Turkish government believes orchestrated the coup. However, no evidence was presented for these charges against Brunson besides supposed anonymous witnesses. Since then, he has become a political pawn.

Gulen currently resides in the United States. According to the BBC, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated in September that Turkey would be willing to release Brunson if the US handed over Gulen. The US government dismissed the hostage swap suggestion.

Meanwhile, US officials continue to make a strong appeal for Brunson’s release.

Nettleton shares, “We know that one of the Brunson’s senators from North Carolina was present in the courtroom along with the Ambassador-at-Large for Religious Freedom, Sam Brownback…. So definitely a show that the American government is very interested in this case [and] is watching closely what happens.”

This hearing was the first opportunity for Brunson to state his innocence before the court. He requested to be sent home under house arrest, but the judge denied Brunson’s request. After his Monday hearing, Brunson was sent to a different Turkish prison notorious for overcrowding. The next hearing has been scheduled for May 7.

The trial is still ongoing, but there is no telling how often Brunson will be granted court hearings or how long the process will take overall. “Now we wait to see, okay, what happens next?”

VOM Radio was able to interview Brunson’s daughter, Jacqueline Furnari. She says of the possible 35-year sentence, “I think it sounds so crazy that I can’t even process what that would look like. Thirty-five years for him would mean he would get out when he’s 85, which means his whole life is just gone. He would miss out on so much of his time that he could be spending with my mom. He would miss out on seeing my siblings and I grow up and transition into adult life, make decisions, get married, have children. So it’s very painful to think of that possibility.”

Andrew and Norine Brunson (Photo courtesy of Open Doors USA)

Brunson has already missed out on a lot during these last 18 months in prison. Right before he was detained, Furnari’s husband — who was simply her boyfriend at the time — sent Brunson a picture of the ring he was planning to propose with, and received his future father-in-law’s blessing.

Furnari shares, “Since that time, I have gotten married. My dad has definitely missed out on a lot, but my husband and I decided to wait for a ceremony for my father because I promised him that he will walk me down the aisle. So I’m still waiting for that, still hoping.”

She says the first few months of her father’s arrest were very confusing and overwhelming for him. But now, “I think in the last few months, he’s really come to be a lot more at peace with the situation. He has calmed down a bit more. He’s been able to spend more time with God and has just accepted and said, ‘Lord, my life is yours. I may not be happy with the situation but I’m really relying on you and you are worthy of everything I am going through.’”

For herself, Furnari reflects, “What’s really come out of this experience is I’ve definitely started to understand — whether I like a situation or not, whether there are world powers involved in a situation or not — God is ultimately in control and He has a plan. That is something that has given me a lot of comfort to know that ultimately, God has it.”

As the trial progresses, please pray for Brunson and his family to feel God’s comfort and strength at this time. Pray for all those involved in the case to have wisdom and seek justice. And pray for the Brunson family and the Turkish Church to be a faithful witness to the Gospel in persecution.

Click here to sign the ACLJ petition for Brunson’s freedom.

“Thank you so, so much for caring about this situation and praying faithfully for my family, for my dad, and the Turkish Church as a whole,” says Furnari. “I think that this situation has drawn a lot more attention to what is going on in Turkey and what is happening with the Church there. The extra prayer that’s been flowing in I think has been really making a difference. Thank you for your faithfulness and following up with the situation, praying constantly,…really we can’t express how grateful we are for that.”

(Header photo courtesy of World Witness)

The North Korean guard continued to beat Kyung-ja with a club even as she faded in and out of consciousness. She had snuck into China to try and earn money for food to bring back to her starving family in North Korea. But when Kyung-ja returned to North Korea, she was arrested.

Todd Nettleton with Voice of the Martyrs USA shares, “Her interrogator kept asking her about God. ‘Did people in China talk to you about God? Did you meet with people who are followers of God? Did you read the book about God while you were in China?’

“Kyung-ja had had no contact with Christians even while she was in China. In fact, she had never heard the name of God and she kept telling the interrogator, ‘I don’t know who that is! I don’t know who you’re talking about!’”

(Photo courtesy of Voice of the Martyrs USA)

From there, Kyung-ja was transferred to a labor camp. She asked another prisoner about God, and even her fellow prisoner affirmed there was a God but was too afraid to talk about him in the camp. However, Nettleton says the Holy Spirit planted a seed.

“If [God] was so scary to the North Korean guards and the interrogators, maybe he was powerful. She began to pray, ‘God, I don’t know if you’re real. I don’t know who you are. But if you’re there and if you can hear me, can you help me?’ She began to see answers to prayer even in those very simple, early, desperate prayers.”

Eventually, Kyung-ja escaped North Korea again. Her daughter had defected to South Korea and when Kyung-ja connected with her on the phone, her daughter was able to answer her questions about God, Jesus, and the Bible.

Kyung-ja is now faithfully following Christ and lives in South Korea where Nettleton met with her.

“She has been discipled, she now has been given God’s book so she can read it, and has really come to faith in Christ and understands what that means to have faith in Christ.”

When a North Korean man or woman chooses to follow Jesus, they know right from the get-go that it means to dedicate their entire life to him — because they could very well lose their life for him.

Nettleton explains, “They certainly know that being a believer in North Korea is a death sentence. It’s the most dangerous thing you can be in North Korea. The North Korean government views Christians as treasonous, as a threat to their government. So people in North Korea know if you follow Jesus Christ, if you have a Bible, if you are caught listening to a Christian radio broadcast, the likelihood is you are going to die, whether it is by execution immediately or you die in a labor camp.”

Currently, the world’s attention is on the Korean peninsula with the Winter Olympics taking place in South Korea until February 25th. But just 50 miles from the Olympic stadium is the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). And past that border, it is illegal to be a Christian or own a Bible.

(Photo courtesy of Voice of the Martyrs USA)

“I hope as people are watching the Olympics, it is a constant reminder to pray for North Korea, to pray for the people there. All the people are oppressed, but Christians are oppressed more than anyone else. So pray for our Christian brothers and sisters. There are Christians in North Korea. There are people who are following Christ,” says Nettleton.

“The other thing I want to encourage people to do is just to pray for the country as a whole. One of the things that struck me as I was in South Korea meeting with North Korean defectors is how common the stories of death are. It seemed like everybody had lost someone, whether it was someone who had been executed by the government or someone who was sent to a labor camp and they just never heard from them again. They assume they’re dead and, in fact, they kind of hope they’re dead, that they’re not still suffering in that camp. Another shared a story of a spouse who committed suicide. The hopelessness was so great that the spouse just ended their life.

“It’s hard to hear stories like that and think about how much suffering is going on inside North Korea. But hopefully, that motivates us to pray for that country.”

You can also be a tangible encouragement and help spread the Gospel in North Korea by supporting Voice of the Martyrs! When you give to VOM’s ministry, you are supporting balloon launches into North Korea with Gospel materials, frontline workers sharing the Gospel and distributing Bibles secretly in North Korea, and other covert operations.

Click here to give to ministry in North Korea.

(Header photo courtesy of Open Doors USA)

*Name changed for security purposes.

The ten countries named as CPCs are Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

Todd Nettleton with The Voice of the Martyrs USA explains, “The State Department does this every year as mandated by the US International Religious Freedom Act, a law passed by Congress that calls on them to make religious freedom a part of United States diplomatic relations. So the bill calls for the State Department to really look at other countries’ records on religious freedom and really use our diplomatic interactions to try to encourage countries to provide more religious freedom.”

But why is designating Countries of Particular Concern even helpful? Nettleton says it’s more than just a label.

(Photo courtesy of Voice of the Martyrs)

“By being designated as CPCs, it allows the US government to respond in some different ways, up to and including sanctions and other things designed to kind of goad these countries into treating religious minorities better.”

Another thing that makes the list of CPCs unique is these are countries where the government is facilitating persecution of religious minorities — as opposed to persecution just from community members or private groups.

Each year, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) recommends nations to the State Department for CPC designation. USCIRF’s Chairman Daniel Mark stated, “The designation of these countries is a key step in ensuring continued U.S. engagement in support of international religious freedom. Although USCIRF agrees with the 10 countries on the State Department’s list, it does not go far enough. Secretary Tillerson should have also designated the Central African Republic, Nigeria, Pakistan, Russia, Syria, and Vietnam.”

USCIRF also recommends that the State Department designates Entities of Particular Concern (EPC) — namely, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in Iraq and Syria; the Taliban in Afghanistan; and al-Shabaab in Somalia.

The State Department did not name any EPCs at the time of last week’s announcement. But USCIRF says they are still hopeful for EPC designations sometime this year as they continue to collaborate with the State Department and the White House.

However, for the first time last week, the State Department did add a “Special Watch List” for countries that tolerate severe violations of religious freedom, but aren’t yet considered bad enough to be CPCs. Pakistan was the only country placed on the Special Watch List.

(Photo courtesy of Voice of the Martyrs Canada)

All of the nations listed as CPCs this year were named as CPCs last year too. So Nettleton says, all in all, the list isn’t surprising. But it will be interesting to see what happens next year in light of this new Special Watch List.

“Because all of these countries were on the list last year and they’re on the list this year again, I don’t see it having a dramatic effect [on US international relations]. Where we might see something more dramatic is if new countries were named. For instance, if a year from now Pakistan is added to the list, that potentially puts some things in play as far as our relationship with Pakistan.”

Religious minorities in the Countries of Particular Concern come from a variety of religions. Christians are one of the religious minorities that often face severe oppression and persecution in these nations.

“All of these countries are countries that Voice of the Martyrs identifies on our prayer map in addition to many others. They designated ten. We have identified 68 countries where Christians are facing persecution,” Nettleton shares.

“We have projects in each of these countries to help the Church, to help Christians respond to persecution, to provide Bibles for Christians, and to support evangelist and Gospel workers in all of these countries to continue sharing the Gospel and advancing the Kingdom.”

Click here to support VOM’s ministry to the persecuted Church.

But, Nettleton says really the biggest way you can support our persecuted Christian brothers and sisters is through fervent prayer.

“Honestly, that’s the first thing [persecuted believers] ask us to do is pray for them. Pray that they will be protected. Pray that they will be encouraged. And pray that they will continue to be bold witnesses for Christ even in times when they do face persecution.”