Nigeria – The sharp blade of a machete cut the ropes that tied Pastor Ojih’s feet together. Rough hands jerked him to his feet from the ground where he had laid for hours, singing praises to God with his cheek pressed into the dirt.

Pastor Ojih and several other Christians had been captured by radical Islamists, bound, and left alone to contemplate their fate under the scorching heat of Nigeria’s sun. They were told to stand and decide their fate.

“If you want to live for Christ, go to this side,” his captor said, jerking his hand toward a man dressed in white with a sword who stood apart from the captives. “If you want to go for Mohammad, remain where you are.”

Pastor Ojih led the way for those who would stand for Christ with a song of praise coming from his lips. Seven others followed. He watched, with tears in his eyes, as the men who turned to Islam to save their lives began to recite the Arabic vows to convert to Islam.

Pastor Ojih kneeled in front of his executioner and was given one last chance. His executioner raised his sword and asked him if he wanted to live as a Muslim or die as a Christian.

The husband and father of four turned to his companions and spoke his last words. “If you survive, tell my family that I died well and am living with Christ. And if we all die, we know that we died for the Lord.”

After hearing the testimonies of so many martyrs over the years, I’m struck by the fact that in account after account, you will find that the death of the martyr often involves a conscious choice. They are given a choice to turn away from Christ and live or to die in Christ.

If you are like most people, when you read accounts like Pastor Ojih and these early Christians, you are struck by their courage and are probably asking yourself, “Could I do what they did? Could I die as a faithful witness with a sword over my neck?”

In Luke 14:33, Jesus says, “Any of you who does not give everything he has, cannot be my disciple.” Are we willing to give up everything, even our own life, for God? He demands our everything, and yet we hold back. Our love for the world and its comforts often rivals our love for the One who offers us the greatest of treasures, an unconditional, incomprehensible love and the gift of eternal life.

Jesus calls us in Matthew 22 to love the Lord with all of our heart, soul, and mind. The martyrs are an inspiring example of what loving the Lord with all that is within us looks like. They’re not just being willing, but purposefully choosing to lay down their very life in order to demonstrate just how invaluable the love of God is. They consider the cost of their life a small price to pay for the great reward of being found faithful in Him.

Ojih and the apostles’ fate was sealed long before they met their executioner. Why? Because they had found the ultimate treasure that was worth everything to them. This is why death (eternal life) is their choice.
Sources:persecution

http://theendtimeradio.com

Panama — After spending three months in Panama, a 27-year-old Iranian woman is still praying and searching for a safe country to accept her. And her time is running out.

Artemis Ghasemzadeh must find a haven by June 7, when her two-month humanitarian visa expires. Otherwise, she will be returned to Iran, where she will face extreme persecution for leaving Islam.

Ghasemzadeh’s journey began months ago when she fled Iran with her older brother, Shahin, first to Dubai and then to Mexico, where they hired a smuggler to take them into the United States.

The siblings were detained together for five days in San Diego and then separated: Ghasemzadeh to Panama with other refugees, and her brother to a Houston detention facility, where he remains. Other families were separated, too.

“At first, I thought we were going to Texas,” Ghasemzadeh told International Christian Concern (ICC) staffers during a WhatsApp video call this week. “And when we heard Panama, I was like, ‘Is that in the United States?’”

A phalanx of photographers and journalists met the Iranian refugees at the Panama hotel in late February. The New York Times broke the story, followed by other media outlets that were critical of the Trump Administration’s anti-immigration policies.

Ghasemzadeh spent a month at an unsanitary camp near the Darién Gap jungle, choosing to sleep outdoors, before moving to a hotel in Panama City with UNICEF support.

She is now staying with two Christian families from Iran and asylum-seekers from China, Vietnam, and Pakistan. They were initially given 30 days to leave the country but received a two-month reprieve.

Ghasemzadeh and her brother knew the challenges and risks of their journey. They were caught in the timing and dragnet of changing U.S. immigration policies and executive orders. Still, they were desperate to flee oppression in Iran, where converts to Christianity must hide their faith and worship as part of an underground house church, a growing and loose collection of believers who use apps to connect and support each other. Christian friends were caught and arrested.

When news about Ghasemzadeh’s situation broke, Iranian police visited her mother — her parents are divorced — seeking anything tied to her daughter and Christianity. Ghasemzadeh fears for her mother’s safety.

“In Iran, being a Christian when you’re born is OK,” Ghasemzadeh said. “There are even beautiful churches. But if you’re a Muslim and you convert to Christianity, it’s a problem. The police want to catch you because it’s not good for [the country].”

Armenian, Assyrian, and Catholic communities exist in Iran. Yet, like other Muslim-majority countries in the Middle East and beyond, Iran has strict anti-conversion laws that are punishable by imprisonment or death. Many Christians, criminals, politicians, and enemies of the state are sent to Iran’s notorious Evin Prison, which the U.S. Department of State and other bodies have cited for its human rights violations.

Lawyers from New York, Mexico, and Colombia are helping Ghasemzadeh and the other refugees in Panama find a country that will accept them. So far, potential sponsors have fallen through.

Ghasemzadeh said she would “rather die” than go back to Iran, knowing the fate that awaits her. ICC continues to advocate with government entities on Ghasemzadeh’s behalf and share her plight with the world.

Refoulement, or the forced return of refugees and asylum seekers to countries where they are likely to face persecution, is prohibited in many international treaty bodies, including the Convention against Torture and the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (ICPPED). The United States is party to the Convention against Torture but has refused to sign the ICPPED.

Adherence to non-refoulement is, according to the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, “an implicit guarantee flowing from the obligations to respect, protect and fulfill human rights.”

While Ghasemzadeh remains surprisingly upbeat, peaceful, and feels the Lord’s presence in big and small ways, the reality of being cast away eats at her soul.

“I have many nightmares now. I don’t have my hometown, I don’t have the USA, and I don’t have a safe country; I don’t know the next step, where should I live … it’s really scary for me,” she said. “It’s a trip where you never come back to your country, and it may be the last time you see all of your family; maybe you can visit your family in the country, maybe not.”

Shahin became a follower of Christ in 2015 while living in Turkey. Ghasemzadeh visited him often and attended his church in part “to not be lonely.” When Shahin gave his sister a Bible, she absorbed the Scriptures. She became a believer in 2022.

In Panama, Ghasemzadeh spends most of her time at the hotel, fellowshiping with other believers and practicing her Spanish, or taking walks. She stays in touch with her brother in Houston and connects with friends and family on social media.
She writes in her journal each night and knows the Lord is near, that he has a plan for her life.

“Whatever happens to you, you should pray to God,” she said, “the good, the bad, you should just pray.”

Recently, Ghasemzadeh was reminded of Psalm 126:5: “Those who sow in tears will reap in shouts of joy.”

“I cry so much,” she said. “I’m waiting for my shouting of miracles.”
Sources:persecution

http://theendtimeradio.com

പാലക്കാട് കേന്ദ്രമാക്കി പ്രവർത്തിച്ചു വരുന്ന എബനേസർ പ്രെയർ വാരിയേഴ്സിൻ്റെ നാലാമത് വാർഷിക സമ്മേളനവും, സുവിശേഷ മഹായോഗവും ഈ മാസ° 15ാം തീയതി വ്യാഴാഴ്ച രാവിലെ 9-30 മണിയ്ക്ക് തുടക്കം കുറിക്കും. പാലക്കാട് തച്ചമ്പാറ കെ.ജി.എം ആഡിറ്റോറിയത്തിൽ രാവിലെ 9.30-ന് ശാരോൻ ഫെലോഷിപ്പ് ചർച്ച് പാലക്കാട് സെൻ്റർ മിനിസ്റ്റർ ജോർജ്ജ് മാത്യു (ബാബു) ഉത്ഘാടനം നിർവഹിക്കും
9.30 മുതൽ വാർഷിക സമ്മേളനവും ഉച്ച കഴിഞ്ഞ് 2.30 ന് കാത്തിരിപ്പ് യോഗവും വൈകിട്ട് 6 മണി മുതൽ സുവിശേഷ യോഗവും നടക്കും പാസ്റ്റർ റെജി മാത്യു, പാസ്റ്റർ എബിൻ ജോർജ്ജ്, സിസ്റ്റർ ജയ്നി മറിയം ജയിംസ് സിസ്റ്റർ ഗ്ലോറി എബ്രഹാം എന്നിവർ വിവിധ സെക്ഷനുകളിൽ വചനം പ്രസംഗിക്കും. ബ്രദർ പോൾസൺ കണ്ണൂർ നയിക്കുന്ന ടീം ഗാനശുശ്രൂഷ നിർവഹിക്കും പാസ്റ്റർ ജോർജ് മാത്യു, സിസ്റ്റർ ജീനാ ജോർജ്ജ് എന്നിവർ നേതൃത്വം നൽകും.
Sources:gospelmirror

http://theendtimeradio.com