Hana Hagos Asgedom, 41, was a disciple of Jesus Christ who was martyred for her Savior on January 24th, 2010 at a prison camp in Eritrea.  Eritrea is infamous for its persecution of evangelical Christians - warehousing several thousand believers in shipping containers without toilets, running water, or air conditioning.  

Hana had been incarcerated at Wi'a Military Camp since 2007 and had been transferred to the Alla Military Camp approximately 7 months ago when the Wi'a Camp was closed.  Voice of the Martyrs Canada reports that Hana was offered a final chance to renounce her faith when she arrived at the new camp.  "When she refused, she was placed in solitary confinement.  Shortly before her death, she reportedly endured beatings with an iron rod for refusing to 'make the chief commander in the camp a cup of coffee'."  Local Christians stated that the real order for which she was beaten involved a sexual advance.  Hana was then taken back to her cell where she was subjected to further punishment and eventually went on to her eternal reward. 

Here at Smyrna we learn about many new incidents of persecution every day.  Usually I just keep on reading.  Yesterday, however, as I was reading about Hana, I simply could not put her suffering out of my mind and continue on to the next account of persecution.  My heart cringed at how she must have felt at the unspeakable torture she endured. 

Ultimately, the Holy Spirit led me to Revelation 6:9-11 - concerning the Tribulation when the fifth seal is broken in heaven and John saw the martyrs under the altar:  "And when He broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, 'How long, O Lord, holy and true, wilt Thou refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?'  And there was given to them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, should be completed also."

Hana maintained her testimony to the end and is now at rest.  She is in the presence of Jesus.  I can envision her in her white robe.  And I long for the day when the number of her fellow martyrs will be complete. 

Our Executive Director called me into his office this morning and said he'd received a reminder of why we are here.  The leader of the ministry with whom we partner in West Africa had sent us an email in which he'd asked us to pray. 

He mentioned over 10,000 children in their child care program providing intervention in the areas of education, health, nutrition, water, and sanitation. 

He spoke of approximately 850 women in their micro-enterprise development program who are gaining skills, dignity, and hope for their future. 

He envisions a radio ministry reaching out with the Good News to four different people groups in his region. 

Most importantly, he told us how in 2009 approximately 350 people came to faith in Jesus Christ in 17 churches planted in rural mud-hut villages.  He allowed as how the ministry had been difficult in the last year, but they could not stop.  Over 300 people are dying without Christ in his area each day of the year. 

I'm grateful for our partner's ability to focus on the priority of reaching lost souls for Christ even as his ministry provides for the practical, physical needs of the people.  And I'm grateful for his reminder of why we are here ...

Events in the aftermath of Lebanon's June elections have chilled my soul to the bone. Although not achieving a majority in Parliament, Hezbollah did win a majority of the popular vote (55%). That, however, was not what gripped my heart.
 
Hezbollah, founded, funded and controlled by the government in Iran, is a ruthless, Islamist, terrorist organization bent on the destruction of Israel and the West. It is the most powerful military force in Lebanon, intimidating the government's military units. Hezbollah is a tool of the Iranian mullahs who envision a Shia crescent of hegemony running from Iran through Iraq, Syria and Lebanon to the doorstep of Israel, ultimately resulting in the death of Israel as a nation and a Shia-controlled Palestinian nation.
 
What shocked me was the fact that 70% of the Christians in Lebanon (including many evangelicals) have aligned themselves politically with Hezbollah for security reasons in what the writer of an article in the WEA Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin called a “covenant of death”. (See Isaiah 28:14-22.) How could so many who claim Jesus as their Saviour affiliate with those who reject the Saviour's Cross? Additionally, we learn from the article that 70,000 believers have fled Lebanon since mid-2006.
 
In order to pray effectively for this situation, we must first understand why so many Christians support Hezbollah. American evangelicals tend to believe that God's promise to “bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you” is still applicable to the current state of Israel (as I believe). However, believers in the Middle East tend to have a different view of Israel. Arab Christians in Lebanon have seen Israeli bombs dropping on Lebanon in response to the barrage of Hezbollah rockets on Israel during the summer of 2006 through a different lens. Many have never seen accurate news reports describing how Hezbollah attacked first and others simply believe that Israel responded too forcefully no matter whether or not Hezbollah initiated the conflict. Most Lebanese Christians see Israel as the aggressor and Hezbollah as defending them against Israel's attacks.
 
I had a conversation a few months back with an Arab Christian who did not like Israel. His dislike went back to 1982 when Israel pushed the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) out of Lebanon to put a stop to PLO attacks on their northern border. He believed, based on regional news reports at the time, that Ariel Sharon had led Israeli troops into refugee camps at Sabra and Shattila in Lebanon to commit a massacre. I am very familiar with this conflict because I was flying a helicopter with supplies for the U.S. Marines into their encampment at the Beirut airport from a U.S. Navy supply ship at the time. During their military action, the Israelis were aligned with the militias of several factions in Lebanon including the Christian Phalange. One of those factions brutally attacked the two refugee camps at Sabra and Shattila, leaving a trail of death and destruction.
 
Ariel Sharon, then Israel's minister of defense, was held indirectly responsible for the massacre by an Israeli investigating committee, not because he ordered or initiated it, but because he did not do enough to stop it. He was not welcomed in polite company in Israel for many years as a result. Israel as a nation neither initiated nor condoned the attacks at Sabra and Shattila, yet most Middle Eastern Christians believe it was undertaken by the Israelis.
 
We should have understanding and compassion for Lebanese Christians who have seen Israeli bombs dropped on their nation, even as we disapprove of their alignment with Hezbollah. Pray that God will remove the scales from the eyes of those believers who have allied themselves with enemies of the Cross in a “covenant of death”. Pray for those who have been forced to flee Lebanon in recent years. And please ask our Heavenly Father to touch the hearts of Hezbollah terrorists and draw them to Christ. 

Recently during my morning devotions, I read a verse, Jeremiah 8:11, that shook me to the core.  I have been using a chronological (vice canonical order) Bible for my morning devotions, and it uses the New Living Translation (NLT).  Jeremiah 8:11 in the NLT struck me in a way that it never had in previous readings in other translations.  In Jeremiah chapter 8, God is speaking through Jeremiah to rebuke the priests and prophets of Israel for telling the Israelites that they will experience peace and prosperity despite their wicked devotion to idols and other sinful ways.  The second half of the verse is familiar to many as God is telling the priests and prophets that they are saying "Peace, Peace, when there is no peace."  But the NLT's version of the first part of Jer. 8:11 is what was so compelling to me.  "They offer superficial treatments for my people's mortal wounds." 

Now I realize that this verse was directed at the priests and prophets of Israel and was in a much different context than my own.  Still, I was figuratively knocked to the floor as I asked myself, "Am I doing everything I can as an officer of Smyrna Ministries International (and more importantly as a disciple of Christ) to pray, to encourage, and to provide tangible support to my brothers and sisters in Islamic strongholds who suffer unspeakable horrors for calling on the name of Jesus?  Or am I offering "superficial treatments for [His] people's mortal wounds"?  Am I offering "spiritual" platitudes when more concrete actions are required?  Am I in a sense doing what James condemned in James 2:15-16?  "If a brother or a sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, 'Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,' and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?"

These questions have haunted me for the last ten days...

Several years ago at a National Day of Prayer gathering at my church, a woman rose to discuss prayer.  She mentioned how so many of us, when faced with a problem for which we have no easy answers, will say, "Well, the least we can do is pray."  She went on, "That is so wrong!!  Prayer is not the least we can do; prayer is the MOST we can do!!" 

The lady was absolutely correct.  Prayer may not be only thing we can do to address problems and suffering and lost souls, but it is the most important and first thing we should do.  It has been said that when man acts, man acts; but when man prays, God acts.  We know from Scripture that when we pray in accordance with God's will that He makes the same power available to us that raised Christ from the dead.  If we want to see the resurrection power of God at work, then we must pray. 

When I meet leaders of the Persecuted Church during my overseas trips and ask what their greatest need is, almost invariably they respond, "Pray for us."  Our Executive Director has traveled across the oceans to meet with persecuted Christians for many decades and he finds the same thing.  Virtually without exception they ask him to raise up prayer for the Persecuted Church. 

George Mueller, the great English evangelist and founder of orphanages in the 19th century, decided one day to pray for 5 unsaved friends.  After many months, one friend committed his life to Christ.  After 10 years, two more of his friends decided to serve the Lord.  It took 25 years for the fourth man to be saved.  Mueller persevered in prayer until his death for the salvation of his fifth friend, and throughout those 52 years he never gave up hope that his friend would accept Christ.  His faithfulness was rewarded when, not long after his funeral, the last of his friends called on Christ. 

On behalf of our brothers and sisters who suffer grievously under the thumb of Islam, please be faithful in your prayer for them.  By all means, give to support beneficial projects.  Go and visit the persecuted if you can.  But whatever else you may be able to do, please persevere in prayer for the Persecuted Church in Islamic strongholds.  Persistent, prevailing prayer is the most important thing you can do. 

The Druse (or Druze) are a people group in the Middle East whose faith is an offshoot of Islam.  Some consider the Druse as Muslims while others consider them a distinct religion grown out of Islam but separate.  While on my recent Middle Eastern trip, we visited one of the pastors associated with our partner ministry who pastors among the Druse. 

The Druse are a very hospitable, welcoming people.  This pastor is a warm-hearted, gentle soul who loves his people very much.  His ministry is very much similar to many pastors you know.  And yet God is using his ministry in an uncommon way.  When he prays for his congregants concerning their illnesses, they experience healing in numbers far greater than we in the West seem to experience and from quite difficult diseases. 

He does not hold healing services or advertise.  He is extremely humble and gives all credit to the Lord.  When someone asks how he heals people, he tells them that he doesn't heal, Jesus does.  Pray for this pastor that he will continue to minister in all humility and that people will come to Christ through his ministry not because of physical healing but because of the spiritual healing that comes through repentance from sin and dependence on Jesus Christ. 

During my recent Middle East visit, we learned of a woman in one city whose husband abandoned her and her four children.  The woman had no means of support and no place to live.  She went to her imam seeking help.  He told her there were several unused rooms at the mosque and she and her kids could stay there. 

There was a cost to staying in those rooms.  The imam and some of his men used the woman horribly.  She was drowning in shame and helplessness.  Praise God that the story does not end there. 

Our partner ministry has been able to help the woman to find housing and employment.  She has trusted her life to Jesus.  While she still has some struggle with her memories of what happened to her, she is rejoicing in her new-found faith in Christ and her deliverance from an unbearable circumstance.  Pray for her growth as a disciple of Christ and for her children's salvation and education. 

Our partner in the Middle East took me to visit his ministry's pastor to Gypsies during my recent Middle East trip.  During the pastor's first visit to a Gypsy camp, he told them about Jesus and offered to start a literacy class for the camp.  Most of the adults were illiterate, and they agreed to the literacy class.  During his talk he noticed one man, about 60 years old, who sat in the front row with tears streaming down his face. 

After the meeting, the tearful man offered his home for the literacy classes.  The pastor, as was his custom, again spoke from the Scriptures for the first few minutes at the initial class.  Then he began to teach the Gypsies to read.  The older man who had offered his home again teared up.  The class was so full that a new venue had to be obtained for the class. 

The man continued to come to the literacy class and often stayed afterward to talk with the pastor.  After awhile he committed his life to Christ - the pastor's first convert from Islam among the Gypsies.  More time went by and then one day the man pulled the pastor aside after class and asked to speak with him. 

The man explained to the pastor how his wife several years previously had needed surgery for which he could not pay.  The Gypsies can't afford health insurance.  He told how another wealthy man had offered him the equivalent to $2000 for the surgery.  All he had to do was sign a paper (which he couldn't read).  He signed the paper, received the money, and his wife had her surgery.  Later the man who gave him the money demanded the equivalent of over 15 times the original amount.  He responded that he had only received $2000.  The man pointed to the paper and said that he had agreed to repay the larger amount. 

The wealthy man threatened the Gypsy man with prison if he didn't repay.  The man responded that he would never be able to repay that much money.  The wealthy man told him then that he could either go to prison or give him his daughter in lieu of the money.  The Gypsy man told the wealthy man that he would go to prison.  But the Gypsy's daughter did not want her father to go to prison.  She decided to go with the wealthy man. 

The Gypsy man then told his pastor that they had not seen their daughter in two years and had no idea where she was.  The pastor told him that he did not know for sure what he could do specifically at the moment but that he would pray for his daughter's return.  Within the next several weeks the daughter returned to the family.  The wealthy man had put her out as a prostitute in a large city.  He used some form of black magic to control her.  She explained that she had felt under bondage from which she could not escape. 

The daughter had previously asked the wealthy man to allow her to return home, but he had always refused.  Then one day she felt as though the bondage had been lifted.  She asked the wealthy man if she could return home, and he said yes.  When they discussed what day this had actually happened, they discovered that her release occured the same day that the pastor had begun to pray for her release. 

Now the young son of the first Gypsy convert is in desperate need of surgery.  We were able to help our Middle East partner to assist the family with the necessary resources to have the surgery done.  We praise God for the way He uses faithful men such as the pastor to the Gypsy camp to bring souls from all tribes, tongues, nations, and peoples into His kingdom. 

Our ministry partner in India whom I visited in February sent us a wonderful report about a recent retreat his ministry conducted.  Thirty-two Muslim women and young girls participated.  They had the "opportunity to listen to the creation story and learn about a loving and caring God, against the Islamic belief of a slave-master relationship with God".  They discussed "His supreme creation - man - and his disobedience that separated us from God".  Our partner "promised them that in the next meeting he would tell them about the plan God has made to reunite us with Him". 

Please pray that:

• the Spirit of God would continue to work in the lives of these women and girls till they come to faith in Isa Al-Masih (Jesus Christ)
• our brothers and sisters in India would continue to enjoy the blessing and protection of our heavenly Father as they minister to the Muslim community

While on my recent Middle East trip, we met a young woman who was a convert from an offshoot branch of Islam.  As a teenager Narjes became disillusioned with her religion and sought answers.  In time she found Jesus Christ and surrendered her life to Him. 

Her parents tried to force her to recant her newfound faith in Christ but failed.  They threatened her not to tell anyone about Jesus because that would bring shame to her prominent family.  Whenever she brought a Bible home, her parents would throw it away as soon as they found it.  Her mother would never leave her alone in the house so that she couldn't pray.  Narjes played hymns on her guitar for a time praying the hymns' words in her mind.  After a year or so, her mother figured out what she was doing and threw away the guitar. 

As Narjes grew older she took classes while still living at home and gained a professional license.   She secretly kept a Bible at school, and each day she would copy a page of the Bible.  Carrying the copied Scripture home under her clothing, she memorized verses late at night. 

Narjes earned good money at her profession and managed to put away some savings.  Her parents wanted her to marry a cousin of her parents' faith.  She wanted to be able to live out her own faith. 

Ultimately Narjes ran away from home, and her parents are still trying to track her down.  She changes apartments every few months to avoid detection.  She can no longer practice as a licensed professional because her parents could use her license to find her if she is employed in her profession.  She had found work paying a fraction of her former salary.  Recently the decline in the world economy caused layoffs where she worked, and she is currently unemployed.  She has used up her savings. 

Despite sacrificing her family relationships and her profession, joy radiates from Narjes' face as she talks about Jesus.  Now in her twenties, Narjes is one of the youngest women in her new congregation.  Yet her pastor has assigned her to teach the women of the church.  Through the generosity of the saints we were able to help our ministry partner assist her with some expenses while she seeks new employment.  Please pray the following for Narjes:

• that she would find new employment
• that she would remain concealed from her parents
• that her parents would be saved
• that she would find a loving Christian husband