Strengthening Secret Believers 

"Remember those in prison, as if you were there yourself. Remember also those being mistreated, as if you felt their pain in your own bodies." (Hebrews 13:3, NLT). This week, I want us to focus and pray for our mission partner - Open Doors, a Christian charity that works to bring relief and freedom for Christians suffering persecution all over the world. Please read the story below in their recent magazine and pray for the plight of Christians suffering all over the world.

"When the man came to Taher and Donya's door, only Donya was in. The man said he was a postal worker. Donya knew he wasn't, but by then it was too late. "When I opened the door, he put his foot down so I couldn't close it," she remembers. He was from the secret police. And others were behind him. They ruthlessly ransacked the home shared by Taher, Donya and their daughters Farah and Arezoo (all names changed for security reasons). They were looking for any evidence of the family's Christian faith.

"In our house church, we used to sing 'I Surrender All,'" Donya says, "and we always asked each other, 'Are you ready and willing to surrender everything to Jesus?'" As the secret police tore through her house, Donya told the Lord: "I'm ready to surrender everything."

In many countries in the Middle East, worshipping in public or sharing your faith openly is dangerous. So many Christians choose to keep their faith secret and worship in isolation. That's particularly true of Christians from a Muslim background, like Taher and his family. If their faith is discovered, they are likely to receive long prison sentences for 'crimes against national security.'

Taher was at his job in a textile factory while the raid was happening. He got a call from the secret service: "Taher, you need to come home, now." When Taher got home, they put him in handcuffs, blindfolded him and made him get in their car. It was terrifying - but Taher wasn't alone: "Right then and there, I felt Jesus beside me."

This raid wasn't a total surprise. Taher knew that the secret service were targeting Christians. He was aware of the risk - but believed it was worth it, in order to tell others about Jesus and to disciple new believers. So he continued to meet secretly with other Christians, and to share his faith with his friends and co-workers. He did all this, knowing what might follow. The day Taher was taken away was the first of many long, terrible days of interrogation. The secret police questioned Taher ruthlessly for many hours, day and night. They wanted to know what he did with other Christians, where he got money from. Most of all, they wanted Taher to write down the names of the other Christians he knew. They put a pen down before him and waited. Taher's courage is astonishing: he refused to write down a single name.

Taher did secretly take the pen back to his cell, though. Rather than betray the believers he knew, he wanted to use the pen to encourage believers he didn't know. On the wall, in a corner of his prison cell, he wrote a version of Matthew 7:7: "Ask, seek, knock and it will be given to you." Taher desperately hoped these words would encourage Christians just like him - believers who would be arrested and find themselves in this same 3x6 foot cell. Perhaps these faint messages would give others courage to stay strong in the face of their interrogators.

The secret police didn't just interrogate Taher. They threatened his family - taking him to a cell block which housed murderers, rapists and other dangerous criminals, asking: "Is this where you want your kids to go? In here with them? This is where they'll end up if you don't cooperate and give us the names of the Christians you know - now!" Taher remembers it as the greatest test of his faith. Of course, he wanted to protect his family. But he recalled the words of the same song that Donya had recalled: "I surrender all". Despite everything, his faith stayed strong and he didn't betray his friends.

The secret service eventually released Taher on bail. During his sentencing, Taher was given one condition for his release: that he stop telling other people about Jesus. The judge told Taher that he wouldn't get such leniency a second time - that, if he were arrested again, he would be executed..."

For the remainder of this story, please visit the Open Doors website.

Please pray that all secret believers would know that they are not alone, and that God would enable them to find fellowship and discipleship. Pray for Christian refugees to find safety, community, and hope. Pray that Open Doors fieldworkers would be equipped to serve secret and isolated believers.