Modern Day Missionaries

Often when we think of missionaries, we think of people who lived hundreds of years ago and travelled by boat to foreign lands where the gospel was largely unknown. They faced many struggles and endured hardships in their gospel ministry, yet they never swerved from their purpose. Their sole purpose in life was to bring the gospel of salvation to people who were steeped in false religion. They had found a friend in Jesus, and serving the Lord was of more importance than all the comforts they held in their native lands. They were willing to give up all for Jesus.

Are there modern day missionaries who suffer hardness and endure suffering and persecution? Yes, missionary work is a vital part of every Christian’s life. Here are four stories of modern day missionaries who bravely stood for their faith amidst opposition, however their faith was not shaken.

Rosa – Cuba – 1999

“I was born into a Communist home where no one could even mention the word God. I remember being a little girl looking at a huge picture of Fidel Castro (the leader of the Cuban Revolution) in my living room.

“My parents are atheists. My father used to be a representative of a very important organization called the Communist Youth Union. Now he is in the Cuban Communist Party leadership. My mother is secretary of the Revolution Defence Committee. In summary, my home is a Communist ‘nest.’ However, my great-grandmother loves God and she has been faithful to God through all these years. She used to talk to me about the Lord and she sowed the seeds of the Lord’s Word. On several occasions I tried to go to church with her, but my parents did not allow me to go.

“Years later my parents divorced, and then my mother allowed me to go to church, without my father’s permission. Anyway, when I was twelve my mother tried to get me away from the Lord, organizing and inviting me to parties. I went away from the Lord living that way. But my great-grandmother persevered in praying for me.

“One day I went to church and received the Lord Jesus Christ as my Saviour. My life started to change; even my way of dress changed totally. My mother did not accept it. She never beat me before, now she often does. When my father learned that I was a Christian, he told me to choose God or him. I chose the Lord because I have understood that He is the only thing really worthy for me. I know that God is faithful and He cares for me and He is going to do wonderful things for my family.

“My mother got married again to another Communist man. He had a five-year-old son. They don’t allow me to talk to him about the Lord or to go to church, but I talk to him about the love of God anyway. Sometimes I listen to him praising the Lord.

“Now, even though I am only fourteen, I study far away from home. When I first came to this place I was the only Christian, but I have sown God’s Word and now we are four. We meet under a tree, hidden, to share God’s Word. We feel the presence of the Lord in such a special way. We keep sowing and waiting that soon we will be many.

“God is faithful. He never forsakes His children. Please, pray for me. It is not easy to follow the Lord in a country so hostile to Him where opposition comes not only from the system, but from our homes. Our parents are blind in this atheistic system and do not understand that we grow and make our own personal decisions. Mine is Jesus Christ. I will be faithful even at the price of death.”

Li De Xian and Zhao Zia – China –2002

“Christ was the first to suffer,” Pastor Li De Xian said. “We just follow Him. There are many thorns, but we are just injured a little on our feet. The suffering is very little.

Pastor Li has suffered greatly as a consequence of his preaching in China, however his faith has not weakened. “I will preach until I die,” is his motto. Despite continued pressure from the Public Service Bureau (PSB), Pastor Li refuses to miss a service unless he is in prison. He also refuses to change his message of salvation through Jesus Christ. During the period from October 2000 to May 2001, he was arrested fifteen times for preaching in his unregistered house church in Guangzhou. He has been arrested so many times during the past two years that he has lost count. During one recent detention, jailers tied his arms and legs together and chained his arms and legs to a bedpost for three days. When they finally released him from this torture, he was forced to work on an assembly line in the prison factory putting bulbs into strings of Christmas lights to send to America! He and the others had a quota between four and five thousand bulbs a day.

“They suffered this inhumane treatment simply because they failed to meet their daily production quotas in the Chinese labour camp.”

Yet rather than this experience teaching him to be afraid, it has taught him to be prepared. He travels at all times with a small black duffel bag that he keeps packed with a blanket and a change of clothes – the things he will need for prison whenever he is arrested next. “Arrests will come at any time, but we are not afraid, as we have prepared ourselves, and we have not done any crimes.” Whenever possible he will spend his time in prison reading the Bible, something he manages to smuggle in with amazing regularity.

His wife, Zhao Xia, strongly supports him in this and refuses to worry. “God will take care of him,” she says, “so there is no need to worry.”

In 2000, PBS officials also confiscated Li’s church and welded the doors shut. In early November 2000, in the city of Wenzhou Zheijang Province, they reportedly blew up and demolished at least 450 churches, temples, and shrines. Government officials said religious leaders had built the churches and temples illegally.

“Don’t feel sorry for us,” Zhao Xia says of their lifestyle. “At least we are constantly reminded that we are in a spiritual war. We know for whom we are fighting. We know who the enemy is. And we are fighting. Perhaps we should pray for you Christians outside of China. In your leisure, in your affluence, in your freedom, sometimes you no longer realize that you are in a spiritual warfare.”

The Russian Captain – Hungary 1950

The Russian army captain walked haughtily down the aisle of the church and up to the pastor. “I will have a word with you alone. Take me someplace where we can speak privately!”

The officer was very young and brash and seemed very conscious of his role as a conqueror.
When the pastor had led him to a small conference room, the officer shut and locked the door. He nodded towards the cross that hung on the wall. “You know that thing is a lie,” he said to the minister. “It’s just a piece of trickery you ministers use to delude the poor people to make it easier for the rich to keep them ignorant. Come now, we are alone.

Admit to me that you never really believed that Jesus Christ was the Son of God!”
The minister smiled. “But, my poor young man, of course I believe it. It is true.”
“I won’t have you play these tricks on me!” cried the captain. “This is serious. Don’t laugh at me!”
He drew his revolver and held it close to the body of the minister.
“Unless you admit to me that it is a lie, I’ll fire!”

“I cannot admit that, for it is not true. Our Lord is really and truly the Son of God, and I would never deny Him in order to preserve my life. I am not afraid to die for the Lord,” said the minister. For a painful instant his muscles tightened as he awaited the bullet.

Instead the captain suddenly flung his revolver on the floor and embraced the pastor. Tears sprang into the captain’s eyes.
“It is true!” he cried. “It is true. I believe so too, but I could not be sure men would die for this belief until I found for myself one who would. Oh, thank you! You have strengthened my faith. Now I too can die for Christ. You have shown me now.”

Bible Smugglers – Romania – late 1940s

In post-World War Two Eastern Europe, Bibles were considered as dangerous as guns for the countries controlled by the Soviet Union. Either was always immediately confiscated, and the bearer instantly imprisoned as a subversive. For this reason, the borders between the Soviet Socialist Republics were ardently guarded against any contraband that might come in from the freer Eastern Block countries that the Soviet Union had been awarded control over after helping to defeat the Nazis and to prevent any who might want to escape through the Eastern Block to Western Europe.

This cold winter night was no exception. Though the temperature was well below freezing, and several inches of new snow blanketed the hills, the Soviet guards were patrolling their usual routes. The sky was cloudy and there was no moon to be seen, so the soldiers traipsed through the snow with their flashlights shining in every direction.

Suddenly a whistle broke the silence of the night, and a flare shot into the sky. From all over, the sounds of dogs and shouting converged on the spot where the signal had been given. When the others arrived the guard merely pointed to the snow. Four sets of footprints were making their way towards Romania! The guards rushed down the path hoping to catch the fugitives before they crossed the border.

Some hours later the leader of the four Romanian Christians finished the story to the small congregation of the Ukraine underground church as they all held the Bibles he had given them into their hands. “Yes, brothers,” he said affectionately, “we stood there like statues, frozen at the sound. Then slowly, the noises grew more and more distant. And with our backs to the Ukraine, we continued walking backward through the snow, leaving footprints as if they were headed for Romania!” They all laughed at this with tears in their eyes, hugging their new Bibles with both arms.

Religious persecution is still active in some parts of the world. However, no matter where we live, when we decide to serve the Lord, the enemy will seek to find ways to make our life difficult. We will be faced with disturbances and persecutions, and only by the grace of God will we be able to endure.