They Risked Everything For Jesus

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They Risked Everything For Jesus

30 May 2009 No Comment

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Awhile back I read a book written by Kay Marshall Strom and Michelle Rickett titled, “Daughters of Hope”. I was amazed at the true stories that were written about women who risked their lives for their faith in God. This is a foreign concept to those of us who live in countries where there is freedom of religion. While Christians in America may experience a small measure of ridicule or persecution, it is nothing compared to the stories of the women in this book.

One of the stories detailed a Christian woman named Zhang Yuan, living in China. This woman and her husband hosted secret church meetings in their home. When they sang songs they had to sing in a whisper so that no one would hear them and suspect why they were meeting. One day Zhang Yuan’s husband never came home from his job working in the fields. Awhile later a group of men barged into her home and began destroying everything in sight. They brought her to an interrogation house where they beat her, hoping she would give up the names of the other members of her church.

When they weren’t able to get information out of her, they released her but told her that her husband had been sent to a work camp and her home no longer belonged to her. She was welcomed into the home of one of the church members in her home church. She continued in her faith in Christ, but awhile later she was taken in a second time for interrogation. This time she was told that she would have to pay a fine. She told the authorities that she had nothing to give them, as they had already taken everything she had. They told her to give them her shoes and they began to crush her feet by stomping on them. They stated that this would keep her from sharing her faith in Jesus, as she would no longer be able to walk. She was no longer able to walk, but she continued to share her faith, as people were brought to her to hear her story. I’m amazed at her courage and her faith, under intense pressure.

Matthew 10:28 says, “Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” The persecution that one may endure is temporary, but eternity is forever.

Another story that touched my heart was about a young Egyptian woman named Zora. Zora met a Christian believer at work and noticed a difference in his life. When she inquired about the difference, he gave her a New Testament. Zora read the New Testament and believed in Jesus Christ. She told her family about her new faith and her conversion to Christianity. Her father told her that if she did this he and her brothers would kill her. He was enraged that she had left Islam for Christianity. She barely escaped out of the home as they tried to catch her.

She contacted the believer who had shared the gospel with her and he introduced her to a woman who lived in another part of Egypt, and this woman took her into her home. Six months later she spoke with her mother on the phone. Her mother told her that she was very sick and she asked Zora to visit her while Zora’s father and brothers were away from the home for a few days. Zora’s friends pleaded with her not to go, as they were afraid that it was a trap but Zora went anyway, believing that her mother would not lie to her. When she arrived to the home, her brothers and father grabbed her and ordered her to kneel before them. Her father told her that if she didn’t convert back to being a Muslim he would kill her. She told him that he could do whatever he wanted, but she would remain a Christian. He told her that he would say no more that night, but that they would settle this the next day. That night she escaped out of her window and she never saw her family again.

The verse that comes to mind is Matthew 10:36-38 “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.” It must have been very difficult for Zora not to choose the path of least resistance, but she choose to obey Christ.