Proof The Bible Is True

08/16/19   The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has continued its clampdown on religious activities in the country, banning a number of Christian summer camps organized for children.   In the past several years, the communist government under party leader Xi Jinping has taken steps to prevent children from receiving religious instruction, forbidding children from entering Christian churches or joining Christian groups, barring access to universities for churchgoing youth, and even forcing kindergarten pupils to sign an atheist manifesto, abjuring religious activities of any sort.   Read More: Chinese Communists Ban Christian Summer Camps | Breitbart

08/13/19   A family in a rural part of India has just lost their father—brutally murdered because of his faith in Jesus. It’s your job to go and comfort the family. How will you reach them safely? When you get there, what do you say to them? What actions will you take to show them they’re not alone? How will you be there for them?   For Abhishek*, an Open Doors local partner in India, this is the kind of hard situation and difficult questions he deals with every day. He is literally our hands and feet in India—your hands [More]

08/04/19   Family and friends gathered Thursday to honor the long-time co-host of The 700 Club, Ben Kinchlow. He passed away last month at the age of 82.   The touching tribute to this man of God was held in the Regent University Chapel.   “Some of you, if you’re expecting a funeral today, you’re in the wrong place because today we’re gonna celebrate the life and legacy of Ben Kinchlow,” said Pastor Mark Lawrence of Regent University.   Lawrence set the scene for the celebration service with the flag-draped casket of Kinchlow before him.   In addition to being [More]

07/30/19   “A young journalism intern shares her experience of working in DC and how it tested her faith to say the least.”  Admin   My journalism internship in Washington D.C. this summer has been one of the most exciting and educational times of my young life so far.   But I learned more than I bargained for.   In addition to training on how to write on deadline and cover Congressional hearings I’ve also experienced first hand the spiritual battle underway in this country.   I’ve known of this battle, but I’ve long enjoyed the safety and serenity and [More]

 05/19/19 I knew the day would come … the day they would ring my doorbell and take me and my husband to prison. Although everyone around me thought I was a housewife, I was, in fact, involved in full-time ministry. The authorities were bound to find out.   We started preparing our daughter Lily* for persecution when she was still in primary school: “When they come and take mom and dad away, don’t worry,” we told her. “The Bible tells us it is normal to be persecuted as believers. They will take us to prison, ask us some questions, and hit us. [More]

05/19/19   “I knew my parents were different. Everybody called them ‘Communist parents,’ because they took care of the sick, the poor and the needy. At night, they read from a secret book, which I wasn’t allowed to read from. But I heard them whisper the words, and I knew it was their source of wisdom. I also knew that if I ever talked about this to someone else, our family would be taken away.”   Lee Joo-Chan’s mother came to faith before the Second World War during the time that Korea was one country and Japan ruled it. When [More]

04/10/19 “On Sundays we have about 200 attendees here,” says Wahid, inviting us into the church he pastors abroad: a spacious hall with a stage full of instruments. It’s vastly different from the church he pastored in Iran where the church was no bigger than a living room, the “worship band” a simple cassette player.   Still, it wasn’t Wahid’s own choice to leave his country. He led a good life, ran a drycleaning business. But because of his decision to follow Jesus, increasing pressure forced him to flee. Now he lives in another country in the region with thousands [More]

Lysa TerKeurst, the president of Proverbs 31 Ministries, is a well-known author and speaker. Her last book, Uninvited, became a #1 New York Times bestseller. However, while her career reached new heights, her personal world was coming apart. She was diagnosed with breast cancer and discovered her husband had been unfaithful.   Her new book It’s Not Supposed to Be This Way offers a raw look into TerKeurst’s struggles with cancer, infidelity and trusting God in the darkest times.   In this excerpt, TerKeurst shares how she found God in the midst of her hardest disappointment.   Read More: Lysa [More]

03/18/19   A “Prince of ISIS” has done what many would consider unthinkable, making a commitment to turn away from his horrifying past to unite with a new way of life through Jesus Christ.   The former ISIS leader, whose identity has been disguised for his safety, is being called Mohammad. The miraculous circumstances that led to his transformation were reported by Dr. Michael Youssef’s Leading The Way ministry.   Since the launch of its Christian satellite TV station, THE KINGDOM SAT, Leading The Way is working to touch “some of the most unreachable lives in the Arabic world,” including [More]

03/06/19   “Glory to Jesus!” She shouts, raising her arms high. Water drips from the sleeves of her white dress as she walks through the green water of the swimming pool.   Tens of people gather around the pool, clapping their hands and shouting for joy along with her. She is the first new believer baptized on a sunny Sunday morning in Lebanon; 15 others are in line behind her, waiting to be immersed.   Revival Beginnings in Syria   Syrian Pastor David sees the start of a revival among the Druze and Kurds in Syria. Sixteen baptisms in one [More]

02/17/19   SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – One North Korean defector in Seoul describes her family back home quietly singing Christian hymns every Sunday while someone stood watch for informers. A second cowered under a blanket or in the toilet when praying in the North. Yet another recalls seeing a fellow prison inmate who’d been severely beaten for refusing to repudiate her religion.   These accounts from interviews with The Associated Press provide a small window into how underground Christians in North Korea struggle to maintain their faith amid persistent crackdowns.   The North’s treatment of Christians could become a [More]

02/17/19   For more than 70 years, Wycliffe Bible Translators has worked to give people the Word of God in their own language. It took 67 years to complete the first 500 Bibles, and the second 500 took only 17 years. Now, updated software for smartphones called Paratext Lite will speed up the process even more.   ParaText Lite grants access to a central database for countries to translate Scriptures and helps missionaries update their outdated software to connect with people quicker.   Read More: New Bible Translation Technology Is Helping to Spread the Gospel Faster Than Ever | CBN [More]

02/06/19   Bai Yahui*, a sister from Central China, shared how the police had shut down all the house churches in the region, warning pastors not to hold any more meetings.   Area pastors were placed on “probation,” she said, and were told to come to the police station every time they received a police call telling them to report on their movements and activities. Police call frequently at random times, day or night. Bai shares how she and other leaders are responding to the escalating persecution from the state:   “We are constantly on edge,” she said, “but our [More]

01/06/19   Christianity in China (#39 on the World Watch List) has always lived in tension. Though the Communist Party of China has habitually restricted the freedom of Christians to worship over the last 70 years, the skyrocketing growth of the Chinese church is impossible to miss.   Even non-Christian observers have taken notice, with many outlets putting the true number of Christians in China at tens of millions more than the Chinese government officially recognizes. In China, churches include registered state churches that are regulated by the government; covert unregistered “underground” house churches; and unregistered or underground house churches [More]

 12/13/18   Li Yingqiang, an elder of the Early Rain Covenant Church in China’s Chengdu metropolis who was among around 100 Christians detained by authorities as part of an ongoing crackdown on believers, wrote to his church before his arrest on ‘How the Church Should Face Persecution’.   The Christians including the church’s pastor, Wang Yi, were detained on Sunday. Li Yingqiang was discovered and arrested the following day. He wrote to the church in a post shared on Facebook that the persecution they were facing was a ‘reward’, and that those who had been taken before him were ‘within the [More]

12/11/18   Slowly, the five friends make their way to the women’s outhouse they use each day. They look back. No one has followed them. In the stench of the room, they gather in a corner. Saying little, always in muttered whispers, they stand quietly. One woman softly sings. Another leads a short prayer.   Year after year, this is what Christmas looks like for these believers in a North Korean labor camp. Counting the cost, they risk their lives to come together to pray and sing, reflecting on the coming of their Savior—both 2,000 years ago and one future [More]

12/05/18   “Very interesting survey on the beliefs of both evangelicals and Americans in general.” Admin   What do Americans think about God, Jesus Christ, sin, and eternity? Ligonier Ministries’ State of Theology survey helps uncover the answers. Every two years, we take the theological temperature of the United States to help Christians better understand today’s culture and equip the church with better insights for discipleship. Read some of our key findings from 2018 below and explore the data for yourself.   Read More: The State of Theology

  11/30/18   America is littered with thousands upon thousands of church buildings that aren’t being used anymore. As you will see below, between 6,000 and 10,000 churches are dying in the United States every single year, and that means that more than 100 will die this week alone.   And of course thousands of others are on life support. All over the country this weekend, small handfuls of people will gather in huge buildings which once boasted very large congregations. At one time, America was widely considered to be “a Christian nation”, but that really isn’t true anymore.   [More]

This week as you prepare to give thanks with family and friends, we want to say thank you for partnering with Open Doors and for letting God use you to bless and strengthen the persecuted Church around the world for His glory.   At Open Doors, we continue to hear from believers who are taking the gospel to others, strengthened by knowing that they are not alone … that Christ followers like you are praying with them and equipping them to share the Jesus they have found. These believers have learned the importance of living grateful lives.   Lessons in [More]

10/31/18 5 ways you can participate in the International Day of Prayer   During the 2018 International Day of Prayer this Sunday (Nov. 4), Open Doors is calling for 100,000 believers to stand with the underground church of North Korea.   Hea Woo watched her daughter die of starvation, her husband was killed for his faith and she herself was tortured for her faith in one of North Korea’s notorious prison camps.   Unfortunately, Hea Woo’s experience of being persecuted for following Jesus isn’t rare.   Every year, 215 million Christians face high levels of persecution in places hostile to [More]

10/31/18 Many times, Christian persecution comes in waves. In places like Nigeria, Christians are constant targets of multiple Islamic extremist groups, specifically Boko Haram and in the last few years Fulani militant herdsmen. Wherever they go, persecution follows for often internally displaced believers.   This is the case for 100 Christian families who have now been targeted and attacked repeatedly, first by Boko Haram three years ago in the city of Maiduguri. At that time, the families fled the city to a camp for internally displaced people in Nasarawa State. For the past three years since the brutal attack, these [More]

10/31/18 When Lee Joo-Chan was young, he knew his parents were different. Everybody called them “Communist parents” because they took care of the sick, the poor and the needy. He also remembers seeing his parents read from a secret book at night. He knows now it was part of their worship.   “They would whisper the words, and I knew it was their source of wisdom. I also knew that if I ever talked about this to someone else, our family would be taken away.”   Thirty years later in China, Lee would finally discover his family’s secret faith. Now [More]

I lifted the heavy lid of our old freezer in the garage and peered inside, looking for some vegetables to make for dinner. For the past year, we’d scraped by on my small teacher’s salary while my husband, Mike, was away at graduate school. With three hungry teenagers to feed, it was a challenge to stretch our grocery dollars. Now, one glance at the half-empty freezer made me question what I’d done on impulse a week earlier.   The Tuesday before Thanksgiving, Kathy, my 14-year-old, blurted out that one of her friends wasn’t celebrating the holiday because her mother couldn’t afford [More]

Pepe was a black Chihuahua, but he had a personality the size of a Great Dane. When my dad called, “Here, boy,” Pepe jumped into his lap or followed him anywhere. Pepe even waited outside the bathroom door while my dad shaved in the morning and again when he brushed his teeth before bed.   Whenever we visited Dad my children liked to play with Pepe and wind him up to the point where their grandpa called Pepe “wild.”   “Have you tamed little Pepe yet?” my twins, Emily and Joey, loved to ask when they called Grandpa.   “Still [More]

Have you ever wondered how to share the Gospel with somebody? From the vast narrative of God’s creation story, to the coming of Christ and the earth-shattering sacrifice of the cross, Christianity can be exceedingly complex to explain to someone in simple terms. But Pete Hughes, pastor of King’s Cross Church in London, England, has pieced together a fantastic video in which he distills the crucial aspects of Christianity into a lively three-minute presentation.   Watch: Pastor Perfectly Explains Christianity in Three Minutes Flat – Faithwire

09/21/18   In today’s 21st-century Iran, the church is increasingly under intensifying persecution from both society and the state, as Christianity—and anyone involved in spreading it—is seen as a threat to the Republic’s Islamic identity. But like the early church of Acts that expanded exponentially in the face of persecution, the persecuted church of Iran is also multiplying and experiencing explosive growth. Below, we offer a spiritual barometer on the depth of persecution in today’s Iran (No. 10 on the World Watch List) and share stories of hope that reveal God is indeed working His plan through mounting adversity and [More]

09/20/18   Specifically, “By 2020, the Communist Party will attempt to monitor its citizens through a massive surveillance system called China Skynet.   “China’s Skynet combines mobile phone GPS tracking, text message collection, 170 million security cameras, to make sure everyone is harmonious to make sure no one does anything illegal.   Read More: China’s Christians Fear Skynet Surveillance System Will Increase Persecution