Mornings with Kelli and SteveIt's 813 now. Uh, we didn't get to talk with Todd Nettleton last week because of the crazy weather. He was scheduled to join us Thursday, and I shot him a text and said, sorry, got to cancel. Bad weather. But we're able to join him this morning. So, Todd, glad to have you here with us today and getting us an update on the persecuted church. Are you doing okay out there in Oklahoma? You're like in Tornado Central out there.
I was going to say you guys got some Oklahoma weather. That's you. You stole it from us. And but, uh, yeah, we are good. We had some storms here last week as well, and, uh, nobody I know of at Vom was directly affected. There were neighborhoods close by that were affected. Um, but we're thankful. And, uh, like you, we're trying to help our neighbors and and be be open and reach out. And sometimes when you have a scary thing that that prompts a spiritual conversation. And I hope, I hope we're ready for those conversations.
Well, you know, I'll tell you, we're never going to steal your weather again. It's. It is all yours forevermore.
Thank you, I think.
Yeah, I just, I see ours was just, um, I say just but it was just an F2. But I think of what you guys deal with. And we saw the tornadoes in Arkansas and I thought, oh my goodness. Because when I heard it go over my house and my home was not damaged, but I heard it going over, and I've never heard a storm make a more ferocious sound in my life.
Did it sound like a train?
It sounded like a train that was stuck on the track, but still trying to grind its gears and go. It was horrid.
Yeah, it's a scary, scary sound.
Yeah. It's terrible. But anyway, uh, today is a new day. And we have, uh, we have something more important than a storm to discuss. And that is our brothers and sisters that we refer to as the persecuted church in what's going on with them. So where are we starting today? What's what's happening?
Well, let's start out with Bible Month, because April at Voice of the Martyrs is Bible Month. We focus on getting God's Word into the hands of brothers and sisters who live in hostile areas and restricted nations, places where they don't have a Walmart, where they could just pick up a copy. They don't have a Bible bookstore, they don't have Amazon. Uh, they need something to happen in order for them to have access to God's Word. And this month of April, we invite voice of the martyrs, listeners and friends and radio listeners and magazine readers to give to provide Bibles. And so we average over the course of the 70 plus countries where Vom is distributing Bibles, the average cost is about $10. Now. Some are cheaper, some are quite a bit more expensive. If you have to float a New Testament across the North Korean border attached to a helium balloon, the price on that one is a little higher than $10, but the average across all those is $10. And so we just and I would encourage every listener to sponsor one Bible. If everybody listening right now would sponsor one Bible that would help us. And right now we know of 458,000 Christians, literally. We know of that. We have contact with their leadership who do not have a Bible, that we are trying to fund those Bibles this month and then deliver them in the next few months. And so I would just encourage people when you pick up your phone and see, oh, wow, I have six Bible apps. Think of the people who have zero Bible apps and don't have a printed copy of God's Word, and I hope it motivates us. But I also hope when we open our Bibles we think, wow, this is this is such a cool and special thing that I do have access to God's Word. Anytime of the day or night. I can open it up, I can read it. That is a holy privilege. And I hope, as we think about brothers and sisters who don't have access to the Bible. I hope it makes us more thankful when we open our Bibles every day.
I was going to say that's not just don't think of it as just purchasing something to send off and and then just dismissing it because I, I would love to see them receive their Bibles because some of them, they've never had a Bible ever. And that's got to be such an amazing experience for them to have that, to hold God's Word in their hands.
I have had the opportunity to deliver some of those Bibles and and when you meet someone who says, oh, I have been praying for five years that I could have my own Bible. It is incredibly humbling. And it is also very convicting because like I said, like I have, you know, six, seven, eight Bible apps on my phone, in my pocket. And yet, do I take it lightly? Do I be sure that I read it every day? um, when you meet someone who says, oh, I prayed for years that I could have my own Bible or oh, our church got a Bible. We're all sharing one copy, and you're like, oh, wow. Um, you know, it really is a humbling thing and and a great reminder of of the power of God's Word.
I can't even begin to imagine the overwhelming joy. That's just it is humbling. That is just to hear you talk about it. It's humbling. So again, Todd, how do we go about doing this? How do we go about donating the Bibles?
Persecution is the voice of the martyrs website. You can sign up for the free magazine there. There is also, right near the top of the page, a banner ad for Bible Month, and you can give online right at persecution.
Com okay, that's not hard at all. And we'll remind you again if we went too fast before we let Todd, uh, go today, we'll remind you one more time how to do that. Todd, let's go over to India because I'm. I'm looking at the notes here that you sent ahead of time and, um. Wow. This is just. This is horrendous. What's happening?
The chief minister. Now, now, we've talked before about the different states in India that have an Anti-conversion law. It makes it illegal to change your religion. It's illegal to convince anyone or encourage anyone else to change their religion. The Chief Minister of the state of Madhya Pradesh, which is one of the states that already has an anti-conversion law, they will already send you to prison for encouraging someone to change their faith. He is now proposing the death penalty as a part of this Anti-conversion law. And I have to tell you, when I read this, I thought, oh no way. Like, somebody was making a speech and they got wound up and said something crazy. But no, the state government at at the end of the day where he gave this speech and proposed the death penalty, the state government actually sent out a press release saying, yep, this is what we want to do. It wasn't a mistake. It wasn't somebody who was trying to impress a crowd with some wild claim. This is their policy. They're pursuing this now as a part of that anti-conversion law for their state. And again, there's already an Anti-conversion law. You can already go to jail. There's already pastors in jail right now accused of breaking that anti-conversion law. And now they want to put the death penalty on the table for those cases. And, you know, it'll be interesting to see how long it takes for another state to say, oh, you know, they're doing a better job than we are. We better get on board and we better do this too. It'll be interesting to see how quickly this spreads to other states in India as well.
Is there any way that that we can affect that from here? I mean, is, you.
Know, one of the one of the interesting things, though, the last time we talked, we talked about the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, suggesting India as a country of particular concern and how we're waiting now to see what the State Department does with that recommendation. It will be interesting to see if the State Department says, and especially if they look at a case like this and say, wait a minute, you're you're literally sentencing people to death for talking to someone about changing their religion. That is a country that's that's the very definition of a country of particular concern. It will be interesting to see if that would carry some weight with India, and if the national government at that point would be like, okay, calm down guys. Um, let's not do things that get so much negative attention against us. Um, but really what we can do is pray and pray for boldness for pastors in Madhya Pradesh and in other states in India who they know. These laws are on the books. They know they could go to jail if they do evangelism, if they talk to someone about faith. And it's not even it's not even like street evangelism. It's like any conversation about faith is illegal under these laws. Uh, and so we need to pray for our brothers and sisters in India.
Okay, let's jump over to Uzbekistan now, because this is equally concerning. This is absurd. It's maddening.
Yeah, this this is interesting. So Uzbekistan has just put in place a new law. It took effect in February. They actually announced it last year and had a I think they would say a comment period. Now it appears they didn't listen to any of the comments. But this new law is especially about young people and religion and what Uzbekistan, what their government, what their parliament is thinking about as they pass this law is the Taliban, which is next door in Afghanistan. And they're like, okay, this radical Islamic group, we don't want young people to be influenced by them. So nobody under 18 should have any conversations or be in any location where a religious gathering is taking place. Now we hear that. And as Christians we're like, well, wait a minute, what does that mean as far as Sunday school? What does that mean as far as youth group? What does that look like? This law makes it illegal, even for parents to talk to their own children about religion in their own home. This is that. That's how intrusive this is. Now they just put this into effect and the government is saying, oh no, no, no, now don't get crazy. We're not going to do that. But but that's how the law reads. If you are talking to any child, even your child, about religion, that person is under the age of 18. That is illegal under this law. And pastors are worried about what does that mean? Is the government going to come in and take our children from us if we train them up in the ways of the Lord? What does that look like for us? And I was in Central Asia. We talked about my trip last year. I was in Central Asia. We met pastors from Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan, and Tajikistan already has a similar law. And one of the pastors we talked to said in their church, they actually built a completely separate building for all of the children's activities so that if the police ever came, they would say, no, no, the the religious activities take place in this building where the grown ups are. That building over there is just childcare. And sure, if you were to listen to what the childcare is. Yeah, there's some Sunday school lessons in there. There's some Bible lessons in there. But they could always say, no, no, no, we never have children in our sanctuary. We never have children in the building where we do religious instruction. That's a completely separate building. So that's that's one way they have to think about this law is okay. Well, what what does it look like when we gather together? Who? Who is where? What building are people in? Uh, and, you know, now we're waiting to see how is the government? How are the authorities in Uzbekistan going to enforce this? How are they going to enact it? Um, that's something for our brothers and sisters there, and they are frankly concerned about it.
It is just stunning to me the lengths that people will go to to try to stop a religious instruction, to try to stop people from sharing the gospel. But really, ultimately, it is the enemy of our souls who knows that his end is near and knows what his end is going to be, and we can't relent. We've got to continue to try. But oh my goodness, it just tod. It's hard for me to not get in my flesh, if you know what I mean. It really is. It really.
Is. I understand completely and you know, the the importance of raising up children. And the government knows this. Certainly the enemy knows this. If you give him 18 years before you get to introduce any Bible, before you get to introduce Jesus. Um, that that gives him a real head start. So we know that the enemy knows that. And we need to pray for our brothers and sisters in Uzbekistan.
And prayer does matter. It's not doing nothing. It's everything.
It is the most important thing we can do. It's the first thing that persecuted Christians ask us to do is to pray for them. And so I would encourage us to pray for Christians in India. Pray for Christians in Uzbekistan this week.
Well, Todd, I am going to ask you to close us in prayer in just a minute. But before I do two other quick things. Um, voice of the martyrs radio heard 830 Sunday evenings here on Moody Radio. What's happening this weekend?
We are going to have a conversation, actually. Interestingly, we talked about Yusuf. We're going to have a conversation with Sam Brownback, the former ambassador for religious freedom in Washington, DC. And he's going to share a little bit about what what they do, what it does mean, what they can influence, and some of the things they can't influence that we get to influence through our prayers.
Okay. I want to remind you all get a sticky note. Whatever you got to do, put it on your refrigerator or a reminder on your phone. Tune in for voice of the Martyrs Radio again. That's 830 Sunday evenings. And Todd, back to April being Bibles month at voice of the martyrs. One more time. Tell people quickly what it's about, why it's important, and how to be involved.
Persecution is the place to get involved. You can give online right there at persecution. Com and the reason it's important is because every believer needs their own copy of God's Word. And and we at voice of the martyrs are committed to that. We want to make that happen in hostile areas and restricted nations and April and people giving to sponsor Bibles is a big part of reaching that goal.
I'm glad we didn't let anything get in the way of this conversation.
Me too. Amen.
Absolutely. Um, Todd, would you close this out in prayer this morning for our brothers and sisters in Christ who are being persecuted? We've we've been talking about this conversation all morning, and I've been asking people to make sure that they were here, if they possibly could be, and to pray because, um, one of the things I've been reminding them of is something that you've always shared, that they never asked for us to ask for the persecution to end, that they just asked to have the strength that we pray that they have the strength to endure, because they do know what's at stake. And that's so humbling. And it's humbling to me that they pray for us.
It is very humbling. Let's let's lift them up together right now. Father, we lift up our brothers and sisters around the world. And, Lord, I think of those who are praying for a Bible and I just pray, Lord, maybe it's through voice of the martyrs. Maybe it's through another ministry. Maybe it's through an online connection. But I pray that you would answer their prayer. Uh, we join with them in praying for them to have access to your word. Father, we also lift up our brothers and sisters in India. There is so much pressure against them. And I think this morning of pastors and evangelists who are in jail right now. They're wondering what's going to happen to me. What's the case going to look like? How long am I going to be here? Father, I pray that you would just give them peace and give them a sense of your presence, and that no matter how long you are with them, and you will be with them. Lord, we also lift up the country of Uzbekistan. We pray for our Christian brothers and sisters, especially parents there, Lord, who are are looking at this law and saying, okay, what do we do? What do we do about family devotions? What do we do about church attendance? What is it going to cost us to share with our children? And Lord, I pray that you would give them courage, that you would give them boldness and wisdom. Let them be as shrewd as serpents, but harmless as doves. And Lord, we pray for you to raise up godly Christian young people in Uzbekistan. No matter what the government says, no matter what the government does. We pray for you to raise up godly young people in that country. In Jesus name, Amen.
