ARRESTED IN MIDDLE EAST: Prison Was a Mission Field

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The Voice of the Martyrs

Christianity, Martyr, Vom, Persecution, Gospel, Pastor, Persecutedchurch, Apologetics, Islam, Christian, Church, Missions, Missionaries, Religion & Spirituality

4.9 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 22 March 2025

⏱️ 25 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Brother Nathan had a ministry sharing the gospel and praying with Muslims in the Middle East. He and other believers had been evangelizing for more than eight years. The responses were almost completely positive. Then, as he was ministering with two others last year, they ran into a very different response. Nathan and his two friends found themselves in a police office, their hands behind their backs, facing a serious charge of “heralding Christianity.”

Nathan’s missionary journey started long before his arrest. At 19, Nathan joined YWAM to experience short-term mission work after deciding to give his entire life to be used by the Lord—wherever He asked Nathan to go. Nathan will share how Peter’s choice to step out of the boat on the water with Jesus inspired him to be all in with Christ. As a young man and zealous missionary, Nathan didn’t think much about the risk of Christian persecution—until it happened.

Nathan will share advice and encouragement to future missionaries and describe his missionary work each day in the Middle East. “Muslims are hungry for prayer,” Nathan shares. “They are real people with real issues who long for prayer.” Nathan had many opportunities to pray healing over Muslims and see the Lord at work.

Listen as he tells the story of his arrest and what he felt when as he realized he could be facing years in prison. Nathan will also share how the Lord relieved fear and anxiety when they took their prison bread and the water and turned it into a remembrance of Christ’s suffering. Since they didn’t have a Bible, the scripture they knew in their heart was all they had to hold onto during their worship and prayers to the Lord in prison.

Join us next week to hear more of Nathan’s experience in prison and how it became their mission field for Christ!

The VOM App for your smartphone or tablet will help you pray daily for persecuted Christians in Syria, North Korea, Iran, China and other nations throughout the year, as well as giving free access to e-books, audio books, video content and feature films. Download the VOM App for your iOS or Android device today.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Brother Nathan openly shared the gospel in a Middle Eastern country, and as a result, he and two other gospel workers were arrested and imprisoned.
0:10.6	Nathan and his two companions realized that the prison itself was also a mission field.
0:17.8	One guy was kind of the head religious inmate, I guess, in prison. He would just
0:22.3	start doing the call to prayer and he would gather 40 or 50 Muslims in our ward and they would all
0:28.3	do their prayer and bow and all that. And the three of us guys would sit and just intercede that,
0:34.4	you know, Jesus would show up and reveal himself to these guys.
0:39.2	Jesus never promised his followers an easy path. In fact, he told his disciples that the world
0:44.9	would hate them. He sent them out as sheep among wolves. Jesus' words came true in the life
0:50.9	of the apostles, and they're still coming true today in the lives of his
0:54.6	followers around the world. Join host Todd Nettleton as we hear their inspiring stories and learn how
1:00.0	we can help right now on the Voice of the Martyrs Radio Network. Welcome again to the Voice of the
1:05.1	Martyrs Radio. My name is Todd Nettleton, and we are in the studio this week in Bartlesville, Oklahoma,
1:10.6	with another of our one-name guest.
1:12.8	If you're a longtime V-O-M radio listener, you know often we just use one name.
1:17.3	We don't want to create trouble for our guests as they serve the Lord around the world.
1:21.7	This week, it is Brother Nathan.
1:23.4	He is working among Muslim people in the Middle East, working as a part of WIWAM now for more than a decade.
1:30.8	Nathan, welcome to The Voice of the Martyrish Radio.
1:33.3	Thanks, Todd.
1:34.0	Really good to be here with you guys.
1:35.5	Well, we are excited to have you.
1:38.1	Let's go back to the very beginning.
	...

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