LAOS: Passing Tests of Faith

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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

🗓️ 12 August 2023

⏱️ 25 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Pastor Mele was detained in Laos after police found copies of God’s Word. Now, police attend his church services every week, looking for reasons to detain him or close the church. “As a human,” he says, “I have fear. But I trust the Lord to protect me and guide me.”

Pastor Mele became a Christian in 2003 when a school friend shared the gospel with him and his classmates. Everyone ignored his Christian friend but Mele, trying to escape constant spiritual oppression, prayed and accepted Christ. From that day on, the spirits no longer tormented him.

Mele immediately felt a burden to share the gospel with others. Within two months his bold witness brought Christian persecution. Teachers ordered him to renounce his newfound faith in the “foreign religion” of Christianity or lose all opportunities for further education.

Their threat didn’t discourage Mele but actually it encouraged him! He had read in the Bible that all Christians will face persecution for their faith (2 Timothy 3:12), and he was encouraged to know that what the Bible says is true. Mele says he was never tempted to renounce his faith. “I was so focused on my soul, my salvation, because I need to be with the Lord. Nothing is solid or permanent in this world…but my salvation in Christ, that’s what is firm and solid.”

Mele was accepted to Bible college and there he met his wife. Mele went on to be an associate pastor at his home church and began to evangelize other villages. As his ministry expanded, God gave Mele a heart to share the love of Christ with everyone, not just his own tribal people.

His ministry hasn’t been easy, and the pressure against him is constant. Listen as Mele shares about a time when three police officers sat right next to him as he was getting ready to preach.

Pray for Pastor Mele’s safety as he continues to be active in ministry and pray for 14 new churches that they may faithfully endure persecution, and for Christians facing pressure and trials in Southeast Asia.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	In Laos, a group of new believers in Jesus faced persecution and arrest, but they stood firm and wouldn't renounce their faith.
0:09.0	Pastor Mele led this congregation, and this is what he told them.
0:14.0	I was so thrilled. I encourage him so much. I told him, if you can pass this testing point in your faith,
0:21.0	God will have a plan greater unimaginable than what we remember.
0:27.0	He will have a special place for them to worship, where authorities cannot, you know, threat them, persecute them.
0:39.0	Jesus never promised his followers an easy path. In fact, he told his disciples that the world would hate them.
0:46.0	He sent them out as sheep among wolves. Jesus' words came true in the life of the apostles,
0:52.0	and they're still coming true today in the lives of his followers around the world.
0:56.0	Join host Todd Netletons. We hear their inspiring stories and learn how we can help right now on The Voice of the Martyrs Radio Network.
1:03.0	Welcome back to The Voice of the Martyrs Radio. Thank you for being with us this week.
1:08.0	On this episode, you're going to get to know some of your fellow believers in Jesus.
1:13.0	I recorded this conversation on the road in Southeast Asia, and for the security of our guests, we're just going to call him Pastor Mele.
1:21.0	You'll hear some of his voice, but mostly you'll hear the voice of his translator.
1:26.0	Pastor Mele grew up learning about ancestor worship in the communist country of Laos, and I asked him how he came to faith in Christ.
1:35.0	So I was still afraid of spirits. I still believed in the spirits because our communist ancestors believed in something.
1:49.0	So I heard the gospel from a friend, a high school friend, the only believer in the whole school. He is the pastor's son, and so he would try to evangelize.
1:58.0	But no one would care because of the spirits. So I still had spirits bothering me, and he decided to pray for me, and I decided to send Christ, and the spirits didn't bother me.
2:11.0	And then that's when I saw, wow, this is the gospel, and I was about 13 at the time. And then when I accepted Christ, I felt burdened, burdened to share.
2:21.0	And so I went around evangelism and started sharing with seven moon Christians, the gospel.
2:26.0	And so one of the moon students, her mom was ill, sick. So for some reason, just being my age, probably, I took them all in the field and public and started praying for them.
2:37.0	The teacher came and said, you cannot do this. Where did you learn about this religion? You cannot do this because this is a government-funded school.
2:46.0	That is a foreign religion. We do not allow this. So you keep doing this. You will have to sign a piece of paper to renounce your faith.
	...

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