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persecution.com |
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Moving into Danger
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In 2000, Andres sensed God calling him to leave his successful furniture-export business and move to a town in one of Colombia’s dangerous “red zones,” areas controlled by violent guerrilla groups, to share the gospel. Everyone he shared his plans with pleaded with him not to go. His pastor told him nobody ever comes out of that town alive. And his father was even more blunt, giving him half the money he’d need to buy his own coffin. Still, Andres was confident he was doing God’s will. “God is sending me,” he said. “If it pleases Him that I die there, then I will die there. Christ gave His life for me, and I have to give my life for Him.” Soon after moving to the new town with his family, Andres started preaching. Armed guerrillas came out of the jungle to monitor his words, and a few days later members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a Marxist rebel group, confronted Andres. “You need to leave because no one here is going to convert,” one of them told him. “This town belongs to us.”
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With an unwavering boldness grounded in faith, Andres let the guerrillas know where they stood in relation to God. “I’ll leave when He who sent me tells me to go,” he replied. “Until then I am staying, because He has more power than you.” Andres, his wife, Juanita, and their children have been affected by the continual stress of living and working among the FARC, who threaten them frequently and monitor their church services. But they continue to serve in the red zone and distribute Bibles among people living in the area. Andres requested prayer for his family, specifically for their refreshment, protection and the ability to reach people freely with the gospel. He also asked that we pray for a new church he hopes to plant in a nearby area. “My desire is to take the gospel to the difficult areas where nobody else wants to go,” he said. “That is where God has called me. That is where my heart is. I have studied the material of the martyrs, and I realize that they gave their lives for Christ. I can give my life, too.” You can partner with families like Andres’s as they work to advance God’s kingdom. When you support the ongoing efforts of front-line workers with a monthly gift, you’ll receive VOM’s Global Prayer Journal.
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