Christian Persecution

Patience is a 19-year-old Christian girl who has suffered far more grave injustices than most people are forced to endure in their lifetime.

In 2018, her father was killed by Fulani terrorists who broke into their house in the middle of the night.

In 2019, her grandfather and three of her extended relatives were killed in another Fulani attack on her village.

In 2020, she was raped by Fulani terrorists. At the time, she was just 14 years old.

In February 2026, her uncle also died at the hands of a Fulani terrorist.

Patience is from Plateau State, Nigeria, where I visited with the humanitarian organization Christian Freedom International a few months ago.

We were able to meet Patience and dozens of other Nigerian survivors of persecution and attacks. Many people rightly point out that the situation in Nigeria is complex, but staying next to a village known for facing repeated attacks and visiting survivors of persecution in their homes starts to bring the picture into focus.

I visited the small corner shop belonging to Amarachi, a middle-aged woman who could not be more ecstatic to see us. She showed us around her small shop — which she managed to start with the help of an organization who gave her seed money and taught her the basics about business.

After having us try a Nigerian snack, she wanted to show us her home several blocks away. In the modest rented house that she shared with her adult children, she told us about her husband’s death several years prior.

He was on his way home from a weekday prayer meeting at church when he was ambushed. Fulani militants rushed out of tall grass nearby and slaughtered him on the path. It was believed they were looking to target Christians leaving the church that day.

His wife and children were left to mourn their father’s death and do the best they could to carry on. His children are in college now. Amarachi had to provide for the family, so she opened her small store.

But Amarachi’s husband’s death wasn’t the end of the terror the family would face. Her village — located close to a Nigerian military lookout — routinely faces raids from Fulani militants. Typically, the militants target this village for kidnappings, charging steep ransoms to release the kidnapped victims. Families and churches must band together to offer a ransom and negotiate down to a feasible price.

One expert told me that kidnappings and ransoms are the militants’ largest source of income. These groups are often better equipped than the Nigerian military itself. When a large group of Fulani militants launches an attack, the military has been known to tell villagers to flee because they cannot defend against the militants.

My friend from Christian Freedom International asked Amarachi if she felt safe from local Fulani attacks since she had a courtyard door, main door to her house, and bedroom door — all with sturdy-looking locks. She gave us a confused look and said no. Our Nigerian driver explained that these would do little to stop attackers. He said they could break through any lock and gain entrance to any building. He called them “experts” at it.

I asked what she does during the overnight raids. Amarachi said that she simply lies in her bed and prays and tells her children to do the same. She doesn’t flee the village like many residents do during an attack. She believes that she has suffered enough, and God will not let her suffer more. So far, the militants haven’t targeted Amarachi’s house.

As an outsider, it’s difficult to grasp the normalized level of fear that must accompany daily life in a Christian village in Northern Nigeria. Yet, terrorism isn’t new for Nigerian Christians. The last few decades have seen an increase in the rise of Islamist terrorism and general violence against vulnerable Christian communities in Northern Nigeria. In 2014, the infamous terrorist group Boko Haram was at its height, seizing control of approximately 70,000 square miles in Northeast Nigeria.

In Jos, we met siblings Joy and Gabriel. They are now teenagers, but as children, they and their mother were captured by Boko Haram and held in one of their camps for over a month before being released. Their father was killed. Tears streaming down her face, Joy wanted to press through and share how Boko Haram destroyed her village in Northeast Nigeria, forcing those who survived to flee.

Patience, Joy, and Gabriel are now living at Christian Faith Institute (CFI), a non-denominational Bible school and ministry in Jos, Nigeria, where I was able to meet them. Founded by Australian missionaries Kent and Ruth Hodges, the ministry is dedicated to serving on the frontlines.

The Hodges, with their great African team, train Nigerians (and many from surrounding Sahel nations also impacted by terrorism), mainly from rural northern areas, to be pastors and missionaries themselves, equipping them to return to their villages across the north and share the good news of the gospel. At the Bible school, students are equipped with income-generating practical vocational training to be able to provide for themselves and their families. The Hodges also have a children’s crisis home and school that serves hundreds of kids, almost all of whom have faced persecution and terrorism themselves, like Joy and Gabriel.

While the violence in Nigeria has been ramping up for decades, it has gained more public awareness in the United States over the last few years. In November 2025, President Trump designated Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern” on religious freedom. The designation was first instated in the last year of President Trump’s first term and undone in President Biden’s first year in office.

On Christmas Day in 2025, the United States launched strikes against ISIS in northwestern Nigeria. In May 2026, the U.S. worked with Nigerian forces to strike more ISIS targets, killing the global ISIS second-in-command. However, experts and those on the ground say that the situation for Nigerian Christians has worsened, not improved, in recent months.

Now, religious freedom advocates are hoping the Trump administration keeps up the pressure on the Nigerian government until its leaders take concrete action and successfully protect Christians in Northern Nigeria. Though the darkness and gravity of the situation in Nigeria feel overwhelming, ministries like CFI are a reminder that God is at work there and hope is not lost.

On the last day of my trip, I spent time with one mother whose daughter asked when the “crisis” will end. She told her daughter she didn’t know if it would end, but to pray for protection for their family and for comfort for those experiencing loss.

Note: Names of the victims featured in this piece have been changed for their protection.

This article was originally published by The Washington Stand and written by Arielle Del Turco. For more content like this, visit Real Life Network.

On June 29, Christians around the world will pause to observe the Day of the Christian Martyr. Church tradition marks this as the date the Apostle Paul was beheaded outside Rome. While history often highlights prominent men who laid down their lives for the gospel, there is another deeply convicting lineage of faith: the legacy of Christian women who refused to deny their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

This year, The Voice of the Martyrs is highlighting the story of Perpetua, a 22-year-old noblewoman martyred in ancient Carthage–modern-day Tunisisa–in A.D. 203. But Perpetua is far from alone. Across centuries, continents and cultures, bold, Godly women have faced their persecutors with unshakeable faith that should inspire us all.

As we prepare for Day of the Christian Martyr, here are five female martyrs whose stories remind us what it truly means to follow Christ at any cost.

Perpetua (Carthage, A.D. 203)

Perpetua was a young mother with a nursing infant when Roman officials arrested her for refusing to worship Rome’s false gods. Her father begged her to recant for the sake of her baby, but when asked at her trial, “Are you a Christian?” she simply replied, “I am a Christian.”

Led into the Roman arena, she was attacked by a rabid heifer. After being thrown to the ground, Perpetua calmly adjusted her tunic to protect her modesty and requested a pin to fix her disheveled hair. In Roman culture, loose hair was a sign of mourning and Perpetua wanted it known she was not mourning but rather joyfully preparing to meet her Creator. Ultimately, she guided the trembling sword of the gladiator to her own throat.

Perpetua's martyrdom inspired the church in Carthage to thrive and follow Christ at any cost.

Lizzie Atwater (China, 1900)

In the summer of 1900, the Boxer Rebellion claimed the lives of more than 32,000 Christians in China. Among them was Lizzie Atwater, a missionary who was pregnant when soldiers dragged her and 10 others out to be hacked to death.

Lizzie’s legacy lives on through her final letter home, where she calmly wrote, “Dear ones, I long for a sight of your dear faces, but I fear we shall not meet on earth. I am preparing for the end very quietly and calmly. The Lord is wonderfully near, and He will not fail me.”

Esther John (Pakistan, 1960)‍

Born as Qamar Zia in British-ruled India, she accepted Christ as a teenager after attending a Christian school. When her family later moved to Pakistan and tried to force her into a Muslim marriage, she fled to another city where she found a missionary who provided her with a Bible and a job working in an orphanage. After completing Bible training, she moved to Chichawatni, Pakistan, where she lived with American Presbyterian missionaries. She took up evangelism among rural women, teaching them the Scriptures and working alongside them in the fields before she was killed.

There was no investigation into her death, but she is remembered today as likely the first recorded martyr in Pakistan after the country gained independence from India.

Rocio Pino (Colombia, 2011)

Rocio Pino was known throughout her Colombian community for sharing the gospel with everyone she met. Her boldness drew the unwanted attention of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.

Late one night, two guerrilla fighters knocked on her door under the pretense of needing mechanical help. While her husband stepped away to assist, the men questioned Rocio about her identity. When they knew it was Rocio, they shot her three times and fled, leaving her husband and daughter to watch her take her final breath. Rocio knew the risks of the Great Commission, yet chose obedience over safety.

The inspiring stories of these mothers, teachers and evangelists should inspire us. Their sacrifice challenges those of us living in Western comfort. Are we willing to speak of Jesus when it might cost us our social standing, just as these women spoke of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ though it cost them their lives?

This July, I invite your church, family or small group to join in honoring heroes of the faith. VOM has prepared a free Digital Resource Kit, including a short film about Perpetua, sermon outlines and a guide for talking with children about persecution, all of which is available at Persecution.com/martyr.

Let us continue to pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters who still face violent opposition today, and let us commit to living with the same defiant, joyful faith these extraordinary women carried into eternity.

Founded in 1967 by Richard and Sabina Wurmbrand, The Voice of the Martyrs is a nonprofit, interdenominational missions organization serving persecuted Christians in the world's most difficult and dangerous places to follow Christ. For more information, visit https://www.persecution.com.

Only days after U.S. President Donald Trump left a Beijing summit with CCP Chairman Xi Jinping, where religious freedom and jailed religious leaders were discussed, authorities in eastern China demolished a prominent church, razing the building with large excavators last week. Yazhong Church (also referred to as Yayang Church), an unregistered Protestant church in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province — a region known as “China’s Jerusalem” — has been under siege since late last year.

On December 14 and 15, local authorities arrested 103 church members in a pre-dawn raid and took control of the church building, as confirmed last week in new reporting by Le Monde. That same week, at a public event, an unidentified government official announced: “We will see this campaign through to the end.”

Five months later, on Sunday, May 17, heavy construction vehicles passed through tightly controlled security checkpoints set up by authorities, according to multiple sources confirmed by ChinaAid News. On May 18, crews began to demolish the multi-level structure from the top down. By 11 a.m. Beijing Time on Tuesday, May 19, the beautiful and ornate sanctuary had been reduced to rubble.

Concurrently with the demolition, authorities arrested four additional church members, one identified as You Ci’en, according to local sources, cited anonymously to protect their safety. They join 18 other members of Yazhong Church previously jailed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) authorities.

The families of all detained individuals reportedly received official warnings instructing them to remain silent, sources familiar with the situation stated to ChinaAid News. Authorities reportedly imposed strict information controls ahead of the demolition, measures that sources said appeared intended to limit public scrutiny.

Multiple confidential sources said the area surrounding the church had been placed under lockdown in recent weeks, while checkpoints and guard posts were established roughly one kilometer from the site to prevent unauthorized access. The church cross was also covered with black cloth prior to the demolition.

Wenzhou has been called “China’s Jerusalem” due to its large Christian population. The destruction of Yazhong Church escalates a broader suppression campaign in Taishun County, documented over months by ChinaAid News.

The campaign has included continuous surveillance, stringent information controls, and the closure of businesses linked to alleged church members.

“My brothers and sisters in the faith have stood strong for so long,” said Bob Fu, president of Texas-based nonprofit group ChinaAid and a senior fellow at Family Research Council. “More so than the loss of a church building, I lament how the CCP has cracked down on this area known for its faithful Christians and oppressed them more and more day by day.”

He added, “These recent actions show that the persecution of Christians by Chinese authorities has intensified, becoming more institutionalized and targeted.”

Church Resisted Order to Display Chinese flag

The conflict originated from the church’s resistance to what congregants perceived as increasingly aggressive methods of religious repression imposed by local Chinese Communist Party authorities.

Yazhong Church is affiliated with the “Local Church” movement (also known as the “Assembly” movement), a faith tradition that traces its origins to the early 21st-century Chinese preacher Watchman Nee and shares historical roots with the British Closed Brethren movement.

Due to its location in the remote mountainous region of southern Zhejiang, the church has maintained the independent traditions characteristic of Wenzhou’s local churches and has historically kept a distance from local government authorities.

According to congregants, tensions escalated significantly during the previous summer. The immediate catalyst was a government directive requiring the Chinese national flag to be displayed inside the sanctuary and a flagpole erected on church grounds, which believers regarded as an infringement on the sanctity of their faith.

Subsequently, in June 2025, government personnel entered the church property by force, demolished part of the outer wall, and installed the flagpole, prompting collective protests and sparking a standoff between the church and the authorities.

Analysts who closely monitor religious freedom in China note that Wenzhou has been among the most aggressive regions in implementing religious policies over the past decade. Only churches affiliated with the state-controlled Three-Self Patriotic Movement are officially sanctioned.

“Any Christian church unwilling to submit to state power — even this one, without any political involvement — the Chinese Communist Party feels it has to silence and even destroy,” said Fu.

Pre-Christmas ‘Inspection’ Led to Mass Church Detentions

Chinese authorities planned the operation against Yazhong Church several months in advance, as previously reported by ChinaAid News.

On December 14 and 15, 2025, Zhejiang authorities deployed large numbers of special police and riot-control officers to Yayang Town, conducting coordinated “inspection operations” at 12 local church gathering sites.

During the operation targeting Yazhong Church, more than 100 believers were dispersed and temporarily detained.

As the government’s campaign intensified, the scope of detentions broadened. To date, 22 believers, including church leaders Lin Enzhao and Lin Enci, have been subjected to long-term criminal detention, according to multiple sources.

Authorities charged them with the ambiguous offense of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” a broad public-order offense frequently used against activists and religious groups.

However, sources note that four church members were recently released on bail pending trial.

Last week, French media outlet Le Monde continued its reporting on believers in Yayang last week with a video detailing new developments following an extensive January investigation.

‘Our Prayers Are Not Reduced to Rubble’

Despite ongoing international scrutiny, local authorities’ demolition of Yazhong Church reflects continuing tensions between Beijing and independent Christian communities across China. Observers have compared the incident to the 2014 demolition of Sanjiang Church in Wenzhou, which drew international attention. In this recent case, sources said authorities imposed a near-total ‘information vacuum’ before demolition crews arrived.

Law enforcement personnel at the scene reportedly imposed strict monitoring of electronic devices. Individuals attempting to take photographs or record video with mobile phones were immediately intercepted, expelled, or detained, sources tell ChinaAid News.

Human rights advocacy groups state that the authorities’ severe restrictions on online discussion and information dissemination highlight the sensitivity of such actions.

One analyst, granted anonymity for his safety, asked: “If the demolition was entirely lawful and proper, why would authorities go to such extraordinary lengths to impose a total information blackout?”

As of publication, neither the Wenzhou municipal government nor the Taishun County Public Security Bureau had issued a statement.

Sources indicated that local police continue to conduct sporadic arrests and interrogations targeting believers involved in the incident or those attempting to speak publicly about it.

“Our sources confirm that this beautiful and sacred place of worship has been destroyed — but our prayers are not reduced to rubble,” insisted Fu. “May this loss wake up the global church to what’s happening in China, a great conflict between faithful believers and state power.

This article was originally written by Goa Zhensai and published on The Washington Stand. For more content like this, visit Real Life Network.

If you want clear, biblical worldview analysis on Israel, Bible prophecy, the Middle East, and the cultural battles shaping the church, watch The Daniel Cohen Show on the Real Life Network. From Israel to California, believers are asking the same question: how do we read the headlines without panic, and how do we stay faithful without going numb? In this conversation with Pastor Jack Hibbs from the Real Life Network flagship studios in Chino Hills, we talk Israel and Iran, the underground church, Hollywood’s silence, and why the church must recognize Bible prophecy with courage, not fear.

Israel in the Headlines and Prophecy in Real Time

I’m speaking to you from Israel, about 9,000 miles away from Chino Hills, and Pastor Jack and I start with the reality that never stops being true: when Israel moves, the world watches. But believers should watch with more than curiosity. We should watch with a Bible open.

Pastor Jack is teaching a new series designed to help the church recognize Bible prophecy. That word matters: recognize. Not obsess. Not panic. Not speculate into the weeds. Recognize what Scripture has already told us would happen, then live steady, faithful, and unshaken.

Israel’s covenant identity is not a political slogan. It is a biblical fact rooted in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Pastor Jack points to what Scripture foretold: God drawing His people back from the four corners of the earth, the return to the land, the resurgence of antisemitism, and Israel surrounded by enemies. The headlines may feel chaotic, but prophecy tells us God is not improvising.

When Israel is in the news, Christians should sit up and take notice through a biblical worldview, not cable news emotion.

We also talk about Iran, because the eyes of the world keep shifting there. The regime appears weaker than it has been in years, the streets are unstable, and the region is watching. Pastor Jack frames it with clarity: Persia is Bible land. Iran today occupies the map where Scripture has already spoken about nations, hostility, and God’s purposes in the last days. That does not mean we set dates or write fan fiction. It means we remember God’s Word does not return void.

Iran’s Underground Church and the God Who Still Speaks

One of the most powerful parts of this conversation is not geopolitical. It is personal. We talk about the underground church in Iran and the testimonies that keep surfacing, stories of people who had never held a Bible, never entered a church, never had access to Christian resources, and yet encountered Jesus in dreams.

To some, that sounds impossible. To anyone who has read Acts, it sounds familiar.

Pastor Jack makes a point that lands with weight: God is not limited by tyrants, borders, or censorship. He can move through dreams, providence, a whispered prayer, and a digital download that no regime can fully stop. He references something that has been discussed publicly before: huge spikes in Scripture and sermon content being accessed inside Iran, even during the early COVID years. Whether it is a digital Bible, a sermon clip, or a single verse shared quietly, God uses it all.

God can shake the nations, but He also pursues one soul trapped under tyranny, because the gospel is always personal.

And that’s where Pastor Jack presses the church to do what the church is called to do. Pray for the people of Iran. Pray for freedom. Pray for protection for believers who are gathering quietly, risking everything to follow Jesus. Pray for courage, wisdom, and endurance.

We also address the glaring hypocrisy of our modern “human rights” class. Many celebrity voices have spent years condemning Israel, but they go silent when the Iranian regime brutalizes its own people. Pastor Jack’s answer is blunt: cowardice. And he points to the spiritual reality that fear of retaliation often silences people who are bold only when it is safe.

Israel is an easy target for the fashionable crowd. The church is an easy target. But confronting a regime that punishes dissent? That costs something. And too many of the loudest voices do not speak when speaking is dangerous.

Faith, Politics, and the Courage to Engage

Then we pivot to America, because you cannot separate faith and public life. You can try, but you will be disciplined by the world you refuse to engage. Pastor Jack says it plainly: believers must stop being spectators while their children’s minds are shaped by ideologies that hate truth, hate order, and hate God’s design.

We talk about activism aimed at protecting lawlessness and shaming enforcement, with schools even encouraging walkouts that put kids in danger. Pastor Jack’s counsel is practical and forceful: parents should stand up, push back, and hold institutions accountable. Organized disruption is not “grassroots” just because someone says it is. Often it is coordinated, funded, and designed to destabilize.

From there, we come home to California. I ask the question a lot of people are asking right now: is California salvageable? Pastor Jack says yes, and he explains why. In his view, the state has hit rock bottom, and that is exactly where a turnaround becomes possible. He points to growing momentum, stronger candidates, and a sharpening public awareness of fraud, corruption, and one party decay.

He also warns that if California turns, the church will be called to serve, not hide. Not merely comment from the sidelines, but engage in the work of rebuilding a moral foundation and defending what is true.

We close with something Pastor Jack says that I want every believer to remember, because it cuts through the noise: you live in a world of faith and politics whether you admit it or not. You either engage or you get vandalized by the culture.

Bible prophecy is not given to scare the church, but to steady the church and keep us obedient when the world shakes.

If you want more conversations like this, grounded in Scripture and unafraid of the moment we’re living in, watch The Daniel Cohen Show on the Real Life Network and share it with someone who needs clarity right now.

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If you want Christian news, biblical truth, and a biblical worldview without apology, watch the Daniel Cohen Show on the Real Life Network. The UK is becoming a case study in what happens when a nation loses its spiritual backbone, its birth rates collapse, and leaders keep importing a population that does not share the country’s values. This is not abstract. It is measurable, visible, and accelerating.

The UK’s Demographic Collapse Is Real, and It Changes Everything

Let me start with the numbers, because feelings do not matter as much as facts. The total fertility rate in the UK hit a record low in 2024, around 1.41 children per woman. You need roughly 2.1 just to maintain a stable population without mass immigration. That gap is a demographic free fall. And it is not only England. Italy, Germany, Spain, the broader continent, it is a civilizational decline playing out in real time.

Then you add another layer. The 2021 census showed Christians in England and Wales declining sharply, while the “no religion” category surged. Meanwhile, the Muslim population has grown significantly in the last decade, and Muslim families on average have higher birth rates. That matters, because population change is not linear. It compounds.

When a nation stops replacing itself, someone else will replace it.

And let us be honest about something that polite society refuses to say out loud. Demographic change does not require a majority to reshape a country. It only requires concentrated communities, organized voting blocs, and leaders willing to trade identity for power. City by city, council by council, neighborhood by neighborhood, the transformation becomes permanent.

This is why you are seeing Britain water down its public Christian identity while making room for public Islamic identity. They will tell you it is “inclusion.” No, it is surrender dressed up as virtue.

The Double Standard Is the Story, and It Is Getting Darker

The UK was the land of the King James Bible, of C.S. Lewis, of missionary sending churches that helped shape the modern West. Now you have Christmas markets rebranded as “winter markets,” vendors told not to say Christmas, and public celebration toned down because the government cannot guarantee security. That is not inclusivity. That is fear.

At the same time, Ramadan celebrations and Islamic symbolism are publicly elevated, promoted, and normalized. And if you say, Daniel, you are picking on Muslims, slow down. I am describing what the UK has already become. A country can choose multiculturalism, but if it loses the confidence to defend its own culture, it is not multiculturalism. It is replacement through intimidation and demographic momentum.

Look at the stories coming out of the UK about policing speech. People questioned for posts. People arrested over comments. Police and even mental health professionals showing up at someone’s door because they expressed concern. Street preachers confronted and arrested, while other groups operate with security, intimidation, and protection.

A nation that criminalizes Christian speech while excusing Islamist intimidation is a nation in spiritual free fall.

And then there is the part the establishment tried to bury for years: grooming gangs. Documented cases of large scale abuse, and a public conversation that was muted because leaders were terrified of being called racist. Protecting children became less important than protecting careers. That is moral rot.

This Is a Warning to America, and Christians Cannot Stay Passive

Here is why I keep asking the “rescue” question. If a country becomes unsafe for Jews, it does not stop with Jews. If a country becomes unsafe for Christians to openly practice and speak, it does not stop with words. And if a government keeps importing a population that does not assimilate and then punishes native citizens for noticing, you are watching a nation unravel.

We are already seeing the same patterns in the United States. Pockets of Islamist influence. The red green alliance where radicals on the left and Islamists share the same political incentives. And a culture that calls any pushback “hate” while it quietly enforces a double standard.

This is not about hating people. This is about loving truth and protecting your children’s future. It is about refusing to be bullied into silence. It is about Christians acting like Christians, not spectators. Run for a school board. Show up at city council. Vote. Organize. Mentor. Build churches that are not ashamed of the gospel.

Because the takeover is not always tanks. Sometimes it is ballots, benefits, intimidation, and a population that has been trained to be afraid to speak.

And if you want a clear lens on what’s happening and how it connects to biblical truth, watch the Daniel Cohen Show on the Real Life Network. Share it with your family, send it to your church group, and get the app, because this is the kind of moment where staying quiet is not neutrality. It is surrender.

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