After entering their house through a hole in the couple’s thatched roof, the angry Muslims dragged them outside. Despite their pleas for mercy and Shama’s pregnancy with their fourth child, the mob beat them ruthlessly, breaking both Shahzad’s and Shama’s legs. Next, the mob tied them behind a tractor and dragged them for more than thirty minutes.

Shahzad had moved to the Pakistani city of Kot Radha Kishan in 2000 with his brothers and their father, Nazar. Because of their Christian faith, they had difficulty finding work. In Pakistan, Christians are treated as second-class citizens and often must work as street cleaners or sewage workers. Shahzad and his family found work at a brick kiln. It was hard work but provided enough money for food and a place to live, even though they lived as slaves and owed a large debt to the brick kiln owner.

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Six years later, Shahzad married a Christian woman named Shama. Together, they devoted themselves to the Lord and to the Christian community, meeting with local Christians twice a month for prayer. However, Shahzad’s father, Nazar, had befriended some local Muslims and even began joining in some of their rituals. This disturbed Shama, who pleaded with him to stay true to Christ. Nazar later heeded his daughter-in-law’s advice and stopped participating in the Muslim rituals, and it did not go unnoticed in the community. Muslims in the village thought Shama had converted him from Islam to Christianity, and their resentment toward her grew.

When Nazar became ill, Shahzad took time off work to find treatment for him. When Nazar died at the end of October, Shahzad returned to his job at the kiln, only to be beaten by his superiors for missing work. Shahzad then decided they could no longer stay at the kiln. But they owed the owner a large debt, passed on from Nazar, and Shahzad wanted to leave on good terms. “Tell us how much money we owe you,” he told the owner. “We will return it and leave your brick kiln.”

The kiln owner and his clerk did not want the couple to go free. They already resented Shahzad for not letting his wife work there, for fear the men would take advantage of her. The kiln owner and his clerk devised a plan: If they accused Shahzad and Shama of burning a copy of the Koran, they would be beaten and thrown in jail. So early on the morning of November 4, 2014, the kiln owner and his clerk went to the local mosque and accused the Christian couple of the crime, creating outrage in the Muslim community.

After the mob dragged Shahzad and Shama around the kiln yard, their lifeless bodies were stuffed into the vent holes above the brick kiln oven and burned. The vicious attack had lasted four hours.

Police reported that there was no evidence of Koran burning, and local politicians condemned the killings. Four hundred people were arrested and jailed for their actions that day, and a movement was begun to change the country’s blasphemy laws, which have been widely used against Christians and others by anyone who has a grievance against them. Under the laws, Christians have been falsely accused of blaspheming Islam, the Koran and Muhammad. Shahzad and Shama clung to their faith in Jesus in their final moments, and their deaths were not in vain.

This story is an excerpt from Foxe: Voices of the Martyrs. You can get your own copy free with any donation to The Voice of the Martyrs.

Paulus had no idea that the words of the man he was beating would be prophetic.

As a devout Muslim working in law enforcement, he made it a point to preach Islam among Pakistan’s minority Christian community, even beating many Christians in an effort to coerce them to become Muslim.

Then, one day Paulus met a pastor in a park. He discussed Islam with the man and tried to persuade him to accept what he considered the only true religion. But as a committed follower of Jesus Christ, the pastor told Paulus he could not become a Muslim.

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So, sticking to standard practice, Paulus violently attacked him. Between painful blows to the head, the pastor made eye contact with Paulus and said, “I am beaten for Jesus Christ, and one day you will also be beaten for Him.”

Although the man’s words left an impression, Paulus would not understand what they meant until years later.

Meeting Jesus

Reading was a great passion of Paulus, and one day while browsing through his local book store, he curiously picked up and purchased a copy of an old book. Later, as he began to read the book, he realized he was holding a Bible. Repulsed, he tossed it aside, intending to take it back to the store.

But Paulus couldn’t shake the sense of peace that had overcome him while reading the Bible. So four days later, he picked it up again. Each time he picked it up and began to read, however, the false ideas he’d always heard about Christianity resurfaced, and he would resolve to get rid of the book. After repeating this cycle for several months, his resistance crumbled and he decided to find out more about the Jesus of the Bible.

When he heard two Christian men talking on a bus one day, he saw his opportunity. After asking the men to tell him about Jesus, Paulus was led to their pastor, who advised him to go to a quiet room by himself and ask the god of Islam to reveal himself. Then, the pastor suggested, he should ask the God of the Bible to reveal Himself.

Paulus decided to follow the pastor’s somewhat unorthodox instructions. So he called out to the god of Islam and, not unexpectedly, was met with silence. When he addressed God, however, to his great astonishment he had a vision of a man in white saying, “Son, follow Me and stop persecuting My people.”

Paulus immediately returned to the pastor and told him he had placed his faith in Jesus Christ. He was baptized in 2001, abandoning the Muslim name he had received at birth in favor of the name Paulus. And like his namesake, the Apostle Paul, he would experience many beatings and hardships because of his faith in Christ. “Still, whatever happens to me,” he said, “I will always follow Jesus my Savior.”

Beaten for Jesus Christ

The words of the pastor he had beaten many years earlier were soon realized. When Paulus’s family heard the news of his conversion, they were extremely unhappy; his father even beat him when he discovered him praying. “Father, the one I am calling, He is your Father also!” Paulus told him.

But his father, along with some other religious leaders, locked him in a room and continued to beat him periodically. Then, after several months, one of Paulus’s cousins helped him escape. And when a large earthquake hit the area in 2005, destroying the building where Paulus had been held, his family assumed he was dead.

As Paulus fled the area and his family’s hostility, he had a car accident that required hospitalization. While in the hospital, he met a Christian woman named Marriam who would later become his wife. Although Paulus had been married before, his Muslim wife had left him when he became a Christian. He had stayed in touch with his son from the first marriage, however, quietly sharing the gospel with him. Eventually his son came to faith in Christ and told Paulus he wanted to come live with him. But when the boy’s relatives found out, they poisoned him to death rather than let him live with an “infidel.”

The persecution from his family didn’t end with the murder of his son. After they learned where Paulus and his new wife were living, they often came to beat him. On one occasion, a family member struck him so hard that he dropped his 3-month-old daughter, Sara, permanently damaging her left eye.

Despite everything, he remained firm in faith. “After accepting Jesus Christ, he never looked back,” Marriam said. “He always preached the Word and served the Lord.”

Churches throughout Pakistan frequently asked Paulus to share his testimony of conversion from a Christian-hating Muslim to a Christ-loving follower of Jesus. And he gladly and fearlessly shared what God had done for him.

In 2016, members of Paulus’s family beat him again, causing injuries that eventually led to his death. While being treated in the hospital for wounds suffered in the beating, he developed an infection that turned septic. The hospital, however, attributed his death to a heart attack, presumably evading responsibility for the septic infection.

Marriam and her daughter have struggled since Paulus’s death. In January 2019, two VOM-supported pastors asked VOM to help her, and VOM helped provide living expenses, school fees and medical treatment for Sara’s eye. Although doctors could not restore vision in the eye, a glass eye has given her a huge boost of confidence. In addition, VOM provided Marriam with a rickshaw that will allow her to run a small taxi business.

“After my husband’s death, I continue to serve the Lord,” Marriam said. “Although I have many difficulties, I love to serve Him.” She said she feels called to continue Paulus’s work by sharing his testimony and sharing God’s Word with women’s groups.

In late May, Li and Lu were taking their lunch break when three armed men dressed as police officers forced them into their vehicle. A third woman, also Chinese, was kidnapped along with them, but it is unclear whether she was released because there wasn’t room in the vehicle or because she escaped and called for help. A Pakistani man saw what was happening and tried to help, but he was shot in the foot by the kidnappers.

Li and Lu were held hostage for several days before their executions,
which were recorded on video. The self-proclaimed Islamic State (ISIS)
claimed credit for their deaths, and the Pakistani government eventually
carried out a raid on the ISIS hideout. However, by that time the Islamists
had fled.

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The Chinese government did little to aid in the investigation or the
retrieval of the couple’s bodies. In fact, the Chinese government declared
their work illegal and blamed Korean churches affiliated with other missionary work in Pakistan. Some Chinese Christians who spoke out
against their government’s handling of the case were detained or pressured to remain silent. The official government stance was that the
language school where the couple studied was merely a front for illegal
religious activities.

The Pakistani government also accused Li and Lu of “preaching” during their time in the country. Following their deaths, a South Korean instructor at their language school was ordered to leave the country. The Pakistani government accused Jean Won-seo of using his school as a cover for preaching. Christians in China and around the world were perplexed by the responses of both the Chinese and Pakistani governments, which focused more on the couple’s activities in the country than on the fact that ISIS had murdered two Chinese nationals.

Despite being ignored by earthly governments, the sacrifice of Li and
Lu will not be ignored by the King of their eternal home. The writer of
Hebrews tells us that “God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he
has prepared for them a city” (Hebrews 11:16).

“Pray that God would be sanctified in my life, and in the lives of all His children here … I long to live a poured-out life unto Him among these
Chinese, and to enter into the fellowship of sufferings for souls, [as He] …poured out His life unto death for us.”
—Mildred Clarke in her journal in 1894. She was martyred in 1900 in China.

This story is an excerpt from Foxe: Voices of the Martyrs. You can get your own copy free with any donation to The Voice of the Martyrs.

At 6 a.m., more than 500 Muslims had gathered outside the young couple’s home near the brick kiln where they worked as bonded laborers. Shama’s husband couldn’t believe the events of the last few months had come to this.

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Indentured Workers in Pakistani brick kilns

Shahzad, his father and four brothers moved to the brick kiln near Kot Radha Kishan, Pakistan, in 2000, when Shahzad was 16. As poor Christians (Pakistan’s lowest social class), they had few employment options. While the work in a brick kiln was grueling, it at least provided them food and a place to sleep. However, as often occurs with poor Christians in Pakistan, the family soon became indebted to the brick kiln owner. The debts are eventually passed on to the children, indenturing many families for life.

Although Shahzad’s family was Christian, his father, Nazar, became friends with Muslims living near the kiln. He often read the Quran with them and even practiced some Muslim rituals, so many locals assumed he had converted to Islam.

In 2006, Shahzad married Shama, a dedicated Christian. Shama loved the Lord and even painted a bright white cross on the door of their rented room at the brick kiln. They prayed together morning and evening and met for prayer twice a month with the other 10 Christian families working at the kiln.

Shama was disturbed that her father-in-law, Nazar, practiced Muslim rituals, and she asked him many times to stop. “We are sons and daughters of God,” she told him. “Jesus is our Savior; we believe only on Him. Give up this work, and pray to the Lord for forgiveness.” She and Shahzad prayed for Nazar regularly, and finally, in 2013, he stopped the Muslim rituals. He joined his son and daughter-in-law for daily prayers and told everyone of his love for Jesus Christ.

The change in Nazar did not go unnoticed in the community, and some thought Shama had converted Nazar from Islam to Christianity. Many at the kiln, including the owner and his clerk, already resented Shama because she did not work in the kiln. Shahzad would not let her because he was afraid the men would take advantage of her.

In October 2014, Nazar became very ill. Shahzad and his brothers couldn’t afford treatment, so they asked the kiln owner for a loan. He refused. Having no other choice, Shahzad and his brothers took their sick father to a government hospital in Lahore, where he could be treated for free. Shahzad missed several days of work, and his father died at the end of October. When Shahzad returned home, the kiln owner and clerk beat Shahzad severely for missing work.

He and Shama decided they could no longer live at the kiln. “Tell us how much money we owe you,” they told the kiln owner. “We will return it and leave your brick kiln.”

The owner and clerk didn’t want the Christian couple to go free, so they devised a plan. They knew that accusing them of desecrating a Quran would get them beaten, jailed under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws or worse.

The Four-Hour Attack

At 5:30 a.m. on Nov. 4, the clerk and a few Muslim men from the kiln went to the leader of the local mosque and told him that the Christian couple had burned a Quran. The mosque leader then announced the offense to the village over loudspeaker, and a mob immediately began to surround Shahzad and Shama’s home.

The terrified couple locked their door as the crowd shouted for their deaths and banged against the door. Soon, members of the mob climbed onto the thatch roof of Shahzad’s house, tore a hole in it and dropped into the room to unlock the door. They dragged the couple out of the house and began to beat them. Then they took them to the office of the brick kiln clerk, where the owner and clerk beat them again. Shahzad and Shama pleaded for their lives, but the beating continued even though Shama was pregnant with their fourth child.

After beating the couple so badly that their legs were broken, the enraged Muslims tied them behind a tractor and dragged them around the kiln yard for more than 30 minutes. The crowd jeered, and Shahzad’s family members watched in horror. All the while, messages of hate droned from the mosque loudspeaker as the leader announced that the Christian couple must be taught a lesson.

When the tractor driver saw that Shahzad and Shama were unconscious, he turned toward the brick kiln ovens. The mob then stuffed their bodies into vent holes above the oven. Autopsy reports would later show that both of them burned to death, having been alive when stuffed into the vents. The attack lasted four hours.

No Evidence of Quran Burning

Although local police were present during the attack, they did nothing to stop it. However, they did later arrest 76 people in connection with the murders, and they registered a case against more than 400 people involved. All of those arrested were denied bail and are being held until trial, including the brick kiln owner and clerk.

The police also noted that there was no evidence that Shama or Shahzad had burned any part of a Quran. Muslim politicians, including the area’s Member of Parliament, strongly condemned the murders.

Tired of recurring violence against Christians and inadequate government response, some Pakistanis have called for change to the country’s infamous blasphemy laws, under which Christians are often persecuted by anyone with a grievance against them.

In this case, the Pakistani government promised to provide financially for the couple’s children and relatives, and it has. Shahzad and Shama’s three children, who were all younger than 6 at the time their parents were killed, are living with their grandfather in another village. VOM workers continue to visit and check in on them.

VOM has also helped the other Christian families who worked at the brick kiln. After the owner’s arrest, the kiln was closed and sealed, leaving the Christians without an income. They had fled during the attack, leaving everything they owned behind. At Christmas time, VOM workers brought them food, blankets and clothing.

When VOM workers asked the families what they needed most, they didn’t ask for financial support but instead asked for rickshaws, which would enable them to support their families by starting a small business. In February 2015, VOM provided each family with a motorcycle rickshaw.

Fazal and his son arrived at a church packed with people who had
come to watch the children’s Christmas celebration. But as the congregation lined up to receive the elements of communion, four men wearing suicide vests approached the church. Seeing their intent, security personnel tried to prevent the men from entering, shooting one as he entered the compound. Two of the others fled the scene, but the fourth man managed to push his way through the entrance and detonate his explosives. Fazal’s son was preparing to receive the elements when the explosion occurred, and the woman next to him was injured in the blast.

Eleven Christians, including Fazal, were killed in the attack, and
many others were wounded. The self-proclaimed Islamic State (ISIS) later
claimed credit for the bombing.

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While composing less than 1 percent of the country’s population,
Christians are marginalized by the Muslim majority and must often work
menial jobs for minimal pay. Christian communities receive little protection from the government and are often easy targets of Muslim extremist attacks. Large gatherings of believers on Christian holidays are also often targeted by the extremists.

While church members mourned for those killed in the bombing,
they also had reason to praise God. If the other attackers had managed
to get inside the church and detonate their explosives, the death toll
would have been far greater.

Pakistani Christians endure great hardships for their Christian witness. They are hated by their neighbors and treated as second-class citizens for worshiping Jesus, who promised, “Blessed are you when people
hate you… on account of the Son of Man” (Luke 6:22).

“He will wipe away every tear
from their eyes, and death shall
be no more, neither shall there
be mourning, nor crying, nor
pain anymore, for the former
things have passed away.”
Revelation 21:4

This story is an excerpt from Foxe: Voices of the Martyrs. You can get your own copy free with any donation to The Voice of the Martyrs.

Masih spent his days as a whitewasher and painter. He had just
finished a job and stopped at the local mosque in order to use the restroom. As he returned outside, bystanders grabbed him and shouted
accusations. Masih’s accusers, knowing he was a Christian, claimed that
he had spit on the walls of the mosque; two false witnesses confirmed
this story. Samuel was immediately arrested and put on trial.

Under the maximum penalty for violating Section 295 of the Pakistani penal code, Masih could have been jailed for two years and fined,
if convicted of “defiling a place of worship with the intent of insulting
the religion (Islam).”

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The pungent odor of urine and sweat filled the dirty prison. The
sounds of coughing and scuffling feet echoed along the walls. Just down
the hall lay Masih, struggling to breathe and continuously coughing up
blood. Although the head of the prison deeply resented his Christian
prisoner, he sent Masih to the hospital to treat his advanced
tuberculosis.

During his stay, a policeman was posted near his bed. When Masih
should have been safely recovering, a horrible crime occurred. Early one morning, the police constable entered the room and swung
a hammer down on Masih’s head. Bleeding profusely from his wounds,
Masih fell into a coma and was rushed to the emergency neurosurgery ward, where he died a few days later. The Pakistani police constable who
took his life claimed, “I wanted to earn a place in paradise by killing
him.”

“This is a case that brings out, like nothing else, the myriad contradictions that these [blasphemy] laws have infused in this state and society,” a Daily Times newspaper editorial stated the day after Masih’s death. “The fact is that it is a bad law both in its conception and its implementation, and the legislation has created a psyche that encourages vigilante behavior.”

Samuel Masih was arrested for a crime he never committed. His only
crime was following the call of the one true Savior, Jesus Christ. Masih’s
murderer thought killing him would earn him a place in paradise. Samuel
Masih, however, knew the one true way to get to Heaven, through Jesus
Christ, and he is now with his Savior.

This story is an excerpt from Foxe: Voices of the Martyrs. You can get your own copy free with any donation to The Voice of the Martyrs.

Click here to find out about Christian persecution in Pakistan and learn how to pray.

Post a prayer for Shakeel and his family on iCommitToPray.com

As Abdul grew older, however, he began to worry about where he would spend eternity. He often thought of heaven and discussed the afterlife with his uncle, but his uncle simply assured him that he would get there.

“You know you are doing a good job,” he told Abdul. “You will go to heaven.”

Instead of providing comfort, his uncle’s words offended him. He knew he had not lived a good life, even by his own standards. And surely heaven’s standards were higher than his own, he thought. The Islamic view of heaven suddenly felt cheap to Abdul.

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After further conversations about Islam with family members, Abdul’s disgust with his life grew so intense that he wanted to commit suicide. Distraught, he shared his feelings and dark intentions with a friend. To Abdul’s surprise, his Muslim friend challenged him to take a Bible correspondence course that he had been taking.

Abdul signed up for the course and soon received the first lessons. Everything made sense to him until he came to Romans 8:1 — “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

That declaration shook Abdul’s understanding of God, judgment and heaven. The concept of grace it presented was so foreign to him that he initially thought it was an error.

But the more he studied the Scriptures, the better he understood the uniquely Christian teachings about God’s mercy and grace. Finally, in 2005, he reached a conclusion: It was worth it to leave Islam for Jesus. Abdul placed his faith in Christ and was baptized, unaware of the persecution his decision would bring.

Rejected by His Family

Three months after becoming a Christian, Abdul decided to share the gospel in his village. He spent two weeks in prayer and preparation before beginning to tell both friends and strangers about Jesus. Then, one day he arrived home and saw a group of people gathered outside his house. Inside, his parents, siblings and other relatives sat waiting for him.

While he had been out sharing the gospel, some villagers had reported his evangelistic work to his family. Abdul immediately sensed the tension as he stood in front of his family, and then his uncle, who also lived with his family, pointed a gun at him.

“He must be kicked out of the house!” his uncle said tearfully. “Otherwise, I will kill him!” Abdul’s uncle lunged toward him, the butt of the gun striking Abdul’s shoulder as his brothers tried to pull him away.

“If you again become a Muslim, we will forgive you,” Abdul’s father promised.

But Abdul, overwhelmed with emotion, held to his Christian faith. “I am asking you to become a Christian so you can have salvation,” he responded.

Realizing that Abdul was not going to return to Islam, his family kicked him out of the house. Abdul had nowhere to stay, so after nightfall when most people were in bed, he returned to his parents’ house and climbed up on the roof to sleep. At sunrise the next day, around 5 a.m., he climbed down and left the house. He followed the same pattern the next day … and every day for the next six years.

“It was easy in the summertime, but very hard during the wintertime,” he said. “I always kept a matchbook in my pocket to make a fire to make myself warm.”

Whenever he found himself suffering from the weather or loneliness, he said a simple prayer: “Thank you, God. This is all about You and for You.”

Relentless Evangelist

Throughout the six years that Abdul slept on his parents’ roof, he continually shared the gospel with everyone he could. As the only Christian in an area that includes dozens of villages, the harvest was plentiful. When he wasn’t selling newspapers to earn money, he was talking with people in neighboring villages and visiting workers out in the field. And every morning, he walked two miles with a man who made the daily trip to get milk for his family; they discussed the Scriptures every step of the way.

Abdul has led 10 men to Christ so far, and another 30 have shown interest in learning more. Not everyone is open to his message, though; Abdul receives frequent death threats from Islamic leaders because of his evangelism. But despite the threats, he continues to serve as the sole evangelist in his community, and VOM supports Abdul as a front-line worker.

Six years after Abdul began sleeping on the roof of his parents’ house, his mother began to hear updates on him from other villagers. At one point, after learning that he was sick, she urged her husband to forgive Abdul. Abdul’s father relented, allowing him to move into a separate room that he added to the house.

As soon as Abdul moved in, however, his 80-year-old uncle cursed him for leaving Islam. One night, his uncle snuck into his room while he was out of town and burned his Bibles. Then, when Abdul’s father died, in 2012, his uncle refused to let him attend the funeral.

“You are a Christian and you don’t believe on Allah, so go out from here,” his uncle said.

Abdul has not given up on his uncle despite the ongoing harassment. While the verbal abuse continues today, Abdul’s standard response is a kind smile.

“I am praying for my uncle that he can receive salvation before he dies,” Abdul said.

Abdul is planning to marry a Christian girl he met in another part of Pakistan, but his family will not be there to support him. He hopes his wife will partner with him in ministry, reaching out to women, whom he is unable to speak with in their strict Islamic culture.

Although he continues to receive death threats, he accepts the tension in his life as a part of his faith. If the threats become reality, he is OK with that, too. He now knows for sure where he is going when he dies.

“I know that I have to die,” he said, “but before I die I want to share the good news that people don’t have to go to hell. They can go to heaven.”

It was 9 p.m., and Faisal’s Bible distribution team was eager to be home. After delivering Bibles to eleven Pakistani villages in three days, they had taken a shortcut to get home faster. But as the team slowed their old van to navigate a bumpy stretch of road, they found themselves surrounded by a band of robbers notorious in that part of Pakistan.

Rajehs, one of the workers riding in the van, tried to reason with the six armed men as one of them pointed a gun at the driver and another held a gun against a passenger’s leg. “We’ve given you everything,” Rajehs told them. “Why do you want to kill us?” But even as they were rolling down their windows to hand over their valuables, he knew that the robbers would likely force them out of the van and shoot them one by one.

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“We have Bibles,” offered 13-year-old Amber, the team’s youngest member. “Please take a Bible.”

“We don’t need it!” a robber screamed, throwing the Bible down.

A mile and a half ahead of them on the road, Pastor Faisal and the rest of the team waited nervously in the first van. They could not see what was happening behind them, but they knew something was wrong.

Almost 20 tense minutes later, the team in the van came barreling toward Pastor Faisal’s group with its lights off. Everyone was shaken. The robbers had taken their money and phones, and Rajehs had a bruise on his neck where he had been hit with the butt of a rifle. Before letting them go, the robbers had told the team, “Don’t look back. Do not stop. Don’t turn your lights on. Otherwise, we will shoot you from behind.”

Robberies like the one Faisal’s team experienced are just one of the many dangers Bible distributors encounter in hostile parts of the world. Faisal’s team spends several weeks each year delivering free Bibles to believers across Pakistan who otherwise would not have access to one.

These workers seek out Christians who do not have a Bible, relying on local contacts to provide the names of those who need one. Most of those receiving Bibles are new to the faith.

Despite the dangerous, tiring journeys, Faisal and his team are committed to supplying Bibles to those who need them. “We will show up,” he told VOM workers. “We will do our commitment.”

With each trip, the team travels farther afield. Just before being robbed by the bandits, they had distributed more than 700 Bibles to believers among the Sikh people in the ancient Hindu city of Nankana Sahib.

Many of these believers are extremely thankful to finally have their own Bible. “Thank you,” the believers in Nankana Sahib told the team. “You are water for a thirsty soul.”

Growing up, Hamid Banday had every reason to hate the Muslims in his Pakistani village.

His Muslim classmates bullied him, and villagers harassed and discriminated against his family because of their Christian faith. Village authorities even denied them use of the local water well during peak summer heat.

Hamid never saw a reason to show love to Muslims … until he realized God had told him to. With God’s guidance and help, he now tries to see Muslims as God sees them, as people made in His image who are in need of a savior.

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“I think I am learning every day not to hate Muslims,” Hamid admitted. “Sometimes, you know, these feelings are very much grounded inside me from my childhood. Every day I try to overcome these feelings. Somehow I am often successful through His grace, but every day I pray, ‘God, remove the hatred from my life.’”

Tough Lessons

Hamid is among the fraction of 1 percent who know Jesus in his village. The other 99 percent view Hamid as an infidel. Many of the Christians he knows, including children, endure oppressive lives performing slave labor as brick makers. As members of the minority religion, Christians are considered expendable no matter their age.

Many Christians have been falsely accused under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, which provide penalties ranging from fines to the death sentence for convictions of blasphemy against Islam, the Quran or Muhammad. Since Islam is constitutionally recognized as Pakistan’s official state religion, Christianity is seen as a threat to Islamic authority.

Throughout the years, Hamid and his family have experienced persecution in many forms. Threats and attacks were common when he was younger, but the continual isolation and contempt were the most difficult to endure.

“It was like a leper walking through the streets of Judea,” he said, recalling his childhood. “That is my background.”

Hamid’s father, a doctor, was the focus of persecution in his family. Following a religious debate with a Muslim cleric, he was banned from the village for several months. The ban was announced over the loudspeakers of local mosques, and villagers were told to shun the family.

Hamid’s father also stood up for other persecuted Christians. After Muslims stole property and livestock from poor Christians in the village one year, his father filed charges against the thieves, and the court eventually ruled in favor of the Christians.

That boldness, however, came with a price. One night after seeing a patient, Hamid’s father was attacked on his way home by a group of Muslim men. The assault was in apparent retaliation for his pursuit of justice in the case of some men who had abducted the young daughter of a Christian family.

Despite his father’s strong Christian principles, Hamid’s own life didn’t reflect Christ. As a teenager, he lied, swore, skipped school, chased girls and stayed out all night. Hamid even stole money from his father’s medical clinic, and villagers often complained about his behavior.

“You are a shame for the whole family,” Hamid remembers his father telling him.

A sense of emptiness gradually overwhelmed Hamid, leading finally to an attempted suicide by overdose of prescription drugs. After spending two days in the hospital, he realized he had to change.

A friend introduced Hamid to a local pastor, who encouraged and prayed for Hamid. With repeated visits, Hamid grew increasingly interested in Jesus. He even began to attend church.

“One night when the pastor was speaking, God spoke to me,” Hamid recalled. “He said, ‘I love you. I have given my Son for you. Why don’t you come to me?’”

Hamid began to cry, and when the pastor gave an altar call Hamid raised his hand and walked forward. A few days later, on Nov. 28, 1999, he was baptized.

For the next year, Hamid accompanied the pastor as he witnessed to Muslims in villages throughout Pakistan. As he carried the pastor’s bags from one village to the next, he saw Christ’s love in action. He wanted to learn from the pastor, but he held a lingering hatred of those the pastor was serving.

A year later, Hamid began attending a Christian boarding school, where he often spent time with friends praying for various missions organizations and churches. The longer he was there, the more stories he heard about Christians reaching out to Islamic nations.

When Hamid started college, he sensed God speaking to him again, and it wasn’t something he wanted to hear.

A Changed Heart

Hamid started having dreams about himself talking to Muslims. Although initially confused, he eventually felt that God was telling him something: “Take the gospel to Muslims.”

But Hamid still detested followers of Islam.

“That hatred turned into bitterness, and it blocked my thoughts,” he said. “So I asked God to remove that bitterness and hatred. He did that, and I started recognizing that He had given His life for everybody: Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, everybody.”

After graduating from college in 2004, Hamid applied this new understanding to ministry work. He began reaching out to Muslims through full-time work with a large missions organization based in the United States. Many Pakistani Christians criticized him, saying he should focus only on teaching other Christians. Despite their criticism, Hamid remained obedient to what he considered his call.

To prepare for ministry work among Muslims, Hamid studied both the Bible and the Quran so he could better relay the truths of Christianity to them. He knew that most Muslims have misconceptions about Christianity.

Then, one day at a park, he approached a Muslim to share about Jesus for the first time.

“I was very scared,” he said. “By the grace of God I got my first conversion in 2004, from a Muslim background, and then another one, another one and another one. The more I talked to people, the more I got boldness.”

Hamid often began these conversations by opening the Quran and reading passages that identified Jesus as a prophet. Then he would open the Bible and discuss what it said about Christ. To his surprise, this method worked better than he expected. While some rejected him, others appreciated the discussions.

“Before talking to Muslim people, before learning this methodology, I was a cat; then God turned me into a tiger,” Hamid said excitedly. “God gave me boldness. The more you speak, the more your fear is fading away.”

In October 2005, a massive earthquake struck northern Pakistan’s Kashmir region, killing more than 100,000 people, including 19,000 children. About 140,000 others were injured, and more than 3.5 million people were left homeless.

Although Hamid was still learning how to discuss Jesus with Muslims, the earthquake reaffirmed his desire to witness and minister to those who were once his enemies. After putting his master’s degree program on hold, he volunteered with a U.S.-based Christian organization that was serving earthquake victims. The work was so demanding that Hamid and other workers sometimes slept for only two hours a night. But that didn’t prevent him from continuing to share the love of Christ with families affected by the earthquake.

One night he stayed up late discussing salvation with an 18-year-old boy. At the end of the conversation, the young man said, “After hearing your words, I feel as if my father was lost in the jungle and I found him.” Hamid then shared the story of the Prodigal Son, explaining that we are the ones who are lost, not our Father. The boy prayed with Hamid and placed his faith in Christ.

“Those areas were considered the most hostile toward the gospel before the earthquake, but as long as the earth opened up its mouth, the hearts and minds, homes and streets were also opened for the gospel,” Hamid said. “I remember building temporary shelters for the victims, sharing Bibles with them and praying for the comfort and peace of the Lord in their brokenness, and even weeping and crying with them. Nobody refused to receive relief supplies — such as food, tents, medicine, blankets and utensils — from us, nor did they deny hearing the gospel from us.”

The more Hamid served Muslims, the more he grew to love them. At the same time, he was developing a passion to see other Christians trained in Muslim outreach. He soon began training believers in other parts of Pakistan, and as Muslims were drawn to Christ he started forming cell churches that met in secret locations.

Resisting the Pull of This World

As the cell churches grew in size and influence, American missions organizations learned of Hamid’s devotion to reaching Muslims. Several years ago, he was invited to spend three months in the U.S. to work with Christian converts from Islam. While in the U.S., he enjoyed all the comforts of American life, a new ministry in Texas and the opportunity to teach at a large university. He even helped plant a church for former Muslims.

Near the end of the three months, people began trying to persuade him to stay. “This is your home,” they said. “This is your job. You should stay here.”

While their offer was attractive, it didn’t fully align with Hamid’s calling. He felt God calling him back to Pakistan to share the gospel with his Muslim neighbors. As he prayerfully continued walking the path that God had set before him, many Pakistani friends in the U.S. told him returning to Pakistan would be a mistake.

Again, however, he felt that his friends’ advice was contrary to God’s leading. And he sought God’s voice above anyone else’s.

“I continually felt compelled by an inner voice to go back and reach those who do not know the Lord as their savior,” he said. “I also wanted to train and encourage the local believers who stayed away from the majority population out of ignorance, lack of knowledge of ‘the other,’ or due to hatred and bitterness.”

Then came another test. During his time in the United States, two prominent Pakistanis, Punjab Governor Salman Taseer and Minorities Minister Shahbaz Bhatti, were assassinated because of their support of religious minorities and opposition to Pakistan’s blasphemy laws.

“I had good reason to say, ‘I don’t want to go [back],’” Hamid said, “but still God was talking to me from inside. Something was pushing me: ‘Go back. Claim those people. Think about the 98 percent Muslim people who don’t know me.’”

At the end of his three months in the U.S., Hamid returned to Pakistan. He, his wife and their two children now live in the village where Hamid grew up, but their return wasn’t easy. The financial support he had once received from the local church wasn’t at first available, and he and his family struggled for a year.

Although Hamid hasn’t personally experienced persecution since returning, family members have. His father faces legal charges related to his public evangelistic work, and a younger cousin who was accused of blasphemy has been imprisoned for more than six months.

While Hamid still expects to face persecution, he believes his approach to sharing Christ has led to improved, deeper discussions with Muslims. If Muslims reject the gospel, he wants it to be because they are rejecting Jesus rather than anything he wrongly added to the conversation.

“At any time, persecution can come, and I every day ask for perseverance from the Lord to bear that persecution,” he said.

VOM supports Bible distributions, evangelistic outreaches and discipleship programs in Pakistan as well as providing medical, practical and spiritual assistance to imprisoned Christians, families of martyrs and front-line workers. We also support Hamid as a front-line worker.

Today, Hamid is continuing his education and working for a private institution to support his family and his studies. His main goal, however, remains the same.

“My goal is to reach out to those who do not hear the message and also train new workers and new followers,” he said. “I get many opportunities to share the message.”