Release International's Voice Podcast

Living Martyrs for Christ

February 03, 2022 Release International Season 3 Episode 2
Release International's Voice Podcast
Living Martyrs for Christ
Show Notes Transcript

After telling his disciples that he was sending them out as sheep among wolves, Jesus challenged them to be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. In the face of persecution Christians are not meant to be simply passive. With the wisdom that God gives, we can think strategically about how best to respond to persecution both after and before it happens. 

On today’s podcast we speak to Release International partner Asif from Mordecai Ministries International. Inspired by the biblical character Mordecai, Asif’s ministry looks for opportunities to positively intervene before the worst effects of persecution take place. Listen in as we discuss Asif’s own background growing up as a Christian in Pakistan, the inspiration behind his ministry approach, and how it is making a difference in the lives of individual Christians and Christian communities across the world.

Living Martyrs for Christ 

“We believe that the word ‘martyr’ literally means a witness and by protecting people we are making them living martyrs for Christ, because they can live to tell the story another day.” 

Laura: After telling his disciples that he was sending them out as sheep among wolves, Jesus challenged them to be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.  In the face of persecution, Christians are not meant to be simply passive.  With the wisdom God gives, we can think strategically about how best to respond to persecution both after and before it happens.  On today’s podcast, I’m speaking to Release International partner, Asif, from Mordecai Ministries International.  Inspired by the biblical character, Mordecai, Asif’s ministry looks for opportunities to positively intervene before the worst effects of persecution take place.  Listen in as we discuss Asif’s own background growing up as a Christian in Pakistan, the inspiration behind his ministry approach, and how it is making a difference in the lives of individual Christians and Christian communities across the world. 

Welcome, Asif, to the Voice podcast. 

Asif: Thanks for having me. 

Laura: You work for Release International’s partner, Mordecai Ministries International.  One of the specific projects you run is called Operation Philip which, in certain specific circumstances, helps to relocate Christians whose lives are in immediate danger due to persecution.  We’re going to be hearing a lot more about that next month when you visit a number of our supporter churches across the UK.  And we also have an online version of those events on Monday 28th February for those who aren’t able to make it in person. Listeners can find out more about that on the Events page of our website at releaseinternational.org.   

But today, we’re going to have a slightly higher-level discussion about the motivation behind your work but, before we get to that, it would be great to hear about your own background.  You were born and brought up in a Christian family in Pakistan, so you’ve had some very direct experience of facing those challenges because of your faith.  Can you tell us a bit about that? 

Asif: Yes, growing up in Pakistan – I went to college, school and university there – and most of my class fellows, all of my teachers were Muslim and one of the incentives for many of them was to try to convert me to Islam.  In some ways it was a ‘soft’ persecution if you are forced to constantly defend your faith.  At times it could be quite difficult, that you want to focus on other things in life, not all the time trying to defend your faith, trying to give reasons why you cannot convert to Islam.  So I went through some of those experiences and at times because of the blasphemy law I had to be very careful what I say.  But still, I was always mindful that if I say something that is not liked by the people questioning my faith then they can accuse me of blasphemy – which carries mandatory death sentence in Pakistan.  And so, yes, it was not always easy.  But I praise God that God sustained me in my faith and even strengthened it as a result of it. 

Laura: That’s good to hear, and out of that experience you have a ministry which is called Mordecai Ministries International.  And for those of our listeners who are familiar with the Old Testament, that name will probably ring a bell.  Mordecai was one of the prominent characters in the story of Esther.  And the name of your ministry is inspired by that story.  So can you tell us a bit more about that connection? 

Asif: Yes.  Because I feel that, for the most part, our response to persecution is usually very reactive.  We try to support persecuted Christians after the persecution has already taken place, after churches are burnt to the ground, after Christians are killed, pastors and evangelists – their wives become widows, their children become orphans.  And then we go and help rebuild churches, set up orphanages and skill centres for those widows.  But I realised that in the biblical context, we find examples where God’s people tried to pre-empt persecution.  Their response was more of a proactive response than just a reactive one.  And as I started to dig into that, I realised that I could come up with many examples but the prime one that immediately comes to mind is that of Mordecai in the book of Esther.  Because if Mordecai had adopted the reactive approach, and let the persecution take place first, and then do something about it, we all know that there was not going to be anybody left to be supported afterwards because Haman had decided to get every Jew killed in the land.  And that’s the reality of the situation with many of our brothers and sisters today, in the Middle East, in North Africa, in other places – south east Asia.  They need a Mordecai approach, a proactive approach, to make sure that their Christian witness continues, to be ongoing instead of leading to a complete silence of Christians there.  So that’s where I felt led by the Lord, to set up this ministry called MMI, or Mordecai Ministries International. 

Laura: That is really interesting, and we’re going to dig a bit deeper into that now.  You use the term ‘strategic intervention’ to describe some of the work that ministry does.  Could you tell us more about that? What exactly is ‘strategic intervention’ and why is it important? 

Asif: Yes, the intervention that Mordecai undertook was strategic intervention.  He strategically intervened in that situation by talking to the Queen, and the Queen was able to talk to the King – the decision-maker – and the decision-maker was eventually led to do the right thing and the plot to kill the Jewish people was thwarted.  And I believe that, even today, I see Christian Members of Parliament in the UK, or Christian members of the US Congress and Senate, and Christian Members of Parliament in many, many countries around the world:  they are, potentially, Esthers for me so, me being very much a Mordecai in my own right, I try to liaise with them, I try to work with them so they can then talk to the King, or the decision-maker, which in today’s context will be the President or the Prime Minister of the country.  And by working together in this way we are able to avoid tragedies for Christian communities around the world.  And we have many success stories in which we were able to stop the persecution before it takes place and, as a result, we were able to save very precious lives of those Christians.  Because we believe that the word ‘martyr’ literally means a witness.  And we believe that by protecting people in this way we are making them living martyrs for Christ.  They then live to tell the story another day.  And that is very much within the mandate of strategic interventions undertaken by Mordecai Ministries International. 

Laura: That is great, and you mention there that you’ve got lots of examples.   Can you share some specific stories of your work where this idea of strategic intervention has been effective? 

Asif:  I can give many communal examples as well as personal examples.  I can give you the example of a lady who came to know the Lord – from a Muslim background, in one of the largest Muslim countries in the world – and then the family tried to hunt her down.  She eventually managed to flee the country, found a Christian husband, and God blessed her with two children.  Eventually, in one of the Gulf countries where she was working, the family did find out where she is and they threatened her that unless she converts back to Islam they will kill both of her children.  And I can pray for them and wait for the inevitable to take place, and then try to do something about it, or I can strategically intervene, just like Mordecai did, and do something about it.  Now, that’s when – praise God  - eventually I managed to move them to a safe country, where they are safe.  But when they got there, they found out that in the local church where they were worshipping, there were some ladies in that church who went to Jordan on a mission trip.  And after the trip they were so much attached by the culture and the food and all sorts of things:  they were very impressed and saying that we feel that the way they love each other, with their community and respect for the elderly, the looking after the younger ones, we feel that what they have is better than what we have.  And so they were thinking of converting to Islam.  So this dear sister that we managed to send there, she decided to tell her story to them, and when she explained her reasons why she loved Jesus so much, those four ladies said ‘we had no idea how precious it is what we have in Jesus Christ, and we’re not going to convert to Islam’.  So that’s just one example of a strategic intervention that we did, saving the life of a dear sister from a Muslim background, and her husband and her two children, and helping them become living martyrs for Christ in a new context, in the new country where they are living today.  And we have now dozens of such examples in the last few years, since this work has been developed of MMI. 

Laura:  That is fantastic.  I think this proactive approach is something we don’t always hear about and that’s something that’s really coming through there, of how beneficial that really is to these situations. 

On today’s podcast, I’m speaking to Release International partner Asif, from Mordecai Ministries International.  We’ve discussed his own background growing up in Pakistan and the inspiration behind his ministry.  Keep listening as we go on to discuss more stories of how his work is making an impact.  And we’ll also learn how we can best pray for our brother, Asif. 

I wonder if you could tell us anything else of those specific stories?  There’s been mention of changing the language in school textbooks:  does that apply at all to something that you’ve been working on? 

Asif:  Yes, that’s another project we did because we realised, for example, that in Pakistan, in the Punjab textbook board – Punjab is the largest province in Pakistan, 65% of the population comes from or lives in Punjab - .  And that’s where 95% of the Christian community lives.  And the textbooks usually have a very derogatory and belligerent material against Christianity; things like Christians are pagans because they believe in 3 different gods, questioning the deity and divinity of Christ, and not including any contribution by Christian heroes in that country who contributed hugely to the creation and development of Pakistan.  So we found out that the money that was given to publish those books was given by the Canadian government, through CIDA – Canadian International Development Agency – so we decided to do another strategic intervention, by contacting some members of parliament in Canada.  We raised this issue with them and they said they will investigate our findings.  And after their investigation they came back and told us, yes, you’re right.  So we said to them, look, how can Canadian taxpayers’ money be used to create belligerence and bigotry against Christians in Pakistan?  And so, a very strong letter was written to the Pakistan government by the Canadian members of parliament, who told them that we are very concerned that our taxpayers’ money we gave you is not being appropriately used, and you need to revoke these hate-filled books and publish new ones.  And I believe last year, there were changes made to Pakistani textbooks as a result of that.  So that was one of the other strategic interventions that we took that yielded the desired outcome – a positive outcome – as a result of it.  Because of that hatred that was going to be further created against Christians that could lead to violence, we were able to stop that to a certain degree ahead of time as a result of intervention that we undertook. 

Laura:  And I’m sure there are longer term benefits to this kind of work.  So do you see Christian communities gaining confidence?  Do you see greater understanding developing in people who were previously hostile because of the work you’ve been doing? 

Asif:  Yes, absolutely.  I’m quite active on Facebook.  I run these Facebook forums with tens of thousands of people part of those forums, and I also have a reasonably large following on my personal account.  And I have seen that, about 10 years ago, when we started this work, when we post something else about legitimate rights of Christians in Pakistan, we found that 70% of the Muslims will oppose that and say ‘no, you can’t say this.  By asking for your legitimate rights in this way you are trying to bring a bad name to Pakistan, you are trying to malign Islam’, and so on.  But after 10 years of hard work, that has been reversed.  Now, the awareness that we were able to create in this way, I believe that more than 70% of the Muslims today, they stand with us, they say ‘you are absolutely right, by mistreating our religious minorities, mistreating Christians in this way, is actually what is bringing a bad name to Islam and to Pakistan.  And we support your cause, we are with you.’  And I think that was a huge change in the mindset of the people as a result of the constant efforts that we made in developing that awareness through this social media outlet. 

Laura:  And just coming onto that point about social media, I understand you have a large following and that you use your Facebook page very much as a platform for ministry.  How can people find you on there? 

Asif:  I’m very easy to find.  People just basically have to put my name in ‘Search’ – Asif Mall – and they can then contact me through Facebook Messenger and then let me know about how I can be helpful, if there is any particular situation that needs my help.  And I will do everything possible with my means to make sure that I try to glorify the Lord in that situation. 

Laura:  That’s great.  Thanks so much for joining us today, Asif.  I’m sure our listeners have been intrigued and I would really encourage everyone to try and get to one of those in-person events with Asif next month.  He is travelling all the way from Surrey to Inverness, with several stops in between, and if you can’t make those events then please do join our online version on Monday 28th February, which you can register for through Eventbrite.  Again, details of all that can be found on our Events page on our website at releaseinternational.org. 

But before you go, Asif, it’s been great to speak to you today.  Could you just tell us, how can we pray for you and for your ministry? 

Asif:  I believe that there are many people around the world who need a Mordecai-style strategic intervention.  But with our limited financial as well as human resources we are not able to help everyone at this point.  I will ask that our brothers and sisters listening to this podcast pray for us, that God would provide both human as well as financial resources, so enabling us to do more, and do more often, for the strengthening and expanding of God’s kingdom around the world.  And especially some of those who are in life-threatening situations, and that we’re trying to move to a place of safety, please pray for wisdom and provision so that we’re able to move them before long.  That’s all I would like our viewers to pray for me, and thank you so much for having me, Laura, on this podcast. 

Laura:  It’s been a pleasure.  Thank you for speaking to us today, Asif, we’ll be praying for you and your ministry. 

Asif’s work is motivated by his passion to preserve living martyrs for Christ.  And that presents an immense challenge for those of us who live in the relative freedom of the UK.  The opportunity to witness for Jesus is right in front of us every day, without the need for costly relocation or emergency political intervention.  Are we making the most of our opportunities? 

Thank you so much for listening to the Voice podcast.  Please do subscribe through your favourite podcast app so you can stay connected to the voice of persecuted Christians. We’d love to hear your feedback too, so please do share your comments with us. You can find us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube. And if you would like to attend one of those in-person or the online event with Asif later in February then please do check out our events page on our website for all the information, releaseinternational.org.  

“Remember those who are in prison as if you were in there together with them, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.  Do not abandon them.”