Persecuted Christians Beneficiaries of VOM's New Interactive Website
by Allie Martin
February 23, 2004
(AgapePress) - A ministry which serves the persecuted Church worldwide is trying to increase awareness of believers who are imprisoned for their faith in Christ.PrisonerAlert.com is a ministry of Voice of the Martyrs. Each month the Internet site will feature a Christian imprisoned for his or her beliefs. The website currently features the plight of a Chinese journalist, Li Yung, who is serving a 15-year prison sentence for her role in the publication of an underground church magazine in China. She was arrested in April 2001along with 16 others from the South China Church and was condemned to death in December 2001.
VOM spokesman Todd Nettleton explains how individuals can make use of the interactive features at PrisonerAlert.com. "You can e-mail your friend, let them know about a Christian who is suffering in prison for his faith in Jesus Christ and invite them to join you in prayer," Nettleton says.
"Also, right on the website, you can write a letter on their behalf to a government official or, in some cases, you can even write a letter to the prisoner himself or herself."
Nettleton says those letters will then be translated and forwarded to the prisoner, adding that letters to prisoners and to government officials can have an influence on how prisoners are treated.
"It's an encouragement to the prisoners. It also makes a difference when we write to government officials," he says. "We have been told by Chinese prisoners 'if nobody had ever heard of me, I might not be here today. Because people have heard of me, because people wrote letters on my behalf, therefore I'm still alive, therefore the government was a little bit easier on me and I survived the time in prison.'"
Nettleton encourages Christians worldwide to reach out to their fellow believers who are suffering imprisonment for their faith. "We absolutely know, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that this does make a difference for our brothers and sisters in prison," Nettleton says.
This year an estimated 160,000 believers will die at the hands of their oppressors.
