Todd Nettleton of the Voice of the Martyrs says that Christians in the Middle East can sometimes face punishment from their families for being Christian.
In one case, a Christian woman in the Middle East was forced to return home to her family and break off her engagement to her Christian fiancé after her family learned she was a Christian.
According to Mission Network News, the woman is waiting for her father, who is out of the country, to return home and decide punishment.
“She’s very concerned about what happens when he comes home,” Nettleton said.
“For someone in your family to leave Islam and become a Christian is a shame, not only on that person, but it’s a shame on your entire family,” Nettleton said.
In some cases, the Christian family member could be killed to restore honor to the family. Just recently, a Muslim man strangled his Christian sister to death in Pakistan because of her social media posts.
For many Muslims, the gospel message is refreshing and in stark contrast to the strict rules of Islam.
“The God of the Bible, Jehovah, sent His own Son and sacrificed Him in order that we can have relationship with Him. There was nothing we could have done — God did it. He did the work, He gave His Son,” Nettleton said.
“That love, and that sense of God rescuing us, and loving us enough to rescue us just really speaks to the heart of Muslims.”
Publication date: August 2, 2016
