Voice of the Martyrs

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Pastor Benny grew up in a nation hostile to Christianity.
Benny's father was a courageous gospel worker, but Benny didn't
understand that. He had many questions.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Why can't my dad protect me? Because at six years old,
I saw my dad being nailed to a wall by
a militant guy punching him and my dad his answer
is Hallelujah, praise the Lord. But growing up that was
in my mind. If their God is real like on,
they protect him.

Speaker 3 (00:31):
Jesus never promised his followers an easy path. In fact,
he told his disciples that the world would hate them.
He sent them out as sheep among wolves. Jesus's words
came true in the life of the Apostles, and they're
still coming true today in the lives of his followers
around the world. Join host Todd nettletons we hear their
inspiring stories and learn how we can help right now

(00:53):
on the Voice of the Martyrs Radio Network.

Speaker 1 (00:55):
Welcome again to the Voice of the Martyrs Radio My
name is Todd Nettleton. We are in our studio in Barlosville, Oklahoma,
with Pastor Benny. Pastor Benny is a ministry leader working
in ten different nations around the world. He's working in Asia,
he's working on the African continent. Lots of amazing things
that God is doing through his ministry. Pastor Benny, welcome

(01:16):
to the Voice of the Martyrs Radio.

Speaker 2 (01:18):
Thank you, Todd, Thank you so much. It's a privilege
to be here this morning.

Speaker 1 (01:22):
It's great to have you here. Let's start out on
the continent of Africa. And I know that you have
been doing work in Sierra Leone. Yes, I don't know
that we have ever talked about Sierra Leone on Voice
of the Martchs Radio before. So tell us a little
bit about the church there, about your work there, and
especially about persecution places where Christians are suffering.

Speaker 2 (01:44):
Cier Leon is a country. You know, after the slavery
was abolished, they were transporting people to Africa and nobody
wanted to receive any of them, and they ended up
in srier Leon and cerly On. The place is called Freetown,
Freetown beacon of freedom for people who were coming from

(02:06):
different countries. And you know that nation has about sixty
percent Muslims and there is a remnant of Christians there
and you know that nation went through this war for
a long time and that blood Diamond war that many
of you have seen on the movies and things. It
is real. The first time, I think in twenty eleven

(02:27):
I was there. I've been to the amputee camps and
seen how their hands were feed were you know, chopped,
and they were living in those conditions, and that land
went through a lot of difficulties. I have a book
on it called you know, in peace not in pieces.
That was the prayer of everyone from Sierly on when
they left their home, Lord, bring us back in peace,

(02:49):
not in pieces, because the militia was chopping off the
hands and limbs of people. So we've been consistently going
and coming, and recently when I went there, I saw
how the slums of Freetown. I've been walking through that
area maybe over a decade. The slum street that leads
to the slum has not changed. The airport has changed,

(03:11):
but the streets have not changed. People are in that
same condition. But in the middle of the slums, you
will see one of our schools standing with the church
building and you see it like it is a lighthouse
among that place, and the people that come in there,
they are changed. That body. You will see a big
difference in their lives. Right now, there is a revival happening.

(03:34):
About eight hundred formerly Muslims are going through discipleship training
right now. Wow, I was just there in October and
God is moving so you last, there is no persecution, Yes,
there is there. I mean, there are other meetings that
we wanted to do in other areas that was blocked
by the militants. We can do it, but this area

(03:54):
God has just given us because of the need. Nobody
wants to come in that place. We took a medical
team and the medical team was just checking patients and
they said that most of the young people that came
in they had some kind of sexually transmitted disease and
that I mean, it's very hard, very difficult in that place.

(04:15):
But God is transforming lives these Muslims when they come
to church, and they come on Friday evenings and Sunday
morning for them, they have a special discipleship service at
seven thirty seven in the morning. They come to the
premises at five thirty six in the morning and wait
and that's not usual in Africa, you know, but they
are very excited. There is a hunger for God's righteousness

(04:39):
and people are coming and we saw this not only
that revival, but we've been consistently going there. We didn't
love and leave that people. We're taking medical teams and helping.
Like this time, the medical team worked for six days,
saw over twelve hundred patients. An eighty year old lady
that visited the medical camp said that I have never

(05:01):
been to a doctor.

Speaker 3 (05:03):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (05:03):
I mean those other situations where we can go and
love people, care for people, and the entire Gospel summarizes
in that loving God, loving people, and the Lord is
doing a great thing in that place for his glory.

Speaker 1 (05:15):
You mentioned the fact that sier Leone is sixty percent Muslim, Yes, sir,
is that sort of spread evenly through the country or
are there like particular places that's like one hundred percent
and that's where the really hard places for the gospel
to go.

Speaker 2 (05:31):
Yes, it is evenly spread, but there are some areas.
For example, we support sixty front line messengers, eighteen of
them work in predominantly Muslim regions and they are facing
a lot of hardship. One of the young men, he
was a former child soldier. When he joined the militia,
he was around ten eleven years old. His machine gun

(05:55):
was taller than him and he would drag that machine
gun through the street. But to join that militia, he
had to kill somebody drink their blood, and he said
he did that and the transforming power of Jesus Christ
changed his life. And today he's a frontline messenger and
he's predominantly working in this Muslim region and many are

(06:19):
coming to Christ. And one of the Muslim background believer.
He became the leader of the children's home because he
was so sick at the deathbed and the pastor went
and prayed over him. Everybody thought he's going to die.
God saved him from that life and he dedicated his
life to service. So he took over this the Cibola

(06:40):
what we call the children's home. That Grace Children's Home
has now grown into a school in that area and
he is the principal of the school and the school
is having nearly three hundred children in that place. Wow,
we have five schools and I should say over two
thousand kids are attending the schools. We gave out Bibles
to all the students this time. The leaders asked should

(07:03):
we give bibles to the Muslims and I said yes,
if they keep it in their homes. It is like
a ticking time bomb. God will trigger the bomb in
his time.

Speaker 1 (07:12):
Amen.

Speaker 2 (07:13):
Our job is to saturate the gospel, and God is
doing that incredible thing that in that place. And to
see the chief of the ministry, he was a former Muslim,
him and his wife and their home was a place
where they had a mosque. But his wife came to
know Jesus Christ, God draw him and today he is

(07:35):
the chief who's heading over sixty churches in that place.

Speaker 1 (07:40):
We're talking this week on Voice of the Martist Radio
with Pastor Benny. He is a ministry leader working in
ten nations around the world. Benny, I know one of
your passions is young people, and we talked about schools
and Sirira Leone, we talk about raising up godly next
generation to work in the church, to lead the church,

(08:01):
to lead others to faith. Talk a little bit about
young people training, and I know this is not just
herely on, this is across the world in the work
that you're doing.

Speaker 2 (08:10):
I have more life in my rare view mirror than
in front of me, So I need to do something
with my life every day that will outlive me for eternity.
That's the desire of our heart and finish well, just
like my dad and mom did. So we prayed about
this matter and we thought we will go back to
our Daniel training that we used to do before. So

(08:31):
we reprogrammed that book and God gave us a desire
that we used to have there to be different and
there to dream, and we thought, let's add one more
called there to develop your dreams. God has given every
one of us a dream and that dream is to
do great things for God and we have to bring
them in instill in that. And now persecution is on

(08:52):
the rise, so we cannot take young people out of
their com region and place them in somewhere new place
and then to train and then they won't go back
or things. So we said, this is great. We invite
them for a four day training and then impact into
their lives and then send them back. This was the
vision behind it. We started in Tanzania and then we

(09:14):
did in Malawi. Now we trained up master trainers in
si early on West Africa, and then we did one
in Asia where two hundred and seventy young people came.
They are all first generation believers. I asked, how many
of you have gone through persecution? Or some kind of problems.
Everyone stood up there, their families, their loved ones have

(09:36):
gone through that, and the way they worshiped, their way
they loved God. And there I had a desire to
pray for those pastors' kids because I know many of
our frontline messengers, pastor who went to prison and experience that.
Came in therein and I started talking to them, and
about eighteen of them came forward and they wanted to pray,

(09:57):
and I had got to spend time with them to
talk to them. They had questions, why is my father
serving God? Why is he in prison? What was his crime?
You know that growing up I had the same question,
why can't my dad protect me? Because at six years
old I saw my dad being nailed to a wall

(10:19):
by a militant guy punching him and my dad his
answer is Hallelujah, praise the Lord. But growing up that
was in my mind. If their God is real, why
can't they protect him? Why can't their God give them
a decent meal? Why can't the God do so? I
know this young peak.

Speaker 1 (10:34):
Is have the same Another question, is my dad chose
to serve God knowing he could go to prison? Yes,
why did he choose that instead of being with our family,
instead of taking care of me, instead of being there
can be a root of bitterness that grows up in
that suffering pastor's child who says, you know, why did

(10:55):
my dad make that choice? Like he didn't have to
do that. Why did he do that?

Speaker 2 (11:00):
So then as I'm talking to them, they're opening up
and you know the spirit of God started working that
we need to be a Daniel. We need to be
like Shadrick Mishek and the Bendigo and understanding what coming
to Daniel Chapter twelve where Daniel talks about the second
Coming and where Daniel is eager to know, can I
know more? When is this going to happen? God says,

(11:21):
shut the book and forget about it. You don't worry
about this, and that even encouraged many of them. I
mean to hear the feedback from those young people. And afterwards,
one young kid says that you know, my father was
in prison and uncle, you helped us to get him
out of prison. So I want to send from my

(11:41):
business the money back to the ministry so that we
can help other people. Another young kid came up and
said that my father was in prison. That was unjust
because he didn't do any crime. I want to be
a lawyer and I want to make a difference in
the marketplace. So I'm seeing God showing his hand that
this is what you have to do. So our desire

(12:03):
and our vision is to see thirty thousand young people
be trained by twenty thirty. It's a big vision. And
we did a pilot project this year and we saw
nearly nine hundred being trained.

Speaker 1 (12:15):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (12:15):
So this was the beginning here. So my prayer is
and I want everyone listening to the VM radio pray
that by twenty thirty, from twenty twenty five to twenty thirty,
that God will raise up thirty thousand young men and
women who will be giants and champions like Daniel, standing
and facing in the face of opposition and persecution, be

(12:37):
a voice for Jesus Christ, and have a great test.
So that was one thing. And then following that, I
spent a month in this country and we had a
Pastors and Leaders meeting and there was nearly three hundred
leaders that came together and I had to personally spend
some time with them because things are very difficult. As

(12:57):
I was spending time with them, these are all fust
generation believers who are frontline messengers sharing the gospel of Jesus.
And I was just talking to them and I just asked,
how many of you have suffered or just like what
Paul says in Galatians, I bear on my body the
marks of Christ, how many of you have gone through

(13:20):
something like that? Out of this, most of them raise
their hands. But the leader said that there are forty
of them, thirty nine and forty of them. I want
you to meet personally because they've been to prison and
they have gone through difficulties in their life, and I
want you to just pray over them and just talking
to them, meeting their face, I felt like they were champions.

(13:43):
I felt in my heart that I'm not doing anything
comparing to what they are doing and their life and
the sacrifice and the price that they are praying. And
when I complain this to my wife, she tells me
that that's not your gift, Benny. Your gift is administration.
Your gift is to help, and you're doing that. I
understand that. But to meet with them, to talk to them,

(14:05):
and you know, to fellowship with them, to understand the
pain and the difficulties they are going through and how
faithfully they're continuing. So our encouragement to the Body of
Christ mean someone who hurts there, we are hurting here too.
And as a part of that, we need to pray
for them. We need to do the best we can
so their hands will be strengthened and the Gospel can advance.

(14:28):
And for me to see that in that area in
their life was such a blessing to spend that time
and impart vision into them, you know, and to see
this nine hundred Timothies who are accepting the challenge to
make a difference through their lives.

Speaker 1 (14:45):
We're talking this week on Voice of the Martist Radio
with Pastor Benny. He is a ministry leader working in
ten nations around the world. Then I want to ask
you those who had been to prison, was there a
consistent theme in their story? And especially I'm interested in
these are first generation believers, so it's not like they've all,

(15:07):
you know, been to seminary and they saw their dads
go to prison. And how did they get ready or
how did God prepare them in such a way that
they were ready to go to prison and come out
victorious instead of being defeated by it and walking away
from the faith or losing hope in the Lord. Was
there something that they understood or that they knew that

(15:31):
maybe we need to know.

Speaker 2 (15:32):
I mean, when I was with them, I fellowship with them,
talked with them. One thing I understood, just like Peter
and John were out there. You know what did people say?
We feel they were with Jesus. These people didn't go
to many big seminaries, name titled or anything like that,

(15:53):
but they have been with Jesus, well Jesus. They have
seen Jesus, they have seen his work. There's one brother
who has been to prison three times. He says, Beny,
this time it was very hard for me. And he's
about my age, and he says, this time it was
hard because they put me among the worst criminals, who

(16:15):
used the worst foul language. We were not provided, you know,
a cup to even drink tea. We had these paper
cups that three of us shared. Oh my turn by turn.
We were all happy with that. We didn't have bibles,
but we just shared the scriptures. One prayed another, I mean,

(16:36):
so others can hear. It was all good. But when
they allowed my wife and my grandson to come and
visit me, that was the difficult time in my life
because I'm standing behind a glass and the prison bars
and my grandson and my wife is out there. They're
looking at me. My grandson is telling my wife and

(16:58):
I can hear through the glass. Take this glass out.
Let a par come out of it. Let my grandpa
come out of it. Let my grand he said. I
started crying. And that was the most difficult thing. They
have been with Jesus. They have seen him, they have
tasted him, and that's why they are willing to put
their life for otherwise. For example, I just shared with

(17:21):
our team here. We just got a text. Ten families
from Chatty's Girl area. They were kicked out of that
area in India. In India because they are Christians. They're
not going to be a part of the GERWAPSI means
written back to the religion they want to follow Jesus.

(17:43):
They were given an ultimatum either you leave the village
or be a part of the religion.

Speaker 1 (17:49):
Everyone in our village is going to be a part
of this festival and if you're not going to be
a part of it, you can't live here anymore.

Speaker 2 (17:55):
Yes, and they chose to leave. What we can do
is pray and can do is strengthen them. We are
not praying for the persecution to go, but we are
praying that the persecutors will come to the knowledge and
wisdom of Jesus Christ. The governments will understand that. You
know that, not just by giving handouts and leaving the
grassroots people to do what they are doing, the hate

(18:18):
and animosity and things and sharing the venom, but instead
love others. And you know that we can pray for
governments and government leaders. We don't hate them. We are
supposed to pray for them. And as we pray, I
believe God will move and work in those areas too,
for the glory of God.

Speaker 3 (18:34):
Amen.

Speaker 1 (18:35):
We're talking this week on Voice the Martyrs Radio with
Pastor Benny. He is a ministry leader working in ten
nations around the world. Benny, you mentioned the country of
India and I want to talk specifically about an area
called Manipor. Yes, Sir, we have heard in recent months
stories and I've heard some people are saying it's completely
Christian persecution. They're absolutely just going after Christians. I've heard

(18:58):
other people say, well, there's two different tribes and they're
kind of fighting each other, and yes, there are Christians involved.
In that, but it's really kind of motivated by more
tribal animosity. Help us understand what's really going on.

Speaker 2 (19:12):
We cannot go into the details of you know, is
it Christian persecution? Is it tribal situation? The people who
have fled to the mountains and living in sixty thousand
people who are living in different refugee camps, they're all Christians,
and we cannot go into the details whether what kind

(19:33):
of thing is this. People are suffering, People are suffering.
Four hundred churches have been burned, sixty thousand of them
are displaced. Kids are not going to school anymore. Education
is not there. So what is the future of those people.
We need to pray for them. We need to help
the best we can for them.

Speaker 1 (19:54):
We're talking this week on Voice Smartist Radio with Pastor Benny.
He is a ministry leader working literally around the world. Benny,
as we finish up, I'm glad you just talked about praying,
especially for Manipur, especially for the situation there. What are
some other specific ways that we can pray for God's
work in the places where you are working and even

(20:14):
for your ministry and your family.

Speaker 2 (20:16):
The most important thing is pray for those people frontline
messengers we call them, who are serving in this key
location's key areas. They are facing a lot of challenges
plus the new thing that is happening in Chatti's Good
where believers are being forced to leave villages. I'm talking

(20:37):
about the ten families we know, but there are others
there too, So pray for them and pray that God
will protect them. Pray for the governments and the government
authorities that we are asked by the scripture to pray
for them. And we have to pray that they will
have the mind of Christ. You know, the mind will

(20:58):
bring good knowledge and good understanding. World has knowledge and understanding,
but they don't. The fear of the Lord brings good
knowledge and good understanding, so let them have that. And
at the same time, these kids who are in me
and mar in India, in Bangladesh who are going through
these kinds of difficulties and they are in refugee camps

(21:20):
and things, they will find a way to go to
school get education. So that's another matter to pray for
and pray for that the Gospel will advance in these areas.
The light of Christ will come in and change things.
So let's pray that they will have the freedom to
share the gospel with others. And pray for our families,

(21:42):
our leadership team. Pray that God will protect our families
and give us the opportunity to go in and go out.
And as I am a grandfather, I can relate through
what my grandson and granddaughter. When she was about year
or so and she started walking, she would like to
go outside, and when we come to the threshold of

(22:04):
the house, she will say that Uppah, hold my hand,
and I will hold her hand and she will step out.
And I feel so prideful she is asking me to
do this, and I felt in my heart shouldn't we
be doing the same thing. God, hold my hand, hold
my hand, and that song is and take my hands,

(22:24):
Precious Lord. I feel like how as Christians, as believers
in Jesus Christ, we should be holding his hand. Sometimes
after that incidence in my life, I have many times
raised my hands sitting on an airplane or driving in
my car. Lord hold my hand. And we need to

(22:47):
pray that God will hold our hands and guide us
the right way. Without him, we are nothing. Our life
is short. James Ford says, you know what is life?
Life is a vapor it today, gone tomorrow. But let's
do something without life every day that will outlive us
for eternity. That's what my heart's prayer is. God, I

(23:09):
want you to be glorified in my life today at
my expense. Help me to do something today that will
outlive me for eternity. So pray for Alpha Ministries. Pray.
If you need more information, you can visit our website
Alphaministries dot com and we can give you some information
on the key works that we do. Beyond money and anything,

(23:31):
the most important thing is as body of Christ comes together,
pray and you care for each other. That's the most
important thing. And hold his hand and he will guide
us through every situation.

Speaker 1 (23:43):
Pastor Benny, it is always fun to get a chance
to have conversation with you. Thank you for sharing this week.
Thank you for your work around the world. It's so
exciting to hear about these first generation followers of Christ
that are being raised up to go out. They will
eventually raise a second generation for Christ, and so it's

(24:05):
exciting to hear what God is doing. Thank you for
being our guest this week on Voice of the martych Radio.
Thank you if you're just joining us, you're going to
want to go to our website vomradio dot net, or
find Voice of the Martyrs Radio wherever you listen to podcasts.
You'll want to listen to this entire conversation with Pastor Benny,
and I would encourage you to think all week about

(24:27):
the idea that we just heard our persecuted brothers and
sisters had been with Jesus. I hope you'll make sure
that you are with Jesus today in a way that
affects you and a way that the people around you
notice that you have been with Jesus. And I hope
you'll be back with us. Next week we're going to

(24:47):
hear from a couple serving the Lord in South Asia,
where there is a lot of resistance to the gospel.
Please join us then right here on the Voice of
the Martyrs Radio Network.