"Come with us. You are under arrest!"

My Friend,

"Come with us. You are under arrest!" It's one thing to hear those words when you have chosen to protest here in America. People do it all the time. Sometimes for a good cause; oftentimes for terrible reasons - even to cause anarchy. The person goes to jail, is fed and cared for and then released. He may even leave jail a hero, applauded by a liberal media if he has served their cause. And even if he is a good man unjustly arrested, he is generally not beaten or killed.

Not so for Christians around the world. In many places, to confess Jesus is to be branded an enemy. To be exploited. Beaten. Martyred. That's why prayer for the "martyr church" worldwide is first on my prayer list. Try to imagine living in a country where Christianity is despised. There is never an "easy day" for the follower of Jesus. His livelihood. Family. Even his life. Like Christians in the book of Acts, he must be prepared to lose everything in this world so that he might gain eternity with Christ.

I once heard those seven words,

"Come with us. You are under arrest."

I was in an Islamic country and had been reported for my witnessing. Memory is still fresh about the drive in a police vehicle through the city and arrival at police headquarters. I stood and heard them charge me as a law breaker. Then followed their angry, "How dare you?!" When I was told to speak, God's power took over in simple testimony of how I had been a man in a Marine uniform who encountered the living God and His Son Jesus Christ.

God's plan was to give me favor. That room, filled with men of authority, was now filled with the Holy Spirit. When I finished telling why I love this living Lord, and why I loved them, one of the top officials spoke up for me and the atmosphere changed. I was released and returned to my team that had not stopped praying for me. (Later, I learned that a man had been arrested in another Islamic land, called a spy and hanged.)

Can this happen again - today?

It already is with thousands of lovers of God and Christ who suffer and die for their testimonies - unknown in this world but well known in heaven. Wherever I preach, in the U.S. or abroad, I call on the young - the "Joshua generation" - to resolve to pay the price, starting where they are with a bold witness springing from a pure life. That is my great burden in this later stage of my sojourn on earth.

As God opens the doors and gives strength, so we will continue to obey. As you read this letter, Walter Contreras and I are about to leave for Spain. Later, it's Israel with a large team, then Argentina and beyond.

We will be grateful for your prayers and financial help. Every month is a miracle where God always supplies. Sometimes it's less - at times more. We use what He lays on your hearts for His purposes and glory.

May God's presence be very real to you,

Frank Eiklor