The Eric Metaxas Show - Todd Nettleton

Episode Date: May 17, 2022

Todd Nettleton of Voice of the Martyrs is in the studio to tell the story behind the movie "Sabina," which covers the decades of torture and imprisonment (and also of love and forgiveness) of Richard Wurmbrand.

Folks, welcome to the Eric Metaxus show, sponsored by Legacy Precious Metals. There's never been a better time to invest in precious metals. Visit legacy p.m. Investments.com. That's legacy p.m. Investments.com. A Texas show with your host, Eric Mettaxas. Folks, we're back with Sean Foyt. And here's the issue. Sean travels so much that he's doing this interview from the airport. Any particular airport, Sean, in case somebody wants to, you know, harm you. It's too late. I'm in Charleston, South Carolina, on my way to Orlando, Florida to defund Disney.

That's what we're doing today. Okay. So I want to say it again. You are on your way to Orlando. Tonight, you are going to be at the gates of, what is it? It's the Magic Kingdom, Disney World, Orlando. You're going to be there. Rumors, yes.

I'm going to be there. Yeah. And folks, if you can get there, first of all, let's be honest. It's fun to be with Sean Foyt, to be in an environment where everybody knows, you know, what's what and is willing to stand against it. There's something really empowering and wonderful about that. So if people want to find you tonight, they know you're going to be in Orlando. If people want to find out where we're going to be together, you and I are going to be in Colorado Springs and in Boulder this weekend. Yes.

Talk about that. What is happening this weekend? Yeah, so this coming weekend on Friday, we're going to be at an event called Hold the Line in Colorado Springs, and it's going to be featuring the very one and only, Eric Metaxis, Congresswoman Lauren Bobert, myself, several other leaders across the state, state senators, state supervisors, state congress members.

And really, we're taking a stand for Colorado. It's a beautiful state. I love the state, but it's gone super blue. and in recent years. And we really feel like it's time to see a ship across Colorado. And so we're taking a stand. We're trying to mobilize the church. You know, the governor there has released one of the most insane abortion bills in the history of that state.

And so we're going to take a stand against that. We're going to talk about that. And then on Saturday, we're leaving from Colorado Springs. We're joining thousands of believers across Colorado in Boulder. We're going into the belly of. the beast on the campus of Colorado University in Boulder and we're going to gather for worship prayer right in the heart of the campus. We already have word that, you know, of course, protesters and all that stuff will be there. But the sheer number of the church is going to be

far beyond what those guys can imagine. I am going to be there in Colorado Springs in Boulder. This is exciting. And I should say that on this Sunday, I'm preaching at the road where I've spoken before Pastor Steve Holt, which is in Colorado Springs. If you can get there, it's exciting. But Sean, you just travel so much. So much is happening in our country. I mean, even right now, people are talking about the Roe v. Wade decision is supposed to be released today. I don't know if that's going to happen, but they wanted to release it soon to get ahead of this so that they're not going to be crowds trying to bully the justices into reversing their decision. because mob rule always works, right?

That's always been really a healthy thing. So we're living in historic times. It's an amazing thing. But what do you think about the fact? I mean, as you know, I've shared with you, my next book is called Letter to the American Church. And it basically says a lot of what you've been saying that the churches have been silent pastors

whose job it is to speak up. They have allowed, they've asked others, or I should say they've been so silent that people outside the church are speaking up. It's kind of a wild moment, and we need to get pastors to be brave and to speak up. Yeah, I mean, it's really unbelievable. I mean, you know, in addition to going to Orlando, we're going to be on the steps of the Supreme Court on Tuesday. And, you know, I think the Roe v. Wade, we had the pandemic. We had, you know, the wild riots in the summer of 2020.

and we had pastors across America shaming people into putting a black square on their Instagram and, you know, they were the justice fighters. But yet here we are on the precipice of overturning a 50-year death decree, the greatest injustice in the history of our generation. And yet there's so much silence from pulpits across America. Every pastor in America should be preaching, just like I did yesterday here in South Carolina, should be preaching on the importance of us taking a stand against Roe v. Wade that God is actually

answering the prayers so he should pray for years. And yet so many people are silent. We even have pastors apologizing for the fact that the Supreme Court is going to correct the wrong that was done in 1973 and make it unconstitutional to, you know, for this law, this Roe v. Wade law. So, you know, it is it's dangerous times Eric I think that it's stuff that we've we've seen prophesied we know that in the last days that there's false teachers that there's people are going to bow to the mob there's people that are going to be you know the cultural pressure is going to be too great for them to stand and speak truth and all the more we need to raise up bold people that are willing to do it well I mean what's so crazy is that things are so insane you would think that because things are

so insane, pastors would be bold. Like, you know, if things are maybe just awful, they'll be quiet. But the other day, was it yesterday, Beth Moore, who used to be a revered Bible teacher, put out on a tweet, kind of like shrieking this emotional thing about the shooting in Buffalo is about white supremacy. And I thought to myself, can you imagine that anyone would say that, much less Beth Moore. You think what has happened to many of these Christian leaders in America that they don't, you know, when you have murders happening around the country like this, everybody knows the answer is we've turned our backs on God and we are seeing demonic activity.

It doesn't really matter what type of demonic activity, race on the left, race on the right. I mean, it doesn't really matter. We're talking murder. And who do we know that is not against that? But you have people like Bethmore talking about that. You have people like Russell Moore, no relation, writing an article in Christianity today, demonizing anybody like us who would say that, you know, we want to, we want to restore justice.

We want to restore God's justice. He says that's just culture warring, your fomenting division, blah, blah, blah. So we really are living in in crazy, crazy times. And I just, I thank God for you. because you're going to these places and you're rallying people. Folks, if you're not part of this, if you're not doing what you can, you've become part of the problem. You can't be silent anymore.

You have to speak the truth wherever God gives the ability. So, Sean, people want to find you. Where do they go? Yeah, they can go to obviously our social media. They can go to find us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, but they can also go to let usworship.us, hold the line. dot live. And yeah, you know, a big thing for this Disney thing is parents fighting back.

So we created a website called Parents Fight Back. I think we have about 80,000 people that have signed the pledge on there. So if you haven't signed the pledge, please go to Parents Fight Back.com. But yeah, I mean, I think I'm starting to just embrace the fact that this divine polarization that we're experiencing is no longer allowing people to sit in. the middle. They can't ride the fence. They can't be in the gray anymore. You know, even, even it says, you know, in Revelation, you know, you can't be lukewarm, either hot or cold or I'll spit you out of my mouth. And I think that we're in that season where,

you know, a lot of these guys, whether it's the Beth Moore's or whoever, they're just regurgitating talking points on the left, you know, they're not even, they're not even found in factual data, you know, and the same people that, that say those things are the same people that, that don't say anything when a guy, you know, an African-American guy plows into a crowd and hurt 60 people in Wisconsin. You know, they don't say anything because it doesn't go along to the left mainstream narrative. And so they've kind of lost their power to speak truth because they're just going along with the agenda of the media, which we all know is deeply flawed and deeply biased. Well, that's very well put. And I do think.

we're living in an historical moment where you see God more clearly because the division has become so dramatic. And if you sit on the sidelines now, it's one thing to sit on the sidelines five or ten years ago where you didn't understand. But things have gotten so evil, so sick that if you're not speaking up, folks, you've got to do something. You've got to get involved. God will be with you as you do so. Sean Foy, my friend, we're psyched for what you're doing and I'm psyched to be with you next weekend. God bless you. Can't wait, Eric. It's going to be a blast. We'll see you then. Colorado. Tell me, Eric, why is Relief Factor so successful at lowering or eliminating pain? I'm often asked that question. The owners of Relief Factor tell me they believe our bodies were designed to heal.

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If you've heard me over the years, a couple of times you've heard me talk about Richard Wormbrond and his wife Sabina. These were living heroes. I had the great honor in the mid-90s of meeting them. The story of Richard Vermbrond is just unlike anything I had ever heard, incredibly moving. He wrote a book called Tortured for Christ. And I'm sitting here with the head of the ministry that he started, or one of the people with the ministry, Todd Nettleton, here from Oklahoma, to share about a film that's coming out. Todd, welcome. Thank you.

It's great to be with you. Listen, Voice of the Martyrs, you know, for ever since I've. been a believer. I have just been thrilled to know the existence of voice of the martyrs. And when I heard the story of Richard Vermbronn and got to meet him, I couldn't even believe it. I said, this is a living hero who experienced the most wicked persecution imaginable. The communists who are inveterate atheists. They hate God. They hate the people of God. He lived through that and had the love of Jesus in his heart, even for those who tortured. him. It is unbelievable. And there's a book, there's a movie. Tell us what is out right now. Well, as you say,

he's an amazing hero of the faith. And one of the things I think is so remarkable is Richard managed to keep separate the sin and the sinner. He would often say, you know, I hate communism, but I love communists because Jesus died for them. We need to talk to them about Christ. And so all through 14 years in prison, three years in solitary confinement, tortured again and again and again, he managed to keep that love even for the people who are persecuting him. And so this book, the film, really we want to tell this story to a new generation who maybe isn't familiar with Richard and Sabina Warmband, frankly, may not be familiar with communism. We want them to know these stories of, like you say, heroes of the faith. Well, people need to know the evilness of evil.

When you see a story of what they went through and now Jesus shines through that, you get a new level of faith. It is just a new level of faith when you understand how God shines in the midst of this darkness. I mean, their story is unbelievable. So there's a book called Vormbrandt, Tortured for Christ, The Complete Story, put out by Voice of the Martyrs. How do people get this book? There will be a number on the screen. You can call that number and get a copy for free. We will send it to people who will.

want it for free. You mentioned Torture for Christ. You know, Torture for Christ inspired thousands, even millions of people. This is the first time in one book that you get Richard's side of the story and Sabina's side of the story all together in one book. Because when Richard went to prison, Sabina was left alone. And honestly, there were people who came and said, you know, I was in prison with Richard. I saw him die. There was a man who came to her house and said, I helped bury your husband. He's dead. And, Sabina never felt that release from the Lord. She never felt like, no, I don't think that's right.

She held on hope and held on for him. He ultimately would spend 14 years in prison. She was arrested and spent three years in prison. Like I say, this book is the first time in one book. You get sort of the whole scope of the story. Well, again, it's an unbelievable story. And I think as times get dark in our own culture, it's God's way of awakening us to the evilness of evil

and to the power of God. Because when everything's sort of okay, we all can sleepwalk through life. We become lukewarm, and the Lord will spit us out of his mouth. He does not want us ever to be lukewarm. And stories like this, they are so inspiring. That's the whole thing.

They inspire you. They don't depress you. They inspire you. And I think for some of us who are watching, that's something we have to be reminded of. It's like, why would I want to read a story about a guy who got tortured? Why would I want to read a story

about three years in solitary confinement, it's exactly like you say, because as you read the story, you see God's faithfulness, you see what faith looks like. And like I say, Richard came out of prison with joy on his face. He was excited about what God had done, and he never forgot the people who are still in prison. And he founded the voice of the martyrs today. We're now 50-plus years later still serving Christians in prison for their faith around the world. That was the ministry that Richard founded, and it was actually kind of planted in his heart in a solitary confinement cell as he was suffering himself. Now, so there's a movie out that's going to be on TBN.

There is a movie Sabina that tells kind of Sabina's side of the story. Really, it tells the early part of their story. We talk about tortured for Christ and their punishment by the not, the communist. Sabina tells the story of when the Nazis were in control of Romania, and Richard and Sabina were doing gospel work. Of course, the Nazis didn't like that either, so they were persecuted first by the Nazis, and then ultimately by the communists. And there are actually two films that tell the full breadth of that story. Well, it's an amazing thing. You know, it's so funny sometimes that the Nazis were the enemies of the Soviet Bolsheviks, but both of them hated God and

hated the people of God. You think of the irony, you know, people give you this false choice, like, well, what about this or what about this? And you think they're both evil. And the idea that they were both persecuted, I remember Richard Vermebrun telling the story. I think he told at Times Square Church, when I was attending in the mid-90s, about being persecuted by the Nazis and then being persecuted by the communists. And I thought to myself, wow, is there anybody who appreciates living in the United States of America, where we talk about God, where we can worship God. It's sort of, it gives you clarity in a way of what we're dealing with. It does.

And, you know, both Richard and Sabina were born into Jewish family. So they had come to Christ out of a Jewish background. Sabina's entire family was killed in the death camps. And yet, in the film Sabina actually tells the story. And it says at the beginning, not based on a true story. is a true story. They actually, after the communists took over, there were still some Nazi remnants that were in Romania and were in danger because the communists were hunting for every last Nazi. Richard and Sabina, again, Sabina's entire family perished in the death camps. Richard and

Sabina helped hide those Nazi soldiers from the communists who were hunting them. And at times, they would also welcome communists into their homes. They actually had fellow church members who warned them, listen, if the communists that you're hosting and the Nazis that you're hiding ever see each other, you're going to be in all kinds of trouble. You've got to make sure you keep them separate. But their attitude was Christ has brought these people to us. The mission field has come to our home. We have to reach out. We have to respond. We have to be ready to love and share the gospel. In spite of the risks, in spite of what they've done to our families, they just really personified Christ's love even for their enemies.

I mean, I know this is true. I heard Richard Vermbron talk about this, and it's just nothing less than astonishing. The depth of faith, the way Jesus shown through their lives, it is astonishing, folks. But it's real. It's not put on. It's real, and they lived it.

And, you know, the Lord allows these things to happen for his purposes. And so how many people have been blessed by this story, people who are suffering right now in China, in other places around the world, to know that this story ends so happily, so beautifully. And I really do think it's a wake-up call to the American church, Todd, because I really do think many people in the American church. We've had it so good. We don't have any idea of what evil is. We don't have any idea what governmental persecution is. And we just kind of think, oh, everything's fine. well, the devil is no different than he was in the worst times in history,

and he will use whatever he can, including prosperity, to lull us into sleep. So we take our eyes off the ball. We don't do the right thing. And we slip in the same direction that these countries slipped into that allowed these things to happen. So it's an important reminder. I'm glad the film is going to be on TBN. We are too. And what website can people go to to find any of these things?

Persecution.com is the main voice of the martyrs website. Persecution.com. All the information there, there's links to the books, links to more about the Wormbrandt. But that's where to start. Persecution.com. Well, that's easy to remember. Persecution.com. And the book, is this book, Vormbrandt available just through you guys? It is available. Actually, it's available everywhere, but through this special offer in cooperation with TBN, it's free. We want people to have it. we want them to be inspired by this story. And as you say, we see a culture turning against God here in the United States. If persecution is coming to us as American Christians, what do we need to do? I would suggest we need to study the Bible. There's a lot about persecution in there. And we need to know the stories of our brothers and sisters who've already gone through persecution

and come out victorious, come out joyful on the other side. And this is one outstanding example of that. I mean, there's just no denying it that when you familiarize yourself with the stories of those who've gone before you, these heroes of the faith, it feeds your faith. There's just, I mean, how many people come up to me constantly telling me, thank you for your book. I've written 14 books, but it's always Bonhoeffer. Why? Because his life can't help but inspire you. You read it and you just say, I want that. I want to live like that. That is a real life. That's what God put me on this planet for, whatever comes. right back. We're talking with Todd Nettleton, Voice of the Martyrs. You can go to persecution.com. We'll be right back.

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Folks, welcome back. I'm sitting here in the studio with Todd Nettleton. He is with Voice of the Martyrs. Actually, he's the host of Voice of the Martyrs Radio on a thousand plus stations. You were just mentioning, before, I want to get to your book when faith is forbidden, but you were just mentioning that when Richard Vermebine finally gets out of of prison. The communists, I mean, so wicked that he had been tortured, he'd had a tuberculosis. So you said when he got out of prison, they told him, you know, your body is so broken that maybe you've got a year left. Yeah. The such a, you know, there's so many amazing things about the story. The going rate for a political prisoner at that time was $1,500 to the Romanian

government. The price for Richard was $10,000. So he was considered a high value target. And like you say, well, the doctors examined him. he'd had TB, he'd been tortured again and again and again. They said, Pastor Wormand, you know, you probably only have a year left. God allowed him 30 more years, and he traveled the entire world, telling the story, his own torture, his own persecution, but then also, hey, there are still pastors behind the Iron Curtain. There are still pastors in those prisons.

And really, the voice of the martyrs was founded when Christians like you and I, we hear that and we say, okay, well, how do we help them? That's really how the voice of the martyrs was founded. was to be a way to help them. And so let's be clear, there are people all around this world right now imprisoned, suffering, persecuted, tortured for their faith, killed for their faith. We need to know that. We need to stop pretending like Christianity is my pathetic little church in the suburbs. Folks, we don't deserve to live in a country where we get to drive in our SUV to our church, whatever. There are people around the world suffering.

That's the church. And we get to be a part of that church in our suburban churches, wherever we are. We get to be part of that church. But we need to know that the Lord calls us who have freedom and who have resources to do what we can, obviously to pray for those around the world that are suffering horrors because of their faith in Jesus. Right now, while we're having this conversation. So you've written a book called When Faith is Forbidden, 40 days on the front lines with persecuted Christians. So what is when faith is forbidden? Well, for the last 24 years, I have traveled the world to sit down and interview persecuted Christians and hear their stories. And often when I get back from a trip, I share the stories with my family, with people at my church, and they say, I would really like to go on a trip with you. This is my

invitation. Come along with me. Let's go for 40 days. Let's hear the stories of 40 persecuted Christians. and I believe on day 41, your faith is going to look different than it did when we started that journey. Well, look, this is an opportunity, and I really mean this, that if we in the American Church don't wake up, I've written a book coming out this fall called Letter to the American Church. If we don't wake up, if we continue to sleepwalk to slumber, God's a judge. He judges us. He cursed the fig tree. He demands of us that we actually be the people of God and live like the people of God,

as though we believe all the stuff that we say we believe. He defeated death on the cross. Are you really believe that? Are you going to live like he defeated death on the cross? Richard Vermbrand and so many others, they actually live that way. And the Lord wants us to live that way. It's why he put us on this planet. And so in a book like this, when faith is forbidden,

you're introducing us to these people, but it blesses us. us. Our faith gets changed. We become serious about our faith. It does bless us. And this book, because I'm a comfortable American Christian myself, I'm not a persecuted Christian. This book really is written with that audience in mind. Like, how do we take this in our comfortable American life, in our comfortable American churches? What do I learn from someone who's been in prison? What do I learn from a pastor who has just been shot by Islamic radicals? Eight days, literally eight days before I met him, he had been shot three times. What do I learn from somebody like that?

What lessons can I draw out of their life? That's what I've tried to capture in this book. I think part of it, too, is that when you draw close to folks like this, you can't help but draw closer to God because you basically realize he really has defeated death. He commands us to fear not. and he says, I will give you everything necessary to fear not, but I'm not going to force it on you, but I want you to have it. And so it really does take a step of faith, in a sense, for us to step toward these stories

and to acquaint ourselves with this, because, you know, some people be like, well, it's too unpleasant. I don't want to be bothered with it. And it's like, no, you don't understand. It will bless you, it will make you stronger. You know, Hebrews talks about persecuted Christians of whom the world was not worthy. Literally, they are too good for this world. and yet we get to hear their stories. We get to meet them.

We get to learn from them. So I think, you know, God has an amazing love for our persecuted brothers and sisters. We are called to remember those in prison as if we were in prison with them. So certainly we want to know their stories. We want to know their names. We want to see their faces.

We want to pray for them. That's a part of our call, even if we're not persecuted ourselves. Well, again, it's a privilege that we get to live in a country like this where we're free. But the Lord has given us these freedoms and has blessed us as he's blessed us so that we can use those things for his purposes.

And I really do think that there are people around the world wondering, does anybody in America care about me sitting in this cell for my faith in Jesus, which I could recant tomorrow, but I don't? I wonder if they're living their faith seriously. I mean, I always think about this when I think about, you know, I wrote a book, Amazing Grace, about William Wilberforce.

I think did the African slaves ever meet a Christian and wonder that these Christians what they talk about? I wonder if they would ever help me. Would they ever put their faith on the line? They say they believe their God defeated death, so they're not afraid of death. Are they afraid of? What are they afraid of? Like losing points at the country club or something like that.

And that's kind of how I feel today. How many of us are afraid? Like, well, I don't want to be called a racist. I don't want to be called to this. So that if I say the wrong thing, somebody will throw a term at me that's going to scare me away. They say, oh, you're being political. And I think that there are other people around the world who are suffering horribly. We're going to go to a break.

We'll be right back. Forgive me talking to Todd Nettleton. Hey there, folks. Eric Mattaxas here. I know you know how much I love Mike Lindell and my pillow. Well, Mike Lindell and my pillow right now are offering a bogus. extravaganza, Bogo, buy one, get one.

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It's amazing. 800-9783057 or MyPillow.com. Use the code, Eric. Folks, I'm talking to Todd Nettleton with Voice of the Martyrs. You can find them at persecution.com. Con. Persecution. And I was saying earlier, I always think to myself, the Jews and the box cars going to the death camps, the African slaves, surely they were hoping that some of those Christians out there would get political, would do something. And I feel like there are people around the world today looking to us and saying, will you get political?

We don't mean to make an idol of politics, but will you take action? Or will you let somebody call you a name? and then you just be like, okay, I'll just shut up. I'll just preach my little gospel. What gospel do you have if you can't stand up for those who are suffering and stand against injustice? So it leads me to the question, Todd Nettleton. The book is called When Faith is Forbidden, 40 Days on the Front Lines with persecuted Christians.

What can we do today, people who are listening to us? The first thing that persecuted Christians ask us to do is to pray for them. And it's, you know, it's the easiest thing, but it's the hardest thing, but it's the heart hardest thing. And the really challenging and convicting thing to me is their prayer request is not pray that we won't be persecuted anymore. It is pray that will be faithful in spite of persecution. Pray that will stand up well under persecution. And, you know, one of the things you mentioned earlier, the fact that sometimes they might feel forgotten. One of the things that I pray and I encourage other Christians to pray is, Lord, supernaturally let them know I'm praying for them. Right now,

let them know that somebody is remembering them. Somebody is praying for them. And, you know, I had the chance to interview Gracea Burnham, who, along with her husband Martin, was held hostage in the Philippines. And she mentioned that during their months, more than a year in captivity, at different times along the way, she would look at Martin or Martin would look at her and they would say, somebody is praying for us right now. And so once I heard that, I thought, man, that is a great prayer. Lord, let them know that somebody is praying for them right now. that's the first thing we can do. And then I always encourage people. The second thing is then educate yourself so that you can pray more effectively so that it's

not God-bless persecuted Christians, not that there's anything wrong with that, but it's God blessed Pastor Wang Yi, who is serving nine years in a Chinese prison right now for leading an unregistered church. God bless Pastor Haile Naizki in Eritrea, who has been in prison more than 17 years because he led a church in Eritrea. So number one, pray. number two, educate yourself so you can pray more effectively. And then number three is, whatever God asks you to do, whatever he lays on your heart to do, say yes. And maybe that is,

you know, sponsoring Bibles to be delivered. Maybe it's writing letters to some of these Christians who are in prison. Maybe it's getting on an airplane and going to one of these places. But God will open doors and say, this is what I want you to do now. And then it's up to us to be obedient to that call. There is so much we can do. The question is, I mean, the point, is just do something. Don't do nothing. And I think obviously the reason you wrote the book when faith is forbidden 40 days on the front lines with persecuted Christians is to give us a roadmap to acquaint us with these different people and what they're going through. And you know, you mentioned people imprisoned in China. Folks, are you doing business with a company that does

business with China and they don't care about the human rights? Or are you giving your money to some sneaker company or to the NBA or whatever it is? is that they don't care that they're making money. And, yeah, all kinds of people are being horribly persecuted. But you know what? We're not going to get into that. How can you not get into that? We have in America tremendous power, the power of our purse, where we spend our money,

who we do business with. And we need to partner with people who understand that if somebody's suffering for his faith, you can't sit by. You can't say, well, what am I supposed to do? There's many things you can do. You think about the spiritual family relationship. Okay. I have two brothers.

If one of them was in prison and being beaten on every day, you wouldn't have to remind me to care. You wouldn't have to remind me to call my congressman or call my senator and say, my brother is in prison. He's being beaten on every day. Our brothers and sisters are in prison. They are being beaten on every day. We shouldn't need that much, it shouldn't take that much effort for us to pay attention to it. It's unbelievable. And I do understand I sympathize with people that this is sometimes just too painful to face.

But folks, just take that step with God and face it with God and let him lead you. Because I really do believe that as the remnant church wakes up, as we ally ourselves with our brothers and sisters who are suffering, we're going to see world revival. I believe that that's where this is going. That when things get really bad, the Lord wakes his church up, that there's something has. happening right now. As you see cultural Marxism come into the United States, people are waking up. They're turning to God in a way that they wouldn't if everything were great. And God uses the things of persecution. I think about the fastest-growing church in the world right now is in the Islamic Republic of Iran. And we're now, you know, 40 years down the line from their revolution. And I've

had Iranian Christians tell me Ayatollah Khomeini is actually the greatest Christian missionary in the history of Iran because he showed the face of Islam. And the Iranian people have now seen that for decades. And they say, we don't want Islam. Whatever you're selling. We're not interested. Yeah. So the gospel is finding fertile soil. And it is because of the Islamic revolution. It's because of what they see in their government. Yeah. It's amazing how the enemy always overplays his hand. And we're seeing it obviously in this country. And you see it around the world. And I think we forget how many people out there in places like Iran, they're just like us. They see things and they say, I don't want that. That's horrible. What's that? Well, that's interesting. We need to get out there.

We need to be willing to share our faith, get books in the hands of these people. And I know that that's what you all at Voice of the Martyrs do. We do. We do deliver help to persecuted Christians, help to frontline workers who are sharing the gospel in these environments and them like we're doing right now we tell the stories to American Christians so that we can be in fellowship with our persecuted brothers and sisters. What's the last time that you were overseas? December. In December. Where did you go at that time? Middle East. The Middle East. Are you allowed to say where you went? I probably shouldn't. You probably shouldn't. Yeah. Middle East. Is that like Kansas? No, the Middle East, Eric, not the Midwest. Well, if people want to find you, obviously, they can

go to persecution.com. And I just want to encourage people, folks, for your own faith, really, to strengthen your faith. Go to persecution.com. I hope you'll see the movie Sabina. I hope you'll get a copy of Wormbrandt, Tortured for Christ, The Complete Story, the Voice of the Martyrs, because it will build your faith. We'll be back for a final segment with Todd Nettleton, who heads up Voice of the Martyrs Radio across the country.

We'll be right back. Folks, welcome back. We're talking to Todd Nettleton, a voice of the martyrs, the voice of the martyrs founded by the hero, Richard Wormbron and his wife, Sabina. Just amazing people and very clever in how they wanted to share the gospel. I actually believe, I think one of the two times I met him, it must have been in the mid-90s or early 90s. And he was speaking at the Yale Law School. I don't know how that happened. happened. And it was some kind of a poster for, whatever it was, it was kind of his clever way of getting people to come. And then he shared the gospel. And people said, wasn't that lying? Maybe. He was somebody that really understood, God calls us to kind of a wild faith. And, you know,

that's real. Richard would take the members of his youth group to the zoo and stand beside the lion cage to talk about Daniel and the lion's den and to talk about what it meant to be persecuted. He also trained his youth when you're carrying across a border, you're carrying Bibles across a border in the snow, walk backwards. And that way when the guards come and see the footprints, they'll go the wrong direction and they won't know which way you went. Richard saw a million Russian soldiers invading his country as God's answer to his prayer. He had prayed, God send me to Russia as a missionary. God never sent him to Russia as a missionary. So when a million Russian soldiers invaded Romania, he said, well, this is great.

I don't have to go there to be a missionary. They literally would go to the train station and welcome the invading soldiers with the gospel of John printed in Russian. Welcome to our country. I have a gift for you printed in your own language. Please take this. And so, yeah, when you talk about bold and creative and unafraid, Richard and Sabina really exemplify that style. Well, I mean, what they exemplify is be wise as serpents. I think a lot of Christians get that wrong.

They think be wise as doves. No. Be innocent as doves. Be wise as serpents. What does that mean? It means be subtle and clever for God's purposes. And when you talk about walking backwards in the snow, when you talk about greeting Russians with the Gospel of John,

I have a gift for you, that's so beautiful. and so amazing. And because, look, let's be clear, Richard Vermbron was a genius. He was not just some average guy. He was just incredibly brilliant. But he lived out his faith and all of his genius and all of his courage. It combined into a life that, you know, you wouldn't make it up. And so now, so it is his story and Sabina's story is in the book. That's correct. And you said the best way for them to get it is. They can get it for free. There'll be a phone number on the screen, I believe. also persecution.com. Just connect with Voice of the Martyrs. Say you've heard this on Eric Metaxis. Say you saw it on TBN and you'd like a free copy of that Wormbrand book.

But if you get a copy of the book and don't read it, shame on you. That's the only catch, folks. If you get a book, make sure you read it and lend it to somebody. My goodness, well, where do you go from here? We've just got less than a minute left. What happens to Todd Nettleton after New York? Back home, back to work at our office in Oklahoma, and the amazing privilege of sharing these stories and hopefully inspiring the faith of American Christians. And you're on the radio every week and voice the martyr. And how can people find that? VOMRadio.net.

You can find a station close to you. There's links to all the podcasts. Again, VOMRadio.net. There's also a link on persecution.com to find VOM Radio. Okay. VOM Radio. dot net because it'd be great every week people can hear these stories you can get a copy of when faith is forbidden 40 days in the front lines with persecuted Christians when faith is forbidden

by todd nettleton or obviously they can go to persecution dot com uh todd just a joy to have you in the studio god bless you my friend thank you so much it's been great to be with you