North Korea has 30,000 Christians in death camps.

Why does Heartfelt Counseling Ministries Minister to the Persecuted Church?
Many people have asked me why our purpose statement includes ministering to the world wide persecuted church. They don't see the connection to the other to facets of the ministry, which are helping the mentally ill and helping the bereaved.  My answer is because  of their  common suffering.  They all suffer from serious affliction of the mind and the body.  You can bet that a person in a Chinese prison or an Iranian prison or many other prisons  that hold evangelicals have people who are suffering  from Post Traumatic Stress syndrome (PTSD).    When a woman who was asked on Fox news about what it was like in an Iranian prison, she replied, "It is a living Hell."  She upon arrival was blindfolded and tortured.  They put her in a dark cell and would often beat on her daily.  This went on for years. Finally she was released and tells her story of the horror that pervades these terrible prisons.


Recently Robyn and I attended a Voice of the Marty's Regional Conference in Royal Palm Beach, FL.  It was called UNASHAMED.  It took place on January 26, 2013 and it was an eye opener.
 Eric Foley gave a powerful, informative presentation on North Korea.  There are about thirty thousand Christian believers in two different death camps.   In fact it has been reported that when the North Korean prisoners were made aware of the Nazi concentration camps that they said, "It seems that the Nazi's were more humane than our captors." I am  not at all an attempting to minimize the horror of the Holocaust but apparently the North Koreans work in mines and also sleep in them, lying on top of one another.  I hope you will join with me in praying for our North Korean brothers and sisters in Christ and  the persecuted church across the world.
There are modern day martyrs in many countries.  There have been recent murders of Christians in Colombia, North Korea, Nigeria and others.  Many pastors have been tortured and sent to prison.
Please pray for them.

Voice of Martyrs ask us to pray for the restricted countries of Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar.

 There are fifty four restricted and hostile nations in the world.   I would encourage you to not only pray for believers in other countries but to go to the Voice of Martyrs web site and the web site China Aid.  You will be given specific requests about real people in real time.  On the VOM site you can be helped to write letters to those who are in prison for their faith in their own language.

Here are some requests that comes from those who are persecuted:

• that believers will stand firm in their faith ( 1 Peter 5:8-10)
• that they will not fear but trust in God (Revelation 2:10)
• that they would not retaliate, but entrust themselves to God (1 Peter 2:23)
• that they will not take revenge, but leave that completely to God (Romans 12:17-21)
• that they will be enabled to rejoice, even in suffering (1 Peter 4:12,13)
• that they would be able to actually love their enemies (Matthew 5:43,44)
• that they will keep their eyes on Jesus, persevere, and not grow weary or lose heart             (Hebrews 12:1-3)
• that they will trust God to enable them to proclaim even while suffering (22 Timothy 4:16-18)

Here are some links:  http://www.persecution.org  (Voice of Martyrs)

 http://www.chinaaid.org/  (China Aid)

http://dotheword.org/tag/voice-of-the-martyrs/  (Eric Foley, missionary to North Korea)

http://www.amazon.com/Broken-Minds-Healing-Youre-Losing/dp/0825421187 Steve and Robyn Bloem's book about their experience with depression, and ways to fight it.