A few years ago, I had the privilege of interviewing a fellow seminary student named Samir, who was born in Afghanistan and came to faith in Christ as a refugee in Pakistan. Samir went on to found Lumens of Truth, a ministry devoted to helping the people of Afghanistan encounter Jesus, grow as disciples, and serve Him faithfully. Through social media and radio broadcasts, they are able to carry the message of the gospel into a country that remains largely closed off. In today’s moving interview, we continue exploring the realities of persecution and how the underground church operates around the world. I haven’t stopped thinking about our talk since we recorded, and I pray it stirs our hearts to engage meaningfully in this vital, eternal work. Memorable Quotes: “Afghanistan has a population of 43 million people, and less than 5,000 Christians - one of the least reached countries in the world. It was the grace of God and His mercy and favor that through a dream that my mom saw He brought us to Himself.” “From the time Christ came, it has been over 2,000 years, but the people of Afghanistan are hearing the gospel for the first time ever in our history.” “Overall, the underground church, in most places means the church is unauthorized by the government, it is not registered, it’s not known, people meet in secret. Now in the context of Afghanistan, actually the church does literally meet in basements. They do not even sing out loud because of the fear of being found out.” “It has been incredible to see the number of people that come to faith, but one of the biggest challenges in the underground church movements…is the epidemic of lonely Christians, Christians that are not a part of the community, and it makes sense because of the high risk associated with joining a community.” “We have many many people that come to Christ…but they are just believers on their own. And there’s no one around them actually. There’s no local community that they can belong to. And so that is one of the hardships of being a believer.” “Most of the believers won’t get a physical Bible ever in their life, and the other sad thing is that they usually never meet other believers.” “The numbers that Open Doors gives is 388 million Christians are under persecution right now around the world. That is almost the population of the US. So imagine that whole nation, our brothers and sisters under persecution.” “Persecution forces you to either really believe in this, that this gospel is really true, or there’s no reason to believe. Because there’s no solid reason that any rational person would accept this way, other than that they have met the risen Christ that has changed their life.” “My plea with the church in the west is to wake up, because we have taken the gospel so for granted for so long, that we assume it to be true for everyone.” “Afghanistan is 99.97% Muslim. If you talk with most Afghans, they would say we are the most Muslim country, we are more Muslim in terms of actually following the rules of the Sharia.” “There’s nothing that I can say, there’s nothing eloquent about what I say, or powerful enough to say, that will change the lives of 42 million people. I’m convinced of that. But if the church prayed, and if the church was on their knees, I’m convinced that the Lord would use even my voice, it’s not a very attractive voice…but he will use this voice, and the truth that comes from my voice.” “What kind of joy would fill our hearts if we saw a million Afghans come to Christ, and they will come, if we pray.” Show Notes: 1 Corinthians 15:34 Link to Season 3 episode with Samir https://www.lumensoftruth.org/ https://www.opendoors.org/en-US/persecution/countries/ If your heart has been moved to respond, consider making a gift using the link in the show notes, or going to give.cornerstone.cc/servantsinternational and selecting “Afghan Lumens” under the Designation.
