Welcome to Reverend Ben Cooper's podcast . We are a radio and podcast ministry based here within the UK . Your support is vital through prayer and through sowing a seed of faith . We are so thankful to have so many people around the globe downloading and listening to our podcasts , whether you are on Spotify , apple Podcast , google , alexa , amazon Music and so many other platforms . For more information about our ministry , please find us on pastorbencoopercouk . We would love to hear from you as you partner with us as we reach the world for Jesus Christ . Please send us an email through our contact form on pastorbencoopercouk . Also , you can find our latest books on Amazon under hashtag one , hashtag two and hashtag three under Christian Straight Talk hard-hitting , real-life conversations taken from our podcasts .
Speaker 1Your financial gifts play a crucial role in supporting our radio ministry , helping us share the gospel through these podcasts and providing free copies of the Gospel of John and Bibles around the globe . Please pray for this ministry as we stretch out beyond the boundaries , as we walk by faith . You can also leave a legacy by clicking in the links within pastorbencoopercouk . Thank you for partnering with us in this ministry as we spread the message of hope far and wide through this radio ministry . So , whether you are on the daily commute or at home listening to our podcast . Grab a cup of coffee , sit back , relax and enjoy .
Speaker 2Good afternoon . We thank you , wherever you are across the world , for listening to our podcast . It's reverend ben cooper , it's sandra rosman robson . Sorry , this afternoon you know it's been a long day , I've been talking all day but we thank you so much . It's our good sister , sandra robson , as we look at the persecuted church as we gather across the mics today . So , wherever you are across the world , we thank god for your life and , uh , we thank you for sharing everything that goes on on reverend ben cooper's podcast .
Speaker 2We've hit just over a thousand podcasts now since lockdown . We are so grateful for the tens of thousands of people and , uh , and , as that advert has just said , we are so blessed . So thank you so much from the very bottom of our heart . We're going to get straight in . You know we've got this , uh , beautiful ministry in front of us . You know , through Open Doors , through Release International , through Barnabas , all that sort of stuff , you know , and we try and work with the persecuted church wherever we possibly can , here within the church of Elim Swanley . But Sandra is going to bring lots of information . So it's eyes down , ears open . Grab yourself a coffee , relax , sandra , it's good to see you .
Speaker 3Hello , nice to be here .
Speaker 2It's great to have you back with us , sandra . We've had a bit of a gap , haven't we ? Yes , there's been a bit of a gap in between , with the busyness of life and everything Half term , half term , I know that seems to have been gone a week or two ago now .
Speaker 3and whereabouts are we going now , sandra ? Where are you going to take us ? Well , we're just going to do a recap , because it was a while ago , to remind people , if they , you know , listen to the last podcast .
Speaker 3we were talking about china and it's 75 years of communist rule and this year that's been celebrated and we just wondered how it was affecting the christians and so we looked at that and um , and we just saw how resilient , you know , our brothers and sisters are and how they're finding creative ways to still share the gospel . But it is affecting them and you know many have been put in prison and many are being watched . You know lots of surveillance going on . So we mentioned about that , we looked at that and then um , unfortunately we didn't manage to get a podcast in for this , but it was the um international day of prayer yes , it was , wasn't it ?
Speaker 2how did that go ?
Speaker 3yeah it went well , yes , yes , I was able to do um presentation money in the evening at one local church and , and yeah , we looked at India and Pakistan and what's going on and sort of talked about Release International's work . I haven't had much update about Arise Africa but you know , again , I've personally got people to fill in the petition and I'm going to be sending off , you know , a double sided sheet and I believe it's going well and I believe that Open Doors will be giving an update about how Arise Africa is going .
Speaker 2Um is it possible to find that online , I suppose we can find that online , can't we ?
Speaker 3yeah , you can find out online release international .
Speaker 2So that's not open doors , that's release international . So we can find that arise africa open doors , that is , arise .
Speaker 3Africa is open doors um campaign . Um , because they've sort of now talking more about the next World Watch list and getting people involved ready for January .
Speaker 2Oh yes , Getting closer .
Speaker 3Getting your MPs involved in that . So it's sort of like being overshadowed a bit , but it's still going on and you know there's lots of different things that they're doing , you know , and raising money for people in the camps , like we said .
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 3So , yeah , so that's ongoing . And then I was looking at the release international magazine for October , december , and there are a lot of things in here and particularly about families of Christian martyrs . But before we do this , I wanted there's a praise thing here that could have been resulted in a lot of people ending up and not having husbands or , you know , wives and , uh so , and children as well . Apparently , in indonesia , um , a 19 year old student , um , was arrested after a foiling of a suicide bomb attack on two church sites and it's just amazing what he had .
Speaker 1Thank you , Jesus .
Speaker 3Thank you to the Lord that it didn't take place and it was foiled by the authorities . And he just looked online , got information , managed to find out stuff about , you know , the extremists , isis type thing , and also managed to get hold of some explosive which apparently is really , really bad . You know , it would cause a lot , a lot of damage . It's called TATP and , yeah , so it's got a lot , a lot of damage . It's called t-a-t-p and um , yeah , so it's got a not a very pleasant name um , most powerful and dangerous explosive . They said so they are , you know , and the christians there are really thanking god and that's . You know that that he was stopped from doing this attack and his family as well were involved as well . So it's very sad , but thank God that it didn't go ahead and didn't cause the carnage that was anticipated . So that was a good news thing .
Speaker 3And now looking at Nigeria , which we have looked at before , but they are particularly looking at , you know , families and how they can be helped after you know atrocities and losing family members . So the first believer we're going to meet is Gideon Darwell , and this event happened last Christmas Now we did talk about this that the Fulani herdsmen and there were some army people as well , and the villages were being attacked , but nobody did anything , did they ? They just watched and we talked about it . Well , this is one of the people who was affected by that and it's a terrible , you know story , so I'm not going to go into too much of what happened . If you want to look at the whole story , you can , you know , look at it online or get the magazine voice .
He lost his whole family . Basically , he lost his wife , his children and he lost his home . And so Release International have a group there , partners called Stefanos , and they help with trauma counselling and support after these sort of things happen .
Speaker 2Amazing ministry .
Speaker 3So he said everything I now have was provided by Stefanos the food I eat , the clothes I wear and the shelter I have . I thank God with tears for them . And the shelter I have . I thank God with tears for them . They gave me food , a bed and somewhere to sleep . Everything I own was lost in the attack by the Fulani . Everything I have was provided by them .
Speaker 3Now , and what was so sad and what really has taken him a long time to get over never mind losing his wife and children is that he spoke to these people and they were his neighbours and he asked them how they were . And he actually had houses where you know . He had his own house and he had another house and he was letting these people stay there , and so you know that's the sort of thing that is happening . But in his story , which is lovely now , a year later , he said when I was despairing , I looked away from Christ . Nevertheless , I thank God for the prayers of faithful people . God has taken me back to my state of trusting him . Negative thoughts departed because of those prayers . I now know that the wisdom of God is more than the wisdom of men . His plan is more than the plan of man . His thoughts are not our thoughts .
Speaker 3He allowed this to happen for a purpose . God preserved me for the sake of the gospel . I'm alive to spread the message . And he said when I returned to the village where he used to be , because obviously had to run away and he's been . He's been living somewhere else , but now he's been able to go back just for a visit . One of the Fulani saw me and called out Pastor , how are you ? At that point , he cried . Pastor , you came back and greeted me . No one greets me as I am Fulani . I told him I greeted you because I know the person I serve .
Speaker 2Thank you , Jesus .
Speaker 3I was deeply affected when I . He was deeply affected when I accepted his handshake . So now , if I see a Fulani man , I offer forgiveness and I pray for him .
Speaker 2What an interesting story that is just so powerful . A story of hope , a story of amazing grace .
Speaker 3Absolutely .
Speaker 2Amazing grace from God .
Speaker 3So , gideon , you know , it's a remarkable testimony of the power of God's grace and as a sign of how his faith has been restored , he asked us to pray that god would give him a further anointing for evangelism amongst these people .
Speaker 2wow so there we go god strengthen us here in the uk , you know , when you hear very powerful stories where , yeah , of all this stuff that comes out of what sandra is bringing to the , you know , we , we thank God . You know there's so much . Thank you , jesus .
Speaker 2Yeah , for these you can call them missionaries , pastors , people that have been saved , people that have been set free out of you know some real dark , occultic activities and you know , from from all the terrorist organizations , some of the stuff that we read and we hear in the persecuted church . Amazing grace , that's all I can say today .
Speaker 3God's amazing grace so this lady I'm going to tell you about now , just to give you an idea . I mean , these people are , you know , going through attacks more than once , and they're losing loved ones more than once as well . So , esther , new Year's Day 2022 , she lost her sons and other extended family members in attack . She said that now , because of the help of Sylvanas , she's begun to feel comfort in her heart , but she said that it really , it really , um was a problem to her and she hated the people because , um , not only did she lose them , her brother-in-law went back to check on the property and they killed him , so she had a double like bereavement she said life has been very hard for me .
Speaker 3Help has not been coming for from anywhere except for the um stefano foundation . She said we did nothing to them . We have lived with the fulani for a long while . Our villages are close together and that's what hurts . We don't understand why they , why they , did this . We know it's a , it's a spiritual battle . Um , it's not just about overland , it's you know , it's about , you know , believing that .
Speaker 3That that's um that it's going to be a caliphate and Islam wants to take over and they see Christians as the infidel and anybody who isn't a isn Christians as the infidel . And anybody who isn't a Muslim is just , you know , can be got rid of . But we also know the enemy is using that to target Christians and to stop the spread of the gospel . Oh , wow . And she said that's why she didn't understand why they attacked . And she said now I still don't see them as good , kind or compassionate people , but I have forgiven them . So that's a big step , isn't it ?
Speaker 2It's an enormous step , a leap of faith , a leap of faith .
Speaker 2There's a lot going on there . You've got amazing grace in some of the stories . You've got leaps of faith . You've got complete , complete reliance on the holy spirit , on god . And it's amazing , this persecuted world of church . It's just so powerful how , how god is moving and and I'm going through a funny phase in my christian walk at this moment where , like , the church in the uk is really frustrating me I know it sounds strange to say that , but because it seems so quiet and nothing is really happening and it's just encouraging to hear what sandra brings to the table , because you you can get so caught in the mechanisms of church and religion in the uk , it becomes quite tiring and boring and you're really looking for some moves of god and suddenly you , you read these stories , sandra , it really , it injects your faith , it gives you hope yeah real stories in real life .
Speaker 3So she says , please pray for her , please pray for my village and god's peace for my brethren , that god will one day um enable us to return to our homes . So this is another lady , and again at this time it's her father . He was killed on Christmas Eve , but he actually had a dream before this happened and he told her that you know , something was going to happen , that he might lose his life at some point , but he didn't tell her all about it . He didn't tell her the whole of the dream . But again it was the Flawny and he saw them advancing to the village and he phoned his daughter and said you know , I'm going to go to the church and I'm going to ring the bell to warn the villagers . And she said don't be afraid , god is in control , he will do what he will decide to do . And so she said that the villagers all got away . She ran away , they ran away and he was the only one , but they thought all the villagers were with him in the church and they just um surrounded um the church .
Speaker 3He was praying in the church when the attackers came . They surrounded the church and um when ? When they did that , everyone was saved except him . So everyone moved out of the village and went to the city . So it has affected the church . They're very afraid and even though their lives have been saved that day , some of them have turned back from their faith and lost their faith that's quite sad , isn't it ?
Speaker 2that's really sad . When you hear stories like that , you think , wow , when you say , lost their faith . I wish we had time to go into that a little bit more , do ?
Speaker 3we mean by that that they've just… They've turned back to their old beliefs . They've gone back to their old beliefs .
Speaker 2So they've gone back to their old beliefs . That's really frightening , that's really scary . And we've gone back to their old beliefs . Oh , that's really frightening , that's really scary and we've really got to say Lord , please , please , god , will you keep us steadfast , keep us , lord in the word , keep us strong , lord . We don't want to go back , as the scripture says , that the disciples , when Christ was crucified . It says they went back fishing . They went back to their old ways . It was too much the mantle was too much to bear .
Speaker 2Yeah , lord please we pray that no one goes back no one goes back to old ways , old religions , no one loses their faith . No , please lord , even us lord we . We keep steadfast in the word and we hold tight . Keep us lord , keep us in the in in the vine .
Speaker 3It's critical , it's very difficult in the cities to keep faith in . In the cities , you know where they were together . In the village it was very strong , but as people you know disperse in a in a large city , it it's not so easy and there's lots of distractions and people are trying to make ends meet . I was wondering whether I would ever forgive those people , but I decided to let go from my heart and not hold anything against them . I don't have any pain or resentment against
them . My father would have been praying for God to have mercy on his killers . I pray that the prayer my father was praying will not be in vain . These people don't know God . They have not tasted the love of Christ that we enjoy . So I pray that God will touch them . Pray that Christians in Nigeria will have courage to stand firm , like we just just said . Pray especially for the youth who are looking for help outside of god to protect themselves . So yeah , so there are problems . It's you know , but a lot of as say , you know , it's good that we know that many are overcoming and and god is using that and you know he's going to bring Fulani to himself . But on the other hand , there are those who felt that it's just no point anymore . They're so fearful that they've gone away , and that's very sad , and because it's not just for this life and think that's the thing we pray that they will remember about . You know , jesus has given them for eternity . We call for help , but there was no help . Soldiers were close .
Speaker 3So this is another person now . This is Moses . He's a young . He's a young man . This is Moses . He's a young man and he said we ran for our lives and when we came back , the people were attacked trying to bury the bodies of the dead , and so it took three days . We pleaded with the army to let us go back and that they would help us and they would go back with us . And he had to bury his father and he said I felt like god had abandoned us because if god is truly a living god , why did he allow these things to happen to us ? We served him for years , but these things are still happening to us . I am calling on god to give me more strength to stand . This is a young man now .
Speaker 3Interesting Because she was praying for a young man , you know , for the teenagers . So I thought , well , I'd read you something from one of the , from what ? He's now in his 20s , but he was young when the attack happened . I think he's 21 now . She said and then there's this lady and she lost her husband and now she is having to look after her children . And after the raid she said she vowed she'd never speak to Fulani again . But one day I was in the market and one man kept calling me pastor's wife , pastor's wife , and when I turned around I saw that he was a . That got me to the point of repentance before God . As he says in his word , if we do not forgive others , he won't forgive us . So I'm now working on that . Please remember me and help me to come all the way through . Pray for my persecutors . Pray also for my persecutors and they will repent . And if they repent and understand what they are doing is not right , they will leave that way of life . So that's what she prays for .
Speaker 2Yeah , we've got to keep prayers up . So , wherever you are across the world , it's important that we keep praying . We keep praying for the persecuted church . You know , what else have you got there , sandra ? What else have you got that's bubbling in your spirit there ?
Speaker 3Well , you know there's just so many testimonies of people you know , some like in this pastor , he escaped . You know they were looking for him to kill him and he escaped and he said you know he believes that God enabled him to escape . You know other people died but he escaped and there's lots of you know stories about like that . So it's just thanking God for , you know , the Trauma Healing Centre and praying for them .
Speaker 2Yeah , that's an amazing mission , isn't it ? The Trauma Centre , yes , important to pray for that .
Speaker 3And the Stefano Foundation as well . And he says Please pray that people will depend on Christ , because the faith of many has wavered . Pray that people will understand that the fact that they escaped was not by their wisdom , but was that Christ has enabled them to do so .
Speaker 2You're mentioning Sank again there , sandra , about their faith has wavered . You know we're hearing this a lot today . It's critical . I can understand that . I can understand that here in the West my faith can waver Sometimes , you know , you can jump out of the boat and you can walk on the water for a little while and then you keep your eyes on the storm and you take your eyes off of Jesus and crashing in finances , family life , relationships , schools , education comes crashing in and all that and it's easy to wobble in your face . But we've got to make sure that our feet are on the rock , our feet are firm on the rock .
Speaker 3And we know it must be getting nearer and nearer because these things are happening .
Speaker 2It must be Sandra .
Speaker 3And we're being tested . We are being tested .
Speaker 2We really are and you can feel it in the atmosphere .
Speaker 3And it's about the faith , like he says , purified as fine as gold , isn't it ?
Speaker 2Psalm 66 . We've said Lord , we're starting to find out , we're starting to feel what that really means but obviously they're .
Speaker 3They're feeling a lot more than we are . I mean , the things we're going through are not , uh , you know the same , but god knows that they're causing us issues . They they call , you know we need you know to remember his word .
Speaker 2So again yes .
Speaker 3So I think that is a real prayer , because again , this pastor is saying and that's what they want , these people who are attacking , they want to disrupt the church , they want to make it weak , they want people to flee , they want to separate people . That's what they want week . They want people to flee , they want to separate people . That's what they want . And so you know , um pray , that those people who've had to flee will find other people and the pastors will remain strong and the testimonies will encourage them and the they will be able to love their enemies and they will show jesus in how they are and through that , yes that love that breaks down the ?
Speaker 3um , the hate and the evil ? Um , you know , because the enemy wants to steal , kill and destroy . He does , he does and jesus wants to bring his love and his forgiveness , and he wants these people to be able to come to him and have eternal life amen um , but you know .
Speaker 3So , again , this is the thing that they're disrupting the villages . And so then , no , there aren't the churches now for them to go to . And he says , although the attacks had an effect on the faith of some believers , he is encouraged . He says some of the things I have been preaching about have now happened to me . My house was burnt , my brothers and sisters were killed . I lost about seven people from my family , but it strengthens my faith to know that if God is by your side , regardless of all the tribulations , he will stand by you . And I am more encouraged and in faith than ever before .
Speaker 3Attacks are getting worse . Please ask Christians in the UK to pray for the believers again to stand firm in their faith . This crisis has affected the faith of many People are used to worshipping God and people who used to evangelise and do a lot for God . Today they are no more . Many of them have fallen back to worldliness . Pray also for the people to be able to readily forgive , because if things like this happen , if you don't forgive , there will be no peace . So those are the two things , aren't they ? It's not falling away from your faith and forgiving . Those are the two things , and that's what Jesus said about , didn't he ?
Speaker 2Yeah , I think it's really important .
Speaker 3And there's a cost in carrying on picking up our cross . You mentioned picking up the cross .
Speaker 2Sandra , and you've got to deny self . The scriptures is clear that we need to decrease . Flesh needs to decrease . We need our mind needs to decrease .
Speaker 2We are living in very turbulent times across the world and we've really got to pray for one another , not just the persecuted church , but for all believers in all churches , because there is a testing of our faith . I can really feel the test the , the temperature of the , the environment . The moment is so hot , everything feels so tiring . Wherever you are across the world listening to this podcast , we pray for you . Will you pray for us here in in this studio ? We pray for sandra myself . Will you pray for the ministries that we're involved in ? Will you ?
Speaker 2We're praying for you , whoever you are , wherever you are , the believers in christ , because we are living in a very hot temperature . We're not referring to the sun being out , we're referring to the , the political atmosphere , the global atmosphere . What's happening in america ? What's happening here in the uk , in lond ? The wokeness within church , you know , talk about being taken to the wire , taken to the as Sandra was very interestingly bringing this to the table today , the third time we have heard of stretched our faith , taken to the wire and almost lost the faith , gone beyond the faith and gone back to old ways . That's very relevant , that scripture for us today to pick up thy cross , to deny self , to leave everything at the cross . It's going to take everything that you've got , wherever you are across the world . It's going to take every ounce , of every part of your being to keep pressing into Jesus Christ . We are living in the end days .
Speaker 3Yeah , learning that Jesus is my portion .
Speaker 2That's right , Sandra . We've got about 10 minutes , 9 minutes left .
Speaker 3Well , I mean , there was that scripture , but I haven't got the reference , but it's . That came to mind was let us consider how we can spare one another on to love and good deeds , so that's what we need to consider . Was um , let us consider how we can spare one another on to love and good deeds , so that's what we need to consider .
Speaker 3Cause you know as we see the day approaching that has encouraged one another , and encouragement is really important . You know cause there's be a day when you're up and another day when you're down , and the same with me .
Speaker 3So I need to strengthen and lift up my brother or sister and you know , when God has , you know , raised up my faith and things have happened and it's amazing what happens . You know , because in my work as a teacher , things are not always easy and I pray for opportunities and speak with the children about jesus and um , you know , and sometimes they come unexpectedly and um , some of the time they've been coming from the children , it's not me saying anything to them , it's them asking me um , a and that is so encouraging .
Speaker 3So we pray that you know wherever you're at . You know that because of God , because he is in control , because you've made yourself available , that's all I do . I just say , lord , I'm available . I pray that I will be a blessing to the children today , and often I mean that in how I teach them , how I support them , encourage them , and but you know , in all our walks of life , if we just pray to be available , it's amazing what God does . And he surprised me .
Speaker 3And I had a conversation , you know , with some children and they were asking me it was such a dry . We had a conversation , you know , with some children and they were asking me it was such a dry . They were finding out about how far it was between Nazareth and Bethlehem for the Harare lesson . And they're little children , young children , and I just sort of made a comment and said , well , why did they go that far ? What was all the point of it ? We were talking about the census and everything , and then they said to me , um , and I said about the romans and they said was it real ?
Speaker 3wow and that was the opening , was it ?
Speaker 2real , are you sure , miss ?
Speaker 3was it real ? Is this ?
Speaker 2just , is this a fairy story ?
Speaker 3yeah , why why are we learning about ? These distances and things . So you just never know what openings there will be , and you might have been through a lot of pain yourself , like these people have . But God uses that . God is the comforter , he is the one who comforts us all with a comfort that only he can bring .
Speaker 3And many of these martyrs , these widows and martyrs' families , widows , are becoming comforters to their sisters , who've become widows through what's happened , because they understand , and the men too , what they've been through too . And so you know , the Lord knows and he hears our cries , and so you know we do need to remember it says love the Lord , your God , with all your heart , with all your strength , and love your neighbour as yourself . But it's not always easy to do that , it's easy to say it , but we have to keep asking him for that grace and for our brothers and sisters be able to do it , so we stand with them as they stand for jesus . Amen amen .
Speaker 2You know , brothers and sisters , wherever you are across the world , may god strengthen you and bless you and be with you in all things . It's critical for us here in the West . Sandra's prayed that beautiful prayer , and our prayers still go across the globe for all our listeners across the world . Thank you for your support , thank you for your time , thank you for the tens of thousands of downloads . It's so lovely to hear and to see so many people supporting this radio ministry . And you can do that . Just go on to PastorBenCoopercouk . You can find out everything that we do and everything across the table of ministry and wherever you are , may you have a wonderful evening . It might be morning , it might be evening . Wherever you are , whatever your time zone is , we just pray that you will feel the love of God , the Father , the Son , the Holy Spirit . Thank you so much for tuning in today . God bless you and we will see you very , very soon . Take care , stay safe , god bless .