VOM serves our Christian family members in places around the world where they are most frequently and severely persecuted for their faith and witness. We categorize each location as either a Hostile Area (persecution from individuals or groups) or a Restricted Nation (persecution from the government). Today, the persecutors in Hostile Areas are almost entirely Islamic terrorist groups seeking to bring Islam to power through violence. One notable exception, however, is in Latin America, where drug traffickers violently persecute Christians as they advance their Marxist ideology.
In parts of South America and Central America, the persecution by drug traffickers is sporadic and localized. But in other areas, especially in far southern Mexico and parts of Colombia, well-funded and heavily armed groups of guerrillas (rebels) control the land and operate with almost complete autonomy. The respective governments lack the means, will or both, to protect the people. Our Christian brothers and sisters suffer in these “red zones.”
While neo-Marxism continues to gain influence through cultural and political means in the USA and Western Europe, strong and violent Marxism is on the rise in Central America and South America. In Colombia, Marxist ideology identifies Christians as targets for violence by characterizing our faith as a weapon used to oppress the working class. The reality, of course, is that the guerrillas are among the most oppressive organisations, political or otherwise, in the world. Funded by the drug trade, staffed through forced conscription of villagers (including children), to work their coca fields and carry out violent atrocities, and supported by leftists in government bought by their blood money, the guerrilla rebels are dedicated to eliminating freedom of thought, speech and worship.
Americans, amongst others, have driven the demand for the Colombian guerrillas’ cocaine for decades. Recent government statistics show that nearly 90% of the cocaine seized in the USA originated in Colombia’s red zones. The money Americans spend on drugs funds the oppression and killing of our brothers and sisters in Christ. May we never cease to share the saving message of the Gospel with those on both sides of these transactions, and may we never fail to see God’s sovereign grace amid such wickedness.
From our Ceo.
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