Tag:

Escape

Christian Lady Travels 3,000 Miles To Worship God Freely

by Christel Berns July 20, 2022

A Christian lady born in North Korea traveled 3,000 miles so she could freely worship and pray to God without having to risk for her life.

North Korea is among many countries where Christians are being persecuted. For that reason, many Christians in North Korea are leaving the country. However, leaving the country meant risking life and death because getting caught could mean facing punishment.

Escaping North Korea

In a video shared by Liberty in North Korea, she shared her story.

Being Christian in North Korea

Watch this video on YouTube

In 2011, Sookyung Kang, born in North Korea, got up the courage to escape. At 17-years-old, she desired freedom and wanted to be free to worship and pray to God. But the teenager hesitated because of her family. She had a choice to make – either to leave her family behind or remain in spiritual bondage.

“What should I do God? I want to be able to dream. I want to live the life I choose. But I don’t want to abandon my family. What should I do?” she recalled. “In the end, I chose my dreams and freedom.”

YouTube | Liberty in North Korea

Free To Worship God

Today, Sookyung is free to worship God.

“Being able to worship and praise however I wanted in South Korea, I was so thankful for this freedom. My heart was full of gratitude,” she testified. “I don’t think I came to South Korea without a purpose.”

She also shared her plans to attend graduate school in the United States. She wants to help her nation.

“I’m getting ready for it,” she said. “That is my vision. Freedom is expressing your faith.”

Reference: The Christian Post

July 20, 2022 0 comment

Articles

God Nudges Kidnapped Haitian Missionaries To Escape And Miraculously Flees

by Christel Berns December 23, 2021

written by Christel Berns

After a two-month kidnapping ordeal, the 17 Haitian missionaries miraculously escaped from captivity after God nudged their hearts to attempt an escape.

Kidnapped Haitian Christian Missionaries

In October, it was reported that a notorious gang known to wreak havoc in Haiti had kidnapped 17 Christian missionaries. Moreover, this gang demanded a 17 million ransom for their release. Five men, seven women, and five children, including a 2-year-old, were among them. But thank God, today, the missionaries finally managed to flee from the hands of the kidnappers. And the Christian Aid Ministries detailed how they miraculously escaped from captivity.

Photo Courtesy | Christian Aid Ministries

According to Charisma News, the 12 missionaries left stepped out in faith and made a daring overnight escape last week. They eluded their kidnappers and walked for miles over a rough road and “moonlit terrain with an infant and other children in tow.”

God Nudges Them To Escape

“The hostages were sensing God nudging them to attempt an escape,” said Weston Showalter, the CAM spokesman. “Over the time of their captivity, God gave various hostages a desire to attempt an escape.”

“To attempt such a thing would be dangerous,” he added. “They sought God over and over again seeking direction from Him. After much discussion and prayer, they became solidly united that God seemed to be leading them this way.”

The group asked for signs from God. But God has been telling them “the timing wasn’t right yet.” Then finally, on Dec. 15, they sensed God’s signal.

Courageous Escape

“When they sensed the timing was right, they found a way to open the door that was closed and blocked. Filed silently to the path that they had chosen to follow, and quickly left the place that they were held. Despite the fact that numerous guards were close by,” the spokesman detailed. “In the distance, they could see a mountain feature that they had recognized and identified in the previous days. They identified this landmark before and they knew that this was the direction they needed to go. They also followed the sure guidance of the stars as they journeyed through the night, traveling toward safety.”

“After a number of hours of walking, day began to dawn and they eventually found someone who helped to make a phone call for help,” he narrated, his voice beginning to choke. “They were finally free.”

Today, all the missionaries are back in their homes safe and sound, reunited with their families. The ministry thanked the U.S. government and everyone who upheld them in prayer during the ordeal.

“We say THANK YOU to the multitudes of people worldwide who prayed, who cared, who wept with us. And who sent notes of encouragement to the families of the hostages. You cannot know how big a blessing you all were and are!”

Reference: Charisma News

December 23, 2021 0 comment

War of Words Erupts Between Local Arabs And Politicians

by The Israel Insider September 22, 2021

written by The Israel Insider

This is an update in supplement to a report from earlier today:

Reactions continue to come in now that all six of the prisoners who escaped from the Gilboa prison have been recaptured. The last two fugitives were found Saturday in Jenin, in an area under the control of the P.A.

Due to pressure and criticism on the part of the local Arab public, the terrorist organizations in Jenin have been forced to issue statements about Israel’s ability to recapture all six of the escapees, having been called impotent in the face of Israeli security forces. Some have said that they, “did not give up the escaped prisoners and that their capture does not stem from the weakness of the resistance.”

They add that locals are making “excuses’ for the capture of the prisoners out of concern for the lives of residents of the area. In Jenin, people are pointing the finger of blame at local residents who work with and assist Israeli authorities.

However, sources in the PA, as well as security officials in Israel, confirmed that the GSS spared the P.A. from a “serious confrontation” and a “serious challenge” posed to it by the terrorist organizations in Jenin. These groups had intended to take advantage of the prison escape, using it as an opportunity to act against the P.A. itself. They wanted to create a wave of protests and demonstrations against the P.A. that it would be powerless to confront.

People in the area are now saying that the security situation in the wake of the escape was inflated in the media well beyond reality. And so were the threats made by terrorist organizations like Hamas and Islamic Jihad. The local people understood that the six escaped terrorists were not really heroes.

Local Arabs understood that the organizations like Islamic Jihad were merely exaggerating their power over the situation. This explains, in part, why they did not cooperate with efforts to drag Judea and Samaria into a wave of violence.

In Israel, the authorities understood that the six would not be able to succeed in their escape unless they could get to shelter somewhere within the P.A. So, Israeli security services simply waited for them to make mistakes that would expose their locations.

Meanwhile, the Islamic Jihad has rejected statements made by the Israeli Arab member of the Knesset Walid Taha, from the Ra’am party, the United Arab List. Ra’am supports Israel’s current coalition government from the outside only, and so it does not hold any cabinet posts.

MK Taha, chairman of the Knesset Interior Committee, spoke last night (Saturday night) in an interview with Dafna Liel in which he said that. Should it come to it, due to renewed missile attacks and so forth, that “an operation in Gaza [by Israel] will not necessarily endanger the coalition government.”

“We as an Arab party do not like wars at all and dislike them,” he added. “For me, this should not be the test but the test is what needs to be done to enable life. Let’s say there is an operation in Gaza and we leave the coalition, so what? Another government will not fight? Issues of life.”

Ahmad al-Madalal, a member of the Islamic Jihad’s political bureau, told the Hamra website, that MK Taha’s statements were “absurd” and rejected them as a “moral and national deviation.”

“Taha’s statements will not be accepted by the Arab and Palestinian public and on the Arabs of Israel,” he said. “they are a resilient people and are fighters who will not accept Taha’s representation.”

“We are confident that our brothers in the territories of Israel will reject these statements and positions that completely contradict the words of Mansour Abbas, who previously announced that he would resign from the government in any scenario of aggression against Gaza,” added al-Madalal.

In addition, a security source in Israel told TPS that, “Hamas can now calm down after Islamic Jihad threatened to steal the show regarding the prisoners – The PA should demonstrate sovereignty over Jenin.

September 22, 2021 0 comment

Articles Israel Israel Insider News

6 Security Prisoners Escape Israeli Jail

by The Israel Insider September 9, 2021

written by The Israel Insider

Six convicted terrorists have escaped from an Israeli prison. The six made their escape from Gilboa Prison in the north of Israel last night, Monday night, by way of a tunnel that they dug.

Like something out of a movie, such as Clint Eastwood’s Escape from Alcatraz, the men were somehow able to secretly dig a tunnel underneath the sink in their room without it being detected by the prison guards. Films of the tunnel shown on Israeli television showed that it connected to an underground opening through which the terrorists were able to escape to the outside.

The escape is especially disconcerting to the Israeli population right now as the country is about to celebrate the Rosh Hashana, New Year, holiday. It begins this evening and lasts for two days. Last year the country was under a nationwide closure due to the Coronavirus, so no one could travel. But this year the country is open and tens of thousands of Israelis are taking to the highways to visit family and friends over the holiday, or to just go to the beach and so forth.

A massive manhunt was undertaken as soon as the escape was uncovered. Israeli police, soldiers and prison service personnel were called in to search for the prisoners.

Israel Defense Minister Benny Gantz’s office said, “The defense minister ordered reinforcements to the border crossings and to the area around the frontier, while preparing to conduct whatever actions are needed to catch the terrorists, in close coordination with the Shin Bet security service and other security services.”

The escaped terrorists obviously pose a security concern. They are likely attempting to find their way into somewhere under the control of the Palestinian Authority where they can find protection and possibly, eventually, return to their terrorist activities.

But Northern District chief Shimon Ben-Shabo told the Israeli public that they need not cancel any holiday plan. “There is no reason to change your routines, but there will be large numbers of troops within the cities of Afula and Beit She’an and in other towns. I do request additional awareness of anything suspicious,” said Ben-Shabo said in a statement.

In the past hour, Israeli security officials said that they believe that the escaped terrorists split up and that two of them have already succeeded in escaping over the border into Jordan. The other four are believed to currently be located somewhere in the Jenin area in a place that is under the authority of the P.A. and not Israel.

The escapees include Zakaria Zabeidi, the former commander of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. The five others are members of Islamic Jihad. Three of the escaped prisoners were described by security officials as being of “high risk.”

Zabeidi was responsible for a number of terrorist attacks that killed innocent Israeli civilians. One such attack was the 2004 bombing in Tel Aviv that killed one woman and injured more than 30 . Zubeidi at one point was the de facto head of Jenin.

Two of the escapees are brothers, Mahmoud Al-Arida, 46, and Mohammad Al-Arida, 39.

Another escapee is 35 year old Eham Kamamji. In 2006 he murdered an 18-year-old Israeli from the town of Itamar named Eliyahu Asheri. Together with two accomplices, he kidnapped Asheri and then shot the boy in the head. When Kamanji was sentenced, he denied that this was murder saying, “The teen I murdered was not a boy. He studied in an Israeli Air Force military college. I will not be the first nor the last, so long as the occupation continues.”

September 9, 2021 0 comment

Articles

How To Overcome The Spirit Of Overwhelm

by Jennifer LeClaire July 20, 2020

written by Jennifer LeClaire

Sometimes life can be absolutely overwhelming. The enemy is an expert at coming in like a flood with crushing circumstances. And he brings disturbing thoughts that try to drown you in feelings of helplessness and even hopelessness. “Overwhelm” is an enemy I’ve fought many times over the years, and defeating it starts with understanding what it really is.

Merriam Webster defines “overwhelm” as: to affect (someone) very strongly; to cause (someone) to have too many things to deal with; to defeat (someone or something) completely. Overwhelm also means: upset, overthrow; to cover over completely, submerge; or to overcome by superior force or numbers; to overpower in thought or feeling.

Of course, you can be overwhelmed simply from a natural perspective with too much work or too many facts or too much opposition. But the enemy likes to work in our naturally overwhelming circumstances to apply spiritual pressure. When that spiritual pressure mounts, too often we look for a way of escape rather than trusting in the Lord for His sufficient grace to meet the situation at hand.

David Understood Overwhelm

Don’t feel ashamed in your battle against overwhelm. David understood these feelings all too well. He once wrote, “My heart is severely pained within me, and the terrors of death have fallen upon me. Fearfulness and trembling have come upon me, and horror has overwhelmed me. So I said, ‘Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest. Indeed, I would wander far off, and remain in the wilderness. Selah I would hasten my escape from the windy storm and tempest.'” (Psalm 55:4-8)

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wished I could fly away and escape. Yes, this is the same David who ran to the battle line to defeat Goliath without a second (or fearful) thought. And this wasn’t the only time David felt overwhelmed. Another time he wrote, “From the end of the earth I will cry to You when my heart is overwhelmed; lead me to the rock that is higher than I.” (Psalm 61:2) And again, “When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then You knew my path.” (Psalm 142:3)

Steps To Overcome Overwhelm

The first step in battling overwhelm is to recognize it and acknowledge the situation you find yourself in. Denying feelings of overwhelm won’t help you conquer your flesh or the devil. Once you’ve acknowledged the reality of an overwhelmed heart, you can work with the Holy Spirit to get to the root of these feelings.

What is causing this overwhelm, really? Is the enemy blowing it out of proportion? Is it really as bad as it looks, or is this pressure demonic? Put your circumstances—and your emotions—into perspective. Is there anything you can do right now in the natural to relieve some of the burdens you feel? Ask the Holy Spirit for wisdom in the midst of this trial.

panic-fear

God Is Not Overwhelmed

While you wait for this pure wisdom that comes from above, meditate on Jesus. Get your mind off the overwhelming circumstances and onto the Word of God. Pray for grace, strength, and whatever else you feel you need from Father at the moment. Remind yourself of His promises.

And remember David. When he was overwhelmed with Saul hunting him down and with Absalom trying to overtake his kingdom and with his baby son dying and with even his own sin, he always turned to God. Here is one of his prayers for help in troubling times that you may want to pray for yourself:

“I cry aloud with my voice to the Lord. I make supplication with my voice to the Lord. And I pour out my complaint before Him; I declare my trouble before Him. When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, You knew my path. In the way where I walk they have hidden a trap for me. Look to the right and see; for there is no one who regards me; There is no escape for me; no one cares for my soul.

I cried out to You, O Lord; I said, ‘You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living. Give heed to my cry, for I am brought very low; Deliver me from my persecutors, for they are too strong for me. Bring my soul out of prison, so that I may give thanks to Your name; The righteous will surround me, for You will deal bountifully with me.’” (Psalm 142). Amen!

July 20, 2020 0 comment

Faith

A Miraculous Escape: 10-Year-Old Girl Pries Open The Clenched Jaws of an Alligator

by GOD TV May 12, 2017

written by GOD TV

10-Year-Old Girl Pries Open The Clenched Jaws of an Alligator

Do you ever feel like you are trapped in the locked jaws of life – stuck with no options left? Well, this past weekend, as 10-year-old Juliana was wading into shallow water in a designated swim area at Lake Moss Park, Florida, she really did become trapped – in the jaws of a hungry 8-to-9 foot alligator.

This is the stuff of legends, or at least the modern day equivalent – “I Survived” and “Human Prey.” Even a strong adult would have trouble escaping the alligator’s unflinching grasp. But not only did this courageous girl escape; by God’s grace, she escaped with all of her appendages – miraculously only in need of 10 stitches.

Here’s Juliana’s story:

“To get an animal with the strongest bite on the planet to let go of you is a miracle.”

When the alligator’s jaws tightened around her, Juliana didn’t panic. Instead, she executed the get-away moves she had previously learned at Gatorland, a Florida adventure park. As she explained to local officials, she poked the alligator’s nostrils and pried its mouth open. How bold!

A Gatorland representative, Donald Alderelli, commented that Juliana’s escape was, indeed, a miracle: “To get an animal with the strongest bite on the planet to let go of you is a miracle.” He took pride in the fact that a Gatorland educational program had saved her life.

A local trapper captured and euthanized the aggressive alligator. Meanwhile, local parks and recreation officials have temporarily closed the park to conduct a review and discuss how to prevent future attacks.

Unexpected Trouble

When you’re open water swimming in the ocean, you expect the turbulence of waves, the salty-sting of the water in your eyes, and maybe even a distant shark fin (cue Jaws theme song). But if you’re a little girl on a weekend getaway with your family, inching your way into the designated swim area, you probably aren’t expecting much trouble.

Even on the bright, sunny vacation days of life, unimaginable horrors can pop up and trap you. Life is short, and tomorrow is no guarantee. But if you’re a Christian, you have been redeemed by God’s amazing grace. With this knowledge, you can approach life’s challenges with the calm confidence of knowing that God is on your side. As Romans 8:31 so eloquently asks, “If God is for us, who can be against us?”

Calm Confidence

Because of her training, Juliana approached the alligator attack with the calm confidence of a highly-experienced trapper. Jesus teaches us to follow Juliana’s example and be calm in the face of the unthinkable. In fact, when His disciples were shaking in their boots at the tossing and turning of a violent storm, Jesus was napping – wait what?! Yes napping.

With God’s love in His heart and on His mind, Jesus had nothing to fear – not even death. He knew His father would provide – and provide He did. Jesus calmed the storm, and He and His disciples escaped unscathed.

The Lord Goes Before You

Juliana had taken necessary precautions to prepare for the unimaginable. She knew how to fend off alligator attacks. Of course, Juliana had no idea that her education at Gatorland would one day save her life. God had simply equipped her to come out victorious.

Like Juliana, you may not know right now how God is molding you and equipping you for future challenges, but one day you will see. According to 1 Corinthians 12: “Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.”

How is God preparing you today to handle the clenched jaws of tomorrow?

May 12, 2017 0 comment