He Could Stand Torture, but He Couldn't Stand a Day Without His Bible

May 12, 2025

Bounchan was on the career path to success. He had a good job as an assistant to the Communist Party district leader in Laos. Then he met the Christians and was intrigued by their enthusiastic worship. Bounchan later gave his life to Christ, and was so thrilled about his newfound faith that he began to share it freely. He was arrested and lost his job, his place in the community and his freedom.

In 1999, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison for telling others about Jesus after authorities had forbidden him to do so. While in prison, Bounchan was tortured, beaten, starved, locked in stocks and condemned to solitary confinement for weeks. Over time he would earn enough trust to leave the prison to chop fire wood. One day, he was able to chop enough wood for two days in one day, and the second day he ran to his home, got his Bible and ran back without being detected.

For Bounchan, being cut off from family, friends and his community wasn’t the worst punishment. Most of all, he craved God’s living Word, the Scriptures that inspired his passion for Jesus. Bounchan’s story, is told in a 5-minute video presentation from The Voice of the Martyrs. This video will open your eyes to the reality of persecution against Christians while moving you to pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters.

I want to invite you to let the lives of our missionaries inspire you to greater faith. God does not call everyone to be a missionary to another country. For those that are called He gives a heart for that people group, He opens the doors to learn their language and their customs. We can provide unending assistance to them. Who are the missionaries on your church’s prayer list? Pray for your missionaries regularly. Get on at least one missionary’ email list. Then tell the missionary you’re praying for specific prayer requests. Commit to regular financial support. Let the missionaries inspire you.

Next, think of yourself as a missionary to your neighborhood. Here is how we know we are falling short in God’ call to make disciples who make disciples. Polls report that, on average, only three out of every 100 church members in the U.S. ever share their faith. Only one of those shares their faith regularly.

The latest statistics point to the fact that North America is the only continent in the world where Christianity is in decline, as a percentage of the population. According to the Association of Religion Data Archives (www.thearda.com), the percentage of the total population claiming adherence to a Christian religious group in the United States declined from 50.2 percent in 2000 to 48.8 percent in 2010.

In 2012, the number of religiously unaffiliated Americans was around 15%. In 2024, it was 29%. North America has the third largest block of unbelievers in the world only after China and India.

I want to challenge you to answer the call to be a missionary to your neighborhood. Have you ever thought about what the traits of a missionary are? The first is radical obedience to God. For examples of this kind of faith, read about Peter, John, the Apostles and Stephen in the Bible. Stephen did not decide to be radically obedient to God, so he could die, he decided to be radically obedient to God because that is what God wants from all of His followers.

A strong prayer life. You will struggle to be obedient to God if you cannot hear His voice. If you want to strengthen your prayer life, start praying for a missionary. That will have a huge impact on the way you pray.

Missionaries have a passionate love for God’ lost people, especially for a specific people group. God puts that love in their hearts for people of a different country. It helps them fall in love with those people and their culture, and to speak their language. Can you fall in love with your neighborhood?

When we desire to be missionaries in our own neighborhood, we need to fall in love with the lost and learn the culture of the unchurched. What language do they speak? What are their questions about life? How does a Christian earn the right to be heard by a non-Christian? In I Peter 3:15 we read, “But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.” When we answer God’s call to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10) we glorify God with our lives. (To learn more about Al Earley or read previous articles, see www.lagrangepres.org. You can purchase my book, My Faith Journal, at Amazon.com, a compilation of 366 articles as a daily devotional).