Imprisoned with ISIS

Title: Imprisoned with ISIS
Author: Petr Jasek with Rebecca George
Major Themes: Persecution, Faith, Sudan
Synopsis: After delivering support to persecuted believers in Sudan, Petr Jasek was ready to fly home when he was detained and imprisoned on trumped-up charges.

I don’t remember how or why we got the audiobook for Imprisoned with ISIS—a sale on Christian Audio, I’d guess—but I know it stayed on my phone for quite a while before I finally took the time to listen to it. I’m a bit wary of books that sound like they might have violence in them. I don’t mind a certain amount of violence, but generally, I try to avoid it if possible (which is why I haven’t read End of the Spear yet). I finally took the plunge with this book, and I’m glad I did—this was an encouraging read!

As a contractor working with Voice of the Martyrs, an organization dedicated to supporting persecuted Christians, Petr Jasek had been all over the world hearing people’s stories, delivering support where possible, and encouraging those he came in contact with. Sudan was not a new location to him—he’d been there on several trips already, trying to encourage the believers to keep following the Lord. But on one particular trip in 2013, he was detained as he was preparing to fly home to the Czech Republic, accused of trying to undermine the Sudanese government, and sent to prison. Being persecuted for his faith wasn’t an unfamiliar concept to him—his father and other Christians he knew had spent time in prison when he was a boy—but that didn’t make this experience all that much easier. One of the hardest parts was that he was put in a cell with former ISIS fighters, Muslims who strictly held to their religion and hated anyone who didn’t agree with them. Would his faith hold up under the pressure? Would his health remain intact, even with everything the ISIS fighters tried to put him through?

After reading Andrew Brunson’s story, I was interested to see what Petr Jasek had in common with him. Both men were imprisoned for their faith in Muslim countries, and though Brunson didn’t necessarily have to contend with ISIS, both were dealing with a lot of corruption and the possibility of years in prison with unfair trials. Overall, I think I found Imprisoned with ISIS more encouraging, actually—I’m not entirely sure why, but this book was a blessing to read, where I found God’s Hostage slightly on the depressing side in places. Both books are excellent, though, and difficult to compare, since they are two very different stories.

Working with persecuted Christians was Petr Jasek’s life’s work, and since persecution had been part of his family since his infancy, some of the things he experienced in prison didn’t come as much of a surprise to him. I haven’t read many books written by people who have the kind of perspective Jasek provides in these pages—it’s one thing to read something written by someone with a “Western” mindset; it’s something else to read a book where things such as being imprisoned for your faith and enduring interrogations and beatings are more the expected norm rather than an outlier to be feared. It’s not that he treats these things lightly; as a human being, it’s still difficult and still very much trying to one’s faith, but he doesn’t attach quite the same weight or mindset to it that I’ve seen elsewhere.

This was an encouraging read, and I’m thankful to have had the chance to get my hands on it. Books like this always serve to encourage me to pray more for our persecuted Christian family and others who are tirelessly working to share the gospel. Ultimately, the best encouragement of all from this book, and other stories like it, is the truth that Jesus is alive, He is working, His word can be trusted, and through His strength, we are more than conquerors…even if we may be imprisoned with ISIS fighters.

WARNING: Chapter 9: A story of a woman whose husband was beheaded and her throat was cut. Chapter 10: A boy who was badly disfigured by Boko Haram. Chapter 12: A description of being beaten.

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Related posts:

Shandong: The Revival Province The Insanity of God (2016) Give Me This Mountain The Insanity of God