This Easter Sunday, Christians worldwide are asked to include in their prayers the families of the four Bible translators who were recently martyred in the Middle East.
Believers are also requested to pray for the killers of the Wycliffe Bible translators, those "whose hearts are so hard," so that the "Lord will open their eyes to what they have done."
The plea was made by Mae Greenleaf, a prayer coordinator for Wycliffe in a press statement, the Gospel Herald reported.
"Pray the Lord will open their eyes to what they have done. Please ask the Lord to meet them, each one, right where they are. Pray that He will show Himself merciful, that they will know His forgiveness, His love, and His peace," Greenleaf said.
She also urged prayers for the newly formed Wycliffe translation teams "diligently translating Scripture in their own language, for their own loved ones, in extremely difficult places."
Wycliffe Associates employs over 6,200 staff and volunteers translating the Bible in 75 different countries in 2015, according to its website.
The company says over the past year, 11 of its 28 Bible translators living and working in the Middle East and Central Asia have reportedly been killed or gone missing amid mounting attacks on Christian communities by Islamic extremists in the regions.
The Wycliffe report says extremist groups are systematically wiping out Christian minorities. Some Christians have been abducted and interrogated in an attempt to force them to renounce their faith, while others have been beaten, jailed, and put to death, the report states.
Despite the difficulty and threats to their lives, the translators are working tirelessly to share the Gospel in the region, as the Scriptures have not yet been translated in nearly 1,000 languages—representing 280 million people.
"Given the realities of the world in which these translators live and serve, some people might think the best thing they could do right now is to go into hiding and lay low for a while. But that isn't their plan at all," said Wycliffe President/Chief Executive Officer Bruce Smith in a statement following the murder of the four translators.
He said the killing and persecution of Christians in the region have become far too common.
"This is actually normal. Christians are attacked, they're beaten, they're killed, they're jailed, they're tortured, and they're terrorised in this part of the world routinely," he said.
But despite such danger, translators "have such a thirst and such a commitment to getting God's Word to their people that these are risks that they accept," he said. "It increases their resolve to seeing God's Word reach the hearts of the people who are caught in this kind of violence and hopelessness."
