After a family of Believers in southern Mexico led seven other families to Christ, village leaders told the Christians they had 15 days to leave the village and that they were losing their inherited land. Juan Lopez, who lived in a rural community in Chiapas, heard the Gospel and came to faith in Christ in 2017 while looking for work in the nearby town of Oxchuc. He and his wife eventually led seven other families in their village to the Lord.
As in many communities in the region, most people in their village practice syncretistic worship that combines ancient pagan rituals with Catholicism. And community members are expected to participate in pseudo-religious celebrations sanctioned by priests that feature drunkenness, debauchery and pagan religious rites. As followers of Christ, Juan and the others stopped participating in these activities, and the community took offense.
The Christians were summoned to a community meeting, where the priest told them they had offended their saints and were an embarrassment to society. Villagers temporarily imprisoned Juan, fining him the equivalent of several months’ wages. And as the frightened Christian families tried to leave the village, the townspeople slashed their tyres. VOM workers in the region have helped them resettle on a new piece of property where they can farm and worship freely.
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