Maldives Church of Jesus Christ

In 1998 fifty Maldivians received the gospel from Christian tourists. The dictator immediately persecuted them. He ordered the NSS to arrest them. Some were tortured in Dhoonidhoo. Others fled from dhivehirajje. The Maldivian Christians shared their testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Far Eastern Broadcasting Company aired their messages from Manila to the atolls. Some of you heard them from Radio Seychelles. The dictator was horrified and forbad dhivehin to listen. Courageous and independent, hundreds listened anyway!

Until a few years ago ignorance of the gospel was widespread. Now, with the internet, many dhivehin download the Holy Bible and read it secretly. The book of God is banned in public schools. Even today, less than one Maldivian in a hundred has read the Holy Bible. Fanatics fear islam may crumble when citizens are free to read it.

Besides radio, Maldivian Christians have written and sung many dhivehi songs. Sidahitun is a 100% dhivehi website. Many Maldivians cooperated to produce the Jesus Film in dhivehi. They also translated the gospel and other scriptures into dhivehi.

Some of you remember a Christian with pen name of Mohoru. He posted gospel messages in the gnatoll.com forum. Several islamic scholars confronted him with their long and boring arguments. Mohoru refuted them. They became angry, deleted his posts and banned him from the forum. Today their website no longer exists due to fighting among theirselves.

Following the Black Friday protest, Dhiraagu blocked Dhivehi Observer, Minivan News, Sidahitun and GospelGo websites. A friend in Male' advised the webmaster of GospelGo to send messages to the Maldives using a proxy server. Soon dhivehin were able to receive news past the islamic censors. Censorship of the gospel was common. Stories of Jesus posted in the Dhivehi Observer were deleted. At that time a friend from Addu said of the gospel: "Here is a power that cannot be controlled." You who are reading this are witnesses. The prophecy of that friend is being fulfilled before your very eyes. Jesus says, "On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." The rock is the faith of your Christian neighbours.

GospelGo Maldives