The future of Afghanistan's small Christian minority is a source of great anxiety for Muslim background believers.
Afghans have come to faith in Jesus Christ in large numbers over the past two decades, but are now faced with imminent persecution for being Christian under Taliban rule.
In an exclusive interview, "Hamid," who prefers not to be identified by his real name, informed CBN News about the future of the small Christian minority in Afghanistan.
"Right now we fear elimination. The Taliban are going to eliminate the Christian population of Afghanistan," he explained.
According to Hamid, "there weren't a lot of Christians 20 years ago during the Taliban time but today we are talking about 5,000 to 8,000 local Christians and they live all over Afghanistan."
"Some of the believers are known in their communities, people know that they converted from Islam to Christianity, and they are considered apostates and the penalty for that is death," added Hamid. "The Taliban are famous for carrying out that punishment."
Now, Taliban terrorists are demanding families to give up their daughters to serve as sex slaves for their men, some of whom are as young as 12 years old.
Hamid said he has four sisters, and they were all worried about this news. He's also appealing to people all over the world to pray for his country and the fate of religious minorities like them.
According to other insiders
Persecution watchdog International Christian Concern (ICC) interviewed an Afghan church leader about the grave threats facing believers in their country.
In a two-part interview with ICC, the anonymous church leader claimed that the Taliban "has a great number of influence" on people anytime they require information.
"They want to be safe," the pastor understandably said. "I will give them everything I know so that when the Taliban come they somehow spare my family," he said. "Nobody hurts me."
He said that this causes some Christians to distrust their own family members.
There was also that time when the Taliban showed up around the mosque and inquire how many members of the family are a part of it, as well as taking notes on the names of everyone who lives in the neighborhood.
"Places like north of Afghanistan, Taliban control some of the areas, having a beard is compulsory. Taliban come to houses. They ask for food. They ask for money. Some of them are known that they have been Christian," said the leader.
Those who do not comply with the militants' demands fear death.
For those Christians who have been identified, the leader said that they would undoubtedly be murdered, since the Taliban wants to instill terror that they will not allow anything opposing them.
He also predicts that the Taliban will abduct the children of Christians in order to subject them to sexual slavery or convert them to become Islamic warriors. The Taliban will also seize Christian women and force many others to convert to Islam.
Despite these depressing news, the church leader emphasized that many Christians are praying.
"Definitely we trust in the Lord and pray that He is sparing His people," he stated. ""We believe in God and we believe that as Christians we know there is persecution. Every Muslim background believer like myself that converted to Christianity knows the consequences of conversion.
"God has a purpose and a plan. He knows what's best for His children in Afghanistan," he added.
