One Thousand Women Abducted
01 One Thousand Women Abducted
2025
Recently, Luke, Vicky, and I met with the son of the head of the Syrian Church. As we sat down for lunch, he looked at me and said, “I’ve heard about you.” I suspect he thought I would be a 30 or 40-year-old professional soldier. Many believers still find it hard to imagine that a Christian organization is capable of rescuing people under the threat of death. What they often miss is that we serve a powerful God. When God parted the waters for Moses, I suspect those who had not witnessed it would have likely doubted that it ever happened.
In Ukraine, the chaplains are rescuing 5 to 25 people each week from cities under heavy Russian siege. Despite the danger, they pray fervently, follow God’s leading, and He gives them incredible wisdom. The Syrian brother described how Syria’s new radical Islamic regime is stopping cars and checking IDs. If the women are from the Alawite tribe (the former president’s tribe), they are taken at gunpoint, sold, or given away in forced “revenge marriages,” and subjected to unspeakable physical violence.
Recently women were raped, paraded naked in the streets, and then killed. I saw a video of a man taken for execution as his wife sobbed and pleaded. Not an ounce of mercy was shown. Another report told of a woman imprisoned with no charges. She was raped repeatedly, stripped, tortured with coke bottles forced inside her, and left permanently broken. When released, her Muslim husband divorced her and remarried because he assumed she would be defiled. This is a cowardice act by a man who did not protect his wife.
WHAT WE DO FOR OTHERS, THE LORD WILL REMEMBER.
When I asked about rescuing the women, the Syrian church leader said, “Nothing can be done.” I don’t believe that. I may not yet know how to save these women, but I believe the Lord can give us a plan, and with prayer and determination, these women can be freed.
I am pursuing a meeting with members of the Trump administration. The new Syrian president, Ahmad al-Sharaa, desperately wants U.S. sanctions lifted.
If America insisted that every abducted woman be returned before sanctions are even considered, I believe we would see quick results.
God may already be opening doors. A former F-35 fighter pilot, now a top-level official and regular guest on Tucker Carlson and Fox News, supports Far Reaching Ministries. I spoke with him, and he is committed to helping. If diplomacy fails, and I have to buy these women’s freedom, I will.
Please pray with me; I believe in a God who makes a way when there is none.
Since leaving Ukraine, I have committed to praying daily that God would bring an end to Putin’s slaughter. For the next 40 days, would you join me personally and pray every evening with your family at dinner?
The suffering is deep and widespread. A female staff member’s brother was recently killed at the front, and she and her family are in tremendous pain. Over 70,000 Ukraine soldiers are missing in action, and their wives are waiting in anguish for husbands who may never return because 99% will never be found. Without confirmation of death, the family receives no compensation for their loved ones. One woman keeps paying her husband’s phone bill, calling it daily, hoping he will answer, but he never does.
When a father dies in Ukraine, they say the family dies. Chaplains bring hope, but the weight is crushing. One mother told me her body feels like an open wound, but she goes on only for her children’s sake.
In Sudan’s Nuba Mountains, once again, the Islamic north is trying to take what is not theirs. Fighting has intensified, and our chaplains are under fire again. I received a video from the frontline—one man’s head was gone from the chin up, and another man’s body was missing from the waist up. This year alone, we have lost three more chaplains—bringing our total to over 70 who have died in service to Christ. South Sudan continues to suffer; food is scarce, and the need has become critically urgent.
I have been praying about writing a book for Ukrainian soldiers. I would probably call it Living in the Valley of the Shadow of Death. Next year, I will have been in South Sudan for 30 years, and I have a wealth of knowledge on trusting the Lord in war. The book would be a road map of how to trust the Lord in combat. Soldiers at the frontlines are exhausted and afraid to die.
Every soldier should be taught Psalm 91. In verse seven, it says a thousand may fall at one side and ten thousand at the other, but it will not come near you. This is speaking of being at war with death all around, but if the Lord is with you, no harm will befall you.
We are quietly relocating Syrian Christians to safety in countries like Brazil and Paraguay. If the Islamists find them, they will be killed.
During our Afghanistan operation, I enlisted Jared—a former Navy SEAL and lead sniper on SEAL Team Three—to map escape routes. Jared is a strong believer who rescues children from sex trafficking and partners with law enforcement to bring justice. Over 200 predators are now off the streets in the U.S. because of his work.
Pray for Jared as he is now running for the U.S. Senate in Alabama. We need warriors like him who protect those that cannot protect themselves.
I have witnessed the horrors of genocide: scenes of unimaginable suffering that I pray that no one else will ever see. I pray for a world where such atrocities are unthinkable.
Please join us in caring for the believers in Syria. When the Afghanistan crisis dominated headlines, the world opened its heart, but Syria’s silent tragedy unfolds in the shadows, ignored by the front pages. Families are fleeing in terror, desperate to escape rape, murder, and unimaginable horrors–their cries for help go unheard.
What we do for ourselves in this life fades into oblivion. What we do for others, God will never forget.
Wes Bentley
Far Reaching Ministries
Syria Rescue
Syria is facing an immediate humanitarian crisis with the rise of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) into government power. HTS is a radical Islamic military faction progressing out of al-Qa’ida. Designated as a Terrorist Organization by the U.S., HTS has initiated a violent and widespread campaign against Christians, as well as ethnic cleansing. There are numerous ongoing reports of door-to-door attacks, widespread rape, and mass executions.
Sunni extremists are engaging in systematic ethnic cleansing, violence, and atrocities such as sexual assault and killings. Far Reaching Ministries (FRM) is urgently working to address the targeted killings of Christians, as well as violence against women, children, and the elderly.
FRM has launched an Emergency Response Mission requiring $1.5 million to $2.5 million for rescue operations, safe housing, and the critical support needed. If you can help with this critical need, please mark “Syria Rescue” on the enclosed gift card, along with your donation.
Calvary Bible School
Syria is facing an immediate humanitarian crisis with the rise of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) into govern Far Reaching Ministries is in the process of building a new school that will house 200 students.
We have started construction, and the school should be ready to open in 2026. It will cost between $250,000 and $350,000 to complete. If this school were built in the US, it would cost millions of dollars. We need believers to come alongside and help us raise the first $200,000. The school will provide a two-year program and turn out between 100 to 200 pastors and missionaries every two years. We are working with Calvary Bible Institute to train men who have a heart to serve.
To be part of this vital project, please mark “Calvary Bible School” on the enclosed gift card, along with your donation.
Ukraine Home For The Elderly
Far Reaching Ministries (FRM) was introduced to Pastor Fedor from Odesa, Ukraine. Pastor Fedor has a ministry that helps the elderlyand poor who have no place to live. Currently, they live in a crowded room on the second floor of Pastor Fedor’s home. There is just enough room to walk around the beds and no place for them to sit.
Many of the elderly cannot walk, so once a week, they are carried down from the second story to bathe and then sit in the sun for a while.
Pastor Fedor’s dream is to build a home for the elderly and poor so that they can have a better quality of life. So, we at FRM would like to help Pastor Fedor fulfill his dream. We will need $400,000 to begin construction of a home that will house 200 elderly people.
If you would like to help with this urgent need, please mark “Home for Ukraine Elderly” along with your donation on the enclosed gift card.