Staggering Towards Slaughter - Ghost Operations
01 Staggering towards slaughter – Ghost Operations
2025
Before you read further, this report from Syria is graphic. It tells of the murder and rape of the Druze. If you cannot handle this, stop here.
For those of you who are new to receiving the Far Reaching Ministries (FRM) newsletter, we have a division of our ministry called Ghost Operations. It is the invisible hand into closed and persecuted nations. Far Reaching Ministries has hundreds of missionaries in nine of the ten most dangerous Islamic countries in the world, and other dangerous places where being a Christian can get you killed. We have a team of highly trained people who have worked in intelligence and counterintelligence. As I have shared before, we have both former CIA and FBI who work to save lives of those in great danger. Within the FRM office, only a few have access to who we are working with and what we are doing. Security is to protect and extract those who serve Christ.
Turning an entire nation into murderers requires more than hatred. It requires a system that legitimizes and rewards brutality. Terrorist violence is never reducible to a single cause. It results from a complex interaction of ideology and coercion. Within extremist groups like ISIS, ideological killing is enforced, and if you do not embrace and kill with zeal, you are very likely to be killed.
It is about the psychology of moral disengagement, the dehumanization of people, so no one feels remorse, and the desire to be praised by your group. Leaders and groups that glorify cruelty—offering status, promising rewards, or threatening dire consequences for refusal—create environments where acts once unthinkable become normalized. ISIS does not change; it metastasizes like cancer.
The Druze faith provides a stark counterpoint. Unlike most religious traditions, the Druze have no churches, temples, or mosques. Their beliefs blend Islamic thought with Gnosticism, Neoplatonism, Hinduism, and Greek philosophy. They do not seek converts and guard their scriptures—the Epistles of Wisdom—closely, permitting only leaders to study them. Their spiritual aim is the perfection of the soul through successive lives of reincarnation, ultimately to attain the divine life. Socially, they emphasize loyalty, unity, discipline, and protection of their community.
SECURITY IS TO PROTECT AND EXTRACT THOSE WHO SERVE CHRIST.
Turning an entire nation into murderers requires more than hatred. It requires a system that legitimizes and rewards brutality.
In recent weeks, I have witnessed videos depicting unspeakable violence against Druze civilians in Syria. These images are haunting. In one, a young man is stabbed in the stomach with a Bowie knife. The terrorist twists it, looks back at the camera, and smiles. Others join in stabbing the young man until a knife blade is thrust deep into his left shoulder. Then a couple of stabs to the heart, and his life is extinguished. Done by men he has never given any offense to. The killers grin and celebrate. They claim to serve Allah, but they have no honor. They just are rapists and murderers. And on the day of judgment, they will pay a terrible price. It is difficult for me to watch these videos, but I must be informed so that I can speak with accuracy.
There is a difference between bullying and mass violence. Both target those they believe are weak. In the Marine Corps, we had one man in my unit—a large bodybuilder— who would run into men, knocking them into walls. He would laugh, knowing no one would challenge him or resist because they were afraid. One day, it was my turn, and he knocked me into a wall. I told him to knock it off. He laughed and said, “What are you going to do about it?” I told him, “Do it again and you’ll find out.” At the time, I had not yet come to faith in Christ.
It was not long before he did it again. He did not think I would fight back, so when he turned around, he was not prepared for what came next. I hit him right between the eyes as hard as I could, and he went down hard. I was not about to let him get back up and use his extra 50 pounds against me. So, I knelt down and began hitting him as fast and as hard as I could. I did not think I would win the fight, but I wanted him, when he looked in the mirror, to know that it cost him and that he had paid a price. All I remember was him yelling, “Don’t take your anxieties out on me! Don’t take your anxieties out on me!” And the fight was over. After that, he left everyone alone. Later, we even became friends. The point is this: If I had not confronted him, he would have kept tormenting others.
In the world of radical Islam, they do not care how many die if it will bring Islam to world power. The only thing that stops them is being defeated.
With the killing of women, children, and even babies, I pray and ask God for wisdom: how to save as many as possible. In one video, two women and a child were captured by terrorists. Somehow, they survived, and while being taken to a safe place, the driver tells one of them to hold up her hands. She raises her hands, which are soaked in blood. The driver asks whose blood is on her hands, and she says my husband and son. In the photo, you can see that her face has been beaten. They were murdered by men who claim association with the current president of Syria and ISIS.
I hate having to share some of the graphic details, but the Druze want the truth to be told in the hope that help will come. When you see the dark bruises under children’s eyes, I have been told it happens when a child is sodomized. In one photo, you see a child being taken from a yellow car. The father and mother were stopped by a group of terrorists. The father says peace be with you. The terrorists do not respond; they open fire with machine guns, killing the mother and father, and then the children are abducted. I do not know if they are alive.
Some of the people who are suffering the most are the ones whose entire family was killed, leaving them as the sole survivor. I saw one woman who looked to be about 30 years old, weeping; she was the only family member to survive. This poor woman does not know how to go on in life, being that she has no one left. For her, it is unbearable. I have asked Luke to find her so that we can try to comfort her and show compassion. Far Reaching Ministries will meet any needs she may have.
Survivors of such ordeals often carry shame even though they have done nothing wrong. Far Reaching Ministries will do everything we can to restore them, helping them to rebuild what was destroyed, providing food, therapy, or relocation to another country if they choose to leave their country and their people. For many in the Druze community, they cannot imagine ever leaving their homeland, which is the spiritual birthplace of their religion.
In another video, I hear a young girl who is probably only seven or eight share about all the men who raped her. You can see her battered face and the trauma in her eyes. It was not just rape, but they had to be hitting her in the face while tormenting her. Men who do this are vile cowards. I know in my heart they understand what they were doing was wrong, but they used Islam as an excuse to harm this child. As I watch this child, my heart is sickened by what was done to her.
Vicky often reminds me that I cannot carry these burdens alone but must lay them on the Lord. She is right. Yet, I believe God has wired me to protect. Some men who join Special Forces never fully understand why. I believe it is because God created them to protect. And when they cannot, the weight of failure is heavy.
In the world of radical Islam, they do not care how many die if it will bring Islam to world power. The only thing that stops them is being defeated.
In Uganda, we have a farm called Canaan Farm for those whose families were ravaged by the terror group LRA. Every woman and man there has lost at least one family member. Some endured unthinkable trauma—three were told that if they did not cut off the heads of their husbands, they would kill their children. When they first arrived at Canaan Farm, they were broken. But through love and kindness, they found Christ, forgiveness, and a new life.
In Uganda, most people live in mud huts with a straw roof. Far Reaching Ministries built these women homes made with brick-and-mortar, then installed a steel roof. I bought each one of them a comfortable recliner so after long days working on the farm, they would be able to rest. These women are now among our most faithful women, sharing Christ boldly wherever they go. Today, they are happy because they have become new creations in Christ.
The crisis in Suwayda, Syria, continues. Reports say the city is surrounded by thousands of ISIS fighters, working in conjunction with the new government. Food convoys are blocked, and the food is stolen along with medical supplies. To compound the suffering, the city’s water system has been poisoned. We are working to smuggle aid into the city by every possible means, including air routes. For security reasons, details cannot be disclosed. But know this: we will not stop until food and medicine reach the suffering. I have sent Luke to Israel to meet with those in power and get clearance for different operations. Luke’s Druze friend has repeatedly expressed how grateful the Druze people are.
The urgency in this situation cannot be overstated, and the suffering Druze people need believers to pray and to give. At this moment, we urgently need support for food, medical supplies, and transport if they want to relocate to a new country. Far Reaching Ministries will use every dollar for the Druze people. In Proverbs 24:11, it says Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering towards slaughter.
The Druze people of Syria are heading towards slaughter, and what stands between them being destroyed is the body of Christ.
Jesus said: “Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these, you did it unto Me.”
Pray the Lord grants me His wisdom for this operation. It has been much more difficult than Afghanistan. Right now, Syria is one of the most dangerous places on earth for Druze, Christians, Alawites, and Kurds. The operatives we use to smuggle food and medical supplies are in great danger. Please keep them in your prayers.
Wes Bentley
Far Reaching Ministries
Old, Alone, Scared and Unloved
As we have previously shared, Pastor Fedor has a church in Odessa, Ukraine, with 200 elderly grandmothers and grandfathers who have been abandoned and often robbed of their homes. These people are afraid and have no way of caring for themselves. The heart that I believe the Lord has for these people is that in old age, they will not have to live in fear, worry about where their next meal will come from, or if they will have to live in the streets. Far Reaching Ministries wants them to know that if they become ill, believers will take them to the doctor and make sure they get proper medical treatment. Most importantly, they will not die alone and scared but will be loved and cared for by the body of Christ.
You can sponsor a grandmother or grandfather for $25, $50, $75, or $100 per month. Though automatic debit is the preferred method, all donations are needed.
If you would count it a privilege to be part of this huge blessing, please indicate “Pastor Fedor’s Elderly” on the enclosed gift card along with your donation.
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.