The persecution of Christians around the world is at an all time high, but why are American churches silent?
Next month will mark the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. Does anyone in America know or even care?
Most Christians in the West — if they think about the Persecuted Church at all — believe persecution of Christians is something that ended centuries ago in the Roman coliseum.
Tragically, this lack of understanding has resulted into a deafening, dangerous silence by America’s churches toward the plight of millions of believers in the Persecuted Church.
The fact is, today, right now as you read this, in a growing number of places, Christians struggle to stay alive.
In Egypt, Pakistan, Sudan, Somalia, Afghanistan, Cuba, Syria, Turkey, Burma, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Malaysia, Indonesia, North Korea, Uzbekistan, China, Vietnam, Laos, Bangladesh, India, Nigeria, and Lebanon (to name just a few places) it’s been open season on Christians for decades.
Kirsten Powers, writing in TheDailyBeast, laments that while there is a global slaughter of Christians taking place, America’s churches stay silent.
According to Powers, “Christians in the Middle East and Africa are being slaughtered, tortured, raped, kidnapped, beheaded, and forced to flee the birthplace of Christianity.”
Power accurately observes, “One would think this horror might be consuming the pulpits and pews of American churches. Not so. The silence has been nearly deafening.”
A FEW RECENT ATROCITIES
In Syria, Muslim rebels have recently beheaded Christian leaders and destroyed churches.
This past week Islamists tore down a cross and hoisted a black flag above a church in the northern Syrian city of Raqqah, to strike terror in the hearts of congregants.
But Christians are under attack in many places. Coptic churches in Egypt have been attacked, and Christians killed.
In Pakistan last week a Muslim group calling itself Jundullah, meaning “Soldiers of God,” claimed responsibility for an attack on a Christian church which killed more than 100 defenseless Christian men, women, and children while they were attending church.
The militants who attacked a mall in Nairobi last month singled out non-Muslims, specifically targeting Christians and Jews for torture and murder.
In India Christians in Karnataka state have suffered at least 21 attacks from June to mid-September, compared with just four attacks from January to May, said Sajan George, president of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC).
Last month in Laos, Communist authorities forced converts to Christianity to move from their home village, living all their earthly possession behind them forcing families to become homeless.
In Burma, Christians in many of the ethnic regions continue to have their churches destroyed and pastors arrested on an ongoing basis.
In the past few weeks, government officials in central Bangladesh halted the construction of a church, forced Christians to worship at a mosque and threatened them with eviction from their village unless they renounce their faith.
Islamists continue to target Christians in Central African Republic. Churches and Christian institutions have been desecrated and plundered, priests and pastors have been assaulted and nuns raped.
Persecution against Nigerian Christians continued from September into October, with fresh attacks in northeastern Nigeria’s Borno State. Islamic militants burned more than 50 houses and vehicles and killed one man during the violent spree. This attack is only the most recent conducted by terrorist group Boko Haram.
Sadly, this just represents the tip of the iceberg of the suffering of Christians around the world today.
“CHRISTIANS TORN FROM OUR ROOTS”
In Syria’s war, according to eyewitness reports, the fighting last month reached the ancient town of Maaloula — where residents still speak Aramaic, the language of Jesus — it struck at the heart of Syria’s Christian community.
Most Christians have fled since Muslim rebels swept through the town.
“Maaloula is like Jerusalem to Syrian Christians,” said Ibrahim Doushi, a Syrian Christian shop owner who moved to neighboring Lebanon. “When the war reached there, it was heartbreaking for all the Christians in the Middle East.”
For Doushi, who fled to Lebanon last year from the town of Ras al-Ayn, near the Turkish border, the footage of the black flag flying above the Armenian church was confirmation that he and his family have no future in his home country.
“Christians are being torn from our roots,” he said. The Muslim militants “are proud of it. They are targeting the Christians and they are publicizing it. The regime cannot protect us.”
Many Christians in Syria say they are pinning their hopes on obtaining European visas, citing doubts that there will ever be a day that Syria can offer security to its minority Christians, at least in rebel-held areas.
“The Christians are never going back,” said Johnny Chamoun, 42, also from Ras al-Ayn, who works at a monastery that provides assistance for Syrian Christian refugees.
Nassar, a Syrian Christian, said it is the first time in centuries that Christians in Syria have been targeted for their faith.
“We are not imported there. Christ was not born under Big Ben or in Paris,” he said. “This is the cradle of Christianity that we are being pushed from.”
GOD’S CALLING FOR ALL BELIEVERS
In the book of Hebrews, Christians are instructed to, “Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.” (Hebrews 13:3)
Notice this does not say, “try to remember,” or “when convenient, please remember . . . “ Today, we must begin anew to “remember” our persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ.
There is no expiration date on the Word of God. The words of Hebrews 13:3 have not expired but are more up to date than ever.
But I must warn you. If you have read this entire article, ignorance of the Persecuted Church can no longer be an excuse.
Apathy and silence can no longer be an option.
Today is the day to begin to take action.
Please, right now, pray for the persecuted church. Make sure your church family is informed, involved, and praying.
Keep up to date so that you can speak out on behalf of persecuted believers, not only to your church family, but also to lawmakers and policymakers in Washington, DC.
And, if possible, help a persecuted brother or sister with your charitable financial gifts.
Through CFI, there are many ways to provide medicine, food, Bibles, and other basic necessities to a persecuted believer.
Most of all, your involvement today will provide hope.
Thank you for reading. Thank you for “Remembering the Persecuted” today.
*Jim Jacobson is President and Founder of Christian Freedom International. In addition to running CFI, he lives and teaches at CFI’s Huak Kalok Bible Institute in Huak Kalok, Thailand. HBI is a school for persecuted believers from