Did you know that 100,000 people die every year because of
their faith in Jesus Christ? Persecution
of Christians around the world is on increase especially in North Africa and
the Middle East. In Syria, the
government is practicing “religious cleansing,” and John Eibner with Christian
Solidarity International speculates that if the situation does not change in
that country, “there will be no
more Christian communities or other religious minorities in the near future.”1
Living in America, where there is a church on every corner, I read my Bible on
my I-Phone during lunch and post scripture in my house, and I meet weekly for a
women’s Bible study all without fear and in complete freedom, I can’t wrap my
mind around the persecuted church. I
have heard sermons and read articles. I’m
aware of the statistics, but my heart has never connected with what it must be
like for people to practice their faith in absolute secret because to do so in
any public manner (even in their own houses) would result in arrest or
death. This week, that changed for me.
This week, our Bible Study leader
invited her friend to our weekly meeting.
I’ll call her friend Sarah to protect her safety and identity. Sarah is from a country where Christians are
persecuted for their faith, and she and her husband personally know 17 pastors
who are imprisoned for their faith.
Sarah and her husband have felt the Lord calling them to do something
for the pastors and their families, so they started a fundraising ministry in
the United States. They raise money and
every three months, they send the money to the families of those imprisoned. In her country, Sarah said, families are
responsible for the total financial care of their prisoner. The government does not provide food or water
for these men and women, so obviously, great numbers of people die in
prison. The money Sarah collects goes to
care for the basic needs of these individuals and keeps them alive until they
can be released.
Sarah told us all these basic
statistics about the pastors and their need and how much money it would take
per month to keep one prisoner alive, but it wasn’t until she started
explaining the dangers associated with being a Christian in this country and
the extreme situation, that my heart connected.
First, she discussed that dangers faced by Christians living in her
country. The government is structured so
that people are allowed to have a church only if they give extensive
information about all their members to the government officials. The information would even include the salary
and address of each member. The evangelical
Christians in the country would not agree to those conditions in effort to
protect the well-being of their members.
As a result, the church was forced to go underground.
Being an underground church means that
if any group is found meeting in any place – even a private house – all members
and leaders could be arrested or put to death.
Sarah painted a picture where no more than six people could meet together
at a time to avoid suspicion, any singing must be done very quietly, and any
sense of safety was gone. She told how
the other citizens were paid by the government to turn in suspected evangelical
Christians, so it would not even be safe to trust neighbors or coworkers or
even some friends and family members.
You may notice that I have not named the country. I am avoiding that because Sarah told us that
even in the United States, the lives of her family overseas could be in danger
if anyone reported to the government what she was doing to help these
pastors. Initially, it seemed far-fetched
that Sarah could be reported from so far a distance, but after about a minute
of conversation, I realized that there were at least two connections between a
group member and an outsider that could prove dangerous to Sarah. All it would take is one person meeting another
person from Sarah’s country and saying, “Oh, I know someone else from your
country! Her name is Sarah, and she
raises money for the underground evangelical church.”
The seriousness of situation began to
weigh on me as Sarah continued her discussion.
She was coming to us to ask us to become involved in her ministry, and we
all agreed we wanted to help, but she closed her talk in tears telling us that
more than anything prayers were needed.
She said the money was wonderful but insisted that it was only a
temporary fix. “Money wouldn’t be needed
if these men were out of prison,” she said; in her mind only prayer could do
that. The legal system wasn’t fair, and
men were given no firm sentences or release dates. Prayer would be the only agent of lasting
change. With tears streaming down her
face, she asked us to join her in prayer.
I can count only a few times in my life
when I’ve been involved in a prayer like Sarah’s. A desperate, pleading, meaningful
prayer. I listened to Sarah beg God to
protect these men in prison. To give
them food and water and rest and safety from abuse. I listened to her beg for God’s peace and
provision for their loved ones – many of whom would go years before they saw
their husband or father again. I
listened to her ask for freedom for all Christians in her country and for God
to soften the hearts of governmental leaders.
My heart joined her in these prayers.
Sarah’s visit this week reminded me so
clearly of how blessed I am to live in America.
My faith costs me almost nothing here.
At worst, I have a few casual friends and family members who think I’m a
little crazy, but I’ll never worry about being arrested. I’ll never worry about being tortured in
prison or put to death. The only problem
I’ll ever have with hosting a group in my house is to negotiate parking
permission with my HOA. I can blast
Christian music on my car radio and read my Bible to myself at lunch – even in
a public high school. I can go to church
whenever I want, and I can talk about Jesus with perfect strangers. I looked at Sarah and I thought about all the
risks she is taking for her faith. The
way she risks the lives of her family, the way her husband risks his life when
he visits those in their country, the risks her associates take when they move monetary
assistance into the country on behalf of these ministers. I thought about the Christians in her country
and the courage it must take to meet with one another or even own a Bible. The courage it must take to whisper a praise
song. I had to wonder if I’d have
courage like that.
I don’t know what I want you to get out
of this blog. I’m still overwhelmed with
processing Sarah’s message myself. I
guess I just wanted to take a moment to reflect on the enormous blessings I
have that I consistently take for granted, and to encourage more thoughts and
prayers for those currently being beaten or starving or lonely in prison
because they refuse to deny their faith.
Like Job, they will not even “curse God and die” (Job 2:9). These men and women are heroes of faith, and
their suffering makes it incredibly more sinful to take my own freedom for
granted.
Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be
given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for
which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray
that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should. – Ephesians 6:19-20
1. All quotes and statistics from the
first paragraph came from the following source:
Corbin, Christiana. 3 June 2013. “Some 100,000 killed every year
over faith, Vatican says.” http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/06/02/vatican-spokesman-claims-100000-christians-killed-annually-because-faith/
