Pray for the Persecuted Church
In more than sixty countries across the globe,
Christians are under constant intimidation—not for the crimes they have
committed, but for the faith they are unwilling to renounce. Our brothers and
sisters in Christ are being persecuted in ways that are hard to imagine for
those who enjoy worship freedom. They are hated, rejected, beaten, robbed,
jailed, tortured, raped, starved, expelled, and killed simply for believing in
Jesus Christ.
This is not ancient history. This is not an
isolated incident. This is happening now.
The persecuted Church is a suffering Church,
but it is also a faithful Church. Whereas churches in free countries meet in
the open, many believers meet in secret, pray in hushed tones, hide their
Bibles, and gather in reverence, knowing that discovery could mean the loss of
their freedom or their lives. The persecuted Church’s pain echoes through
heaven, and the Bible commands us not to look away.
Persecution Was Promised, Not
Unexpected
However, Jesus Christ never deceived his
followers regarding the price of discipleship. He warned them that following
him would mean encountering opposition.
“If the world hate you, ye know that it hated
me before it hated you” (John 15:18, KJV).
“If they have persecuted me, they will
persecute you” (John 15:20, KJV).
This is not a sign of God abandoning His
people. Persecution is a sign that the Gospel is powerful and threatening to
darkness. Wherever Christ is preached, persecution is sure to follow.
The Cruel Reality of
Contemporary Christian Persecution
Today, persecution is manifested in many ways,
from subtle discrimination to violence of a horrific nature.
Physical abuse
Many Christians are beaten in front of the
community as a means of intimidating the whole community. Some are subjected to
torture in prisons, labor camps, and other detention centers. Christians are
electrocuted, burned, starved, or subjected to extreme physical conditions in
an attempt to get them to
renounce Christ.
Rape/Sexual Violence
This is especially true for Christian women and
girls. Sexual violence is used as a weapon—to humiliate families, destroy their
faith, and terrorize their communities. Many of these women live with this pain
their entire lives but still cling to Christ.
Murder and Martyrdom
Pastors, evangelists, and common believers are
assassinated for proclaiming or simply for attending a worship service. Whole
families are massacred for refusing to convert. Communities are attacked
because of their Christian affiliation.
“Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give
thee a crown of life” (Revelation 2:10, KJV).
Prison Sentences and Forced
Labor
Thousands of Christians are locked up in prison
without trial, wrongly sentenced, or sent to forced labor camps. Families are
torn apart. Children are left without parents. Religious belief is made a
crime.
Social and Economic Oppression
Not all persecution is physical. In many areas,
Christians are barred from education, employment, healthcare, and housing.
Businesses are ruined. Children are kicked out of schools. Christians are made
outcasts within their own countries.
They Are Not Statistics; They
Are Our Family
Persecution can easily be read about without
relating to it personally, but the fact is that the persecuted Church is not a
distant thing from us.
“So, we, being many, are one body in Christ”
(Romans 12:5, KJV).
“And whether one member suffer, all the members
suffer with it” (1 Corinthians 12:26, KJV).
These believers are not strangers. They are
mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, pastors and children, who are part of
the same family in the Spirit. When they are wounded, the Body is wounded. When
they weep, heaven hears, and we must too.
Why the World Hates the Church
The Church declares truth in a world of
darkness. The Church represents righteousness in a world of corruption. The
Church declares Jesus as Lord in a world of idolatrous commitments to false
gods, ideologies, or power.
“But men preferred darkness to light because
their deeds were evil” (John 3:19, KJV).
Persecution of Christians is spiritual warfare.
This is because persecution is the enemy's attempt to silence the Gospel.
However, history has shown that persecution does not have the power to destroy
the Church; it only refines it.
The Coming Persecution: The
Great Tribulation
As the world draws near the “end times,” the
Bible says persecution will increase in intensity.
“Then shall they deliver you up to be
afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my
name’s sake” (Matthew 24:9 KJV).
The Great Tribulation will bring unprecedented
pressure to bear on believers. Faithfulness will cost more. Compromise will be
required. Those who refuse will pay dearly. But even then, Christ is
victorious.
“Then shall be great tribulation, such as hath
not been from the beginning of the world” (Matthew 24:21, KJV).
The persecuted church is preparing us for what
may come tomorrow.
The Faith That Cannot Be Broken
Yet persecuted Christians remain committed to
worship, forgiveness, and the proclamation of Christ despite the unending pain
they endure. Many persecuted Christians claim that God is found primarily
within the walls of their prisons and within their darkest moments.
“For I reckon that the sufferings of this
present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be
revealed in us” (Romans 8:18, KJV).
Their faith requires believers in free
countries to measure their own level of commitment. Would we still be followers
of Christ if it cost us everything?
Our Responsibility as the
Global Church
We cannot remain impartial, as the Bible says.
"Remember them that are in bonds, as bound
with them" (Hebrews 13:3, KJV
We are compelled to act in these ways;
1.
Pray for the Persecuted Church
Prayer is the sustenance for believers when
they are under heavy pressure. "Pray for protection, for endurance, for
healing, for strength, for supernatural peace." "Pray for prisoners,
for families in grief." "Pray for kids living with fear." And
pray for the persecutors too—that God would move their hearts.
2. Speak Up
Silence = Oppression. Tell the stories. Spread
the awareness. Don’t let the persecution be silent. Speak out for those whose
voices have been silenced.
3. Give Sacrificially
Financial support brings food, housing, medical
care, trauma counseling, legal defense, biblical resources, and emergency aid.
It helps support families of martyrs and rebuild churches that have been
destroyed.
“If anyone has the world's goods and sees his
brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love dwell in
him?” (1 John 3:17, RSV).
A Final Call to Faithfulness
Today, Christians in over sixty countries are
persecuted for their faith in Jesus Christ. Tomorrow, persecution could come to
a place that is currently safe.
"All who live God’s ways in Christ Jesus
will be persecuted." (2 Tim. 3:12, KJV) The time to stand is now, not
later, not when it gets personal, but now. Pray for the persecuted Church. Give
to support them. Speak for those who have no voice. Stand with those who
suffer. Because of their persecution for simply believing in Jesus.
Standing With the Persecuted
Until the End
But the history of the persecuted church is not
only one of pain; it is also one of unconquerable faith, of unbeatable hope,
and of unstoppable love for Jesus. Throughout the world and across cultures,
believers have suffered and will continue to suffer abuse, arrest, torture,
rape, displacement, and death not because of their violence and lack of law and
order, but because of their refusal to renounce the name of Jesus. This reality
of the persecuted church challenges the worldwide church with a truth it does
not want to confront—that following Jesus has always meant paying a price.
For many of us, Christianity is a religion that
is lived out under comfortable circumstances. We can worship as we please, own
a Bible without restrictions, and say the name “Jesus” without fear of being
thrown into jail or led to the gallows. But the same religion that allows us to
live at ease has led others down a road of persecution. It is a truth that
should move us from sympathy to responsibility. The Body of Christ is one body
according to scripture. When one part of that body suffers, we all suffer. To
turn a deaf ear to persecution is not to remain uncommitted – it is to forget.
The persecuted Church calls to mind that the
gospel is not simply an object of our belief, but an occasion for our
obedience, even when that obedience might be costly. These Christians could
have chosen safety through silence, consolation through compromise, or survival
through denial. Instead, they choose Christ. Their commitment reveals the
superficiality of a Christianity that costs us little and challenges us to
consider the cost of our commitment. Would we be loyal if it cost us our homes,
our liberties, or our lives?
Let us not be a Church that forgets its
suffering members. Rather, let us be a Church that remembers, prays, gives, and
stands. We should strengthen our faith in the time of freedom so that if
persecution comes, we will not fall away. Most of all, let us be faithful; faithful
to Christ, to each other, and to the end.
Because the persecuted church is not broken. It
is cleansed. It is not dying. It is surviving. And because of their pain, the
light of Christ shines in the darkest corners of the world.
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