Christian persecution goes on in the world today at an alarming rate. Upwards of 70,000 Christians have been killed by Boko Haram in Nigeria during the last 20 years. Christians are persecuted ruthlessly in many countries that are majority Muslim. Then, there’s China, North Korea’s persecution of Christianity by totalitarian atheist regimes. In India, the Christians are persecuted by Hindus.
When I say “persecution” I mean deadly violence: beheadings, rapes, beatings, hangings. I mean armed soldiers killing every man in a Christian village and taking the women and children as slaves. I mean burning down houses and businesses, attacking people on the streets, and oppressive, constant surveillance.
So, how does it happen that at least some Christians are able to view their persecution of a gift? I know, at least intellectually, that to suffer for Christ is to gain the Kingdom of Heaven. But I can tell you I would never choose to be a martyr. In fact, I doubt that I would have the courage to be a martyr if it was forced on me.
I don’t see me withstanding what these people take as their daily lot. I admire them extravagantly. I know they are living saints and that their reward will be great. But I’m not them. I’m weak and flawed and a big sissy about suffering of any sort. I avoid it if I can.
My conclusion is that the Holy Spirit is working in them and through them. I say that because I’m not so very different from most other people. Pain and suffering are not, usually, something we see as a “gift.”
From Persecution.Org
“Tell me about persecution.”
And here’s what they said. They said, “Persecution is a gift.” I said, “It’s not a gift of our choosing. We would never choose it.” But it is a gift because it keeps the Church pure. And I asked them any number of questions, which if I had more time I’d go into each of them as a sermon, it’s amazing. But the last one, the last one, I said, “What’s your biggest worry about the Chinese Church? “And here’s what they said. They said that, our biggest worry about the Chinese Church is this and that is that the younger guys coming up after us, they have not been in prison and tortured and hunted and killed, like we were. That was their biggest worry. If you look at Church history, I think that’s so much of what you see that the Church has been under attack continually, for so much of the time, we’ve had a gun to our back and a knife to our throat.
And this is what Jesus told us. He said, “If they hated me, they’re going to hate you. They’re going to persecute you.” He told us that plainly. And so the Church grows not in spite of persecution, the Church grows because of persecution. So we’re going to survive as a Church. The Church is going to survive. It’s even going to thrive.
So our numbers may go up. They may go down. But honestly, I think that needs to happen. There’s a whole bunch of people in the Church that shouldn’t be in the Church, they are there for the wrong reasons. And that’s what persecution does. It just cleans out so many people and creates a pure Church. Do you know what kills the Church? It’s not persecution. It’s wealth. It’s ease. It’s influence. Those are the Church killers. I’ll tell you when I look around our country and when I look at the Church, our country, around the world for the most part, and then I compare it with the persecuted Church, I say, what we need is revival.
Revival is an old fashioned word, but it’s just a word to describe what happens when the Lord visits our culture and our country. And he turns it upside down for himself. It’s the most amazing thing. And we haven’t seen it in this country for a while, but it comes in waves and we’re due, but we have to cry out.
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