THE WORLD’S INSANITY CONFIRMS THE GOSPEL

The West continues to privilege Islam despite its cries “Death to the infidel,” its intention to subjugate the world, and its horrific crimes and human rights abuses. Here is just one small and recent example:

·       A man from Manchester in the United Kingdom has been sentenced to 180 hours of unpaid work and a 12-month community order after posting comments that were said to be "grossly offensive" towards Muslims.

What did this man say that was so offensive?

·       "Don't come over to this country and treat it like your own. Britain first," according to the Manchester Evening News.

In contrast, the West treats its founding faith with utter contempt, closing Christian businesses and intimidating Christians.

In view of this galloping insanity, we might do well to read the words of the former atheist turned Christian, C.S. Lewis. He asks us to imagine what a visitor, who knew nothing about Christianity, would think when observing the Christian West for the first time:

·       He would find that this same religion has always been healing the sick and caring for the poor; that it has, more than any other, blessed marriage; that the arts and philosophy tend to flourish in its neighborhood. In a word, it is always either doing, or at least repenting with shame for not having done, all the things which secular humanitarianism enjoins. (God in the Dock, 147)

Why then the hatred towards such a religion? Why the attempts to drive it into the back alleys of existence? Jesus explained the world’s antipathy towards Him this way:

·       “The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil.” (John 7:7)

And we are still doing the same thing. That is why the world also hates us:

·       “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.” (John 15:18-20)

As such, this insane persecution confirms the truth of the Gospel.

HATRED OF CHRIST AND CHRISTIANS

Even though it had been repeatedly prophesied that the world will hate us, we are still shocked to see it happen. We wonder why we are so hated. We ask ourselves:

"How can it be that the faith that has brought the world its greatest measure of peace, justice, and social justice can be so hated? How can it be that those who are committed to love are so hated? Perhaps it’s our fault? Perhaps we are not obedient as we should be?"

Jesus had many explanations for the hatred of the world. For one thing, the world hates the light, the truth. It exposes their sin (John 3:19-21). Here is what He explained to His skeptical biological brothers:

• "The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that its works are evil." (John 7:7)

Nothing will make us more defensive and murderous than to be exposed. However, it seems that even the mere presence of light makes others feel uncomfortable:

• But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task? (2 Corinthians 2:14-16)

Perhaps the Christian is a reminder of their impending judgment - not a pleasant reminder at all.

However, the atheist will scorn this suggestion and protest, "I don't believe in your God at all." However, recent studies suggest that, although the atheist protests, on a deeper level he knows.

This also agrees with what Paul had written:

• Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them. (Romans 1:32)

No wonder they hate us and our Lord! (I would probably also hate Him had He not saved me!) Nevertheless, we must continue to pray (even as we pursue justice) as our Lord did as He was being put to death:

• "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." (Luke 23:34)

The Culpable Silence of the Church

What is our responsibility to our brethren internationally? The jacket of The Global War on Christians by CNN writer John L. Allen Jr. states:

•  From Iraq and Egypt to Sudan and Nigeria, from Indonesia to the Indian subcontinent, Christians in the early twenty-first century are the world’s most persecuted religious group. According to the secular International Society for Human Rights, 80 percent of violations of religious freedom in the world today are directed against Christians.

•  The Open Doors Estimate, based on decades of tracking the realities of persecution in some of the darkest corners of the earth, is that roughly one hundred million Christians today suffer interrogation, arrest, and even death for their faith, with the bulk located in Asia and the Middle East. The overall total makes Christians the most at-risk group for violations of religious freedom. (37)

It is not simply a matter of human rights violations. It’s also a matter of genocide. For instance:

• In 1991, Iraq boasted a flourishing Christian population of at least 1.5 million. Today the high-end estimate for the number of Christians left is around 500,000, and many believe it could be as low as 150,000. Most of these Iraqi Christians have gone into exile, but a staggering number have been killed. (4)

Meanwhile, the church in the West remains relatively silent. Allen laments:

• It’s probably a safe bet that one could visit a variety of different Christian denominations over an extended period of time before hearing a sermon devoted to the subject of the global war on Christians, or finding an adult faith formation group studying it, or reading about it while browsing the collection of literature in the back of a church. (17)

This is particularly tragic since charity is mandated to begin at home, with our own family:

• Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers. (Gal. 6:10)

And our Third World family of believers is crying out, “Where are our brethren in the West.” In the face of Islamic persecution, the Catholic Patriarch of Jerusalem, Fouad Twal, pleaded in a conference in London in 2011:

• “Does anyone hear our cry? How many atrocities must we endure before somebody, somewhere, comes to our aid?”

Often, we hear but close our ears, but this is no excuse, according to Scripture:

• Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter. If you say, “But we knew nothing about this,” does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who guards your life know it? Will he not repay everyone according to what they have done? (Proverbs 24:11-12)

Let us therefore ask our Lord to forgive our sins of omission (James 4:17) and offer ourselves up for His service (Hebrews 12:2).

At the Mercy of the Idealists and their Utopian States

Although many Christians are being persecuted and even exterminated in Muslim countries, religious persecution has become the established practice in five nations of the world still committed to the idealist, progressive vision of creating a workers’ paradise. I’m talking about the atheistic-communistic “paradise.” (Even though China continues to persecute their Christians, I will not even mention this country, since it is arguably no longer communistic, leaving only four communist nations.)

The worst offender is North Korea:

• Wednesday, October 9th, 2013: This week several prominent defectors from North Korea will be testifying in front of the UK parliament on the horrors of life inside the "Hermit Kingdom." Their stories of incredible loss and escape from the world's darkest nation have helped the UN Human Rights Council for the first time establish a record of the atrocities still being committed today by the Communist dictatorship. Although this report does not mention it, North Korea is also the world’s number one persecutor of Christians. To own a Bible is illegal and we know of at least one individual in recent years who was executed for distributing Bibles. Thousands of Christians worship in complete secrecy and thousands more are imprisoned in some of the most horrific conditions on earth.

• Monday, October 7th, 2013: The President of the United States could decide to impose sanctions upon organizations or individuals in North Korea that participate in the mass persecution of Christians. North Korea is believed to have as many as 70,000 Christians locked up in labor camps around the country. Owning a Bible is illegal and punishable by life in prison or even summary execution.

The conditions are so deplorable that these internments are almost equivalent to death sentences. What is so threatening to the authorities about owning a Bible? If atheism is so patently reasonable, as atheists allege, how could the Bible represent a threat to them? How ironic that atheist-communist idealism should consistently produce the most unbelievable horrors and the most repressive societies. Laos is another of the four:

• Friday, September 27th, 2013: Across rural areas of Laos reports are coming in of Christian communities being pressure to give up their new found faith in Christ. Those who refuse are threatened with forced eviction from their homes. Animism, or the worship of the natural world, is a traditional belief system for many villages in Laos. Last year report also emerged of Christian community leaders being arrested and held in stockades, despite the fact that the Lao constitution guarantees religious freedom.

• Saturday, September 7th, 2013: As one of the five remaining Communist nations on earth, Laos continues to treat religious minorities with contempt. In rural areas Christians, especially newly-converted Christians, face intimidation and harassment at the hands of local authorities. Late last month a large group of 11 Christian families were told they must "recant" their Christian faith or face forced eviction from their homes.

Why is it that atheism-communism is consistently associated with dehumanization and repression, more so than with any worldview? There must be something endemic to it that has produced such uniformly hideous results. Cuba is now heralded among some communists as the communist “success story.” However, this isn’t the portrait that reality has painted:

• Tuesday, January 15th, 2013: The Apostolic Movement, a network of Protestant Churches in Cuba claims that the Government is threatening to destroy Church property and threatening the family members of the Church.  Christian Solidarity Worldwide says, “Once again we call on the Cuban government to uphold the religious freedom of all its citizens and to instruct government officials at the national, provincial and municipal levels to cease their harassment of the Apostolic Movement and other religious groups.”

• Monday, January 7th, 2013: There has been a “dramatic increase in religious freedom violations” happening in Cuba in 2012.

• Friday, January 18th, 2013: Christians in Cuba were optimistic when Raul Castro took over from his brother, Fidel Castro, as the country’s supreme leader in 2009. But three years later, their hope has turned into disillusionment.

Vietnam also persecutes its Christian population:

• Thursday, October 10th, 2013: In recent weeks tensions have skyrocketed between Catholics and the Vietnamese government. Much of it was spurred by an attack by Vietnamese police on September 4th that injured dozens of parishioners peacefully protesting the unlawful arrest of two fellow believers. The Communist Party of Vietnam maintains a very uneasy relationship with the Catholic church and regularly tries to repress protests by members.

• Tuesday, October 8th, 2013: In July, International Christian Concern (ICC) received a tragically long list from a well-placed contact in Vietnam. The list contained the names of 63 Christian pastors and church leaders who remain locked up in deplorable conditions in four prison camps around the country. The prison sentences received by each are staggeringly long, ranging from five to eighteen years.

Each one of the four nations that remain communistic persecutes their own people. Each one of these “progressive” bastions suppresses freedom of expression and liberty. Each of these “paradises” brutally represses contrary opinions. Why then aren’t our Western progressives repulsed by this universal failure of atheism-communism? And why has this top-down philosophy become so thoroughly mainstreamed in our universities and other Western institutions? And why aren’t its horrors deplored among honest people?

Persecution and its Inevitability

In my arrogant pre-Christian days, I continually reassured myself that I could handle anything that life would throw at me. However, after serving our Lord for 36 years, He has taught me otherwise. I need Him to get me through the most trivial trials.

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about persecution. Darkness and threat seem to surrounding us with outstretched claws. Paul warned that this is inevitable:

·        In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.  (2 Tim. 3:12)

Many of us don’t need this warning. We see it coming. Some of us are already engulfed by its rising waters. Meanwhile, others are in denial:

·        Former Archbishop Rowan Williams told Christians in the West who complain of mistreatment to "grow up" in a talk at the Edinburgh International Book Festival today. After years of meeting with others around the world who face "murderous hostility" for their religious beliefs, Lord Williams said complaints of persecution among Christians in the U.K. and the U.S. make him "very uneasy." (Jim Wallis, Sojourners)

However, it made me very “uneasy” to read this callous statement, and so I angrily responded:

·        ME: When Christians are deprived of jobs, licenses and even businesses and are told to "grow up," this is not modeling Christian love. This is playing along with a politically correct script that has nothing to do with Christ!

·        PERSECUTION DENIER: No political correctness here -- just the kind of perspective offered by Paul and others in the NT. The so-called "persecution" of Christians in the US pales in comparison with what Williams has in mind regarding certain other parts of the world. We need to own this, and let go of the self-pity.

·        ME: You might be right that our persecution pales in comparison to that experienced by Christians in many Muslim lands. However, it is grossly insensitive to dismiss any suffering, victimization, and deprivation in West with the words "grow up," because it doesn't measure up in our estimation. It means that we are to turn our uncaring back on those who lose jobs, reputations or businesses. It's like telling anyone in the West to "get over it," whatever their problem might be - depression, loss of a family member, or anything else, because it doesn't measure up to the suffering of someone else. Please don't try to justify this kind of insensitivity by invoking the Apostle Paul!

The persecution-denier might be somewhat sincere. He might not experience the persecution, because his faith has become compromised and virtually indistinguishable from the prevailing culture. Therefore, he rides the waves instead of standing against them.

There are many forms of persecution, and Paul gave us instruction about how to respond to it:

·        Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. (Romans 12:14)

While I am convinced that we must comfort the persecuted and expose the persecutor, we must do this in a way that reflects our Master. It has to be done in love, in the form of a blessing (Eph. 4:29), even as we use words that might cut to the core. But how can we endure the coming holocaust and remain other-centered? According to Jesus, it is indeed coming:

·        "They will lay hands on you and persecute you. They will deliver you to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name. This will result in your being witnesses to them. But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves. For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. All men will hate you because of me. But not a hair of your head will perish. By standing firm you will gain life.” (Luke 21:12-19)

Persecution is inevitable. However, embodied in these words, Jesus imparts necessary wisdom that we need in order to endure. Here’s what I see:

1. We shouldn’t be ashamed when we are persecuted. It goes with being His children (John 15:18-20; 16:1-2). When we are hated, it doesn’t reflect any deficit on our part, but rather contempt for the Light that we share.

2. We can’t handle persecution on our own. Therefore, we need not worry about how to respond. Instead, we need to depend exclusively on Him. If He will give us the words we need in the midst of persecution, He can also comfort our troubled hearts and enable us to endure.

3. God is in control. He has a blessed purpose for allowing the persecution: “This will result in your being witnesses to them.” Consequently, I have to remind myself that there is great blessing in persecution:
   
   

·        “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. (Matthew 5:10-11)

This means that we are to regard persecution as a positive and not a negative. He also purifies His church through persecution (2 Cor. 4:10-11; 1 Peter 4:1-2). I think that this orientation will help us accept it. Nevertheless, although God works it for good (Rom. 8:28), the persecutor works it for evil, and therefore should be held accountable and the persecuted comforted.

4. God’s plan may even entail our martyrdom (Rev. 2:10). However, Paul encourages us that the suffering in this life is in no way comparable to our eternal joy (Rom. 8:18).

5. Nevertheless, “not a hair of your head will perish.” Evidently, Jesus speaks of our eternal destiny (Mat. 10:28-30). This must remain our focus – being with Him for all eternity.

How did Jesus endure the persecution? There’s a lesson in this for us:

·        Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. (Hebrews 12:2-3)

There is an eternal joy set before us. Upon this must we plant our eyes and dreams and leave the rest to Him!