CHRISTIAN
PERSECUTION
Kathy Bernard - Publisher
"Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the
devil prowls around like a roaring lion
looking for someone to devour. Resist him,
standing firm in the faith,
because you know that the family of
believers throughout the world
is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
1 Peter 5:8-9
Many
Christians from the Middle East and other
countries who accepted Christianity have
paid the heavy price of their lives because
of staunch and steadfast belief in Jesus
Christ. And the
opposition is frightening. But, amidst the
clamor of what is happening to Christianity
today, there is God Who reminds us to
"never give up". He promises to walk with
us as we make our way through the trials
of the present world. In spite of those who
are doing everything in their power to make
Christians afraid to continue believing in
our Savior, they are
standing strong, willing to pay the price
with their earthly lives.
Father Francisco Cervantes
has this to say about the struggles of
Christians throughout the world where
believers are punished or killed for their
beliefs in God and Jesus: "I am
overwhelmed by the events happening in the
Middle East and especially Egypt in regards
to the persecution of Christians by
terrorists using religion as a pretext for
murder and persecution. I feel helpless and
I, too, ask God where He is in these kinds
of horrible situations. I am immediately
reminded of the biblical verse in the Gospel
of Matthew, Chapter 5, Verse 11 when Jesus
said this: 'Blessed
are you when they insult you and persecute
you and utter every kind of evil against you
falsely because of Me. Rejoice and be glad,
for your reward will be great in heaven.
Thus they persecuted the prophets who were
before you'...."
"God
has a long range plan, a plan much bigger
than our individual selves, and the
persecution of the Church in parts of the
world is part of the big plan which is
simply the destruction of evil, hate, and
death itself. This is alluded to in the
Book of Revelation, Chapter 6, Verses 9 -
11:
"When he broke open the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls
of those who had been slaughtered because of
the witness they bore to the word of God.
They cried out in a loud voice, 'How long
will it be, holy and true Master, before You
sit in judgment and avenge our blood on the
inhabitants of the earth? Each of them was
given a white robe, and they were told to be
patient a little while longer until the
number was filled of their fellow servants
and brothers who were going to be killed as
they had been."...."We
will be holding all those who are suffering for their beliefs
in Jesus Christ in prayer and asking the
Lord to give those who suffer, strength to
keep moving forward." -
Father
Cervantes
Father Robert Barron
is an author and founder of Word on
Fire, a global media ministry.
Here, in part, he speaks on the attacks in
the Middle East: "Though you would never
guess it from the scarcity of coverage in
the major news media, there is a fierce
persecution of Christians going on in the
Middle East. In Egypt, convents and churches
are being burned to the ground and Copts,
members of one of the most ancient Christian
communities, are being routinely harassed,
tortured, and arrested. In Iraq, the ISIS
group, hoping to re-establish a “caliphate”
across the northern sector of the Middle
East, is brutally persecuting Christians.
Just recently, an ultimatum was issued in
Mosul, where Christians have been living for
over 1,600 years, that believers in Jesus
have to pay a stiff fine, leave the country,
or be put to death. And the sheer shock of
these extreme instances can allow us to
overlook the fact that in Saudi Arabia
Christians are not permitted to build
churches or to practice their faith publicly
in any way. " Use the
following link to hear Father Barron speak
on this subject:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWvmhptZa1o
Are
our religious beliefs being threatened today
in the USA? Here is a story of sadness and
joy written by an unknown American hand that
lifts the Christian heart: "They walked in
tandem, each of the ninety-three students
filing into the already crowded auditorium.
With rich maroon gowns flowing and the
traditional caps, they looked almost as
grown up as they felt. Dads swallowed hard
behind broad smiles, and moms freely brushed
away tears. This class would not pray
during the commencements - not by choice but
because of a recent court ruling prohibiting
it. The principal and several students were
careful to stay within the guidelines
allowed by the ruling. They gave
inspirational and challenging speeches, but
no one was allowed to mention Divine
Guidance, and no one could ask for God's
blessings on the graduates or their
families. The speeches were nice, but they
were routine ... until the final speech
received a standing ovation as a solitary
student walked proudly to the microphone and
stood still and silent for just a moment,
and then he delivered his speech ... an
astounding SNEEZE! The rest of the students
rose immediately to their feet, and in
unison they said, "GOD BLESS YOU!!" The
audience exploded into applause. This
graduating class truly found a unique way to
invoke God's blessing on their future ...
with or without the court's approval." Where there is a WILL there is a way because
we know God has added His almighty strength
to us.
Thomas S. Kidd
writes:
"In our ever-shrinking world, the
tentacles of religion touch everything from
governmental policy to individual morality
to our basic social constructs. It affects
the lives of people of great faith — or no
faith at all........we are seeing a marked
erosion of what America's Founding Fathers
considered the "first freedom": the liberty
of religious conscience. Even in America,
there are signs that our historic commitment
to this freedom is wavering".... In
the Middle East, the "Arab Spring" has not
been auspicious for religious liberty. The
uprisings against repressive governments
have precipitated a treacherous new era for
the region's Christian minorities.
According to the Pew report, Egypt was
already the world's largest country with
rising levels of government restrictions on
religion before the ouster of Hosni Mubarak;
since then, the situation has grown even
worse." "...In the past
six months, appalling religious violence has
convulsed Egypt, especially against its
Coptic Christians. Rumors about a Coptic
convert to Islam being held against her will
led to vicious rioting on May 8, leaving 15
dead, 200 injured, and churches looted and
burned...."
"...And
what about in the USA? You won't see the
kind of religious persecution here as in
other parts of the world, but religious
freedom is taking its hits....Overall, the
FBI reports that more than 1,500 religious
hate crimes occur annually, although the
majority target Jews. But Christians in the
U.S. take their lumps, too, when it comes to
religious freedom. These range from the
frivolous — such as a recent (and
unsuccessful) Freedom from Religion
Foundation lawsuit to ban Texas Gov. Rick
Perry from holding "The Response," his
prayer rally in Houston — to real judicial
infringements...." ..."Earlier
month, for instance, a federal appeals
court approved San Diego
State University's
policy of denying a Christian sorority
and fraternity official campus benefits
simply because the groups restricted
membership to Christians. And in October,
the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in
what might become the most significant
religious liberty case in decades,
Hosanna-Tabor Church V EEOC, which will,
disconcertingly, consider whether a
religious school has the right to fire a
teacher who contradicts official teachings.
Should the court rule against
Hosanna-Tabor, it could indicate that
American courts will intrude more and more
upon the internal affairs of religious
organizations, dictating that the right to
free exercise must bow before judges' and
bureaucrats' current conceptions of legal
equity. Placing religious groups under
special legal disadvantages, and forbidding
them from operating according to their own
beliefs, is certainly not what the Founders
had in mind when they banned an
"establishment of religion" in the First
Amendment. Let's hope that, instead,
America will renew its commitment to the
genius of the First Amendment's religion
clauses. The government should never promote
the interests of any one faith — including
secularism — but should protect the free
exercise of religion for all. In light of
the Pew report, the world needs our example
more than ever." Thomas S. Kidd is a
senior fellow at Baylor University's
Institute for Studies of Religion, and the
author of books such as God of
Liberty: A Religious History of the American
Revolution and Patrick Henry: First Among
Patriots.
We
must pray
with strong faith about these frightening
changes which are happening throughout the
world where injustice is being handed out to
those who are Christians. Many times, in
our humanity, we think God does not see what
is happening, but our God sees everything.
If we can hold on with supreme trust in God,
Who sees our trials,
we will
one
day be greatly rewarded. A fellow
Christian once wrote, "Prayer is
the answer to every problem in life.
Nothing is so entangled that it cannot be
remedied; no human relationship is too
strained for God to bring about human
reconciliation and understanding; no habit
so deep-rooted that it cannot be overcome;
no one is so weak that he cannot be strong. No one is so ill that he cannot be healed.
No mind is so dull that it cannot be made
brilliant. Whatever we need if we trust
God, He will supply it. If anything is
causing worry or anxiety, let us stop
rehearsing the difficulty and trust God for
healing, love, and power. Into the
experience of all there come times of keen
disappointment and utter
discouragement--days when sorrow is the
portion, and it is hard to believe that God
is still the kind benefactor of His earth
born children; days when troubles harass the
soul, till death seems preferable to life.
It is then that many lose their hold on God
and are brought into the slavery of doubt,
the bondage of unbelief."
But
Jesus has a master plan for those who have
faith. Remember this earth is not our
home, and our lives here are limited.
But He promises all of us a brand new
life that will never be forfeited, will
never be subject to bondage again. Here
he promises us, “Very truly I tell you,
whoever hears My word and believes Him Who
sent Me has eternal life and will not be
judged but has crossed over from death to
life." John 5:24
Romans 8:35
tells us; "Who shall separate us from
the love of Christ? Shall trouble or
hardship or persecution or famine or
nakedness, or danger or sword? As it is
written, for your sake we are being killed
all day long; we are regarded as sheep to be
slaughtered. No, in all these things we are
more than conquerors through Him Who loved
us."
And our Savior Jesus Christ tells us in Matthew 5:11: "Blessed are we
when others revile you and persecute you and
utter all kinds of evil against you falsely
on my account." It makes no
difference whether those who are persecuted
be Catholics, Orthodox, Copts, or
Protestants. If we stand solid in our faith
with the belief that Jesus Christ is our
Savior, we are assured endless joy one
day when we are called to eternal life.
Let us say to
our fellow Christians who are being
persecuted for believing in Almighty God and
Jesus Christ, "WE MUST HOLD ON"
to
the Lord knowing that when He comes again,
He will say, "Welcome to eternal life,
my good and faithful servants. I
will take you home where you will meet my Father and
live joyously forever in His Kingdom. Glory be to
God!
"I saw thrones on which were seated those
who had been given authority to judge.
And I saw the souls of those who had been
beheaded because of their testimony
about Jesus and because of the word of God.
They had not worshiped the beast or
its image and had not received its mark on
their foreheads or their hands.
They came to life and reigned with Christ a
thousand years."
- Revelation 20:4
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