WORLDWIDE PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS AND GOD'S PROMISES

A church member once asked his pastor to pray for him as he was in extreme pain. The pastor asked him what the problem was to which he replied that he had been diagnosed with having a stone in his kidney which caused him excruciating pain while urinating. That night as the pastor prayed for that young man, a thought struck him, that a small injury or disease no matter how small or insignificant could cause pain to the whole body. 

A scripture came to his mind and this scripture was 1 Corinthians 12:24-26 which said - 

24 whereas our more presentable members have no need of it.  But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked, 25 so that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 26 And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.

Now when Paul was writing this letter through the inspiration of the Holy spirit he was not just referring to the physical body but he was also referring to the body of Christ. Our physical body, when it feels pain in one small part of the body the rest of the body also feels the pain as the pain is recepted to the rest of the body. Using this analogy to the body of Christ, when a person is facing trials or persecution or having some sort of sickness or is in pain then how do we react? What is our reaction and response? Do we feel the same pain that he or she may feel or are we cold and unreceptive?

Many times we are like the Pharisees who are extremely judgmental and we would rather stone those that are persecuted rather than stand with them and for them. By this I mean that the body of Christ many times thinks that when a person is persecuted, it is because he has sinned or he has done something wrong. 

The body of Christ keeps forgetting that we are members of the same family and there is one blood that unites us and that blood is the blood of Jesus. Just as in a natural family there are many issues, in the same way there are also issues amongst the members of the body of Christ. For example : The body of Christ [even spirit filled born again believers] are divided against one another on the issue of denominations i.e. they reject those who belong to different denominations and sometimes this rejection enters such extreme levels that they are filled with hate and jealousy towards each other rather than love . The believers of Christ  need to put aside these differences or these issues in order to show the love of Christ and also give hope to those who are persecuted.

Now what should be our practical response to persecution and persecuted Christians?

The first and only response to persecution and to the cries and pleas of the persecuted Christians/ persecuted church is prayer. But the prayer of the Christians must be through unity in the spirit with the persecuted Christians and the persecuted church. The church must be united while praying for the persecuted Christians if we are to move the hand of heaven and obtain the grace of God for the persecuted church. If not then the church will die out in places where there is persecution. An example where the church has died out due to intense persecution is former Yugoslavia under the communist regime that ruled over it.

For further reference read Matthew 12:25 which says - 

25 Jesus knew their thoughts and replied, “Any kingdom divided by civil war is doomed. A town or family splintered by feuding will fall apart.

A house divided against itself will not stand. Then you may be thinking what are we supposed to do and how are we supposed to pray? There are three things you can pray for with regards to the persecuted church and these are :

1. Pray that those who are persecuted for their faith, would find Joy & gladness in Christ despite what they are going through.  Even Jesus prayed for Peter saying that “Peter I have prayed for you that Satan may not overcome you and your faith may not fail” . You see, there are many people who are in pain because of the persecution that they are facing for Christ Jesus [Certain estimates state that the total number of believers/Christians who are intensely persecuted for their faith all across the world stands at approximately 360 Million thus making Christianity the most persecuted religious group by population 1] . And it is not easy for them to live with this pain everyday of their lives. Many of the men and women who have been persecuted for Jesus have lost their faith in him and this is simply because the church has failed in this area of prayer. What I mean by this is that the church has not prayed or rather has not prayed enough for these Christians who have been persecuted for their faith in Jesus. The church has not prayed for the joy and gladness of the persecuted believer to not be vanquished by the persecution that they are facing or that their joy and faith in Christ Jesus would only increase when they are persecuted for him. It is easy to preach on social media or anywhere for that purpose about the joy of the Lord being your strength, but it is very difficult to have your joy and gladness in Christ not to be vanquished when you are facing persecution and you lose everything that you have held dear to you. Now you may ask me, why do we need to pray for their Joy and gladness not to be vanquished. In order to answer that question please read

11 “God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers. 12 Be happy about it ! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted in the same way.

In the above verses it doesn’t say that God will send the anointing of joy or gladness upon the persecuted believer but rather it says that the persecuted believer has to rejoice that he has been persecuted. In other words he has a choice and I’d say he/she is faced with a very difficult choice as to whether they should rejoice after they have been persecuted or let the persecution overcome them and This is where your prayer steps in to move the hand of God to encourage them in their time of trials and tribulations and also sustain their faith in Jesus Christ through their trials and tribulations. Persecution can come in many forms, such as a sickness or sudden death in the family or even a demonic attack or a sudden attack on the church by the enemy or persecution in the form of violence against the believers [and by violence I mean physical violence being inflicted upon the the persecuted believer by the unbelievers under the influence and the power of the enemy] . 

Statistics on the persecution of Christians. Image credits : Open Doors organization.

2. Pray daily for God’s hand of protection over the church leaders and churches. This is because whatever is important should also be guarded. The church has specifically failed in this area. For reference please read 2 Thessalonians 3:2 which says -

2 Pray, too, that we will be rescued from wicked and evil people, for not everyone is a believer.

Also Read Acts 12:5-7 which says - 

5 But while Peter was in prison, the church prayed very earnestly for him.

6 The night before Peter was to be placed on trial, he was asleep, fastened with two chains between two soldiers. Others stood guard at the prison gate. 7 Suddenly, there was a bright light in the cell, and an angel of the Lord stood before Peter. The angel struck him on the side to awaken him and said, “Quick! Get up!” And the chains fell off his wrists.

Give your time for intercession, especially for the persecuted church. Just as it has been mentioned in the above verses, if the church prays even today then God’s people will be delivered through the Angels that he sends. The problem is that many of the members of the body of Christ only like to take but never like to give and by giving I do not mean money but rather I mean many of the people that come to church would like a blessing from the Lord spoken over their lives by the pastor, however these people would not even try to join this pastor in prayer or they would not even remember their own pastor during his troubles and struggles when they are praying to the Lord. 

If the believers are united and pray for the persecuted church today then the power and the presence of God will greatly manifest amongst the persecuted Christians even today. I could give you multiple examples such as :

1. In Iran, despite the intense persecution against the church by the Islamist regime of the Ayatollah’s 2 , the church of Iran is growing rapidly 3 [estimates say that it is growing at the rate of 19-20% per annum 4  i.e. the Christian population of Iran doubles every four to five years despite the intense persecution].

2. The church of China faced genocide at the hands of the communist regime of Mao Zedong. Mao Zedong’s wife even remarked to the ambassador of the United States that “we have successfully destroyed Christianity and have confined it to the mythology and history section of our libraries. Christianity is dead in China” . However due to the prayers of the church, the church of China is growing rapidly once again like before [estimates say it is growing at a rate of 7% 5 - 10% annually 6]. Moreover, certain researchers and surveys have found out that at this rate China will  have the world’s largest Christian population by 2030-2040 7 and if this exponential growth continues then China could soon have a Christian majority by 2060-2070 8.   

                              

                                    

I could give examples of the rapid growth of the number of believers in Africa even amongst intense persecution such as the areas under the rule of Islamist regimes and terror groups such as the Boko Haram. Even in the Middle East and in Afghanistan the church is growing even in the face of death and intense persecution from Isis and the Taliban. 

3. Pray that the persecutors will find Christ. For example if you read in the book of Acts chapter 9, you will see that Paul who was also known as Saul was fiercely persecuting the body of Christ. But there was a man named Ananias who obeyed the command of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and went unto Saul and laid his hands on Saul's eyes and prayed for him and thus Saul regained his sight back and this miracle was a major confirmation that he received which was followed by him deciding to follow Jesus to the death and also becoming one of the greatest Apostles to and for the church of his time. The very persecutor of the body of Christ [Saul] became the promoter of the body of Christ [Paul] through the prayer of just one man i.e. Ananias. You have to learn to pray instead of cursing in anger because we are the children of God and just the same way that Jesus on the cross prayed for the forgiveness of those that crucified him, we must also pray for the forgiveness and the salvation of all those that persecute the body of Christ. 

For further reference read Matthew 5:44-45 which says -

44 But  I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! 45 In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight  to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike.

The above verses are not an advice of Jesus, but rather it is a command of Jesus to the body of Christ.  The above verses have also been the most powerful and influential words of our Lord which has brought multiple areas that were once hostile to the gospel to accepting the gospel and also transforming into countries which would be built on the gospel. Examples of this could be the Roman Empire, parts of Armenia and Azerbaijan and also the Persian empire and as of today it includes Iran, Afghanistan and China. 

About the author : 

Siddharth David D’silva, is a student currently pursuing law in his third year [BA.LLB hons.] at NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY ODISHA [NLUO], one of the top law universities of India. Being Born Again at the age of 12, he has been an avid reader of the bible and also likes writing on biblical and biblio-political topics.

Reference : 

1. https://rmx.news/article/record-of-360-million-christians-persecuted-around-the-world-in-2021-with-taliban-controlled-afghanistan-at-the-top-of-the-list/ 

2. https://www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/iranians-turn-away-from-the-islamic-republic/#f15 

3. https://www.christianpost.com/news/iran-is-witnessing-one-of-fastest-growing-church-movements-but-christians-face-intense-persecution.html 

4. https://joshuaproject.net/countries/IR#:~:text=Evangelical%20Annual%20Growth,Global%20Rate%20%3D%202.6%25 

5. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/32486/why-is-christianity-growing-so-quickly-in-mainland-china#:~:text=Stark%20and%20Wang%20estimate%20that%20in%201980%20there%20were%2010%20million%20Christians%20in%20the%20People%27s%20Republic%20of%20China%2C%20and%20that%20in%202007%20the%20figure%20was%2060%20million.%20These%20numbers%20yield%20an%20annual%20growth%20rate%20of%207%20percent%20%E2%80%93%20which%20means%20that%20last%20year%2C%20there%20were%20nearly%20100%20million%20Christians%20in%20China 

6. https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/christianity-china#:~:text=China%20has%20witnessed%20a%20religious%20revival%20over%20the%20past%20four%20decades%2C%20in%20particular%20with%20a%20significant%20increase%20in%20Christian%20believers.%20The%20number%20of%20Chinese%20Protestants%20has%20grown%20by%20an%20average%20of%2010%20percent%20annually%20since%201979 

7. https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/China-officially-atheist-could-have-more-12633079.php#photo-15118937 

8. https://thediplomat.com/2014/04/is-communist-china-christianitys-future/#:~:text=New%20estimates%20predict%20China%20will,the%20world's%20largest%20Christian%20community.&text=China%20will%20soon%20be%20home%20to%20the%20largest%20Christian%20population,expert%20on%20religion%20in%20China