"Called together in Christ to equip God's people for ministry."
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"Called together in Christ to equip God's people for ministry." |
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[ Home ] Pastor's Message
More Christians have died for their faith in this century than all the precious history of Christendom combined. Shocking as this may sound to many of us American Christians, the 20th Century is the century of Christian persecution, and the problem is getting worse rather than better. Everyday, somewhere in the world, Christian men, woman and children are beaten, raped, robbed, enslaved, and killed for the sake of Christ. Dr. Paul Marshall, a scholar who has studied this matter for several years and recently written a book entitled Their Blood Cries Out, estimates that some 200 million Christians live under conditions of active persecution and another 400 million live in situations of discrimination. These conditions exist in over 60 nations around the globe. It is estimated that 160,000 Christians were killed in 1996. The reasons for the rise in persecution are varied. Two mains reason seem to appear. First is the vary nature of Christian’s commitment to Jesus Christ. Christians recognize that God is the highest authority in their lives. This means that Christians can not fully embrace a political system that confuses God and Caesar. Those governments that seek to control the body, mind and soul of it citizens find Christians a threat to their rule. Christians are then seen as subversives and so are set up as targets to be crushed or eliminated. Secondly, in those countries ruled by a radical strand of Islam, Christians are considered demonic. Their unwillingness to forsake Christ makes them targets for religious genocide. Ted Kopel on Night Line recently showed the horrific scenes of mass starvation of 2.8 million Christians in southern Sudan. Muslims there declared a jihad or holy war against all non-Muslims and the result is the largest mass genocide in history. Of course the media has been very slow in detailing the truth. Although our government is well aware of these persecutions there has been little done on behalf of those suffering these atrocities. There appears to be a certain bias in some agencies against treating persecutions of Christians as a legitimate human rights concerns. While the U.S. government has spoken out on behalf of Tibetan Buddhists, German Scientologists, and Bosnain Muslims, it has been unwilling to speak out for Christians. Our government sent a letter of protest to the Chinese officials concerning the Tibetan Monks, but little has been said about the hundreds of Catholic priests and evangelical pastors and lay leaders imprisoned for worshiping Christ. Up to this point most Christian churches in our country have been unaware or silent about the persecution of brothers and sisters in Christ. It is time for us to stand up and speak. Contact your congress person and urge action in this matter. We are called to be the voice of those who can not speak. Our freedom to speak must be exercised on behalf of the thousands who will be tortured, impoverished or killed in our silence. Above everything else we must ask God’s intervention. As God heard the cries of his people in the bonds of slavery in Egypt, so he shall hear the cries of his people for those who are suffering for their faith. Make the persecuted church a permanent fixture on your daily prayer list. Allow God to use your voice for those whose voices are being silenced. -Pastor Woebbeking
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