This coming Sunday marks the reversion from daylight saving time to standard time, but it is also a reminder that the times are not a-changing for Christians suffering in many countries around the world.
Following a tradition that began several years ago, the first Sunday in November — Nov. 5 this year — is the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church.
Indeed, since the days following Jesus Christ’s Resurrection and return to heaven, many of His followers and disciples have walked like marked targets, suffering willingly for a Deity they cannot see and for a kingdom they pray will come. Those who walk in the faith established almost 2,000 years ago and live in countries hostile to the message and its messengers are often arrested, imprisoned, beaten, tortured, isolated, deprived of food and care, and left to rely on the Unseen Savior to help them struggle daily, or to be with them when they receive the peace that, seemingly, only death can bring. From that point onward, their persecutors and tormentors cannot hurt them anymore.
The stories of those who have suffered recently and who now suffer are many — so many they would fill encyclopedia-like volumes and would augment and outnumber Foxe’s Book of Martyrs.
A few examples may suffice to show what some people are suffering because they are “different” and are perceived as threats to the established order in their home nations.
— From Global Christian Relief, a private organization based in Santa Ana, California, comes word that a Christian in Libya has been arrested many times and faced demands that he recant. At last report, he was sentenced to death. It is unclear if he is still alive.
— In Myanmar, the government is so hostile toward Christians that “the military placed landmines around a church in Shan State and occupied the church,” notes Global Christian Relief.
“Since the military coup in February 2021. … Churches have been destroyed; [and] pastors have been killed,” reports Open Doors, another charity that works to aid believers in hostile surroundings.
— “ChinaAid reports that … a pastor in Yunnan province was arrested for ‘organizing and sponsoring illegal gatherings,’” according to a report from GCR. Could it happen here?
For many years, Americans have generally worshipped freely, without fear of arrest or death at the hands of the government. In the history of the world, that has been and is an abnormality.
There was, admittedly, some government overreach during the recent pandemic, when some worshippers were threatened with jail if they met in numbers too large and spaces too small for the powers that be. But what we have seen or even endured cannot begin to compare with what others are suffering elsewhere in the world.
Yet, the overreach comes amid something no less sinister. There are troubling developments, such as threats against Christian bakers who refuse to violate their conscience by providing cakes for nontraditional weddings. Will Christians in the USA be labeled as terrorists or threats to national security?
Will those bearing a message of love for one’s enemies, forgiveness of wrongs, and allegiance to The Power higher than human government be labeled “extremists”?
Stay tuned.