Tag Archives: Persecuted Church

Persecution: It’s Our Turn

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Two important essays today encouraging the faithful to “prepare your minds for action” (1 Peter 1:13) in anticipation of the coming persecution of U. S. Christians:

Dr. Albert Mohler urges us to “take a careful look” at how homosexual activists are responding to the passage of Proposition 8 in California: “[T]he coercive effect is to punish anyone who will not recognize, endorse, or celebrate same-sex marriages.”

Dr. Richard John Neuhaus warns that “we are heading into a greatly intensified public clash of state power and religious freedom,” for which Christians are ill-prepared. His concluding graph is ominous:

Yes, the imminent Kulturkampf, if that is what is in the offing, will require legal talent, political strategizing, relentless persuasion, and all the other means compatible with our constitutional order. Most of all, however, it requires the courage born of faith that the Church really is the Body of Christ through time, a distinct and public community bearing public witness to public truths about the right ordering of life both public and personal. In Catholic history, the cry through the centuries is for libertas ecclesiae—the freedom of the Church to be the Church. For Catholics and others, that freedom now faces a time of severe testing. In the defense of that freedom there have been through the centuries martyrs beyond numbering. We do not know what will happen in the months and years ahead, except that now it may be our turn.

"We are sharing your suffering"

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Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.

Hebrews 13:3

Millions of our fellow believers around the world are being persecuted for their faith in Jesus Christ. In North Korea alone there are an estimated 50,000 to 70,000 believers who have been imprisoned for their faith and hundreds of thousands of others who meet for worship underground.

Many of these fellow believers do not have a copy of the scriptures to call their own. I’m partnering with Open Doors USA to provide Bibles for 2,000 of these persecuted believers. I’m asking you to partner with me. Just $5.00 provides one Bible for a persecuted believer. A one time gift of $50.00 will provide 10 Bibles. Will you visit this secure link and make a donation today please?

And I hope you will be as moved as I was by the story of Alexander Ogorodnikov in the video below. Take six minutes please to learn how important it is for us to share the suffering of our fellow believers.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6wDbcq_Wfg]

A reminder to remember our brothers in the persecuted church

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Howard Friedman at the Religion Clause blog points us to the 2008 Annual Report of the U. S. Commission on International Religious Freedom:

Today the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom announced release of its 2008 Annual Report (full text) recommending eleven countries be designated as “countries of particular concern”– those that are are most restrictive of religious freedom. The countries on the list are: Burma, North Korea, Eritrea, Iran, Pakistan, China, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam. The Report also includes a Watch List of countries that require close monitoring, though which are less oppressive that the CPCs. Those on the Watch List are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Cuba, Egypt, Indonesia, and Nigeria. The Commission is postponing its recommendations as to Iraq pending a Commission visit to the country later this month. This compromise was approved after a sharp party-line split among Commissioners over the draft chapter in the report on Iraq. (New York Sun). USCIRF’s recommendations are made pursuant to provisions of the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act. This year’s recommendations largely mirror those in last year’s report. USCIRF’s recommendations go to the State Department for its use in preparing its annual report on international religious freedom. [Thanks to Blog from the Capital for the lead.]

Visit www.persecution.org for daily updates on the persecuted church around the world; then thank God for your freedom of worship.