In Part I of this series, I covered how Christians are the most persecuted religious group worldwide. We are hated for our faith, and the hatred is growing. As disconcerting as this is, there are other factors in this matter that we Christians must not loose site of. The following posts in this series are intended to answer the question: What do we do?
More and more I’m seeing inquiries on social media asking where the Church is amongst the rising tide of persecution? Allow me to reassure you that the Body of Christ is very much alive and active in the world today! Contrary to what others would have you believe, the Body of Christ has been, and continues to be in a mode of expansion. Not that any of us Christians welcome persecution, but it is a well documented fact: The persecuted Church always grows! Not so sure about my assertion? Consider this, in 1900 there were an estimated 10 million Christians living in Africa. By 2000 that estimate rose to 360 million, and by the year 2025 it is estimated there will be some 630 million Christians living in Africa! There are several key factors for this growth, one of which is persecution. Recall in Part 1 of this series I cited an OpenDoors report placing Nigeria No. 1 on the list of most hostile places for Christians, with more than 2,000 believers martyred between 11/2012 and 3/2014. Within that same period, Central Africa Republic ranked third with more than 1,100 Christian martyrs, Kenya ranked fifth with 85, and Sudan came in tenth with 33. More than 3,200 followers of Jesus Christ were murdered in an eighteen month period of time in Africa alone! One would think such horror would quickly shrink the Church; yet, as has occurred for two millennia, the persecuted Church grows.
Still not convinced Christianity is alive and well in this ever darkening world? Consider Latin America, where the number of Christians are expected to rise to some 640 million by 2025. In Asia, 460 million by 2025. By the middle of this century, there will be some three billion Christians worldwide. This figure is one and a half times higher the estimated amount of Muslims by 2050. And if we look beyond population, what we find is that Christians living in Africa, Latin America and portions of Asia – so called Southern Christians, are more stanch theologically and morally than Western Christians. With great expectation, the Bride of Christ is gathering, and preparing for her beloved Bridegroom!
Right now, as you read this post, millions upon millions of Christians around the globe are hard at work for the Kingdom of God! The hungry are being fed. Many in prison are experiencing the love of Christ through the visitation of faithful Christians. Believers are risking their lives to share the Gospel with those who are lost and without hope. Medicine is being administered to those in need by volunteer Christian medical professionals. Widows and orphans are being cared for. Churches, both above ground and under ground are meeting, teaching, and encouraging fellow believers. THIS is what the Body of Christ is doing right now! Today! Tomorrow will bring more of the same!
Consider the words of Jesus:
“Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.” (John 10:1–5).
What does this mean? In agrarian societies, shepherds will often pull their flocks together at night into what is called a sheepfold (an area designed to hold the flocks). Not only is there safety in numbers for the sheep, but for the shepherds as well, who take shifts standing guard at the gate watching for predators. But take note of what Jesus says, that the shepherd calls to his own sheep and they follow him. God created sheep to instinctively follow their leader. While there might be hundreds of sheep in a sheepfold that belong to other shepherds, whichever shepherd comes to the gate and calls to his flock, they, and only they follow him out, the rest remain behind.
So, one of the most significant things we Christians can do in this present age, is, work to become increasingly more sensitive to the voice of our Shepherd, and second to this point, tune-out the other voices that call to us and seek to lead us astray. I’m not suggesting you no longer watch news broadcasts, but one must admit that any such organization exists to make money. How do news organizations make money? Primarily, by selling advertising space. The higher their ratings, the more they make. It is in these organizations best interest to hype in order to entice viewers. Consider the following headlines that appeared in The New York Times some forty years ago:
- Scientist Fears Equable Climate Around World Could Be Ending (by Boyce Rensberger, October 31, 1972)
- CLIMATE CHANGES CALLED OMINOUS; Scientists Warn Predictions Must Be Made Precise to Avoid Catastrophe (by Harold M. Schmeck, Jr., January 19, 1975)
- Scientists Ask Why World Climate Is Changing; Major Cooling May Be Ahead; Scientists Ponder Why World's Climate Is Changing; a Major Cooling Widely Considered to Be Inevitable (by Walter Sullivan, May 21, 1975)
- International Team of Specialists Finds No End in Sight to 30-Year Cooling Trend in Northern Hemisphere (by Walter Sullivan, January 5, 1978)
See my point? Forty years later we see these headlines are sensationalist. Doom and gloom sells, because that which we fear tends to receive our attention. And you can bank on the fact, that, today’s headlines are just as sensational as in the past. Please understand, I, in no way, seek to minimize the horrors being persecuted against us Christians all around the world. Indeed, we believers must each be prepared to do two things: 1.) Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you (1 Peter 3:15); and 2.) Dying for our faith is gain (see Philippians 1:21). So, all in all, it is wise for each of us Christians to consider who we allow to speak into our life.
I encourage you to meditate on the words of our Shepherd:
- “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.” (Matthew 6:25 – 34).
- “In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world!” (John 16:33b).
- “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that can do nothing more.” (Luke 12:4).
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