Christian Persecution
I’ve seen a couple of recent posts online (here’s an example) about Christian persecution around the world. I’ve posted on this before too. Today I thought I’d present a slightly different perspective.
To be sure, stories of persecution must be spread far and wide, if only so that comfortable Christians can know that our faith, and the struggle against it, is alive and well - if only so we can know that the Bible speaks the truth for today, and not just for Christians under Roman persecution 2,000 years ago.
I recently finished reading a book called The Heavenly Man by a Chinese pastor named Brother Yun. This is an amazing story of the underground church in China over the last thirty or forty years, and one man’s incredible testimony and persecutions.
Now ordinarily the Western response to international Christian persecution is a call for it to stop. It makes sense, after all people are hurting and we should do something about it, right? Brother Yun has a different perspective - a more Biblical one - and considering that he’s gone through more than any of us are ever likely to go through, his words are worth listening to.
We[, the underground Chinese church,] have also come to understand that the past thirty years of suffering, persecution and torture for the house churches in China were all part of God’s training for us. The Lord has perfectly fitted us to go as missionaries to the Muslim, Buddhist and Hindu worlds.
Once I spoke in the West and a Christian told me, “I’ve been praying for years that the Communist government in China will collapse, so Christians can live in freedom.” This is not what we pray! We never pray against our government or call down curses on them. Instead, we have learned that God is in control of both our own lives and the government we live under. Isaiah prophesied about Jesus, “The government will be on his shoulders.” Isaiah 9:6
God has used China’s government for his own purposes, moulding and shaping his children as he sees fit. Instead of focusing our prayers against any political system, we pray that regardless of what happens to us, we will be pleasing to God.
Don’t pray for the persecution to stop! We shouldn’t pray for a lighter load to carry, but a stronger back to endure! Then the world will see that God is with us, empowering us to live in a way that reflects his love and power.
This is true freedom!
How true. I wonder how much of our perspective on persecution and the need for Christian freedom comes from our historical background. After all, colonists came partly for religious freedom and freedom itself is a major theme in the history and formation of the US. Really, the concept of freedom has been drilled into us from the time we enter school.
I don’t think that freedom or persecution are “bad” in and of themselves. Let me explain. Persecution is a trial for Christians…not to be confused with temptation. Remember, trials come from God and are used to refine us as Christians, to grow and mature us. In contrast, temptations are of the devil and are used to lead us away from God, to cause us to stumble and fall. Our response to trials & temptations must differ because they are different problems. You can ask God to remove temptations from your life or to remove you from the temptation. However, persecution is a trial and as such is used to grow and mature us. Christ warned us that we would face persecution because of Him (John 15:18-21). We can learn from Christ’s example in the garden prior to his crucifixion. Remember, he asked the Father to take the cup from him, yet not his will, but the Father’s. We can ask God to remove the trial (in this case persecution) if it is His will (Matthew 26). The key word here is “if.” If God does not remove the trial (and in my personal experience, he rarely removes the trial) then we must endure. As you quoted Brother Yun, we should ask for strength to endure. We can also take comfort in the prayer Christ prays for the disciples and for believers. Christ prays for protection from the evil one…nowhere in that prayer does he pray that we might not suffer persecution (John 17:6-26). In fact, we are told to run the race with perseverance like Christ who endured opposition from sinful man (Hebrews 12:1-3). I think our problem as Christians is that we fear the pain the come with persecution. It is not easy to endure. It would be so much easier if it were removed. That, of course, will not be the case.
As for freedom, especially the kind of freedom we have in the US, it is a blessing. One thing I’ve learned about blessings in the last 10 year or so is that it comes with strings attached. I used to feel guilty that God had blessed me with so much (materialistically, spiritually, etc.) What I learned is that with great blessing comes great responsibility. I am not to hoard my blessing, but to be a good steward with my blessings from God. God has given great examples of this (King David and Lydia, just to mention two). One of the blessings we enjoy, is that of freedom. Consequently, we need to be good stewards of it. One way is to take advantage of our freedom to go support those who lack that kind of freedom.
I’m realizing this comment is getting way too long. I’ll stop here. Thanks for making me think today. =^)
Oops, one more thing, biblically, we are to submit to those in authority over us…that includes the government. This concludes a hodge podge of what I’ve been gleaning from BSF in the last 6.5 years. I hope I made some sense.
I think everything you said is absolutely right on. It’s kinda strange, but I was just thinking the same thing about the founding of the US (strangely enough, the thought came from watching “National Treasure”). It was when Nicolas Cage was quoting this line from the Declaration of Independence:
The Declaration actually says (my paraphrase) that “Prudence” dictates that governments should not be thrown off lightly, even when evils are done if they are tolerable (”sufferable” is the word used), but when it gets bad enough then it must be done.
I respect what the founders did and the blessings God has brought out of it are to His glory, but this idea did not come from the Bible. The Bible says to not rebel, to consider trials as joy, to consider suffering and persecution as things to rejoice about, because in the same way the prophets (and Jesus) suffered and were persecuted.
I think you added a good (and powerful) word. When we are blessed, the purpose of it is so that we can bless others. I don’t think that means to bless others with the same freedom we have, per se, but it definitely means to use that freedom to share with those who do not have it. Americans have much more freedom, and fewer consequences, if caught as missionaries in certain countries than nationals do. It would bless God to use that advantage.
The Heavenly Man is one of my favorites. Brother Yun’s humility and self sacrifice definitely pushes my comfort buttons ;D
love you cindy,
Bry