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"Two-hundred million
Christians currently live under persecution.
It’s absolutely on the rise” (Jeff
King, president of Persecution.Org).
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“All who desire to
live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution”
(Apostle Paul to Timothy just before he was beheaded, 2 Timothy 3:12)
“The blood of the martyrs
is the seed of the church” (Tertullian)
According to the organization,
International Christian Concern (ICC),
the ten worst current offenders of religious rights in the world are:
1) China – The communist government has intensified repression against
Christians by raiding unregistered private homes and house churches,
imprisoning the leaders, imposing harsh fines, confiscating property, and
publicly slandering house-church leaders.
2) Sudan – The militant Arab-backed regime in Khartoum is using every
method possible to repress non-Muslims. Over 25% of the population of Southern
Sudan is Christian. Suffering the most are the Christians of the South and Nuba
Mountains. Arab forces continue to enslave children, rape women, violently
attack and bomb villages, and withhold food and medicines. There is also
evidence of the use of chemical weapons. More than two million people have died
in Sudan over the past ten years, mostly non-Muslim black Africans. Every attempt
is made to force Christians to become Muslims.
3) Saudi Arabia – Perhaps the most oppressive of all countries when it
comes to Christians practicing their faith. The practice of the Christian faith
and the public display of any Christian symbol are forbidden. Christian workers
from outside the country are forbidden from praying or holding Bible studies in
their homes. Evangelism and conversion to Christianity is punishable by death
by beheading.
4) Burma (Myanmar) – The government
of Burma has been involved in a brutal campaign to eliminate Christians and
other minorities. Suffering the most are the Chin and Karen people. Buddhist
monks backed by the military have been entering villages and forcing Christians
to recant their faith. Buddhist leaders recently declared all Christian radio programs
a threat to Buddhism and published a document suggesting how to eliminate
Christianity from the country. Many Christians have been killed or forced from
their homes.
5) North Korea – In May 1999, the government issued an open warning to
all citizens that missionaries are “tools
of imperialism” and must be “ferreted
out.” The number of believers in North Korea has dramatically reduced as a
result of years of harsh persecution. Between 1987 to 1992, former prisoner
Soon Ok Yi says she witnessed monthly executions of Christians.
6) Indonesia – Christians have come under increasing attack from
Muslims. Over the past four years, at least three hundred churches have been destroyed.
In East Timor, nineteen priests and seven nuns have been reported killed since
September 4, 1999. Christians are victims of a carefully-planned Muslim holy
war that has resulted in hundreds of deaths and destruction to scores of
churches and property.
7) Vietnam – The Protestant denominations continue to face persecution
and the communist government destroys places of worship. Thousands of
Christians have suffered ill-treatment, aimed at forcing the minorities to give
up their faith.
8) Turkmenistan – All religious groups fewer than five hundred members
are required to register, limiting religious activities to only the Orthodox Church
and Sunni Muslims. Evangelism and conversion is strictly forbidden. On August
4, 1999, Shagildy Atakov of the Evangelical Baptist Church in Turkmenbashi was
arrested on false charges following his conversion to Christianity. He was
beaten, fined $12,000, an amount impossible to pay, and sentenced to four years
in a labor camp.
9) India – The rise in Hindu nationalism has resulted in over one
hundred acts of violence against Christians since June 1998. This is more than
all the year combined since India’s independence fifty years ago. The escalation
of persecution against Christians made headlines after Australian missionary
Graham Staines and his two young sons were mercilessly burned alive. Catholic priest
Father Arul Doss was killed by a gang armed with bows and arrows.
10) Egypt – Conversion of Christian girls to Islam is often coerced.
Poor Christians are offered incentives to convert (this reminds me of my people
at rural areas in Sabah and Sarawak). One Egyptian organization claims that it
has documented 218 cases of abduction. Muslims, however, are forbidden to
become Christians. Churches cannot be built or repaired without special
permission, but the construction of new mosques continues to flourish (Egypt
cases sound like in Malaysia).
Upcoming nation that may list
in the Top 20 worst offenders for the next few years is Malaysia. Here are just a few examples of persecutions in my
country:
In early 2009, Home Ministry of Malaysian government
banned the use of “Allah” in the
Catholic Church’s weekly paper Herald.
Since then, Malaysia has seen the ongoing dispute and increasing tension over
whether Christians could use the word “Allah”, which even led to attacks on
three Christian churches in 2010.
The Islamic authority in
Malaysia, Selangor Islamic Religious
Department (Jais), seized over 300 Bibles from the Bible Society of Malaysia (BSM) and arrested several staff members
in January, 2014.
In May 2014, a
controversial seminar promoting the idea of "threat of Christianization" was jointly organized by the
largest public university in Malaysia UiTM and the Selangor Islamic Council
(Mais). However, facing questions and concerns, the public university UiTM has
kept mum over why academic authorities were willing to tolerate and even
promote a certain religious agenda. It was reported that the seminar was
promoting a bigoted view without inviting any Christian speaker; and an
Indonesian Muslim speaker said “Christians were
betraying God unless they became Muslims.” Christians expressed
concerns over increasingly difficult inter-faith discourse in Malaysian society.
In August 11, 2014, the
dream of the Caliphate spreads to
Asia, raising fears of violence in Indonesia and Malaysia. International Christian Concern (ICC) noted at least 20 Malaysian
nationals are recruited by ISIS in Syria to fight the jihad. The article
reports that both Malaysia and Indonesia have warned that those followers of
ISIS are “ready to strike their countries of
origin” and the goal is to “erase secular
and pluralist constitutions in order to introduce Sharia-inspired rules.”
There are many more
stories untold. Why I compiled and write all these? Because people need to know
the truth! If there are people asking me to shut up, I will reply like Peter
and John before the Council of religious leaders: “You
yourselves judge which is right in God’s sight – to obey you or to obey God. For
we cannot stop speaking of what we ourselves have seen and heard”
(Acts 4:19-20, GNB). Amen.
THINK BIG.
START SMALL. GO DEEP.
Resources:
1. Robert J. Morgan’s Preacher’s Sourcebook of Creative Sermon Illustrations
(Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson Publisher, 2007). Pg. 761-762
2. From the website: www.persecution.org
3. From the website: http://www.asianews.it/news-en/The-dream-of-the-Caliphate-spreads-to-Asia,-raising-fears-of-violence-in-Indonesia-and-Malaysia-31864.html
Recommended books to read:
1. Book of Acts (or The Acts of the Apostles) in the New
Testament Bible. Any translations will do.
2. (New) Foxe’s Book of Martyrs
by John Foxe. Buy the new and updated version – more understandable modern language.
Published by Bridge Logos is awesome!
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