"We Are Never Heard": The Cry of the Persecuted Church

When the Christian faith may be hazardous to your health.

You man not realize it now, but if current trends continue you may find your life in danger for your Christian faith.  I know that some people reading this post will label me "alarmist" for suggesting this, but statistically Christian persecution is at an all-time high in many parts of the world.  Open Doors, a Christian ministry that serves persecuted Christians world-wide, has reported that in Africa--the continent with the strongest Christian presence--one out of six Christians will suffer persecution while in Asia one in three Christians will suffer persecution.  More than 245 million Christians world-wide will suffer extreme persecution. In 2019 more than 1,000 Christians were martyred by Muslim extremists in Nigeria alone. These levels of anti-Christian persecution exact a personal price for those suffering.  Raymond Ibrahim, writing for the Gladstone Institute quotes a letter from the widow of a man martyred in India for his Christian faith:

"We had been experiencing religious hatred from [the husband's employer] and his colleagues, however, we had no courage to register this with police. We are poor and belong to a downtrodden segment of society. Therefore, we are never heard...."

I have worshipped with, and done ministry in areas where Christians are regularly persecuted.  I know the cry of "we are never heard" would resonate with millions of people around the world.  

Stages of Persecution

The persecution of the Church does not arrive on the scene fully formed and ready for action.  It evolves over a period of years gradually becoming more extreme in its expression.  Some Christian writers have suggested that there may be five stages of persecution.  With each stage there is increasing hostility towards people of the Christian faith.  

Stage One: Stereotyping 

A stereotype is a uniform or standardized description of a particular group of people.  In the mid 20th century Pentecostals were stereotyped as wild-eyed, largely uneducated, snake handlers.  Baptists were often depicted as fundamentalist Bible thumpers.  Roman Catholics were guilt ridden followers of the Pope who were unable to throw off the shackles of religion.  None of these stereotypes were completely accurate but they continued to be used in the popular media for decades.  

Stage Two:  Vilifying 

Later in the 20th century Christianity began to be vilified for supposed crimes.  As an example, the Crusades which neither the secular critics of Christianity nor the Muslim world can ever forget.  Christian missionaries were accused of being culture killers who commit fraud on indigenous cultures. The Church is often remembered only for inquisitions and the persecution of science.  As one Christian writer has observed, "All of this has the effect of creating a self-righteous indignation towards believers, and of making...anti-Christian attitudes a permissible bigotry."

Stage Three: Marginalization

When bigotry against Christians becomes an accepted behavior in the society, Christians begin to be marginalized.  Christianity becomes something to be removed from the public life.  The cultural gatekeepers of our society--the media, prominent politicians, entertainment elites, University administrators and professors, the local "intellectuals", and numerous anti-Christian special interest groups seem to be dedicated to the removal of Christianity and Christian thought from the public square.  We can pray at an event--but, are forbidden to pray in Jesus name.  We can speak on a national news broadcast about a miraculous event in our lives--but, without attribution to the Lord Jesus Christ.  We can be "people of faith" inside the four walls of our church, but, practicing our faith outside of that setting is seen as something evil.  

Stage Four: Criminalizing

We are already seeing the criminalization of Christianity in America.  Laws are being debated--and, passed--that would punish Christians who seek to live, teach, and openly believe in traditional Christian marriage.  A few large corporations run by committed Christians have had to suffer government intervention when they refused to provided goods and services to employees that would specifically run counter to traditional Christian beliefs.  Some small businesses have been target for economic sanctions due to their Christian faith.  Thankfully some of these laws and policies have been rebuffed by the courts, but the day will soon come when that will no longer be true.  

Stage Five: Violence

The final stage in the development of persecution of Christians will be the violent suppression of Christianity.  We can already see stages one through four happening in our society.  Will it be long before we slip into stage five?  As Christians we must pray for our nation and for our political leaders.  We are tasked with being salt in this world...and, light in this world...even if it means death.  

The Real Saint Nicholas

The Real Saint Nicholas (was no wimpy saint!) 

Christmas brings again a wonderful time of celebration of our Lord's first appearing.  For Americans this is inevitably connected to the mythical figure of Santa Claus--apparently based upon Nicholas who was the bishop of Myra in the early 4th Century AD.  He may have been in his late teens or early 20's when he was named a bishop.  According to legend Nicholas was known for his generosity and kindness to those who were less fortunate--providing (according to the legend) gold for the doweries of three poverty stricken Christian girls who might have otherwise been trafficked as sex slaves.  

Nice.  But, the little known part of the Saint Nicholas legend reveals a man more like Naboth of the Old Testament than the jolly old elf of modern Christmas.  During the early Christian council debates, at the council of Nicea, when the church was formulating the doctrine of the Holy Trinity and the nature of Jesus Christ.  Arius a presbyter (elder)--but not bishop--from Alexandria, Egypt, held that God is so wholly other than man that He cannot share his substance with any other.  Further, Arius believed that the Son of God did not always exist, but was begotten in time by God the Father.  Nicholas, and, indeed the vast majority of those participating, refused to have any of this. In the heat of the debate Nicholas was so overcome with anger at this heretical teaching that he actually slapped Arius in the face.  

   

Why is this ancient debate important to us now?

The debate went right to the heart of the Christian Gospel message.  If there was a time when He--the Son of God--was not, then He is not co-eternal with God the Father.  But Arius' bishop, Alexander, knew right away this would reduce the divinity of Jesus Christ and thus disqualify him as mankind's savior.  The apostle Paul, in writing to the Philippian Church, expressed the apostolic faith about Christ like this, 

"Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."  (Philippians 2:5-11 NIV).  

John had also explained in his Gospel, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made...And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth." John 1:1-3,14

That Jesus Christ was preexisting with the Father before his incarnation on earth as Mary's child is a settled point of Christian faith.

The end result of the council of Nicea was the publishing of the Nicean Creed--that basic statement of the Christian faith that goes like this;

I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made.

Who, for us men for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried; and the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again, with glory, to judge the quick and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end.

And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of Life; who proceeds from the Father [and the Son]; who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; who spoke by the prophets.

And I believe one holy catholic and apostolic Church. I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.