ICC's September 2014 E-Newsletter, Persecution, 3/4

PERSECUTION International Christian Concern | September 2014

A Very Dangerous Place Strategies Against The Local Church

A Spectrum of Persecution pg3

Catch 22 pg5

A Dangerous Place pg7

Your Bridge to the Persecuted Church

A DANGEROUS

MESSAGE

By Ryan Morgan

The Gospel Threatens Earthly Power So When Countries Persecute, We Must Speak Truth To Power From the very first days of the early church, and before rulers and authorities had taken it upon themselves to attempt to control or crush the Christian faith, the Gospel was a very dangerous message because at the foundation, it clarifies that every Christian owes their first allegiance to God. Any earthly government that allows religious freedom is implicitly acknowledging that there is an authority greater than their own which some of their citizens may choose to serve. It is a freedom that has instilled fear into dictators for centuries, and still does today.

Approximately 64% of the world’s population, or 4.5 billion souls, live under governments with either “high or very high” restrictions on religious freedom (Pew Forum data).

This spectrum of persecution includes anything from restrictions on employment (Burma), only allowing worship in carefully monitored “official” churches (China), to completely outlawing churches (Saudi Arabia). These government restrictions are only growing progressively worse according to the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.

So how do we fight this enormous problem? What can we do beyond prayer, beyond raising awareness and providing assistance to victims of persecution? The answer is advocacy. In its simplest form, advocacy is speaking truth to powChristians protest at the Saudi Embassy

er (a phrase most likely coined by the Quakers). Through advocacy, we take up the cause of the persecuted and plead their case before the leaders of the nations. Often we ask those leaders, to plead the case of the persecuted with their counterparts in other nations. Sometimes politely at first, but with the clear implication that to continue to persecute religious minorities will tarnish their relationship with the United States, should it continue.

While many governments persecute, or turn a blind eye to the persecution of Christians in their countries, most are willing to address the issue if it is affecting their relationship with the United States or other Western powers. The potential eiplomatic and economic consequences of ignoring Western leaders are too painful to ignore polite requests from the U.S. to address particular persecution issues.

Over the past few years ICC has seen case after case where governments agreed to end persecution after intervention by the U.S. While we cannot share all of the stories publically but three case studies are provided below.

Saudi Arabia On December 15, 2011, 35 men and women were arrested at a private prayer service in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. All 35 were Christians and Ethiopian citizens. During their interrogation, some of the men were physically beaten and the women were forced to undergo strip searches. Local authorities openly accused them of being infidels and spies for America and Israel. ICC broke the news of their arrest and imprisonment a few days later and in January held a conference call with the U.S. State Department, urging the U.S. to take action on the case.

After four months and two ICC-sponsored protests outside of the Saudi embassy in D.C., we took an underground pastor who was familiar with the prisoners to Capitol Hill and held twenty-four meetings with Congressional offices in the House and Senate. This resulted in calls directly from our nation’s leaders to the Saudi ambassador as well as Saudi officials being called to House offices to explain the arrests in person. We soon heard from our sources in Jeddah that orders had “come from above” for the release

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of the prisoners. In early August, 2012, all 35 prisoners were released and sent back to Ethiopia after almost 8 months of detention.

They reported that pressure from the outside had been instrumental in ending their stay in a Saudi jail.

Indonesia In 2012, ICC sources estimated that at least 50 churches had been shut down by local authorities across Indonesia. The closures always came after radical Islamic groups protested the existence of the church and put pressure on local officials to seal off the building, usually under the guise of a badly misused permit law.

In early 2013, ICC brought a pastor of one of those churches to Capitol Hill. We held dozens of meetings with key Congressional offices and asked them to write to the Indonesian ambassador, expressing their concern at the spate of church closures. Many did, including one key Senator on the Senate Armed Services Committee that controls much of the funding provided by the U.S. to Indonesia every year.

For seven months after our “advocacy tour” church closures became almost non-existent. Our contacts only reported a single incident. It appeared that the Indonesian government got the message, and, for a time at least, kept local officials from shutting down churches.

ICC meeting with a congressman on Indonesia Sri Lanka In 2013, Christian groups in Sri Lanka documented 103 incidents of violence or harassment against Christians and their places of worship. Mobs, led by radical nationalist Buddhist monks, stormed churches and beat up pastors with the police often ignoring the attacks. Sometimes, they even helped the mobs destroy the church. When pastors complained, the authorities responded by saying that their churches weren’t “registered” and therefore had no right to exist. The fact that not a single law requiring places of worship to register exists in Sri Lanka, or that there is no actual way to register, didn’t see seem to bother the authorities.

In May, 2014, ICC brought persecution in Sri Lanka to national attention, urging members of congress to call the Sri Lankan ambassador to the US and express their concern.

Several offices in the Senate and the House agreed. At the time of writing, these calls are still ongoing, but already the Sri Lanka government is scrambling for a way to explain why they’ve allowed so many attacks on churches.

The Impossible, Possible By speaking truth to power, we have seen the impossible become possible. Christians set free from prison, attacks on churches halted, and many more victories have been won when we find the courage to persistently advocate on behalf of the suffering church. With God’s help, we will continue to play our part in ensuring that far from being crushed, the Good News continues to go forth into the outer most parts of the earth.

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A DANGEROUS

PEACE

By Corey Bailey

“In This World You Will Have Trouble. But Take Heart!

I Have Overcome the World.” John 16:33 (NIV) Persecution can be overwhelming. Sometimes your heart breaks as you hear another story of a woman who was set ablaze by her unbelieving husband, or of a child left orphaned when his parents were martyred.

Trust I am constantly moved to tears and conviction as I see the persecuted continue to trust the Lord in the face of heavy persecution.

Dealing with the persecuted can bring a barrage of sadness.

The heaviness is banished though when you see the hope and the beauty of their faith lived in a way that is “pressed down, but not destroyed.”

One persecuted pastor recently told his congregation, “God has a great purpose during the persecution. We must stand firm in the truth and never compromise. Facing persecution, we need courage and repentance before God, knowing He will (use it to) revive His Church.”

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Love Their example of responding in love is a tremendous example. One pastor who’s church is being threatened to be torn down told us, “We teach our kids at Sunday school to pray for the government. The secret police asked why we did this.

I explained that the Bible teaches us to love those who persecute you.”

This is called “moving in the opposite spirit” and is a way many of the persecuted are able to walk in love instead of hate. They give their hurt to the Lord, and instead of hating their persecutors, they love and pray for them. In the midst of their crisis, they choose trust, hope, and love instead of insecurity, despair, and feeling abandoned.

to Him. We are to “take heart” because He has overcome the world!

Making All Things New When we, or the persecuted, face pain, we usually respond with a heart-cry: “God, why are our brothers and sisters beaten, tortured, raped, and killed? Where are You? Why is this happening to me? Where is the hope in this?”

This is I think, a natural reaction. We were not meant to live in a broken world. We were meant to live in the Garden with connection to God and without pain, sickness or suffering.

But we were thrust into a world that is controlled by the evil one and where everything has been bent and broken; a place of suffering (read Genesis chapter 3). When we suffer, A Road Less Traveled or see others suffer, it’s as though we are fish out of water.

In The Road Less Traveled, Robert Frost says that choosing the We feel like our souls are drowning. And I think that they road less traveled “made all the difference.” This road is not are. well worn, and you do not know what is around the bend.

There could be rocks, thorns and glass, pain and suffering, The beautiful thing is that the instant we left the Garden, He or it may be blocked completely! began His great plan of redemption. He sent His Son to die for us, to take our sin as His own, to set our spirits free. In However, there could also be joy and blessing. Perhaps, even, the midst of our pain, He said He would never leave you and joy and suffering are mixed together in one cup. that He sees your suffering and has compassion on you.

Courage He changes what the enemy meant for evil into something I am emboldened when I hear accounts of the spunk and good. He leaves a legacy of love to draw us to himself. He sets bravery of believers who routinely face persecution. out to rescue our family in the suffering Church. He even sets out to rescue those that don’t know Him. Take the Chinese pastor who told us, “When the police called me (and asked me to come into the station for an interroga- The Not–So-Secret Secret tion) without any legal orders, I simply told them that I am Do the persecuted have some sort of superpower? I don’t not available. I said, I am too busy pastoring the church and think so. They choose to trust what God has told you and I. taking seminary classes to” chat” with them several times a They know that Jesus laid down His life for us, and we ought day.” What boldness and courage he displayed! to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters (1 John 3:16) They take to heart Philippians 3:8 (NIV), “I consider evA Promise erything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus did not promise that following Him was going to be Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I “pain and trouble free.” No, He actually said that we would consider them garbage that I may gain Christ.” face hard times.

They let their pain drive them to Him. If the persecuted have In John 16:33 He says, “I have told you these things so that a superpower, this is it! They give up on the world and give in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. it all to God. His presence can then flow through them in a But take heart! I have overcome the world.” Jn 16:33 powerful way. The peace and joy that come as a result in the very midst of their pain, is the great secret of suffering with Did you hear the promise there? There is, in a sense, a “cup God. of joy and suffering” offered to us by Jesus. When we follow Him, he promises that there will be trouble; there will They experience the peace of God that passes all understandbe persecution. Things are going to get hard. That is life. It ing. They do not demand a pain-free life. They expect that will look different to each person, but to some degree, you as they walk down this narrow road, less travelled, they will will see suffering of some sort. But Jesus promises that in suffer for their faith and their love for Jesus but they count the midst of the suffering He can give us peace, if we go it as joy!

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