“More Christians have died this century simply for being Christians than in the first nineteen centuries after the birth of Christ. They have been persecuted and martyred before an unknowing, indifferent world and a largely silent Christian community.” So notes activist Nina Shea. Persecution of Christians in foreign countries has slowly but surely come to the forefront of the American Church’s attention. Even the U.S. Congress has taken note. But things have not improved.

In China (6.1% Christian), more Christians are in prison than in any other country, reports the International Day of Prayer (IDOP) Prayer Journal. The first three months of 1997 saw over one hundred Chinese house church leaders arrested. In Cuba (44% Christian), churches can’t run schools or use television, radio, or mass media. Missionary work is forbidden and the distribution of Christian literature is strictly controlled. In Pakistan (2-3% Christian), militant Islamic groups are waging a war of hatred and violence on Christians. The government can’t control the terrorism for fear of alienating influential Islamic groups.

In Saudi Arabia (4% Christian), wearing a cross or saying a Christian prayer is illegal. A citizen that is a Christian is an assumed apostate and automatically subject to death. In Egypt (14.2% Christian), even though it is considered a somewhat democratic country, democracy does not include Christians. Islamic law still takes special precedence. Extremist groups abduct and rape non-Muslim women and girls to force them to convert to Islam, and most Christians are considered second-class citizens and denied many rights. In Sudan (19% Christian), food is denied to those who will not convert to Islam; Christian families are broken by abduction, imprisonment, torture, and execution of men. Women and children are kidnapped, sold into slavery for as little as fifteen dollars, and forced to work as concubines or slaves for their Muslim owners.

In North Korea (under 0.02% Christian), the communist government has tried to obliterate all religions, replacing them with a “bizarre personality cult around the late ‘Great Leader’ Kim Il Sung and the Kim family.” In Vietnam (9.8% Christian), many Christians who openly speak about their faith have been “arrested, imprisoned and sentenced to cultural re-education.” In Iran (0.4% Christian), “both proselytism of Muslims and conversion are punishable by death.” One of the Christian leaders murdered was “Rev. Hussein Soodman, who was hanged for apostasy. His body was wrapped and sent as a Christmas present to his blind widow and four children.” In Uzbekistan (4.7% Christian), Christians have been threatened with the loss of their registration if they evangelize Muslims. A pastor was arrested for holding a church service and was fined three month’s wages.

Richard Wurmbrand encourages us Western Christians to take on the burdens of our persecuted sisters and brothers. “Concern for others drowns out your own troubles. Focus on God as the saints in prison do and you will know that heavenly peace comes from patient cross-bearing. To get out of the neurosis of lawlessness, begin to practice the law of love, at least in little things. Deny yourself for a period the food you love most, or some luxury in clothing, and think of those who eat unbearable food and are in rags. Interrupt your sleep for prayer on behalf of those interrogated during the night. . . . Sacrifice your complaining and grumbling for one day. Take time from other preoccupations to pray for the persecuted.”

For copies of the IDOP Resource Kit (including video and print material) call toll-free: 1-888-LETS-PRAY.

Web Site: http://www.persecutedchurch.org.

The International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church continues through November 16, 1997.

All quotes taken from the IDOP Resource Kit.

First published in Cornerstone (ISSN 0275-2743), Vol. 26, Issue 113 (1997), p. 26-27.
© 1997 Cornerstone Communications, Inc.
Electronic version may contain minor changes and corrections from printed version.