"Sisters of First Century Christians" in the Soviet Gulag

Nobel Prize winner Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's classic, Gulag Archipelago, recounts the horrors of the Soviet forced labour camps where "political" offenders (referred to as "politicals") were imprisoned and subject to brutal forced labour on account of various "political" offences which ranged from the ridiculous to absurd, as were other prisoners who were jailed for other offences. 

Among those imprisoned for "political" offences were Christians. In Solzhenitsyn's book, he records the best and worst of their responses to persecution. Of these were a group of believers, simple people with a simple faith, that shone in the darkness of the Soviet Gulag: 

And not only socialists were now politicals. The politicals were splashed in tubfuls into the fifteen-million-criminal ocean, and they were invisible and inaudible to us. They were mute. They were muter than all the test. Their image was the fish. 

The fish, symbol of the early Christians. And the Christians were their principal contingent. Clumsy, semiliterate, unable to deliver speeches from the rostrum or compose an underground proclamation (which their faith made unnecessary anyway), they went off to camp to face tortures and death - only so as not to renounce their faith! They knew very well for what they were serving time, and they were unwavering in their convictions! They were the only ones, perhaps, to whom the camp philosophy and even the camp language did not stick. And these were not politicals? Well, you'd certainly not call them riffraff. 

And women among them were particularly numerous. The Tao says: When faith collapses, that is when the true believers appear. Because of our enlightened scoffing at Orthodox priests, the squalling of the Komsomol members on Easter night, and the whistles of the thieves at the transit prisons, we overlooked the fact that the sinful Orthodox Church had nevertheless nurtured daughters worthy of the first centuries of Christianity - sisters of those thrown to the lions in the arenas. 

There was a multitude of Christians: prisoner transports and graveyards, prisoner transports and graveyards. Who will count those millions? They died unknown, casting only in their immediate vicinity a light like a candle. They were the best of Russia's Christians. The worst had all... trembled, recanted, and gone into hiding.

For these blessed believers, perhaps "the world was not worthy of them" (Hebrews 11:38), and certainly "God had planned something better for [them]" (Hebrews 11:40). 

They may have died silently, unknown and unrecognised by the world; but on the side of eternity awaits a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to them on that day of His appearing (cf. 2 Timothy 4:8).

"Who do you say I am?"

"Different people have different ideas..."

This has become a mantra of our time. Postmodernists and relativists claim that different people have different ideas of truth, and there is no truth. Politicians dodge direct questions from citizens or journalists by making vague statements about how there are different points of views from different segments of society and how it is not easy to "balance" these competing views.

But if there is anything that we can agree with German postmodernist philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche on, it is that without Truth, all we are left with is the "will to power". Thus, quietly but surely, the claims of postmodernists and relativists about "different ideas of truth" or of politicians of "balancing" vaguely defined competing views often masks a carte blanche for the imposition of sheer power.

Jesus had a direct question that He asked His disciples, "Who do people say I am?" (Mark 8:27) Although they were not exactly dodging the question like the postmodernists, relativists and politicians, the disciples replied by referring to the different views that people had: "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets." (Mark 8:28)

Jesus pressed in further, to which only the straight-talking Peter replied. The Gospel of Mark records:

"But what about you?" He asked. "Who do you say I am?" Peter answered, "You are the Christ." Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about Him.

(Mark 8:29-30)

The same question that Jesus posed to His disciples is the same question that Jesus poses to us today.

It is easy to simply reply by appealing to what other people think or say about God, about Jesus Christ, or about all the "controversial" moral issues of today. It is easy to reply things like "Christians say this about Jesus, while other religions say that", or to say things like "social conservatives say this, while those who are socially liberal say that".

It is also easy to just repeat what other Christians think or say, by saying things like, "According to my pastor..." or "According to my church..."

But the question that Jesus Christ is asking us today is a much more pointed one, "Who do you say I am?"

Will we, like Peter, proclaim "You are the Christ"? Is He your Lord and Saviour? Is He the Way, the Truth and the Life? Or is He just a good man, or something else?

Do we recognise Jesus Christ and His Words as the way to eternal life, an objective Truth that sets people free? Or are we ashamed of being identified as His disciples in a time when following Christ means exposure to contempt, ridicule or even persecution?

Jesus Himself said:

If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it... If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels.

(Mark 8:34b-35, 38)

In a time of growing confusion and compromise, let us "fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." (Hebrews 12:2)

Amen and amen.

No, Jim Solouki, the crashing of QZ8501 is not God's punishment

2014 seems to have been a year of airplane disasters. After Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 went missing, AirAsia Indonesia Flight QZ8501 has crashed en route from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore. The AirAsia report as of 30 December 2014, 18:00 hours LT (GMT+7), reads:

AirAsia Indonesia regrets to inform that The National Search and Rescue Agency Republic of Indonesia (BASARNAS) today confirmed that the debris found earlier today is indeed from QZ8501, the flight that had lost contact with air traffic control on the morning of 28th December 2014.  

The debris of the aircraft was found in the Karimata Strait around 110 nautical miles south west from Pangkalan Bun. 

The aircraft was an Airbus A320-200 with the registration number PK-AXC. There were 155 passengers on board, with 137 adults, 17 children and 1 infant. Also on board were 2 pilots, 4 cabin crews and one engineer.

 

Once again, as with MH370, the same misguided soul Jim Solouki has put up a post dated 28 December 2014, "AirAsia flight QZ8501. God’s true warning!":

Greetings True Christians! 

Did you know that God has made an Air Asia plane flying into Singapore disappear with 162 passengers on board as a punishment for their sinful behavior? That’s right boys and girls, much like the Malaysian Air disappearance and crash, God has made a plane filled with mostly Inonesian passengers disappear. Why are planes carrying Indonesians disappearing more than any other types of plane? The answer is simple! The Indonesian people are a heathen people! They failed to keep Christ in Christmas, and now Christ chose to not keep their airplane in the air! 

God is striking down planes from this region of the world because these people are unwilling to embrace the Truth of Christ! If they would just embrace Jesus, then God would stop taking their planes! These people are ungodly heathens who are either Muslims, Buddhists, or Hindus. They worship in the jungle and reject Jesus! They are all going to burn in HELL unless they repent!

Unlike True Christian nations like America that never have planes disappear, Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia have tons of planes disappear. WHy did this plane go down? The answer is simple. God is punishing the nation and the airline. The disappearance of this plane is a warning from God. If the countries of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore do not repent, Jesus Christ and God the Father will continue to take airplanes from you.

Repent Malaysia! Repent Indonesia! Repent Singapore! Stop allowing prostitutes to run around on corners in your midst! Get rid of those heathen Hindus and Muslims! Reject Satan and embrace Jesus! Your ungodly sinful tolerance of homosexuality will get you nowhere. God will keep punishing you until you repent! 

The disappearance of this plane is another judgment from God issued against these heathens. How can they stop this from happening in the future? They must be Born Again in Christ! Reject Ramadan, reject Muhammad, reject Buddhism, reject stupid heathen ways and embrace Jesus. That is the only way to heaven and to safety. All of the passengers on that flight were probably non-Christian and are truly in Hell. 

Let us pray. Dear Lord Jesus, please continue to take planes from the heathen parts of Asia until those sinners repent. Punish them for tolerating the gays, the non-Christians, and the ways of the savage. Crush them until they reject prostitution and embrace your holy word. Please lead the heathens to the Father and away from sin. Until then, continue tor reap punishments upon them until their ungodly spirits are broken. Then they may be reborn as children of Christ. In this your name we pray. Amen. 

God hates AirAsia. God hates the heathens. And if you’re a heathen sympathizer, God hates YOU. Repent heathens, or further judgment awaits. 

I’m Jim Solouki, and I’m a True Christian.

It is remarkable how little Scripture he cites in support of his position. With writing and language like this, this post seems more like a parody or tasteless satire than anything else.

 

So, on pain of repeating myself, I shall address his points again.

 

"If they would just embrace Jesus, then God would stop taking their planes!"

As before, Solouki claims that "If they would just embrace Jesus, then God would stop taking their planes!"

A quick look at the New Testament shows that this is obviously wrong. Jesus Christ Himself, as well as the early church, all suffered in one way or another.

Even Jesus Christ, being without sin (Hebrews 4:15), was insulted, mocked, ridiculed and ultimately crucified.

Jesus warned His disciples that "[if] they persecuted me, they will persecute you also" (John 15:20). And they did. James was put to death by the sword (Acts 12:2). According to tradition, Peter was crucified upside down. Early Christians suffered intensely for their faith. We read in the Book of Hebrews:

Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated — the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and in holes in the ground. (Hebrews 11:35b-38)

The idea that bad things do not happen to "True Christians" is simply naive and wrong.
 

"Punishment for sinful behavior"?

 Again, Solouki runs on the assumption that the plane crash was "[punishment] for sinful behavior".

 

Jesus was asked a similar question in Luke 13:1-9:

Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them--do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish."

Then he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, 'For three years now I've been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven't found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?'

"'Sir,' the man replied, 'leave it alone for one more year, and I'll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.'"

Jesus' words are clear. These people are not any more sinful than anyone else. Instead, the focus is on an attitude of repentance, "unless you repent, you too will all perish."

Jesus was not talking about "perishing" physically here, like in a plane crash. As we have already seen above, Jesus and early Christians suffered and died some of the most painful deaths imaginable.

Instead, it the kind of eternal death that Jesus was warning about. In Matthew 10:28:

Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

We do not take any delight in the death of anyone, Christian or otherwise, but instead we constantly hope for the salvation of all.

 

God loves AirAsia, "heathens" and "heathen sympathizers"

The Bible teaches that God is love (1 John 4:8ff), and He demonstrated His love not least through the sacrifice of His Son on the cross so that the way to eternal life might be open:

But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

God is patient, "not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9b).

 

 

So God loves AirAsia. God loves the heathens. And if you’re a heathen sympathiser, God loves you too.

 

As Jesus Christ declares, "I am the Way and the Truth and the Life" (John 14:6), He also calls us to love God and love our neighbours as ourselves (Mark 12:29-31), and even to love our enemies and do good to those who hate you (Luke 6:27).

 

God loves you too, Jim Solouki.

 

And in Christian love, I am telling you, Jim Solouki, to stop blaspheming and stop spreading untruths about God, and be reconciled to Christ in repentance, "for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses His name" (Exodus 20:7).

 

On behalf Christians everywhere, I ask for forgiveness if poor misguided souls like Solouki have caused or aggravated your grief, and pray that the Lord will be with all in their time of need.

Living Sacrifices

"Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship." (Romans 12:1)

As I was reflecting this morning on the news that Singapore will be joining the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) by sending around 50 to 60 personnel to assist in military operations there, the words "living sacrifice" in the letter from Paul to the Romans came to mind. I recalled the graphic images of brutal killings in an article on Catholic Online. In its efforts to establish an Islamic Caliphate, ISIS has committed unbelievable acts of cruelty against men and women, young and old.

I began to wonder if the term "living sacrifice" held a deeper meaning in this time when "anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God" because "they have not known the Father or [Christ]" (John 16:2-3).

It dawned upon me that we are called to offer our bodies as sacrifices to the Lord not only in life, but also in bodily death. Yet in both senses, we are "living sacrifices". We are alive even in death because of the eternal life that Christ has given us. God is God of the living, not the dead (Matthew 22:32). Therefore, we need not be afraid of "those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul" (Matthew 10:28).

Indeed, "to live is Christ and to die is gain." (Philippians 1:21)

What would characterise the beliefs and perspectives of a follower of Jesus Christ now?

In the media and in politics, we often find labels being used. Those who oppose abortion are called "pro-life", while those who support the legalisation of abortion call themselves "pro-choice". In Singapore, we hear terms like "pro-family" to refer to the Government's policies supporting marriage, parenthood and so on.

Terms like these may obscure the actual reasons or viewpoints and prevent discussion, but they sometimes serve to create an easy starting point for reference purposes. 

Early disciples of Jesus Christ did not call themselves "Christians", but instead referred to their faith as "the Way" (Acts 9:2). The Book of Acts then records that the disciples were called "Christians" first at Antioch (Acts 11:26), a term that probably held the same connotation as the term "Jesus freak" in our day.

It was a term which characterised their beliefs and perspectives in a way that others could easily understand.

Roman senator and historian Tacitus wrote the following in his Annals about Christians and Christ:

Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judæa, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular...

Early Christians were known for their refusal to worship Caesar and paid a heavy price for it.

They were also known for their opposition to gladiatorial fights. One Roman writer has criticised Christians, saying:

You do not go to our shows; you take no part in our processions... you shrink in horror from our sacred [gladiatorial] games.

Other ethical values which marked the early church included their treatment of slaves, opposition to abortion and infanticide, as well as sexual ethics which were radically different from those practiced by the people around them.

But in the 21st century AD, the meaning of the word "Christian" has largely faded in significance, especially in light of moral confusion even among churchgoers. 

What would characterise the beliefs and perspectives of a follower of Jesus Christ now?

Is the fate of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 "God's punishment"?

In light of the news about Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 having gone missing while on its way to Beijing, a post has been circulated online, written by Jim Solouki, claiming that this is "God's punishment". Dated 8 March 2014, the post titled "Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, God’s punishment for Islam in Malaysia!" reads:

Greetings True Christians,

I literally just posted on the fact that God hates Islam when the Holy Spirit led me to an article about Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 disappearing en route to China. Malaysia is a heathen country filled with Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and witch-doctors, and God has allowed this plane to disappear as a way to open they eyes of the Malaysians to the wrong-ness of their ways. It is likely that God allowed their plane to crash into the sea as punishment for the sinfulness of many on the flight.  Unfortunately, many families will experience sadness due to this event, but if the passengers were all True Christians, this plane would not have crashed. It’s as simple as that.

The disappearance of this plane is a punishment from God. .Either God will allow the plane to turn up safely as a way to lead the passengers to Christ, or God will crash the plane into the ocean. If the passengers were willing to be saved and embrace Jesus, then the plane will land safely. If not, the plane will crash and the passengers will be cast into Hell. The Holy Spirit has told me of this fact.

Let us pray that the passengers have made the correct choice and embraced Jesus so that they might land safely.

Yours in Christ,

Jim Solouki

Is the fate of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 "God's punishment"?

"If the passengers were all True Christians, this plane would not have crashed"?

Solouki claims that "if the passengers were all True Christians, this plane would not have crashed. It’s as simple as that." Or is it?

A quick look at the New Testament shows that this is obviously wrong. Jesus Christ Himself, as well as the early church, all suffered in one way or another.

Even Jesus Christ, being without sin (Hebrews 4:15), was  insulted, mocked, ridiculed and ultimately crucified.

Jesus warned His disciples that "[if] they persecuted me, they will persecute you also" (John 15:20). And they did. James was put to death by the sword (Acts 12:2). According to tradition, Peter was crucified upside down. Early Christians suffered intensely for their faith. We read in the Book of Hebrews:

Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated — the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and in holes in the ground. (Hebrews 11:35b-38)

The idea that bad things do not happen to "True Christians" is simply naive and wrong.

Is the crashing of the plane "God's punishment"?

Did God, as Solouki claims, allow the plane to crash as "punishment for the sinfulness of many on the flight"?

Jesus was asked a similar question in Luke 13:1-9:

Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them--do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish."

Then he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, 'For three years now I've been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven't found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?'

"'Sir,' the man replied, 'leave it alone for one more year, and I'll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.'"

Jesus' words are clear. These people are not any more sinful than anyone else. Instead, the focus is on an attitude of repentance, "unless you repent, you too will all perish."

Was Jesus talking about "perishing" physically here, like in a plane crash? No, because as we have already seen above, Jesus and early Christians suffered and died some of the most painful deaths imaginable.

Instead, it the kind of eternal death that Jesus was warning about. In Matthew 10:28:

Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

We do not take any delight in the death of anyone, Christian or otherwise, but instead we constantly hope for the salvation of all.

Conclusion

The apostle John wrote in 1 John 4:2b-3a: 

Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God.

While it is true that Islam does not recognise Jesus as the Son of God, perhaps the better question to ask here is whether we ourselves recognise Jesus as Lord in faith and repentance. 

All that has happened to MH370 is nothing short of a tragedy, and as Christians, we constantly pray that the Lord will have mercy on the passengers, crew members, as well as their families and friends. 

The Resilience and Faith of Christians in Oppressive North Korea

North Korea is one of the most oppressive countries towards Christians. Charisma News reports in "North Korea Executes 80 for Owning Bible, Watching TV" (12 November 2013):

North Korea has executed 80 people by firing squad for minor misdemeanors, the South Korean newspaper, JoongAng Ilbo reported.

The misdemeanors include things like watching television programs from South Korea or possessing a Bible.

The story says the coordinated executions were held in seven cities earlier this month. In one place, the local government gathered up 10,000 people, including children, and forced them to watch. 

Relatives and friends of the victims were also reportedly sent to prison camps.

Yet the North Korean Christians show amazing resilience and faith. According to another Charisma News report, "Why Persecuted North Koreans Are Praying for the American Church" (29 October 2013):

Rev. Eric Foley, CEO of Seoul USA, says instead of praying for members of the North Korean underground church, Americans should pray with them.

“They don’t ask God to deliver them from persecution," he explains. "They pray they’ll remain strong and faithful in the midst of their suffering.”

Foley says Americans may be surprised to learn North Korean Christians often pray for people of the U.S. and South Korea.

“They pray for us because they feel we are persecuted by our prosperity and it distances us from God," he says. "They pray that we will remain faithful to the Lord.”

It is in this that they most resemble the early church. Consider how Peter and the apostles responded when they were persecuted for preaching the Gospel:

[The Sanhedrin] called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.

The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ. (Acts 5:40-42)

The conduct of the North Korean Christians should put the church in comfortable Singapore to shame.

Have we forgotten our brothers- and sisters-in-Christ who suffer persecution?

There is a global war on Christians. 

John L. Allen Jr. writes in an article on The Spectator, "The war on Christians" (5 October 2013):

Imagine if correspondents in late 1944 had reported the Battle of the Bulge, but without explaining that it was a turning point in the second world war. Or what if finance reporters had told the story of the AIG meltdown in 2008 without adding that it raised questions about derivatives and sub-prime mortgages that could augur a vast financial implosion?

Most people would say that journalists had failed to provide the proper context to understand the news. Yet that’s routinely what media outlets do when it comes to outbreaks of anti-Christian persecution around the world, which is why the global war on Christians remains the greatest story never told of the early 21st century.

In recent days, people around the world have been appalled by images of attacks on churches in Pakistan, where 85 people died when two suicide bombers rushed the Anglican All Saints Church in Peshawar, and in Kenya, where an assault on a Catholic church in Wajir left one dead and two injured.

Those atrocities are indeed appalling, but they cannot truly be understood without being seen as small pieces of a much larger narrative. Consider three points about the landscape of anti-Christian persecution today, as shocking as they are generally unknown. According to the International Society for Human Rights, a secular observatory based in Frankfurt, Germany, 80 per cent of all acts of religious discrimination in the world today are directed at Christians. Statistically speaking, that makes Christians by far the most persecuted religious body on the planet.

According to the Pew Forum, between 2006 and 2010 Christians faced some form of discrimination, either de jure or de facto, in a staggering total of 139 nations, which is almost three-quarters of all the countries on earth. According to the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Massachusetts, an average of 100,000 Christians have been killed in what the centre calls a ‘situation of witness’ each year for the past decade. That works out to 11 Christians killed somewhere in the world every hour, seven days a week and 365 days a year, for reasons related to their faith.

In effect, the world is witnessing the rise of an entire new generation of Christian martyrs. The carnage is occurring on such a vast scale that it represents not only the most dramatic Christian story of our time, but arguably the premier human rights challenge of this era as well.

To put flesh and blood on those statistics, all one has to do is look around. In Baghdad, Islamic militants stormed the Syriac Catholic cathedral of Our Lady of Salvation on 31 October 2010, killing the two priests celebrating Mass and leaving a total of 58 people dead. Though shocking, the assault was far from unprecedented; of the 65 Christian churches in Baghdad, 40 have been bombed at least once since the beginning of the 2003 US-led invasion.

The effect of this campaign of violence and intimidation has been devastating for Christianity in the country. At the time of the first Gulf War in 1991, Iraq boasted a flourishing Christian population of at least 1.5 million. Today the high-end estimate for the number of Christians left is around 500,000, and realistically many believe it could be as low as 150,000. Most of these Iraqi Christians have gone into exile, but a staggering number have been killed.

India’s northeastern state of Orissa was the scene of the most violent anti-Christian pogrom of the early 21st century. In 2008, a series of riots ended with as many as 500 Christians killed, many hacked to death by machete-wielding Hindu radicals; thousands more were injured and at least 50,000 left homeless. Many Christians fled to hastily prepared displacement camps, where some languished for two years or more.

An estimated 5,000 Christian homes, along with 350 churches and schools, were destroyed. A Catholic nun, Sister Meena Barwa, was raped during the mayhem, then marched naked and beaten. Police sympathetic to the radicals discouraged the nun from filing a report, and declined to arrest her attackers.

In Burma, members of the Chin and Karen ethnic groups, who are strongly Christian, are considered dissidents by the regime and routinely subjected to imprisonment, torture, forced labour, and murder. In October 2010, the Burmese military launched helicopter strikes in territories where the country’s Christians are concentrated.

A Burmese Air Force source told reporters that the junta had declared these areas ‘black zones’, where military personnel were authorised to attack and kill Christian targets on sight. Though there are no precise counts, thousands of Burmese Christians are believed to have been killed in the offensive.

In Nigeria, the militant Islamic movement ‘Boko Haram’ is held responsible for almost 3,000 deaths since 2009, including 800 fatalities last year alone. The movement has made a speciality out of targeting Christians and their churches, and in some cases they seem determined to drive Christians out altogether from parts of the country.

In December 2011, local Boko Haram spokesmen announced that all Christians in the northern Yobe and Borno states had three days to get out, and followed up with a spate of church bombings on 5 and 6 January 2012, which left at least 26 Christians dead, as well as two separate shooting sprees in which eight more Christians died. In the aftermath, hundreds of Christians fled the area, and many are still displaced. Over Christmas last year, at least 15 Christians are believed to have had their throats cut by Boko Haram assailants.

North Korea is widely considered the most dangerous place in the world to be a Christian, where roughly a quarter of the country’s 200,000 to 400,000 Christians are believed to be living in forced labour camps for their refusal to join the national cult around founder Kim Il Sung. The anti-Christian animus is so strong that people with Christian grandparents are frozen out of the most important jobs — even though Kim Il Sung’s mother was a Presbyterian deaconess. Since the armistice in 1953 that stabilised the division of the peninsula, some 300,000 Christians in North Korea have disappeared and are presumed dead.

As these examples illustrate, anti-Christian violence is hardly limited to a ‘clash of civilisations’ between Christianity and Islam. In truth, Christians face a bewildering variety of threats, with no single enemy and no single strategy best adapted to curb the violence.

Though fellow believers in the West may have special reason for feeling concern, the reality is that no confessional convictions at all are required to justify alarm over this rising tide of anti-Christian animus.

Because the bulk of the globe’s 2.3 billion Christians today are impoverished and live in the developing world, and because they are often members of ethnic, cultural and linguistic minorities, experts regard their treatment as a reliable indicator of a society’s broader record on human rights and dignity. Just as one didn’t have to be Jewish in the 1970s to care about dissident Jews in the Soviet Union, nor black in the 1980s to be outraged by the Apartheid regime in South Africa, one doesn’t have to be Christian today to see the defence of persecuted Christians as a towering priority.

Why are the dimensions of this global war so often overlooked? Aside from the root fact that the victims are largely non-white and poor, and thus not considered ‘newsmakers’ in the classic sense, and that they tend to live and die well off the radar screen of western attention, the global war also runs up against the outdated stereotype of Christianity as the oppressor rather than the oppressed.

Say ‘religious persecution’ to most makers of cultured secular opinion, and they will think of the Crusades, the Inquisition, Bruno and Galileo, the Wars of Religion and the Salem witch trials. Today, however, we do not live on the pages of a Dan Brown potboiler, in which Christians are dispatching mad assassins to settle historical scores. Instead, they’re the ones fleeing assassins others have dispatched.

Moreover, public discussion of religious freedom issues often suffers from two sets of blinders. First, it’s generally phrased in terms of western church/state tensions, such as the recent tug-of-war between religious leaders in the United States and the Obama White House over contraception mandates as part of health care reform, or tensions in the United Kingdom over the 2010 Equality Act and its implications for church-affiliated adoption agencies vis-à-vis same-sex couples. The truth is that in the West, a threat to religious freedom means someone might get sued; in many other parts of the world, it means someone might get shot, and surely the latter is the more dramatic scenario.

Secondly, discussion is sometimes limited by an overly narrow conception of what constitutes ‘religious violence’. If a female catechist is killed in the Democratic Republic of Congo, for instance, because she’s persuading young people to stay out of militias and criminal gangs, one might say that’s a tragedy but not martyrdom, because her assailants weren’t driven by hatred of the Christian faith. Yet the crucial point isn’t just what was in the mind of her killers, but what was in the heart of that catechist, who knowingly put her life on the line to serve the gospel. To make her attackers’ motives the only test, rather than her own, is to distort reality.

Whatever the motives for the silence, it’s well past time for it to end. Pope Francis recognised this in remarks during a General Audience last month.

‘When I hear that so many Christians in the world are suffering, am I indifferent, or is it as if a member of my own family is suffering?’ the Pope asked his following. ‘Am I open to that brother or that sister in my family who’s giving his or her life for Jesus Christ?’

In 2011, the Catholic Patriarch of Jerusalem, Fouad Twal, who leads a church with more than its fair share of new martyrs, phrased the same questions more plaintively during a conference in London. He bluntly asked: ‘Does anybody hear our cry? How many atrocities must we endure before somebody, somewhere, comes to our aid?’

There may be no question about the destiny of Christianity in the early 21st century more deserving of a compelling answer.

 

In 1 Corinthians 12:25-26, Paul reminds us that in Christ Jesus we are all part of one body and should have "equal concern for each other". If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honoured, every part rejoices with it.

Have we forgotten our brothers- and sisters-in-Christ who suffer persecution?

Assimilated or Alienated?

In science, my faith is judged obscurantist; in ethics, mere animus; in practicality, irrelevant; in love, archaic. In the square, I am silenced; at school, mocked; in business, fined; at entertainment, derided; in the home, patronized; at work, muffled. My leaders are disrespected; my founder blasphemed by the new culture, new religion, and new philosophy which, to paraphrase Benedict XVI’s “Regensburg Address,” suffers from an aversion to the fullness of questions, insisting that questions are meaningful only when limited to a scope much narrower than my catholic range of wonder.

-   R. J. Snell, "I Am Lonely"
First Things (14 October 2013)

Pope Emeritus Benedict once said that "Christians are the religious group which suffers most from persecution on account of its faith".

Christianity remains one of the world's largest religions. However, Christianity is increasingly moving to the global South, or what was once referred to as the "Third World" or developing countries. A growing number of Christians live in places such as Asia, Africa and the Middle East even as Christianity continues to decline in America and Europe, widely referred to as the "West".

In the post-Christian developed world, Christians are widely perceived as intolerant, bigoted and judgmental because of opposition to same-sex marriage and abortion. In the developing world, Christians live as religious minorities, persecuted by intolerant militant extremist groups.

Aliens and strangers in this world
Yet the Bible teaches that Christians are aliens and strangers in this world. Peter wrote:

Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us. (1 Peter 2:11-12)

The Christian must always be conscious of the fact that he or she is in, but not of, this world. Jesus said:

I have given them Your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that You take them out of the world but that You protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth. As You sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified. (John 17:14-19)

No one can be a better example of this than Jesus Christ Himself. Despite being in very nature God, Jesus came down to as an ordinary man. He was insulted, mocked, ridiculed and ultimately crucified for standing for Truth.

Jesus warned His disciples that "[if] they persecuted me, they will persecute you also" (John 15:20). And they did. James was put to death by the sword (Acts 12:2). According to tradition, Peter was crucified upside down. Early Christians suffered intensely for their faith. We read in the Book of Hebrews:

Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated — the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and in holes in the ground. (Hebrews 11:35b-38)

Assimilated or Alienated?
In Singapore, the government jealously guards religious harmony in order to ensure that all religious groups may live in peace with one another. Christians, and all other religious groups, are protected from persecution, ridicule and discrimination.

But have we treasured our peace and freedom? Do we exercise our God-given talents faithfully?

Are you like that city built on a hill that cannot be hidden (Matthew 5:14)?

When others look at you, do they see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven (Matthew 5:16)? Or are you following the ways of the world instead of following Christ?

Are you assimilated or alienated?

A Tribute to Egypt's Coptic Christians: "A city set on a hill cannot be hidden"

Following the ouster of President Morsi and his government, the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists have mounted a horrendous violent campaign against the Coptic Christians in Egypt. Churches have been burnt, property has been destroyed, and people have been attacked and killed, and more. Observer Mark Movsesian called this "the worst persecution Copts have suffered in 700 years."
 

But the Coptic Christians have stood strong in the face of brutal persecution. Mary H. Sarkis, a Copt, expresses this beautifully in a Facebook post:

IT WILL GO DOWN IN HISTORY the grace, love, self-control, and patriotism that Copts have demonstrated in this chapter of Egypt's history. Persecution is not new to Copts (as is the case with many minorities), but I have never been more proud to be a Copt! Not because Copts are persecuted but because of the way Copts have responded and what I've seen of the reaction of Moslems to the behavior of Egypt's Christians. When 50-70 churches, Christian schools/orphanages/ monasteries (some ancient) were attacked this last week, ALL eyes were on Copts to see their reaction. Moslem-Egyptian media figures / authors like Amr Adeeb, Ibrahim 3eesa, Youssef el Hussaini, Fatma Naoout, Tarek Heggy, to name a few, all testified to the Copts' endurance and loyalty to their country regardless of the horrific abuses that they've suffered, not just now but throughout history. Here's a sample quote from talk show host Youssef El Husseini... "These Copts are a phenomenon that needs to be studied in history. Regardless of how they are used, abused, dismissed, scapegoated by their government and the enemies of their religion, they never retaliate. They are always consistent in their character and their patriotism."

In a nation where everyone is suffering the consequences of the evil distortion of religion, Egypt's Christians have become a model for what true faith is supposed to be and look like. Egyptians have appreciated that while Islamists cried foul to the world for the break-up of their ARMED sit-ins (after 47 days and numerous warnings) and asked for US/UN military intervention in Egypt, in contrast Copts have for ages endured violence and injustice, and when attacked for purely peaceful protests (like Maspero) they never asked the world to retaliate against their country. Don't think for a minute that any of this was done out of weakness or helplessness! The Coptic community outside of Egypt is large and has a loud voice. In Egypt, the number of Copts is larger than the number of Radical Islamists. If Copts were not peaceful, a civil war would have broken out a long time ago like in Lebanon. But Copts have NEVER used violence or force (not even in self-defense).

I want to leave you with some beautiful gestures from Egypt's Christians that have touched me during this crisis:

• When the attacks against churches began last Wednesday, Egyptian leaders asked for people to go out and protect the churches. The response of Christians and of Bishop Makarious ([one] the of the hardest hit area[s] "El Minya") repeatedly refused and went on record saying "My dear Moslem brother, please don't go risking your life to protect our churches. Buildings can be rebuilt, and we will rebuild them together. But your blood is priceless and your life cannot be replaced!" 

• Pope Tawadros on day 1 of attacks: "They think that by burning our churches they are retaliating against Egypt. In reality it is a redemptive offering that we offer for Egypt's sake and we offier it with love." 

• Bishop Mikhail of Assiut (probably the second hardest hit city): "Our churches today are like a burning censer with fire coming out of it. We pray that God inhales its sweet aroma and has mercy on our beloved land." 

• Pope Tawadros on Day 3: "As an Indian poet once said, "Love is like incense. It gives out its beautiful fragrance only when thrown in the fire."

Please don't forget that churches were not the only thing under attack, heartbreaking stories include the man (in Giza) who was killed for not taking down St. Mary's picture from his shop, the taxi driver (in Alexandria) attacked and killed by a mob for having a cross in his car, the boys whose orphanage was torched and had to be displaced, the nuns who were paraded around town like prisoners of war and sexually harrassed, the 60 yr-old man who was killed in El [Minya], tied and dragged around [town] by Islamists to make an example out of him, the 10 yr-old girl who was shot leaving sunday school, the young priest who was killed in Sinai, the hundreds of Christian homes and businesses that were torched. In addition to the devastating losses the Coptic community has suffered, Egypt's Christians are also suffering with all Egyptians: Mourning the loss of their country as they knew it, the policemen and soldiers who were killed doing their job, the kids who were thrown off the rooftop, the victims of the [Muslim Brotherhood] sit-ins who were tortured and killed by and as a result of their leaders' lust for power and Jihadist ideology, and parents all around who are wailing for their lost children. Copts are mourning with those who mourn all around them.

Thank you to Egypt's Copts for showing the world a rare example of true Christianity in the 21st century! You ARE the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden! May God give you the grace to keep enduring, keep loving, keep shining. You are a blessing to Egypt and to Copts everywhere.

Early Christians paid a heavy price for their faith
In a country like Singapore, it is easy to take the peace and freedom with which we live for granted. We are tempted to think that persecution is a thing of the past, or at best, a phenomenon in some isolated place somewhere else in the world.

Yet we forget that early Christians paid a heavy price for their faith. We read in the Book of Hebrews:

Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated — the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and in holes in the ground. (Hebrews 11:35b-38)

Roman senator and historian Tacitus wrote the following in his Annals about the persecution suffered by early Christians under Emperor Nero, whom Nero had falsely accused of burning Rome:

Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace... Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind. Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had expired.

This puts references to "suffering" in the New Testament in context, doesn't it?

A City on a Hill Cannot be Hidden
Yet the early Christians endured their suffering in faith. James wrote in his Epistle, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance." (James 1:2-3) The writer of Hebrews taught that this was God's discipline:

Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline) then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in His holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. (Hebrews 11:7-11)

And neither were the Christians taught to retaliate against their enemies, but to respond to them with love. Jesus taught His disciples, "love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you" (Matthew 5:44).

For Jesus taught:

You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:14-16)

Therefore, I echo Sarkis in saying, "Thank you to Egypt's Copts for showing the world a rare example of true Christianity in the 21st century!" You have set an example of true Christianity which Christians everywhere ought to follow, especially here in Singapore when our God-given peace and prosperity has so quickly and surely robbed us of true Christian faith and love. 

Here's a tribute to Egypt's Copts. We pray that the Lord will deliver you swiftly from your oppressors.

May the Lord bless you and keep you in His grace. Amen.