By D a v i d P a m M c Q u e l
PersecutionJesus taught extensively on persecution. Early church endured much persecution. In modern times and over the centuries, Christianity has endured unimaginable persecution.
Persecution is neither new nor will it ever end. Remarkably, whenever the church compromises and weakens, persecution lessens. But with every advancement and outbreak of church growth come waves and types of persecutions, both individually and collectively.
North Korea
The main driver of North Korean Christian Persecution is the state. For three generations, everything in the country focused on idolizing the leading Kim family. Christians are seen as hostile elements in society which have to be eradicated. Due to the constant indoctrination permeating the whole country, neighbors and even family members are highly watchful and report anything suspicious to the authorities. Children are especially vulnerable to the heavy indoctrination. Reports show that some children report their own parents for religious activity. Therefore, many parents prefer not to tell their children anything about their Christian faith until they’re older.
The main driver of North Korean Christian Persecution is the state. For three generations, everything in the country focused on idolizing the leading Kim family. Christians are seen as hostile elements in society which have to be eradicated. Due to the constant indoctrination permeating the whole country, neighbors and even family members are highly watchful and report anything suspicious to the authorities. Children are especially vulnerable to the heavy indoctrination. Reports show that some children report their own parents for religious activity. Therefore, many parents prefer not to tell their children anything about their Christian faith until they’re older.
If Christians are discovered, no matter if they are heirs of the Christian communities from before the Korean War or found the Christian faith in other ways – e.g. during the great famine in the 1990s (which caused tens of thousands of citizens to seek help in China) – not only are they deported to labor camps as political criminals or even killed on the spot, their families will share their fate as well.
Christians do not even have the slightest space in society. Meeting other Christians in order to worship is almost impossible and if some believers dare to, it has to be done in utmost secrecy. The churches shown to visitors in Pyongyang serve mere propaganda purposes. (Open Doors)
Russia
STUDENTS DEPORTED FOR WORSHIP VIDEOS
Source(s): Forum 18, Christian Post 05 July 2018
STUDENTS DEPORTED FOR WORSHIP VIDEOS
Source(s): Forum 18, Christian Post 05 July 2018
Russian BiblePhoto: World Watch Monitor
Churches in the Nizhny Novgorod Region of Russia have been facing increasing pressure from law enforcement officials in recent months. According to Forum 18, this pressure includes the use of "anti-missionary" legislation and immigration law. The result has been punishment for churches and their members for things such as inviting foreign students to parties and posting worship videos on social media.(VOM)
Iran
While the government is anti-Christian, it does grant some limited freedoms to historical Christian churches. They are allowed to preach to fellow countrymen in their own language but are forbidden from ministering to people from Muslim backgrounds. Members of these historical churches are treated as second-class citizens, and they have reported imprisonment, physical abuse, harassment and discrimination, particularly for reaching out to Muslims. Converts from Islam and non-traditional Christian denominations (including Evangelical, Baptist and Pentecostal communities) experience the worst of the persecution. Leaders and church members have been arrested and imprisoned long-term for “crimes against the national security.”
While the government is anti-Christian, it does grant some limited freedoms to historical Christian churches. They are allowed to preach to fellow countrymen in their own language but are forbidden from ministering to people from Muslim backgrounds. Members of these historical churches are treated as second-class citizens, and they have reported imprisonment, physical abuse, harassment and discrimination, particularly for reaching out to Muslims. Converts from Islam and non-traditional Christian denominations (including Evangelical, Baptist and Pentecostal communities) experience the worst of the persecution. Leaders and church members have been arrested and imprisoned long-term for “crimes against the national security.”
Examples
During the WWL 2018 reporting period, at least 52 Christians were arrested. Many of them (especially converts) have been prosecuted and sentenced to long jail terms. Others are still awaiting trial. Their families are publicly humiliated.
During the WWL 2018 reporting period, at least 52 Christians were arrested. Many of them (especially converts) have been prosecuted and sentenced to long jail terms. Others are still awaiting trial. Their families are publicly humiliated.
In the same reporting period, several house churches were raided, most of which are no longer functioning.
Two reported incidents involved converts persecuted for their faith. One Christian was beaten by his cousin for his conversion. The other convert had to give up payment for his work when his clients threatened to report his conversion to authorities.
India
Anti-conversion legislation has been a part of several Indian states for many years. It was first introduced in Orissa in 1968 and has since been introduced in six other states -- the most recent being Uttarakhand in March 2018.
Anti-conversion legislation has been a part of several Indian states for many years. It was first introduced in Orissa in 1968 and has since been introduced in six other states -- the most recent being Uttarakhand in March 2018.
In a surprise announcement, the Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh intends to repeal the 1978 Freedom of Religion Act. In making the proclamation on June 28th, he stated that the act, rather than providing freedom of religion, "could undermine secularism and is probably targeted towards Christians." According to The Hindu news service, Christians account for more than half the population of the state.
Anti-conversion legislation has been a part of several Indian states for many years. It was first introduced in Orissa in 1968 and has since been introduced in six other states -- the most recent being Uttarakhand in March 2018.
In a surprise announcement, the Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh intends to repeal the 1978 Freedom of Religion Act. In making the proclamation on June 28th, he stated that the act, rather than providing freedom of religion, "could undermine secularism and is probably targeted towards Christians." According to The Hindu news service, Christians account for more than half the population of the state. (VOM)
Egypt
Egypt, home to the largest Christian community in the Middle East, is of particular worry. Officially about 10% of the 95 million population are Christian, although many believe the figure is significantly higher.
Egypt, home to the largest Christian community in the Middle East, is of particular worry. Officially about 10% of the 95 million population are Christian, although many believe the figure is significantly higher.
Persecution strengthening Christianity in Egypt
The overwhelming majority are Orthodox, with up to 1 million evangelicalChristians and 250,000 Catholics. Orthodox Christians celebrated Christmas on Sunday amid tight security, days after at least 11 were killed in attacks. The president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, attended midnight mass at a new cathedral 30 miles (45km) east of the capital as tens of thousands of armed soldiers patrolled streets around churches all over Egypt.(OPEN DOORS)
Europe
06 February 2018 | by Christa Pongratz-Lippitt said, Europe’s disregard for Christian persecution ‘almost sinister’
06 February 2018 | by Christa Pongratz-Lippitt said, Europe’s disregard for Christian persecution ‘almost sinister’
A new and aggressive form of atheism which links religion with lack of liberty and oppression has led to a selective interpretation of human rights in which religious freedom counts for little, Bishop Manfred Scheuer of Linz, in Upper Austria, has said.
In his sermon at an ecumenical service at the Linz Coptic-Orthodox church in the Week of Christian Unity, Bishop Scheuer said: “Political correctness does not want to know anything about the ongoing persecution and suppression of Christianity and so it is being ignored in an almost sinister way.”
In view of such widespread indifference, opposition was called for, he emphasised, recalling that about one in 10 Christians in the world today is being discriminated against or persecuted. “That is more than 200 million people in 60 countries. But what does Europe care?” asked Bishop Scheuer.
North America
JONATHON VAN MAREN writing on “From the front lines of the culture wars” published by Life Site listed many radical harassments of Christians for not offering their services to gays. For example,
JONATHON VAN MAREN writing on “From the front lines of the culture wars” published by Life Site listed many radical harassments of Christians for not offering their services to gays. For example,
The New York State Division of Human Rights (DHR) has ruled that the Roman Catholic owners of an Albany-area farm violated the civil rights of a lesbian couple when they declined to host the couple’s same-sex “marriage” ceremony in 2012.
Robert and Cynthia Gifford, who own and operate Liberty Ridge Farm in Schaghticoke, were ordered by DHR Judge Migdalia Pares and Commissioner Helen Diane Foster to pay $10,000 in fines to the state and an additional $3,000 in damages to the lesbian couple, Jennie McCarthy and Melissa Erwin for “mental pain and suffering.”
Additionally, the Giffords must provide sensitivity training to their staff, and prominently display a poster highlighting state anti-discrimination laws.
Nigeria
A bishop in Nigeria has warned of the threat of genocide against Christians in the country’s middle belt region, describing an upsurge of violence by militant Fulani herdsmen as “ethnic cleansing”.
A bishop in Nigeria has warned of the threat of genocide against Christians in the country’s middle belt region, describing an upsurge of violence by militant Fulani herdsmen as “ethnic cleansing”.
Bishop William Avenya of Gboko told Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) of growing fears amid reports that, so far this year, 492 people have died in Benue State, which has a Christian-majority population.
In an appeal to the international community, he told ACN: “Don’t wait for the genocide to happen before intervening… Please don’t make the same mistake as was made with the genocide in Rwanda. It happened beneath our noses, but no one stopped it. And we know well how that ended.”
Local reports on Wednesday, 27 June, said extremists “slaughtered more than 200 people” in 10 mainly Christian communities near the city of Jos, although police said there were 86 fatalities.
Bishop Avenya said: “The [militant Fulani] are criminals and terrorists, but they do not do the same things in the majority Muslim areas. We are convinced that what is happening is an ethnic cleansing of Christians.”
Bishop Avenya’s account comes after other senior Church figures from the region described the militant Fulani campaign as a “clear agenda of Islamising the Nigerian Middle Belt”.
They include two other prelates from Benue State, Bishop Peter Adoboh of Katsina-Ala, Bishop Wilfred Anagbe of Makurdi, and Bishop Matthew Audu of Lafia, from nearby Nassarawa state.
According to research by Christian persecution charity Open Doors, as many as 725 people died in violence in the middle belt’s southern Kaduna region in sixteen months (to September 2017) – 98 per cent of them Christians.
Bishop Avenya recalled Nigeria-wide peace demonstrations on 22 May and appealed to the West to save lives in the country: “Our faithful are being murdered or forced to live as refugees as a result of the violence. And the West continues to view the matter of the Fulani as merely an internal problem.”
In April, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) issued a statement calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to resign for alleged inaction in response to what the CBCN called “the killing fields and mass graveyard that our country has become”.
Bishop Avenya also spoke of the supply of weaponry now used by militant Fulani. He said: “At one time these pastoralists were armed only with sticks. But now they are armed with AK-47 rifles – expensive weapons that they could not possibly afford. So who is supplying them?”
He added: “And besides, in these areas there are checkpoints every two kilometres. Is it possible that armed men followed by their flocks of cattle could have somehow become invisible?”
The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom’s 2018 report found that “herder-farmer conflicts and ethno-religious tensions continued to rise… [with] increased reports of concerns of an ethnic cleansing campaign against Christian communities”.
Apart from the fact that revival and growth bring persecution, we see other issues rising that bring persecution right to the gates of the church worldwide.
Secularism
This life and culture that ignores, disregard or denies God.
This life and culture that ignores, disregard or denies God.
Sexual reengineering
An effort by powerful earthly social forces to make homosexuality and lesbianism and other unbiblical demonic sexual practives normal.
An effort by powerful earthly social forces to make homosexuality and lesbianism and other unbiblical demonic sexual practives normal.
Islam
Islam and its jihadic purpose their drive. Muslims are not expected to reason, rationalize, and persuade nonbelievers, they are expected to force the spread of Islam.
Islam and its jihadic purpose their drive. Muslims are not expected to reason, rationalize, and persuade nonbelievers, they are expected to force the spread of Islam.
The church is on fire but God will emerge victorious!
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