Friday, March 18, 2011

Modern Day Persecution of Christians

Catholics that live here in the United States have it very good. We're able to practice our religion without threat of violence and we don't have to hide our faith to avoid mistreatment. Sure, we have groups in this country that are definitely out to get the Church and atheism is on the rise but I can walk out the door and go to any number of churches and not think twice about my families safety.

Unfortunately, this isn't the case everywhere in the world. We often focus on our own little slice of the world but we need to pay more attention to the persecution of Christians. We need to pray for them, we need to observe the happenings in their part of the world so that it does not happen here.

In Iraq clergy are being murdered and Christians killed in the streets. In Pakistan  Islamist Militants slaughtered 17 Christians. In Indonesia many thousands of Christians have been persecuted. Egypt, Lebanon, and Nigeria are see huge increases of Christian persecution. World Wide persecution of Christians accounts for 75% of all religious persecution in the world. Over 100 Million Christians are being persecuted as you read this.

We should thank God for living in a country where we are safe and free to be Christians. However, it's our duty to pay attention to what is happening where the persecution is going on. In the Middle East, Indonesia and Africa, Islamic Extremists are on the rise  and they are the primary persecutors of Christians there. In China and North Korea they have Communist dictatorships that mute religion and in some cases creating a false leadership of the church.

With this in mind, we need to look at our own country. We need to be sure that we do not go any further down the path of hindering religion and not give in to political correctness in exchange for less safety for Christians. We can't allow our government to become anti-religion or anti-free speech. These will be the first two things to go down before widespread persecution happens here.

18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.
John 15:18-20

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