A church leader in Vietnam is taken to the police station to be beaten and interrogated. A young girl in Pakistan, falsely accused of ripping pages from the Koran, is arrested as a mob shouts “Kill her!”. A widow in Colombia grieves the murder of her husband, assassinated by rebel guerrillas because of his bold gospel activity. And in the news right now, Christians are being attacked in Iraq, Nigeria and many other parts of the world.
Christians face persecution for their faith in Jesus every day. But why? The answer is different depending on what country you’re talking about, but most countries fit into one of the following three categories:
Communist politics
Basically, communism is a political system based on control. Communist governments seek to control everything, including the church. They are fearful of the Christian church, because the gospel is the power of God to transform lives. And so they put restrictions in place for the church, seeking to control the people and intimidate pastors through imprisonment and beatings. But this cannot stand in the way of the Spirit of God, and so the movement of the gospel in communist countries faces further opposition from government authorities because they cannot control or stop the spread of the gospel.
Other Religions
According to the more radical streams of Islam, apostasy (rejecting your religion) is a crime that demands the death penalty. When a Muslim converts from Islam to Christianity, they are seen to be bringing shame on their family, and abandoning their heritage, their very identity. For to be an Iranian, or an Egyptian or from any other Islamic country is to be Muslim. Conversion to Christianity is a massive insult in Islam, and so believers with a Muslim background face incredible opposition not only from the government and the Sharia law courts, but also from their family and friends.
Wars and conflict
In some countries, there are civil wars or other conflicts that result in Christians facing opposition for their faith. These are countries where the governments attempt to provide protection for Christians, but a rebel army is hostile to the gospel.
Christians have always been persecuted
If we want the real reason for persecution, however, we need to look at what Jesus says: “if the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first…if they persecuted me, they will persecute you also” (John 15:18,20).
As a follower of Jesus, I look at the persecuted church and at Jesus’ call to costly faith and I ask myself “Am I willing to live this out at any cost? Is Jesus really worth living and dying for?”
The apostle Paul thought so. He said “I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Philippians 3:8). Paul lost everything for Jesus. He was persecuted, abandoned, insulted and yet he could still hold to the hope of the gospel and declare that “I consider that these present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18).
The gospel calls us to lay it all down at the cross, to forsake life itself so that we might gain Christ and be found in him. This is such a challenging message for us because we hold on to our life so tightly. So are we willing to let go? Will we join our persecuted brothers and sisters by being willing to suffer for the gospel in Australia?
“Do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel” 2 Timothy 1:8.
