Persecuting
the Church: The Desperate Flailing of Failures
Scripture
Reading: Acts 19:23-41 Page 787
23 About that time there arose a great disturbance about the Way. 24 A silversmith named Demetrius, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought in no little business for the craftsmen. 25 He called them together, along with the workmen in related trades, and said: "Men, you know we receive a good income from this business. 26 And you see and hear how this fellow Paul has convinced and led astray large numbers of people here in Ephesus and in practically the whole province of Asia. He says that man-made gods are no gods at all. 27 There is danger not only that our trade will lose its good name, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be discredited, and the goddess herself, who is worshiped throughout the province of Asia and the world, will be robbed of her divine majesty." 28 When they heard this, they were furious and began shouting: "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!" 29 Soon the whole city was in an uproar. The people seized Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul's traveling companions from Macedonia, and rushed as one man into the theater. 30 Paul wanted to appear before the crowd, but the disciples would not let him. 31 Even some of the officials of the province, friends of Paul, sent him a message begging him not to venture into the theater. 32 The assembly was in confusion: Some were shouting one thing, some another. Most of the people did not even know why they were there. 33 The Jews pushed Alexander to the front, and some of the crowd shouted instructions to him. He motioned for silence in order to make a defense before the people. 34 But when they realized he was a Jew, they all shouted in unison for about two hours: "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!" 35 The city clerk quieted the crowd and said: "Men of Ephesus, doesn't all the world know that the city of Ephesus is the guardian of the temple of the great Artemis and of her image, which fell from heaven? 36 Therefore, since these facts are undeniable, you ought to be quiet and not do anything rash. 37 You have brought these men here, though they have neither robbed temples nor blasphemed our goddess. 38 If, then, Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen have a grievance against anybody, the courts are open and there are proconsuls. They can press charges. 39 If there is anything further you want to bring up, it must be settled in a legal assembly. 40 As it is, we are in danger of being charged with rioting because of today's events. In that case we would not be able to account for this commotion, since there is no reason for it." 41 After he had said this, he dismissed the assembly.
The attack of
the Artemis leaders upon Paul and the Christians has a very modern feel to it,
not unlike the attack of radical Islam upon Christianity. In both cases, I think the reasons are
similar. First, it is the work of the
devil to rob, kill, and destroy.
Second, when a system is failing, it seems likely to evoke an attack
upon those whom they perceive as causing the problem. They cannot compete in an even match-up of ideas and values, so
they resort to repression, taking away freedom, coercive conversions, and
violence. Not much has changed in 200
years.
Today, we want
to remember that all across the world today Christians are suffering and many
are being killed. Last week’s attack in
Pakistan that killed 16 people including the Pastor as he lead the services, is
not really all that unusual except that the news media sees that event as part
of a bigger story that they are intent upon telling in massive detail. Without the current climate, the story
probably would not have made the local papers.
In
the text today, in verse 24, Demetrius is identified as the Osama bin Laden of
his day. He is called a shrinemaker,
making silver shrines to Artemis. I
have an example of that on the platform.
Although he operated a business of making shrines, the term is also a
legal phrase for the group of twelve wardens who had the custodial oversight of
the Temple of Artemis itself.[1] Unfortunately for Demetrius, the Temple work
had not been going well financially.
There are several inscriptions from around 44 BC, which indicate that
the Roman proconsul had tried to repair the finances of the Temple. Even Augustus Claudius had gotten involved,
but someone misappropriated from funds.
As one of the wardens, Demetrius might have personally been
involved. The system wasn’t working so
someone was going to suffer for it.[2]
In
verse 27 Demetrius is quoted as saying that large numbers of people were giving
up the Artemis religion along with all its practices, including the buying of
his little images. Paul was making fun
of their gods saying they really weren’t gods at all, just a bogus religion. The reaction of Demetrius and the others
came because they saw their own religion was failing.
The
same can be said for Islam today. Three
centuries ago, Islam represented a powerful empire and a fairly dynamic
culture. Today it is a failed system. Like communism before it, it doesn’t produce
the proclaimed results. In spite of
their enormous wealth, their economies sputter. Their armies are routinely defeated by Israel and the US. Their political leadership is corrupt. Their
societies lack basic freedoms. They are being overwhelmed by the West. In such a circumstance, it is fertile ground
for a violent reaction.
Artemis
was the religion of prosperity. She was
supposed to bless those who came to her and presented an offering. This was the original “seed faith” religion. Bring an offering to Artemis and she will
bless your enterprise. Problem was, not
only was she not blessing, but her temple was running out of money and the
wardens were feeling the heat. At the
highest levels of government and society people were asking what is wrong with
Artemis? The Emperor Claudius himself
was concerned and said so. Why is Christianity taking over in Ephesus? Artemis is losing some of her divine
majesty. It is not such a great
religion.
In
verses 28-29 its says, “When
they heard this, they were furious and began shouting: "Great is Artemis
of the Ephesians!" (Sounds a lot like Allah Akbah) 29 Soon the whole city
was in an uproar.” Their anger was
fueled by the failure of their system.
They couldn’t compete in the marketplace of ideas or religion, so they
resorted to violence.
When
persecution comes, it does not prove that Christian failure is near. It may prove the very opposite. When God begins to put pressure on people
they react. Often, they react badly at
first. After a time they come around to
acting right. We might even say that
they first step toward getting right with God is to attack him and his
followers. It shows that people are
paying attention to what God is doing in the lives of that person.
The same is
true in the lives of individuals.
Sometimes you pray for someone close to you to get saved and to change
his or her life. It seems like your
prayers are producing the opposite result.
Instead of getting better, they get worse. Don’t give up. That may
well be a sign that your prayers are getting through. Just as they say it is darkest just before the dawn, it might be
that it is worse just before it gets better.
We may not be
seeing the rise of Islam. We
might be seeing the gasping flailings of a failing system. Communism seemed so strong just before it
fell in Europe. Islam is being exposed by the bright lights of world
inspection. People everywhere are
asking themselves, is this the kind of religion I want for my country?
This week, I
watched a little bit of the conflict over who is going to continue to excavate
the ruins of the World Trade Center.
The firemen were quite upset.
What impressed me was their impromptu memorial to their fallen
comrades. In quite strong voices they
were praying the Lord’s Prayer. CNN
carried a brief section of it. It
reminded me of the church’s praying before the fall of communism in Romania or
Poland. I don’t knew all the details,
but the fact that they were praying as a political statement was
compelling. New York Firemen were
calling on God.
Our government
needs to respond strongly to the persecution of Christians. We are the most widely persecuted people on
the face of the earth. Increasingly I
am hearing the right sounds. People are
beginning to speak out against radical Islam.
Government needs to do its part in protecting religious freedom. The military needs to do its part in
punishing evildoers. And the church
needs to do our part to pray and stand in the gap for those who are suffering
around the world.
For his part,
conflict does not seem to be a problem with God. Sometimes he acts like he enjoys it. He says, “Why do the heathen rage and imagine a vain thing.” He laughs them to scorn. He says to let them carry on as best they
can. Their day is coming. God will vindicate with his own
vengeance. In Jeremiah he invites the
challenge from the gods of Egypt and seems to take delight in showing their
ineffectiveness. Just as Paul made fun
of the gods of Asia Minor, God is willing to take on the challengers.
In
these preaching notes I cannot go through all the detail of how the church is
being persecuted around the world. The
email I got last night from Pakistan is so graphic I could not share it in this
setting. I am including it on the notes
that are published on the website. You
can check it out there. In those same
notes, there are many pages of notes on the persecution going on around the
world. There is also a section on what
government needs to do to be of help.
This came to me in the form of an email
from those close to the situation:
There are widespread attacks on
Christians in Pakistan. This has
especially
escalated in the last few days since Bin Laden labeled America's activities in Afghanistan as
being aggression of the followers
of
the "Cross" against followers of Islam.
There
is widespread kidnapping and raping of poor Christian women. "You are killing our children and raping us in
the name of Christ," said an
embittered
Muslim young man just before taking his vengeance out on a local Christian woman. One such
rapist told his victim, "The baby you
are
going to have is Jesus. For that is what Jesus Christ was-an
illegitimate
child. Your Christian brothers have killed millions of our Muslim brothers to promote
Christianity. Here I am giving you the baby, Christ."
According
to highly authoritative sources, many other places have seen a rise in the slavery of Christian women
and children, particularly the
rural
areas. Often, Christian men are castrated while the women and children of his family are taken away as
captives. Reliable Christian
sources
report that in many such "camps" for kidnapped Christians, nursing mothers have their breasts sliced
off to prevent them from feeding their
babies. It is reported that the Christians are even being forced to consume human feces and urine
as the "Body and Blood" of
Christ.
The
blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church, but how long will the church in the free world stay silent
to such atrocities without having her
conscience pricked? First Corinthians 12 says, "If one member of the body suffers, we all
suffer." God has strategically
situated
each one in His body according to his function, calling, and
duties,
so that no one can say, "There is no need for me," or, "There is nothing that I can do." We
have all been called to serve. Just as God used David's slingshot to knock down Goliath and allowed
David to use Goliath's own
sword to cut off his head, please help the Church in Pakistan by using your voice.
Christians in Pakistan face an immediate
danger
of mass genocide. For your Brothers and Sisters in Pakistan, death would not be as painful as the
preceding torture and humiliation
that
they have to endure for the sake of the cause of Christ.
Please
ask God to redeem all Pakistani Christians from legal charges and to restore their honor. For many
years, Christians have been living as
the
poorest of the poor, as "untouchables," and are called
"rats." They
do
not have good education, decent employment, or any of the amenities that many in the free world would
consider to be basic to living, such
as
clean food, water, and transportation. Ask God to exalt the
Pakistani
Christians over their accusers and oppressors. Pray for God to place Christians in positions of
authority and influence, to make
superior
education and medical assistance freely available to Pakistani Christians, and to increase them in
wisdom and stature. Pray for God to
provide
Pakistani Christians with latest computers, technology, learning
tools,
and education in technology, finance, and law. Please also pray for Pakistani Christians to increase in
health, fitness, and height,
because
disease and malnutrition have been common among them. Ask God to motivate highly placed authorities to
become outspoken advocates for
Pakistani
Christians.
Please
ask God to keep General Musharraf as the president of Pakistan and to protect him and his family from
any revolt. He is more moderate
than
his opponents on religious issues and so has proven to be relatively good for minorities like the
Christians and Parsees. As the
war
continues, though, more and more Pakistanis seem to be seeing
President
Musharraf as an anti-Muslim traitor who betrayed his own Muslim Afghan brothers, and sold out to
the Christians. The majority of
Pakistanis
view the American involvement in Afghanistan as Christian aggression on Muslims. Pray for
Pakistan to be protected from foreign
occupation.
Ask God to shine His Light in the hearts of the people of Karachi and Peshawar, flood those cities
with His Truth, and divinely
implement
daily group Bible study in every household. Ask Jesus to draw my Parsee people away from worship of
fire and angels. Please beg God
on
your knees to burden seasoned missionaries, mature intercessors, and administrators to join our ministry team
for lifelong service to the Parsee people
of South Asia. Please pray for my own parents' salvation, safety, and Christian friendships.
Please
pray that God would vigorously promote fasting and prayer for Pakistan and for our unreached Parsee
people. Your servant in
Christ, ___________.
Persecution
of Christians
and
the
International
Day Of Prayer
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China: The two state-sanctioned churches (Catholic
Patriotic Assoc., Protestant Three-Self Patriotic Movement) are
tightly controlled by the Religious Affairs Bureau of the Chinese
government. Members of unregistered house churches are being prosecuted.
Hundreds of Chinese Christians are in "re-education through
labor" camps. |
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Egypt: Attacks by Muslim fundamentalists against
Coptic Christian are common and not being effectively countered by the
government. The government restricts expansion and even repair of Christian
facilities by withholding building permits. |
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Iran: To convert from Islam to another faith is a
criminal offense in this country. Christians are routinely threatened,
arrested, imprisoned and tortured because of their faith. |
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Nigeria: This is a religiously divided country;
Christians are mainly located in the south; the north is largely Muslim.
The government appears to be conducting a campaign to eradicate all
evidence of Christianity in the northern part of the country. Church
burning is common. |
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North Korea: The entire country is suffering from
a devastating famine; starvation and near starvation is common. Christians
are persecuted and imprisoned. |
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Pakistan: Christians have been the target of
trumped up charges of blasphemy. They are often the target of mobs and
fundamentalist Muslims. A high court judge who had the courage to acquit
Christians in a blasphemy case was assassinated. |
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Saudi Arabia: All Christian worship is forbidden
in the country - even within the U.S. embassy. Saudi Muslim citizens who
convert to Christianity are subject to the death penalty. |
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Sudan: This country probably has the worse human
rights record in the world. It is another religiously divided country, with
many Muslims in the north and many Christians in the south. Horrendous
civil rights violations are conducted against the Christians. Crucifixion
and slavery have been reported from reliable sources. |
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Vietnam: The government requires all religious
groups to register. But since the civil war ended in the mid 1970's, no
Protestant group has been granted official recognition. The government
rigidly controls the Catholic church by reductions in the numbers of
seminary entrants, restricting the number of ordinations, etc. |
Year 2000 "Open Doors" evaluation of
persecution of Christians:
Open
Doors is an agency
based Santa Ana, CA, which monitors the persecution of Christians across the
world. They issue a "Hall of Shame" every six months. Their
mid-2000 report lists:
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Saudia Arabia as the world's worst persecutor of
Christians "Despite the fact that there are 600,000 ex-patriate
Christians living there, Saudi Arabia still has the unsavory title of the
world's worst persecutor of Christians. The kingdom does not permit any
practice of the Christian faith." |
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Afghanistan's 2,500 Christians are heavily
oppressed. |
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China's House Church Christians are being
harassed, arrested, imprisoned, and sent to labor camps. |
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Chechnya's non-indigenous Christians have left
the country; the fate of the rest is unknown., |
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Sudan's civil war continues "in the south
continues with all the atrocities connected." |
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Yemen, North Korea, Maldives, Iran and Morocco
complete the top ten countries in the Hall of Shame. |
Open
Doors includes
Indonesia, Nigeria and India as the 25th, 26th and 29th
on their list. However, these are countries of great concern for Open Doors:
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The situation in Indonesia is seen as
rapidly getting out of control. "Since the war erupted 18 months
ago, more than 2,500 people are reported to have died. These are official
figures; the actual number of dead may be higher. In the first six months
of this year, nearly a thousand people were killed. Most of the victims are
Christians." |
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In Nigeria, the introduction of Sharia law has
triggered riots between Christians and Muslims. "In clear signs of
ignoring the regime's decrees, several northern states have by now
implemented Shariah law. Many Nigerians give nothing for the chances of the
Obasanjo regime, and it seems likely that the country will either split up,
or that the army will take power again in another coup d'etat." |
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The situation in India, long known for its
religious tolerance, is degenerating. "In the first half of 2000
the number of attacks continued at a high level. At least two priests died
at the hands of Hindu fanatics, four churches were bombed, and there were
numberless cases of harassment, destruction and attempts at 're-conversion'
of Christians to Hinduism." |
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Worldwide
Overview The
United Nations has declared freedom of religion a universally recognized
human right. Christians today are the most persecuted religious group in the
world, making the persecution of Christians one of the most egregious human
rights violations of our time. There
are two government systems today that most encourage Christian persecution:
Communism and radical Islamism. What
is it about Christian communities that threaten leaders in Communist
countries? Doesn’t
your criticism of governments in countries such as Egypt, Sudan, Iraq, and
Afghanistan fuel a negative stereotyping of Muslims as radical, and even
“evil”? In
all cases, Christians need to remain clear as to who the real enemy is, as
identified by the Apostle Paul (who himself persecuted Christians prior to
becoming a believer—Ephesians 6:12). Persecutors are persons who are loved by
God and are never beyond the reach of God’s grace. At the same time, human
evil and injustice have a very real personal side, which must be exposed to
the light of God’s truth. Hating the reality of evil and injustice, whether
sponsored by groups, governments, or religions, does not have to result in
our hating those who carry out such acts. To the contrary, we are to love our
enemies and pray for those who persecute us (Matthew 5:44). For
more information on persecution and a Biblical response to persecution, go to
What
is persecution? |
November
16, 1997
The Persecuted Church
by Pastor Joseph Fuiten
(List
of Articles available in this Document)
I.
Christian people are being persecuted more now than ever
House Church Movement in
China –
Traveling at night, preaching and speaking during the day, Chinese house church
pastors work in one of the world's most dangerous vineyards. They endure the
possibility of arrest by a hostile government, yet they give their lives to
strengthen and build up the body of Christ.
According to the Chinese Church
Research Center, there are more Evangelicals in China than in any other country
in the world, perhaps 75 million. Holding a house meeting of Christian
believers is illegal. Those who are caught are often tortured, using boiling
water to burn them in order to force confessions of loyalty to the Chinese
Communist government. Many who are arrested are sent to prison labor camps
where they are often denied food and water and are shocked with electric
probes. Amazingly, people still come to these home fellowships where they can
hear the word of God proclaimed and share life with other believers.
Viet Nam.
Pastor Paul Ay has been arrested again, along with other Assemblies of God
leaders.
Iran
Several
of our Assemblies of God pastors and many people have been killed in the last
couple of years.
Peru
Over 1000 of our people
including many Pastors have been killed in the last couple of years.
Communist regimes, including China, North Korea, Vietnam,
Laos, and Cuba, took careful note of the role Eastern European churches --
especially the Roman Catholic Church -- played in the fall of the Soviet
empire. They are determined not to allow a repeat of that in their own nations.
Saudi Arabia
In Saudi Arabia,
conversion to Christianity is a crime punishable by death, and those who
worship Christ may lose all their property, be fined, imprisoned, and exiles.
Two Filipino Christians involved
in Bible studies and Christian prayers in the Saudi prison where they were
jailed were beheaded by the sword on May 4 in Riyadh.
Egypt
Egyptian security police
broke up the morning worship service of an Assemblies of God church in north
Cairo in May, arresting the pastor and ordering the congregation to stop
meeting until they obtained an official government permit.
In Egypt, the government has
found it difficult to protect Coptic and evangelical Christians.
A law is presently being
considered that would put churches on an equal footing with mosques. At the
moment, a church can only be built with presidential approval, which is almost
never granted.
Sudan
Already wracked by civil
war, Sudan's totalitarian government has allied itself with Islamic extremists
to declare a jihad or holy war against Christians and other non-Muslims. The
resulting reign of government-endorsed terror has resulted in the deaths of
over a million, and forced displacement of over three million whose homes and
villages have been burned and whose property has been confiscated. Christian
families are broken up by the abduction, imprisonment, torture, and execution
of men. Women and children are kidnapped, sold into slavery for as little as
$15, and forced to work as slaves or concubines for their Muslim masters. Other
children are sent to re-education camps for forced Islamization. Young boys
undergo military-type training and become cannon fodder on the front lines of
Sudan's civil war.
"Please pray for us,"
Sudanese Christian leaders urge believers around the world, "we need your
prayer support so that we might be able to love those who cause our sufferings
and show them that the love of Christ is a stronger weapon than those used
against us."
• There have been more people
martyred for their faith in Jesus Christ in the 20th Century than in all the
previous nineteen combined. (Source: By Their Blood, by James and Marti
Hefley.)
• According to World Mission
Digest there are some 100 million martyrs in this so called 'modern' 20th
Century.
• More people have died in
circumstances related to their faith in this century than in all the 20th
Century wars combined. (Source: Statistical research of the WEF
Religious Liberty Commission.)
• The main reason for the rise
in persecution, especially over the past several years, seems to be the exponential
growth of Evangelicals in places such as Latin America, sub-Sahara Africa and
Asia. Not surprisingly, these are the same areas of the world where Christians
are experiencing discrimination, harassment and persecution at the hands of
those with power.
• The shift in Evangelical
growth from the Western world to the Two Thirds World over the past few decades
has been startling. In 1960, over 70% of all Evangelicals lived in North
America and Western Europe. In 1990, 70% of all Evangelicals lived outside the
West in the Two-Thirds World, and the numbers continue to grow at a staggering
rate. Source:
Operation World by Patrick Johnstone.
• Reported incidences of
persecution have actually increased since the fall of Communism in the former
USSR.
The
Persecution of Christians takes many forms
• In countries and regions where
the demonization of powerless Christian scapegoats occurs, it often serves to
vent, foment, and popularize hatred of the West and the United States.
• Imprisonment and torture of persons for simply attending Christian worship
services or Bible studies.
• Establishment of government-controlled "religious associations" and
criminal prosecution and torture of members of "unlicensed" Christian
churches.
• Refusal to permit Vatican appointments of Catholic bishops and refusal to
allow non-approved bishops to appoint local priests.
• Encouragement and appeasement of unpunished mob violence against Christians
conducting burial and other religious services.
• Encouragement and appeasement of unpunished looting and burning of businesses
and homes of practicing Christians.
• Church burnings and systematic official refusals to allow the building of new
churches or church repairs.
• Encouragement and appeasement of systematic beatings of children who attend
Christian schools.
• Literal sale into slavery of Christian children abducted by government
forces.
• Refusal to distribute food to Christians in famine-stricken areas unless they
agree to renounce their faith.
• Wide dissemination, often with government support, of scurrilously hateful,
deliberately provocative, anti- Christian tapes, books and tracts.
• Imprisonment of Christians for the mere possession of Bibles.
• Prosecution, torture and even murder of practicing Christians under infamous
and broadly construed "blasphemy" laws.
• Prosecution, torture and even murder of Christian converts and the children
and grandchildren of such converts, under equally infamous and broadly
construed "apostasy" laws.
2.
How are we to think about these problems?
In
the Words of the Bible……
Who is persecuted?
2 Timothy 3:12 In fact,
everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,
How does it affect me?
1 Corinthians 12:26 If
one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every
part rejoices with it.
Why should I care?
Matthew 25:36 I needed
clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison
and you came to visit me.'
Who is helping?
Isaiah 59:15-16 Truth is
nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey. The LORD looked and
was displeased that there was no justice. 16 He saw that there was no one, he
was appalled that there was no one to intervene; so his own arm worked
salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him.
What is my role?
Hebrews 13:3, Remember
those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are
mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.
Is there more I can do?
Proverbs 31:8-9
"Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all
who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and
needy."
III.
What must we do today?
1. We must pray for these who
are suffering.
Pray for them in your
prayers and before meals.
2. We must live lives worthy
of these who are also called Christians, but we suffer far more than we do.
How shameful it is for
us to be selfish while they are giving so much.
3. We must speak up for them.
When people talk about
mistreating the earth and its environment, mention the people.
When people talk about racism,
gender bias, and prejudice of any kind, mention those being persecuted.
When they talk about the
supposed persecution of homosexuals, mention that people of our denomination
are suffering and dying all over the world.
When politicians talk about all
they are doing for us, mention the Christians.
4. We must hold our
government accountable for doing so very little.
We are the most powerful
nation, yet America is doing next to nothing.
Egypt gets over $2 billion of
our tax dollars, but persecutes Christians and breaks up meetings of Assemblies
of God churches.
China gets most favored nation
status and sends billions of exports to our country, but kills and imprisons
thousands of Christians. You may remember the Catholic Archbishop of Shanghi we
preached in our Church who had spent 26 years of his life in prison for
preaching the Gospel.
Saudi Arabia received the
benefit of our soldiers blood in the Gulf War, but sheds the blood of
Christians today.
Vietnam is allowed to return to
the family of civilized nations yet holds our Pastors in prisons right now.
First those of the left wing were taken away
... but I did not care because I was not one of them.
Then the students were taken away
... but I did not care because I was not one of them.
Later the workers were arrested
... but since I was not a worker, I did not care either.
After that the priests were imprisoned
... but since I was not religious, I did not care either.
Now they take me away
... but it is already too late."
Articles in this Document:
- What we hope the United States Government will do
- Who is helping fight this problem?
- Remeber the Persecuted: Suggestions for Prayer
- When Silence Is Not Golden by Rev. Steven L. Snyder
- Russia: A Ghost Of The Past Has Returned by Rev. Steven L. Snyder
- The Kingdom of God Is Forcefully Advancing and Forceful Men Lay Hold Of It by Rev. Steven L. Snyder
- Prayer Requests from Persecuted Christians
- U.S.A. House of Representatives Resolution 515, September 24, 1996
- "The Persecuted Church"
- "Hong Kong Christians Face Challenges, Opportunities as Takeover by China Nears"
- Statement of Conscience of the National Association of Evangelicals concerning Worldwide Religious Persecution
- The Genocide of Christians in Sudan
- What Else can I do to Help the Persecuted Christians in Sudan?
What we hope
the United States Government will do
We
respectfully
recommend that the following steps be taken:
1. A major policy address by the
President initiating a new public diplomacy commitment to openly condemn anti-
Christian persecution wherever it occurs and further announcing a lesser
reliance on today's private diplomacy and case-by-case appeals to curb such
persecution.
• Issuance of instructions to all
Ambassadors or surrogates to meet regularly with willing church leaders and
dissidents in countries where religious persecution occurs.
• Appointment of a knowledgeable,
experienced, and compassionate Special Advisor to the President for Religious
Liberty charged with preparing a report indicating needed changes in policies
dealing with religious persecution, and recommending remedial action.
• Issuance of instructions to the United
States delegate to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights to regularly
and forcefully raise the issue of anti-Christian and other religious
persecution at all appropriate Commission sessions.
• Issuance of instructions to consular
officials acknowledging the mounting evidence of religious persecution and
instructing them to provide diligent assistance when the victims of religious
persecution seek refugee status.
• Issuance of instructions to senior
officials engaged in trade or other international negotiations, when dealing
with officials of countries that engage in religious persecution, to vigorously
object to such religious persecution and to link negotiations with the need for
constructive change.
2. Issuance by the State Department's
Human Rights Bureau and related government agencies of more carefully researched,
more fully documented and less politically edited reports of the facts and
circumstances of anti- Christian and other religious persecution.
To that end, we respectfully recommend
that the following steps be taken:
• Issuance of instructions to human
rights officers to distinguish between the treatment of different Christian
groups within countries and no longer to assume that all such groups are
similarly dealt with.
• Issuance of instructions that Human
Rights Bureau annual reports are to make explicit findings of whether anti-
Christian or other religious persecutions occur, thereby eliminating from such
reports any "option of silence" regarding such persecutions.
• Clarifying and upgrading the role of
embassy human rights officers in countries where anti-Christian or other
religious persecution is ongoing and pervasive, and ensuring that such officers
carefully monitor religious liberty violations on an ongoing and prioritized
basis.
3.Cessation of the indifferent and
occasionally hostile manner in which the Immigration and Naturalization Service
often treats the petitions of escapees from anti-Christian persecution.
To that end, we respectfully recommend
that the following steps be taken:
• Issuance of an Attorney General's
Bulletin to INS hearing officers acknowledging mounting anti-Christian
persecutions in many parts of the world, and directing such officers to process
the claims of escapees from such persecution with priority and diligence.
• Issuance of instructions by the
Attorney General and the Secretary of State directing preparation of annual INS
reports describing its processing of religious refugee and asylum claims.
• Issuance of regulations requiring
access to written opinions from INS hearing officers clearly stating the grounds
for any denial of religious refugee and asylum claims.
• Establishment of INS listening posts in
countries to which refugees from anti-Christian persecution frequently flee.
• Cessation of INS and State Department
delegation of complete responsibility for refugee processing functions to
international and United Nations agencies.
• Development and issuance of training
guidelines for INS personnel on issues specifically related to religious
persecution.
4.Termination of non-humanitarian foreign
assistance to governments of countries that fail to take vigorous action to end
anti-Christian or other religious persecution, with resumption of assistance to
be permitted only after a written finding is made by the President that the
countries have taken all reasonable steps to end such persecution, and
arrangements are made to ensure that religious persecution is not resumed.
Who is helping fight this problem?
U.S.
OFFICES OF GROUPS
FIGHTING RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION
from
"Their Blood Cries Out" by Paul Marshall
Advocates International
Advocates takes a long-term approach to
religious liberty, focusing on the education of lawyers, judges and legislators
around the world.
9691 D Main
Fairfax, VA 22031
Contact: Sam Ericson
703-764-0011/fax 708-764-0077
e-mail: Advonet2@aol.com
Amnesty International
Prominent international organization,
which monitors and advocates on behalf of human rights. Amnesty has worked for
the release of people imprisoned for the peaceful exercise of their religious
beliefs.
322 Eighth Avenue
New York, NY 10001
212-807-8400/fax 212-989-5473
Cardinal Kung Foundation
Monitors religious liberty against
Catholics in China.
P.O. Box 8086
Ridgeway Center
Stamford, CT 06905
Contact: Joseph Kung
203-329-9712/fax: 203-329-8415
Christian Life Commission, SBC
An arm of the Southern Baptist
Convention, America's largest Protestant denomination. Seeks to draw the
attention of Baptists and others to religious persecution and lobbies for
changes in U.S. government policy.
901 Commerce, Suite 550
Nashville, TN 37203-3696
Contact: Dwayne Hastings and Richard Land
615-244-2495
Christian Solidarity International
An interdenominational human-rights
organization headquartered in Switzerland that works for persecuted Christians
and other victims of oppression. Conducts relief work, fact-finding trips and
organizes campaigns on behalf of persecuted believers.
1101 17th Street NW, Suite 607
Washington, D.C. 20036
Contact: Jim Jacobson
540-636-8907
e-mail: csiusa@rma.edu
Coalition for the Defense of Human Rights
Under Islamization
Focuses on the situation of religious
minorities in the Islamic world.
231 East Carroll
Macomb, IL 61455
309-833-4249
Commission on Security and Cooperation in
Europe
("Helsinki
Commission")
A Congressional commission which monitors
and encourages progress in implementing the provisions, including human-rights
provisions, of the Helsinki Accords on East-West cooperation.
234 Ford House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-6460
202-225-1901
e-mail: csce@HR.house.gov
Compass Direct News Service
A highly informative newsletter on the
persecution of Christians, published by Open Doors.
P.O. Box 27250
Santa Ana, CA 92799
714-862-0300/fax 714-752-6536
e-mail: compassdr@compuserve.com
Human Rights Watch
An independent international human-rights
organization that conducts regular investigations of human-rights abuses in
about 70 countries around the world. It has produced several reports about
religious rights abuses, especially in China.
485 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10017-6104
212-972-8400/fax 212-972-0905
homepage: www.hrw.org
e-mail: hrwnyc@hrw.org
Institute on Religion and Democracy
Publicizes instances of religious
persecution and monitors the response (or non-response) of U.S. churches.
1521 16th Street NW, Suite 300
Washington, D.C. 20036
Contact: Faith McDonnell and Diane Knippers
202-986-1440/fax: 202-986-3159
International Christian Concern
An independent Christian organization
that mobilizes grassroots prayer and activism on behalf of persecuted
Christians around the world.
2020 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, #941
Washington, D.C. 20006
Contact: Steve Snyder
800-ICC-5441
301-989-1708/fax: 301-989-1709
homepage: www.persecution.org
e-mail: icc@idsonline.com
International Justice Mission
3237 Gunston Rd.
Alexandria, VA 22302
Contact: Gary Haugen
703-379-1980
website: www.ijm.org
Iranian Christians International
An evangelical organization that monitors
the persecution of Christians inside Iran, works to help Iranian Christian
refugees and does advocacy work with the U.S. government.
P.O. Box 25607
Colorado Springs, CO 80936
Contact: Abraham Ghaffari
719-596-0010/fax 719-574-1141
website: www.farsinet.com/ici
Jubilee Campaign
The U.S. arm of this British-based
Christian group conducts campaigns on behalf of human rights and religious
liberty around the world.
9689-C Main Street
Fairfax, VA 22031
Contact: Ann Buwalda
703-503-0791/fax 703-503-0792
e-mail: ann.buwalda@gen.org
Middle East Concern
Publicizes oppression and discrimination
against religious minorities, especially Christians, in the Middle East.
P.O. Box 295
Macomb, IL 61455
Contact: Father Keith Roderick
309-833-4249
National Association of Evangelicals
A cooperative of approximately 42,500
evangelical congregations nationwide from 47 member denominations and
individual congregations from an additional 30 denominations whose executive
serves on the White House Advisory Committee on Religious Freedom Abroad. NAE's
landmark "Statement of Conscience Concerning Worldwide Religious
Persecution" is available on the web.
P.O. Box 28
Wheaton, IL 60189
630-665-0500
website: http://www.nae.net
e-mail: NAE@nae.net
Open Doors with Brother Andrew
An international, evangelical
organization formed to help persecuted Christians throughout the world, founded
by Brother Andrew in 1955.
P.O. Box 27000
Santa Ana, CA 92799
Contact: Mike Yoder
714-752-6600
website: http://www.opendoors.org
e-mail: usa@opendoors.org
Parliamentary Human Rights Foundation
The Foundation is increasingly employing
technology, specifically the Internet, to promote human rights internationally.
It seeks to pressure governments, which have the main responsibility to enhance
human rights.
1056 Thomas Jefferson Street NW
Washington, D.C. 20007
The Rutherford Institute
An international legal and educational
organization "dedicated to the preservation of religious liberty, the
sanctity of human life and family autonomy." The bulk of their work is on
U.S. cases, but they have a growing international division focusing on
religious persecution around the world, especially Eastern Europe.
P.O. Box 7482
Charlottesville, VA 22906-7482
Contact: John Whitehead
804-978-3888/fax 804-978-1789
homepage: http://www.rutherford.org
e-mail: rutherford@fni.com
The Voice of the Martyrs
Nonprofit missionary organization working
with persecuted churches in more than 50 countries around the world. Provides
practical assistance to oppressed Christians and informs Christians in the West
about ongoing religious persecution.
P.O. Box 443
Bartlesville, OK 74005
Contact: Tom White and Steve Cleary
918-337-8015/fax: 918-337-9287
homepage: www.vom.org
e-mail: vomusa@aol.com
The Trinitarian Fathers
An order of the Catholic Church long
involved in ministry and advocacy on behalf of the Persecuted Church.
c/o Rewv. Stan Deboe
7669 Clark Road
Hanover, MD 21076
e-mail: sdeboel@AOL.com
World Evangelical Fellowship Religious
Liberty Commission
The Singapore-based World Evangelical
Fellowship is an umbrella group of evangelical associations worldwide and draws
together some 180 million people from over 100 countries.
2309 139th Street SE
Mill Creek, WA 98012
Contact: John Candelin
206-742-7923
homepage: http://www.xc.crg/wef/wefintro
e-mail: WEF NA@XC.org
International Christian Concern
2020
Pennsylvania Avenue, Number 941
Washington, DC 20006
800 ICC-5441
www.persecution.org
REMEMBER THE
PERSECUTED
SUGGESTIONS FOR PRAYER
The following is a list of prayer
suggestions that you can refer to during your prayers for the persecuted:
•Pray for the Christians. Read ICC Concern and ICC Prayer Watch publications
for information regarding specific cases of persecution. As believers lose
their jobs, lose their homes, and are imprisoned, beaten, and tortured, pray
that they may be strong in the Lord.
•Pray for the families of imprisoned Christians.
•Pray for the governments of countries which violate Christians' human rights.
•Pray that the leaders of these countries would be convicted and make immediate
changes to release Christians imprisoned for the their faith and to grant
freedom of religion.
•Pray that laws in these countries would be changed to allow for freedom of
religion.
•Pray for our U.S. senators and representatives that they will use their
influence to pressure government officials to cease the human rights violations
of Christians.
•Pray for the Church in the United States that it would become more aware of
the world-wide body of Christ and desire to assist believers who are
persecuted.
•Pray for International Christian Concern as it seeks to raise public
awareness, inform government officials, stand on behalf of the persecuted, and
effectuate international policies that would promote and sustain religious
freedom.