The Persecution of Christians Is Intensifying As Anti-Christian Hatred
Sweeps The Entire World
By Michael Snyder, on July 26th, 2015
There is
very little that the entire world seems to agree upon, but there is one very
frightening trend that is now taking hold literally all over the globe. A
passionate hatred of Christianity is sweeping across the planet, and very few
global leaders have been willing to step forward and speak out against this
rising persecution of Christians. In many parts of the Middle East, Africa and
Asia, believers are being relentlessly attacked by extremists, churches are
being destroyed, and laws are being passed to try to prevent the spread of the
Christian faith. In some areas, the violence has become so extreme that
Christians knowingly risk their own lives just to go to church services each
week. Would you risk your life to go to church? In North America and Europe,
the persecution is often more subtle. Even
though violent attacks are still fairly rare, Christian beliefs are being
undermined by new laws, comedians and television shows regularly mock the
Christian faith, and many employers will immediately mentally disqualify a
potential candidate for a job if they discover that an individual is a
Bible-believing Christian. Sadly, this is just the beginning. In the years
ahead, those that choose to be followers of Jesus Christ will face even greater
persecution than we have seen already.
When most
people think of “Christian persecution”, they immediately think of what is
happening in the Middle East. And without a doubt, what ISIS is doing to
Christians in Iraq and Syria is beyond horrifying. But that is only part of the
story. In this article, I am going to share with you 10 examples that show how
the persecution of Christians is intensifying as anti-Christian hatred sweeps
the world, and most of them are from outside the Middle East. I have
specifically done this to show that this is truly a global phenomenon.
But to
start off this list, let’s begin with how ISIS has been treating Christians in
areas that they have conquered…
#1 Iraq
Eliza
Griswold is the author of “The Tenth Parallel: Dispatches From the Fault Line Between
Christianity and Islam“, and he has spent a great deal of time
examining the demise of the Christian faith in the heart of the Middle East.
The following is an excerpt from a recent piece that he did for the New
York Times…
Recently,
ISIS posted videos delineating the second-class status of Christians in the
caliphate. Those unwilling to pay the jizya tax or to convert would be
destroyed, the narrator warned, as the videos culminated in the now-infamous
scenes of Egyptian and Ethiopian Christians in Libya being marched onto the
beach and beheaded, their blood running into the surf.
The
future of Christianity in the region of its birth is now uncertain. ‘‘How much
longer can we flee before we and other minorities become a story in a history
book?’’ says Nuri Kino, a journalist and founder of the advocacy group Demand
for Action. According to a Pew study, more Christians are now faced with
religious persecution than at any time since their early history. ‘‘ISIL
has put a spotlight on the issue,’’ says Anna Eshoo, a California Democrat in
the U.S. House of Representatives, whose parents are from the region and who
advocates on behalf of Eastern Christians. ‘‘Christianity is under an
existential threat.’’
#2 Kenya
As I
discussed above, the persecution of Christians in the Middle East is only part
of the story. What is getting much less coverage is the horrific persecution
that is going on in many parts of Africa. The following is from a recent CNN piece
about the ongoing persecution of Christians in Kenya…
In April
this year, hundreds of students at Garissa University in northern Kenya came
under attack when Al-Shabaab militants from across the border in Somalia raided
dormitories at the college. Separating Christian students from their Muslim
classmates, the raiders killed 147 and wounded dozens more.
Today, the university stands empty.
Christians
in North Eastern Kenya have come under repeated attacks by Al-Shabaab militants.
At Sunday
Mass in Garissa’s Cathedral, Our Lady of Consolation, the benches are full. The
congregation is praying under armed guard but they’re praying nonetheless.
Each
Sunday brings with it new threats from Al-Shabaab. Garissa’s Christians are
told that if you worship here, you’ll die. One of those attending Sunday
Mass, Patrick Gitau tell us that despite the risks: “Every Sunday I’m here it’s
my cathedral. Yeah I’m here I was baptized in this church.”
#3 India
It isn’t
just Muslims that are viciously persecuting Christians. In India, radical
Hindus are regularly conducting violent attacks against Christians and
churches. The following is
just one recent example…
The
Evangelical Fellowship of India has reported a violent attack against
Christians in the country that was committed earlier this month when over 200
Hindu radicals stormed a Protestant church in the town of Attingal, Kerela,
beating up the pastor and some of the worshipers, and breaking the altar.
EFI
shared the news with Fides News
Agency, reporting that the attack took place on June 14. The
radicals apparently shouted slogans like “Bharat Mathaki Jai” (“Hail Mother
India”) during the attack, which was broken up after police arrived.
#4
Pakistan
Some of
the most vicious attacks against Christians in recent years have happened in
Pakistan. Sadly, the authorities often willingly ignore these attacks. The
following are just a few of the incidents that
have happened recently…
On
Sunday, May 24, a Christian man in the Sanda neighborhood of Lahore was accused
of blasphemy when some Muslims saw him burning newspapers that
reportedly contained Arabic verses from the Koran. After the accusation, a
Muslim mob caught the Christian, severely beat him, and even attempted to
set him on fire. A few months earlier, another Muslim mob burned a
Christian couple alive inside a kiln after they, too, were accused of
insulting Islam. The Christian youth — named Humayun Masih, said to be
“mentally unstable” — was imprisoned and charged under section 295-B of
Pakistan’s penal code, which prohibits the desecration of the Koran. After
the attack on the Christian youth, the Muslim mob, reportedly thousands,
rampaged through the neighborhood and set fire to Christian homes and a church.
Christians in the region were attacked, and most fled the region; some of the
mob was armed and gunshots were heard.
#5
Nigeria
Did you
know that Islamic terrorists in Nigeria have killed more
than 2,000 people (most of them Christians) so far in 2015? Why
isn’t this getting much more attention from the global media?…
Since its
formation in 2009, Boko Haram has perpetrated the killing of over over 10,000
Nigerians, including thousands of Christians. This year alone, over 2,000
people have been killed as a result of the group’s attacks and an estimated 750,000
have fled their homes. While most of the attacks have taken place in northern
Nigeria, they have extended to Cameroon and Chad in recent months.
Earlier
in July, Muslim extremists ravaged northeastern Nigerian villages, killing nine
villagers and burning down 32 churches and about 300 homes, according to
Stephen Apagu, chairman of a self-defense group in Borno state’s Askira-Uba
local government area.
#6 China
The
Chinese government has been brutally persecuting Bible-believing Christians for
decades, but this year things have been taken to an entirely new level. The
following is an excerpt from a recent Washington
Free Beacon article…
The CCP
considers the rising popularity of Christianity as a threat to its dominance,
China Aid said, and has used aggressive measures to intimidate members.
“The
Chinese government’s persecution campaign included forced demolition of
churches and crosses, the detention and imprisonment of pastors and church
members on criminal charges, forcing churches into bankruptcy by confiscating
church property and imposing fines, and manipulating state-run media to label
house churches as ‘cult’ organizations,” the report said.
A local
police force—including 600 SWAT officers and government agents—demolished the
cross last year at Salvation Church, a Christian house church in the eastern
coastal city of Wenzhou. The officers attacked 14 church members on July 21 and
seriously injured five, according to the report.
Zhang
Shaojie, former pastor at the Nanle County Christian Church in central China,
was sentenced to 12 years in jail and fined after being convicted of “gathering
a crowd to disrupt public order” and “fraud.” Zhang mobilized his congregation
to petition the government in Beijing after local authorities seized property
that the church had set aside for a new building. Local officials responded by
detaining some church members and barring their travel to Beijing.
#7 Nepal
In Nepal,
churches cannot buy property, and the new constitution actually bans people from converting to Christianity…
The
largely Hindu nation of Nepal has published a draft of a new constitution that
would ban religious conversion. Father Silas Bogati, vicar general of the
Apostolic Vicariate of Nepal, told Catholic News Service that “Christianity is
not recognized as a religion here, unlike Hinduism, Buddhism or Islam.” “Hence,
churches cannot be registered as a legal body, and we cannot buy property,” he
added. “We are severely handicapped by this.”
#8 Italy
Normally
you wouldn’t think of Italy as a place where Christians would be persecuted,
but thanks to Islamic immigration this is rapidly
changing…
Accounts
of Muslim immigrants taunting and even assaulting Christians in Italy are
increasing. Earlier this year, a crucifix was violently
destroyed in close proximity to a populated mosque, and a statue of
the Virgin Mary was destroyed
and urinated on by a group of North Africans in Italy.
#9 Canada
Canada is
becoming increasingly hostile to Bible-believing Christians, and attacks on
churches are becoming more common. Just check out this
recent example…
On May
26, a 22-year-old man of Muslim background was charged with alleged hate crimes committed
against the St. Catherine of Siena Church and its neighboring elementary school
in Mississauga, Ontario. Iqbal Hessan faces five counts of mischief, and over
$5,000 in fines. On May 20, the Sacred Heart of Jesus statue that stands in
front of the church was covered in black paint and the fingers of its
outstretched arms were broken off. Behind the church, graffiti with the words
“There is no Jew God” was scrawled across the brick wall along with a drawing
of a face labelled “Jewsus.” That vandalism was the fourth time the church was
targeted.
#10 The
United States
If
Christians stay in their homes and don’t say anything, normally they don’t get
physically persecuted in this country. But in recent years there have been an
increasing number of incidents where street preachers and others that do try to
actively influence the culture have been violently assaulted. The following is
one recent example that happened in Seattle…
Two
street preachers were brutally beaten—punched and kicked—by a crowd at a gay
pride festival in Seattle and the entire melee was captured on video.
The
preachers were holding signs reading “Repent or Else” and “Jesus Saves From
Sin.” The video shows a group of people initially screaming and threatening the
men during Pridefest at the Seattle
Space Needle.
Television
station KOMO reported that some of the attackers belonged to a group called
NOH8.
A group of women tried to steal
their signs but were unsuccessful. The video then shows a group of men grabbing
onto one of the preacher’s signs and dragging him to the ground. At some point
he was punched in the back of the head a number of times while others can be
seen kicking the man.
Of course all of this is just the
beginning.
In the
years ahead, hatred toward Christians is going to continue to increase, and
many believers are going to be faced with some extremely difficult choices.
What
would you do if you were forced to choose between your job and your
relationship with Jesus Christ?
What
would you do if you were forced to choose between your life and your
relationship with Jesus Christ?
Nearly
2000 years ago, Jesus told us that his followers would be hated and persecuted.
So none of this should be any surprise to us. Consider what Jesus had to say in
John chapter 15…
“If the
world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of
the world, the world would love you as its own. But because you are not of the
world, since I chose you out of the world, the world therefore hates you.
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
words, they will keep yours also.
Just like
we saw during the times of the early church, sometimes the fire of persecution
provides the perfect fuel for the growth of the kingdom of God. And sometimes
the persecutors end up becoming extremely radical believers themselves. The
following is one particularly miraculous example…
“One of
our YWAM workers in the Middle East was contacted by a friend earlier this year
and they met up and he was introduced to an ISIS fighter who had killed many
Christians already. I mean that’s a horrible situation, and admittedly, he was
probably on guard,” Gina Fadely, director of Youth With A Mission Frontier
Missions, Inc. (YWAM), said during a recent appearance on The Voice of the
Martyrs Radio Network.
YWAM, a
nonprofit missionary organization active since 1960, describes itself as “a
global movement of Christians from many cultures, age groups, and Christian
traditions, dedicated to serving Jesus throughout the world.” The Voice of the
Martyrs (VOM) is another nonprofit that draws attention to Christians facing
persecution around the world.
Fadely,
who appeared on the VOM radio program along with Kevin Sutter, another YWAM
leader, went on to share that this Islamic State jihadi confessed not only
to killing Christians but “that he had actually enjoyed doing so.”
“He told
this YWAM leader that he had begun having dreams of this man in white who came
to him and said, ‘You are killing my people.’ And he started to feel
really sick and uneasy about what he was doing,” Fadely continued. “The fighter
said just before he killed one Christian, the man said, ‘I know you will kill
me, but I give to you my Bible.’ The Christian was killed and this ISIS fighter
actually took the Bible and began to read it. In another dream, Jesus asked
him to follow him and he was now asking to become a follower of Christ and to
be discipled.”
So what
do you think about all of this?