- WHAT PERSECUTION ?-
for their faith in
Jesus, in the 20th century than the previous (documented)
19 centuries combined.
We're talking about today - not Paul and the apostles, not the saints
that John Foxe tells us about - we're talking about
their seed. Jesus' body vibrantly alive all over the
globe TODAY. Getting involved with a missions ministry
dedicated to serving the Persecuted will be extremely
instrumental, as mainstream media carries little news
of this modern day holocaust (our links
page will assist you in you learning). Although
it is not easy to hear this type of news the Word
of God calls us to respond. As people we are generally
unaware until it is our turn. We hope and pray we
will not experience persecution this way. We pray
that as one body the Free Church (which
is one third of the worlds Christian Church),
would rise from the sleep of dust covered pews and
awake with love for our brothers and sisters in the
persecution areas (two thirds
of the Christian Church) of the world.
What
form does this "persecution come in? Many in
our day have likened it to the book of Acts still
being written.
In more than 60 countries
worldwide, from our own "backyard" of Mexico
to Iran to Indonesia, Christians are experiencing
religious restrictions in the form of house and church
burning, imprisonment, solitary confinement, slavery,
rape, torture, brutal beatings and brainwashing, confiscation
of Bibles or any Christian literature, ostracized
by their communities, treated as the lowest of their
society, ridiculed... all for the crime of believing
in Jesus, the Son of the Living God, all in the effort
to cause them to recant their faith. (Romans 8:37)
(Heb 11:37-38) They
were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted,
they were put to death with the sword; they went about
in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted,
ill-treated (men of whom the world was not worthy),
wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes
in the ground.
In the face of all this opposition is
the Church shrinking back? No, it grows more in these
"closed" nations than the "free".
There is much to learn from our Persecuted family.
We are a part of an Overcoming Church! A call to each
believer wherever the Lord has placed us, it's not
about our circumstances, it is about our God.
To be aware and take action on behalf
of the Persecuted is not just joining one more good
cause - it is walking in a living faith that cares
for the body of Jesus and says I believe I am part
of the One Body of Christ.
Many Members One Body!
(John 17:21)
- WHAT CAN YOU DO? -
With two third's of the Christian
world under the hand of persecution, you'd think our
brothers and sisters cry would be freedom. FREEDOM!?
no, they ask that we remember them. That we take our
precious time to pray for them! how great a request?!
they want us to talk with the Living God on their behalf.
All they want is prayer? YES!! Their hearts desire is
for us (the minority) to remember them, their families,
their assemblies and their persecutors! Pray! Pray!
Pray!
Download
a list of Scriptures on Persecution! (Word Doc.)
Download
a list of Scriptures on Persecution! (Text file.)
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