Monday, February 25, 2013

Painful but Pertinent



Persecuted: The Global Assault on Christians, by Marshall, Gilbert, and Shea, is a rather interested read.  The authors provide a true glimpse across the world as they examine the current Communist nations, former communist countries, South Asia, parts of Africa, and the Muslim world.  By far, the largest portion of their work (chapters 5 through 8) focus on the repression and persecution within Muslim countries – particularly targeted at “Christian” religions.

The authors cast a wide net in their definition of “Christian,” and that purpose may have been to gain the widest picture of repression.  From their work, “Christian” includes a whole host of denominations – Mormons, Protestants, Catholics, Pentecostals, Lutherans, Mennonites, Jehovah’s Witness, etc.  They do so because they believe that all of those churches “are united in belief in the same Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior” (page 5).  I would take exception to that premise due to significant doctrinal differences but reserve that discussion for another time and place.  

Persecuted defines persecution in the terms of the 1998 US International Religious Freedom Act that offers a broad interpretation.  The authors focus on three major reasons for persecution across the world:  (1) complete political and social control of the communist countries, (2) preserve cultural or ancient religious believes particularly in southern Asia, and (3) dominance of the world as shown by radical Muslim.  Throughout the chapters of the book, the authors prove those three reasons with skill, personal testimonies, documentation, and clear language.

This book captures your attention about the direction of the world.  It should force you to your knees to ensure that you are God-focused in everything that you do.  The closer that you get to Him, by reading His Word, the less concerned you will be about your personal safety.  Our prayer and motivation should be to glorify God however He sees fit to use us – in life or in death.

The reader will discover all sorts of interesting policies and rules used in these countries to stifle religious freedom – requiring registration of affiliation, permitting for facilities, removing any open discussion of God from schools, prohibiting sharing of one’s beliefs so as not to challenge another’s religious opinion, and involving the courts to adjudicate any types of disputes.  In that afterword of the book, the authors noted that the American model of freedom is experiencing “repudiation” by “atheist regimes and secular ideologies” (312).  Go back and reread that list again.  The seeds of these very strategies have already been sown on American soil.  

In India, the country’s Supreme Court upheld the lessening of a sentence placed upon an individual that poured gas over the car of an Australian man and his two young sons (who were sleeping).  He and his supporters torched it, barred the father and sons’ escape, and beat anyone trying to help them.  The highest court in their land said this man was trying to force conversion on others by ruling there can be “no justification for interfering in someone’s belief.”   In America, if you share your faith that Jesus is God and that there is only one way to heaven, you are accused of being intolerant and offensive to others.  That sounds very much like what the Indian Supreme Court said, so the seeds of similar actions are already here.

Where was the following statement made:  religion should not be in school in order to “keep our children away from erroneous, empty, dangerous religious tendencies”?  It comes from a public school principal in Armenia, but it very well could have been said by a principal here.  Secular humanism is widely prevalent in our modern world, and one of its leaders (Richard Dawkins) has said the following:  “we should work to free the children of the world from the religions which, with parental approval, damage minds too young to understand what is happening to them.”

While this book will give rise to gratitude that we live in a nation where we have religious freedom, we need to wake up that our religious freedom is being eroded every day.  That ultimate realization produces a quandary – do we pray to retain our freedom or pray that it is curtailed?  That question probably just shocked you; but you should stop and think about it.  With our freedom, we have developed a complacent and apathetic version of Christianity that is self-focused; however, those without religious freedom seem to have an energized and God-focused view of their lives.  

It is said that Chinese pastors have actually been praying that persecution would come to the western world.  Why would they say such a thing?  Read God’s Word – particularly the book of Acts – and you can see how the church blossomed under persecution because it was not lukewarm.  Sobering, very sobering thoughts here…we’ve been blessed by religious freedom but that freedom has slowly become a curse by contributing to a less-than-God-centered worldview.  The independence of life has undercut the dependence that we need to have for God.  

I encourage you to get a copy of this book, read it, and then pass it along to someone else.  More importantly, get into God’s Word more frequently.  Mine its depths.  Trust its words.  Live its truths.  


Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

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