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.”
