There are more Christians being persecuted today than at any time in history, including at the hands of the Roman Empire. Many of today’s martyrs fall at the hands of Islamic Jihadists, whose terrorism has become so commonplace that it has lost much of its shock value. Mainstream media intentionally suppresses any news that can be construed as anti-Muslim, leaving most of civilization oblivious to these crimes. Christianity is the world’s most persecuted religion of our time.
The 2023 World Watch List shows that more than 360 million Christians suffer high levels of persecution and discrimination for their faith. Of this number, 312 million are categorized at very high or extreme levels. One in seven Christians are persecuted worldwide.
The top ten countries listed in order of severity are: North Korea, Somalia, Yemen, Eritrea, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan and Sudan. With the most common cause listed as Islamic oppression. The tragic repercussions of targeted violence against followers of Christ has left families uprooted, children without parents, wives without husbands and unparalleled human suffering on a personal level.
In Africa, entire villages are being wiped out and in the middle east, the tragedy is at near genocide levels. In Iran, the Christian population has dropped from 1.5 million people before 2003 to less than 118,000 in 2021.
On Easter Sunday, 2019, bombs rocked Christian churches in Sri Lanka, killing 321 people and injuring hundreds more. Coptic Christian churches in Egypt were bombed, killing and injuring dozens, and a few years prior to that, a suicide bomber killed Christians in Nigeria on Easter.
In Burkina Faso, a dozen men on motorcycles gathered the pastor and five worshippers with him and threatened them with death if they didn’t convert to Islam. They refused and were shot, one by one behind the church. In many predominately Muslim countries, converts to Christianity are victimized by their own families, and face discrimination at work and in public spaces.
It is estimated that Boko Haram and ISWAP have abducted over 8000 children in the last ten years. A report entitled “Martyred Christians in Nigeria” published by the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, revealed that at least 52,250 people have been killed over the last 14 years in Nigeria just for being Christian.
Peril in Pakistan
In Pakistan, Christians have long been marginalised. Many are relegated into degrading jobs such as garbage picking or sewer cleaning, often without proper safety precautions or personal protective equipment. Generation after generation of Pakistani Christians face preventable workplace deaths because they are forced into hazardous situations without regard for their personal safety. Substandard living conditions and jobs are just the tip of the proverbial iceberg regarding societal discrimination against Christians in Pakistan.
The Jaranwala area in Faisalabad, Pakistan was the scene of atrocious violence on August 16, 2023. Nineteen Christian churches were fully gutted and eighty-nine Christian homes were burned. According to reports, the violence began when damaged pages of the Quran were allegedly discovered close to the Christian neighborhood. Some videos showed Muslim clerics inciting a mob of demonstrators and a nearby mosque’s anti-Christian protest calls added fuel to the fire.
Reportedly, the police chief said law enforcement was negotiating with the protesters, however, witnesses said the police were merely spectators as the rioters vandalized Christian houses. The resulting police report included charges of blasphemy against the accused Christian man for defiling the Quran. Blatant anti-Christian bias of the police and governing bodies is commonplace in Pakistan and impunity for Islamic radicals is standard practice, while litigation against Christians is executed to the full extent of the legal system.
Amir Masih, (also in Pakistan), was accused of theft by his employer and taken into police custody on August 28, 2019. His family did not discover that the 28 year old husband and father was being detained for two days, and finally on September 2, they learned he was being transferred to a hospital. Hospital video footage shows the police dragging and kicking him after they arrived by motorcycle. He told his brother that he was urinated on, beaten, tortured electrocuted and mocked for his faith in Christ, before he died that day.
The Asian Human Rights Commission reported in June 2013, that three Christian women were severely beaten and paraded naked in the village of Kasur, Punjab province by armed men and a local landlord based on the allegation that goats owned by the women had damaged the landlord’s crops. The local police filed a case against the Christians.
According to Open Doors, in Afghanistan (just to the north of Pakistan), it is simply impossible to live openly as a Christian. Christian persecution is extreme in all spheres of public and private life. The Taliban controls every aspect of government, the police and the courts.
In Libya the world was shocked at the brutal beheading of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians at the hands of the Islamic State in 2015. The exclusivity of the teachings of Jesus (John 14:6), can be construed as a threat to the religion of Islam by Muslim extremists. When Muslims leave Islam and convert to Christianity they are ostracized and face persecution, even from their own families. They can be left homeless, jobless, kidnapped and executed.
Totalitarian states such as North Korea and Eritrea viciously persecute Christians in an attempt to place the state above God. Christian gatherings are raided, believers are arrested and prison conditions for Christians are often inhumane. China as well has a lengthy history of Christian intolerance and only sanctioned churches are legal. Most believers attend underground or house churches at the risk of being arrested.
This Is Not New
The persecution of Christians is as old as Christianity itself and the apostle Paul, (arguably the greatest proponent of the faith), began by zealously persecuting believers, until his conversion experience on the road to Damascus. The Jewish religious leaders were adamantly opposed to “the way” and saw Christianity as a threat to their monopoly on religious influence, power and wealth. Yet the faith prevailed.
Jesus said to His disciples, “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.” (Matthew 10:16). Later, in verse twenty-two, He added, “All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.”
And in the gospel of John He is recorded as saying, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated Me first.” (John 15:18). Jesus stated in John 16:33, “I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
For many persecuted Christians, perseverance is the only option. They need encouragement. Paul wrote in Romans 8:18, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”
In the west, we enjoy the freedom to worship Jesus Christ and openly express our faith as Christians without the fear of retribution. It is quite easy to be complacent in our walk of faith when we want for little and aren’t threatened with death because we believe in Jesus Christ.
It is paramount that western Christians are not oblivious to the suffering of believers in other parts of the world who are less fortunate. We must hold our brothers and sisters in Christ up in prayer, and petition our Father in heaven to have mercy upon them and provide peace and strength in their plight. And where possible send support though charitable organizations that can provide tangible aid in the form of food and clothing for those in need. And of utmost importance, not neglect to support orphans and widows who have virtually no human rights in many of these situations.
Let us never take our present freedom for granted. The Bible predicts that there will come a time when the whole world will be tested – when the antichrist comes to global prominence and the persecution of Christians will be elevated to unprecedented virulence. May our faith be strong so that our savior will know us by it. Revelation 3:10 tells us, “Since you have kept My command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth.”
Because of His immeasurable patience, God tolerates the evil of the majority in order to save the few. 2 Peter 3:9 reveals, “The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”
Revelation 6:9-11 is a reminder that the Lord will avenge the victims of persecution. “When he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the alter the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. They called out in a loud voice, ‘How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?’ Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed.”
Pray for endurance for all believers so that every one of us will have the faith to stand firm until the end. Do not weaken in your resolve to follow Jesus and leave vengeance to God. His judgement is coming. The words of Jesus in Matthew 24:12-14 provide insight into our present age. “Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.”
