Arab Spring Unites the Persecuted Church

Praise be to God, our Heavenly Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Today, the day right after 11/11/11 the Moody Church in Chicago hosted the Persecuted Christians: Affliction or Privilege? The Impact of Islam in the East and West Conference. Being the first of its kind in a major U.S. city, and the first of its kind to be held in a world renown church, the conference's aim was to bring to light how Islam has impacted east/west relationships. There were over 13 speakers who spoke about their experiences as Christians living in the Middle East to a crowd of over 250 people. It was noted that in the 20th century alone, over 45 million Christians have been collectively killed by world governments such as the Soviet Union, Nazism, and the Communist Khmer Rogue. In Sudan over 2 million people were killed, most being of Christian descent. The tragedy of the ordeal is that many Christians in the West have been slow to recognize the persecution of Christians. But conference speakers posed the question---Why are Christians being persecuted? Simply put, Christians are being persecuted because the world hates the name of Jesus Christ. The name of Jesus Christ is offensive to all that are not believers. It was noted that in the United Kingdom alone, Christians are being discriminated in an alarming rate through law suits for wearing a Christian cross (a symbol of their faith) and for their moral values.

Another speaker noted how just three weeks ago a Muslim boy of 17 years old was killed in Egypt for refusing to remove his cross. His teacher and two classmates beat him to death. So much hate filled their heart that it drove them to murder. In another violent confrontation in Egypt, a military truck plowed through a group of Christian women and children who were carrying a wooden cross.As hard as it may be, Christians facing persecution count it a privilege to be persecuted. Their persecution is having the opposite effect to their pysche. Their persecutors hope to terrorize them but many Christians are not afraid to die and willingly become martyrs before denying their Lord Jesus Christ. When two Christian men were killed by Turkish Muslims, the very next day their two widows went on public television to forgive the killers of their husbands. No other faith in the world has ever shown this capacity to forgive and love their enemies like Christianity does. If by tomorrow Muslim countries lifted their restrictions regarding conversion--thousands, if not millions of Muslims would convert to Christianity instantly.

It is imperative for Chrisitians in the West to wake up and meet their misguided Muslim brothers and sisters with love and understanding. Islam's main goal is to conqueror the entire world. It is imperative that all Christians in the West become BASHIR, or evangelists to address the many wrongs that are coming because the persecution of Christians is a natural extent of the Christian experience, so says the Bible. God bless.