THE PERSECUTED CHURCH-WHAT ARE YOU DOING?
As you wait in the shadows for your time to come, the cold wind bites through your thin coat, hardly enough to keep out the rain let alone the bitter wind and cold that is slowly but surely reaching the very core of your being. While you try to pull the coat in closer around your frail body you find yourself nervously peering into the darkness that surronds you and listening intently for any signs of movement! Suddenly you get the signal, your time has finally arrived. What if you are seen, what if someone decides to report you you say to youself as you leave the relative security of the darkness and cross through the path of the dim light eminating from the lamp post that is between you and you destination. Praying that no-one will see you this time you glance at the darkened windows as you cross, looking for any sort of movement that might indicate danger .You know the huge risk that your mission demands of you but yet you are determined to go through with it no matter what the cost.
As you reach the doorway on the other side of the street you stop and take one last quick glance into the black of the night before you mount the stairs.
You try desperately to remember the new knock that lets you into the upper room and as you stand before the door you quickly ask the Lord for strength to endure!
You knock as quietly as you can hoping that the neighbours are asleep, the door opens and you find yourself quickly pulled in as if by a tornado and the door is shut silently behind you.
"Were you followed or seen"?
The worried look on the speakers face says more than a thousand words ever could.
"I don't think so" comes you reply as you look around the room to see who is still to come. As you look around the small dimly lit room your eyes rest momentarily on the blacked out window that has been very carefully covered in case someone glimpses the light shining through the cracks!
You jump as you suddenly hear another knock, two fast three slow pause then one!
Quickly the door is once again flung open and the next person is pulled unceremoniously into the room.
This strange behavior continues for the next hour as you wait with excited anticipation for the service to start!
In countries such as Russia, China,The Middle East,Malaysia,Algeria,Burma and many many other countries around the world this is how they get to church! Obviously not by choice but because it is illegal for them to worship God or to even own a Bible! At this very moment as you sit and read this article in comfort be it at home, school, work, the library and with complete freedom to do so in many countries if you were caught you would be instantly arrested and probably tortured for doing so! There are thousands of Christians at this very moment hiding in underground tunnels, holding worship services in secret knowing that at any moment the authorities could burst in and arrest any number of them, are in prison being tortured horrifically or even being killed because they believe in Jesus Christ!
They are no different from you, they feel fear, pain, (mental and physical) and they have no idea how they are going to survive the next round of torture without denying Christ just so they can get some relief from the suffering they are having to endure BUT they do it anyway because Christ means more to them than any pain or suffering that their captures can put them through so they pray for strength to endure and choose to forgive their captors!
At this very moment though there is an extremely interesting phenomenon that is happening in the persecuted church around the world and that is, despite the widely known fact that Christians are being persecuted and killed for their faith, the church, in countries where torture and death for Christians is rife and widely known the church is growing at such a phenomenal rate that the countries where Christians have freedom to express their faith can hardly keep up!
SO..what are you doing to help your brothers and sisters in Christ!?! The Bible says that we are to pray for our Brothers and Sisters in Christ especially those who are being persecuted, so are you at least praying for them!?!
As you reach the doorway on the other side of the street you stop and take one last quick glance into the black of the night before you mount the stairs.
You try desperately to remember the new knock that lets you into the upper room and as you stand before the door you quickly ask the Lord for strength to endure!
You knock as quietly as you can hoping that the neighbours are asleep, the door opens and you find yourself quickly pulled in as if by a tornado and the door is shut silently behind you.
"Were you followed or seen"?
The worried look on the speakers face says more than a thousand words ever could.
"I don't think so" comes you reply as you look around the room to see who is still to come. As you look around the small dimly lit room your eyes rest momentarily on the blacked out window that has been very carefully covered in case someone glimpses the light shining through the cracks!
You jump as you suddenly hear another knock, two fast three slow pause then one!
Quickly the door is once again flung open and the next person is pulled unceremoniously into the room.
This strange behavior continues for the next hour as you wait with excited anticipation for the service to start!
In countries such as Russia, China,The Middle East,Malaysia,Algeria,Burma and many many other countries around the world this is how they get to church! Obviously not by choice but because it is illegal for them to worship God or to even own a Bible! At this very moment as you sit and read this article in comfort be it at home, school, work, the library and with complete freedom to do so in many countries if you were caught you would be instantly arrested and probably tortured for doing so! There are thousands of Christians at this very moment hiding in underground tunnels, holding worship services in secret knowing that at any moment the authorities could burst in and arrest any number of them, are in prison being tortured horrifically or even being killed because they believe in Jesus Christ!
They are no different from you, they feel fear, pain, (mental and physical) and they have no idea how they are going to survive the next round of torture without denying Christ just so they can get some relief from the suffering they are having to endure BUT they do it anyway because Christ means more to them than any pain or suffering that their captures can put them through so they pray for strength to endure and choose to forgive their captors!
At this very moment though there is an extremely interesting phenomenon that is happening in the persecuted church around the world and that is, despite the widely known fact that Christians are being persecuted and killed for their faith, the church, in countries where torture and death for Christians is rife and widely known the church is growing at such a phenomenal rate that the countries where Christians have freedom to express their faith can hardly keep up!
SO..what are you doing to help your brothers and sisters in Christ!?! The Bible says that we are to pray for our Brothers and Sisters in Christ especially those who are being persecuted, so are you at least praying for them!?!