The Pandemic of Persecution
He hadn’t kissed the bride. No one is sure they got through their vows. If they did, the words “death do us part” might have still been hanging in the air when men with rifles stormed the church, ripping the bride and groom away from the happiest day of their lives.
He hadn’t kissed the bride. No one is sure they got through their vows. If they did, the words “death do us part” might have still been hanging in the air when men with rifles stormed the church, ripping the bride and groom away from the happiest day of their lives. Terrified, people tried to escape. The ones who couldn’t were taken — like the couple, who hasn’t been heard from since.
Everyone in the Nigerian villages knows what happens to Christians. Five were slaughtered in cold blood the same day the couple was kidnapped. Burning and beheading their way through the remotest areas of Niger State, the Fulani herdsman have started breaking into homes at midnight, dragging people out at gunpoint like church elder Emmanuel Iliya Agiya. If they don’t vanish, they’re hunted down and attacked. Yusaf Pam was riding home in a rainstorm when herdsman ambushed him with machetes, slashing his face until he was unrecognizable. Lying in a pool of blood, his wife thought he was already dead.
For the Christians in Nigeria, this isn’t a once-in-awhile problem. This is an every second of every day torment that is destroying their very existence. While we here in the West grapple with an enemy we can’t see, theirs is the country’s own Muslims. For so many families, just waking up in the morning — alive — is a victory. “This and many other savageries on our communities in recent times affirm the fear that, for our vulnerable communities, the danger posed to our existence and well-being by the coronavirus pandemic is less grim than the perennial murderous acts of armed herdsmen,” Christian Luka Binniyat said solemnly.
This bloody legacy is what put Nigeria back on the recommended list of countries of particular concern in the latest report by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). Together with Boko Haram, the Fulani herdsman are targeting military groups, missionaries, farmers, and humanitarian aid workers, killing hostages, taking slaves, and torching villages. The government, which has all but abandoned its people to this chaos, continues to do nothing. For Christians, who live with terror we can’t imagine, their only hope is in countries — and prayers — like ours.
So today, FRC’s Lela Gilbert and Arielle Del Turco urge, let’s take a moment to look beyond ourselves and our borders and consider the trials faced at this very moment by millions of our fellow Christians. “Our own challenges are undeniable, but let us also reflect on those who endure indescribable dangers every day. We may not know their names, but they are part of our spiritual family and in grave need of our prayers. Let us remember to pray for our sisters and brothers who are struggling to survive overseas and around the world.” And thank God for the freedom we have to do so.
Originally published here.
China’s Faith off with Mike Pompeo
What do Chinese communists know about Christianity? Not much, but that hasn’t stopped them from saying Secretary Mike Pompeo has betrayed it. In a bizarre attack, even for China, the regime’s latest approach seems to be calling out America’s top diplomat for misrepresenting his faith. It’s an interesting deflection — but not an effective one.
On any other day, the West would probably be thrilled to hear a Chinese newspaper quoting the Bible. Not this time. When China’s state-owned Global Times released an editorial blasting Pompeo for being a bad Christian, most people started wondering if the regime was off its rocker. “[H]is lying for political purposes is contrary to his label as a so-called ‘devout Christians,’” the column argues. “It is widely known that Christian doctrine opposes lying — it’s a sin. A false witness shall not go unpunished. And he that utters lies shall perish. From the Ten Commandments, the ninth says, ‘You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.’”
Obviously, the secretary’s accusations — that the Chinese Communist Party is covering up the origins of the virus — are hitting a little too close to home. But turning this into a religious issue? Asia expert Gordon Chang can only shake his head. “I mean, you can’t really make this stuff up,” he says. “There’s no good reason for this line of attack on the secretary of State. They could have said many other things, but this one does China no good at all… [T]his really shows that the Communist Party is losing it.”
That, or they’re desperate to distract people from the truth — which is the one thing Secretary Pompeo and leaders around the world want. When he says that the virus came from a Wuhan lab, Gordon says, “Secretary Pompeo is not lying. The Chinese are lying.” And obviously, the fact that America is getting closer to the facts has to be getting under China’s skin. “And the reason is that for the Communist Party,” Gordon explained, “especially at this moment, the investigation of the truth is a mortal threat, because the party knows it has so much to hide. It has so much to hide about the origin of the coronavirus. It will haunt [them].”
And not just about what it knew, but what it did. “Beijing took steps that inevitably led to the spread of the disease beyond China’s borders. In other words, Chinese leaders took steps that they knew would result in infection and death around the world. So this is not just some sort of accidental release from China. This really is a malicious spread of the disease.” In other words, if they want to get into a debate about sin, betrayal, and lies, maybe the ones they should be worrying about are themselves!
Originally published here.
A Breath of Fresh Prayer
They are the lasting images of every tragedy — the pictures of heartbreak, triumph, humility, humanity. They are a scrapbook of a thousand moments that remind us simply: Americans are survivors. The flag over Iwo Jima. George Bush on a pile of rubble with a megaphone. An amputee, crying, at the finish line of the Boston Marathon. Years from now, looking back on the darkness of these days, what will we remember? The chaplains holding hands with patients. Nurses on a hospital helipad, praying over a city skyline. Cars lined up in the church parking lots. I hope what we remember is revival.
For the first time in a long time, the National Day of Prayer comes as most people are already praying. Americans, united in unimaginable grief and uncertainty, have been on their knees for months, driven there by a crisis they don’t understand and cannot fix. Men and women who don’t even know God — or before this, cared to — are turning to a faith outside themselves. They wonder, like the third-grade son of Pastor Steve Klemz, is our world broken? It is, he said gently, but not because of the pandemic. It’s broken because of us. The world needs healing, and there’s only one way to get it. Prayer. Humility. Repentance.
The ones closest to the suffering need no prompting. When they aren’t working, they’re praying. On especially hard days, Angela Greaves, walks to the top of her Vanderbilt hospital, staring out over streets of Nashville. She takes a deep breath and shuts her eyes. Sometimes other nurses come, still in their blue scrubs, kneeling on the concrete. “We could feel God’s presence in the wind,” she said. And then, prompted by something deep inside, she decided to share the pictures with the world — she and four others, raising their arms over the city. “Know that you all are covered in prayer,” Angela wrote.
It was a sign of the unusual times that her pictures started spreading — and in the least expected places. Media outlets that might normally mock prayer posted the image as a sign of hope. “We just wanted to share the photos to let everyone know we were praying — not only for our own hospital, but all the patients and families.”
For once, America is in something together — battling the same enemy, hurting from the same pain. Today, seeking the same God. The president, in his official proclamation, called this date a “prayerful tradition” — one that, until very recently, a lot of us took for granted. Now, under the long shadows that have driven other generations to prayer, we find ourselves in the same position — privileged to call on God as one people.
“During the past weeks and months, our heads have bowed at places outside of our typical houses of worship, whispering in silent solitude for God to renew our spirit and carry us through unforeseen and seemingly unbearable hardships," President Trump said. "Even though we have been unable to gather together… we are still connected through prayer and the calming reassurance that God will lead us through life’s many valleys. In the midst of these trying and unprecedented times, we are reminded that just as those before us turned to God in their darkest hours, so must we seek His wisdom, strength, and healing hand. We pray that He comforts those who have lost loved ones, heals those who are sick, strengthens those on the front lines, and reassures all Americans that through trust in Him, we can overcome all obstacles.”
No one knows where this road of struggle will lead. We don’t know how long it will last, or who else will suffer. What we know is that we have an all-powerful God whose hand of blessing and comfort is on our nation, even now. In Him, we rest. In Him, we trust.
Originally published here.
This is a publication of the Family Research Council. Mr. Perkins is president of FRC.
