08/29/2022 Washington D.C. (International Christian Concern) – Night has fallen on the Christians of Afghanistan. The Taliban is hunting for Christians and has found some already. Believers receive phone calls saying, “We know who you are, we are watching you, we are coming for you.
That understandably has caused many Christians to flee the country, but many others are staying because they want to be a light to the lost and the dying around them, knowing full well it may cost them their own lives.
The persecution drives the church underground. The danger believers face causes them to go deep with God, holding onto Him with everything they have. That closeness causes them to light up with His presence, and they become a light in the deep darkness around them.
Those living in the dark hate it and are always searching for and drawn to the light. That is really the core cause of the growth of the persecuted church.
I see it throughout church history. Just look at Rome. Rome decimated the church for centuries with persecution after persecution. But eventually, the church overflowed its banks and washed the old Rome away.
Look around the world today, and you will see the same thing. In Iran, the Ayatollahs have done everything they could to kill the church for four decades. They’ve imprisoned, tortured, raped, and murdered its leaders.
But persecution has only caused the church to catch on fire. The result? So many people are coming to Christ the government can’t arrest them all-only the top leaders. In fact, the Mosques are empty, and the church has exploded.
The same thing has happened in China. The Marxists have used the same methods as the Ayatollahs, but again, the Church caught on fire. There are probably 150+ million believers in China, and they are taking the Gospel to the world.
Our responsibility to the persecuted is two-fold. The first is to stand by them and support them in their suffering. But we must also learn from them!
The pressures of life can be crushing. But we must allow the pressure to push us to God and hang onto Him with everything we’ve got.
Then, in death, you will come alive, and those living in the dark around you will see His light!
This was an excerpt from Jeff King’s upcoming devotional book focused on spiritual lessons from the persecuted. For information about pre-orders, please contact moreinfo@persecution.org.
