New genocide in the world
Worldwide Persecution and Martyrdom of Christians
There is a “new genocide” in the world today! It’s been going on for a long time and is very close to our homes, touching our heritage—and personal lives.
Did you know that twelve Christians every hour (one every five minutes), are being killed for their faith? Where is the outrage from human rights activists?
Not only are Christians being killed, but Christian women are being kidnapped and sold into sex trafficking or into forced marriages. Where is the feminist outrage?
Two prominent examples will prove this out.
In April 2014, Boko Haram kidnapped 276 girls from a Christian school in Nigeria.
Within days more than 50 escaped, but the others have not been released. Shekau, the leader of this group announced his intention of selling the girls into slavery but later reported the girls had been “married off.”
Then in February, ISIS released footage showing the beheadings of 21 Coptic Christian men captured in Libya.
Wearing orange jumpsuits they were paraded onto a beach, lined up and brutally beheaded for the world to see.
Rabbi Jonathan Cahn, who recently addressed the United Nations pointed out, “The persecution of believers has increased to historic proportions.”
He continued, “It is happening all around the world. It has become one of the greatest crises in the modern age.”
It must be admitted much of this persecution is taking place in the Middle East the birthplace of Christianity and of the Church.
It should be noted, the slaughter of Christians in the Middle East is not a recent phenomenon. It has been going on for a long time, all the way back to the Roman Empire.
Yet, it has intensified. A century ago, Middle Eastern Christians represented nearly 20 percent of the population.
Now they make up only 4 percent. In Iraq before the Gulf War, there were about 1.4 million Christians. Today, there are only about 200,000 left.
This letter is not simply a pastor wringing his hands saying, “Oh me! Oh my! What to do, what to do?” I agree with Elie Wiesel, who said, “To remain silent and indifferent is the greatest sin of all.”
He then observed, “We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” I believe we can do something. The Bible is not silent concerning such atrocities and encourages believers to take an active role. Hebrews 13:3 encourages people of faith to “Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering” (NIV).
What then can we do? Martin Luther King pointed out, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Here are four suggestions. First, we ought to stick up for Christians suffering for their faith.
Second, we need to speak out, write letters, and share with others what is going on. Third, we should pray never forgetting that through prayer we are not powerless. Fourth, stand up in solidarity. How so? Many churches across our na
tion have identified with this threat and are encouraging churchgoers to wear an item of orange on a Sunday in order to demonstrate their solidarity with persecuted Christians around the world.
Martin Niemöller the German anti-Nazi, theologian and Lutheran pastor, made this haunting confession after World War II. “In Germany they first came for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me and by that time no one was left to speak up.”
Let us not follow his tragic example. I am making a plea to the believers of Mineral County to stop sitting idly by as innocent people—men, women and children are perishing. Join me and our church, Superior Assembly of God, in prayer and in wearing something orange Sunday 3 May 2015.
Pastor Richard A. Lewis
Superior Assembly of God