International Day of Prayer For The Persecuted Church. "REMEMBER MY CHAINS" (Col. 4:18)

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1 International Day of Prayer For The Persecuted Church "REMEMBER MY CHAINS" (Col. 4:18) A Special Message By Dr. J. L. Williams Dear Partner, With those three compelling words, Paul closed his letter to the Colossian Church. He was writing those words of exhortation to a church he had never personally visited. The Church at Colosse had been planted by his partner and co-worker, Epaphras (1:7). Paul was now writing to them from Rome where he was under house arrest (Acts 28:30). During this same time he wrote what are commonly called his "Prison Epistles - Ephesians, Colossians, Philemon, and Philippians. Through them the Holy Spirit gives His deepest revelations on the nature of Christ and His Church. In these letters, Paul also appropriately addressed the matters of persecution and suffering in the Christian life - from his own personal experience. To the Church at Ephesus Paul wrote: I am an ambassador in chains" (Eph. 6:20). He reminded the Philippian Christians: "...I am in chains for Christ" (Phil. 1:13). But Paul knew his imprisonment was by God's design. As a result, there was no self-pity in his tone. Nor was there a hint of uncertainty about who was really in control of his circumstances. Paul knew that his arrest and imprisonment were with providential purpose. "What has happened to me," he wrote, "has really served to advance the Gospel" (Phil. 1: 1 2). With confidence Paul could say: "I am put here for the defense of the Gospel" (Phil. 1: 1 6). And defend the Gospel he did! By the time he was released, the whole palace guard and...everyone else" knew that Jesus Christ was the real reason he was imprisoned. Even some had been converted from within "Caesar's household" through Paul's witness while he was in prison (Phil. 4:22)! Paul was providentially released after two years of imprisonment in Rome. However, his message and ministry remained a religious threat to the Jews, and a political threat to the Romans. Therefore, he was again arrested and sent to Rome for persistently preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This time he was not put under house arrest, but was chained in a dungeon. Because of the danger of "guilt by association," many of his former friends disassociated themselves from Paul. "At my first defense, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me," Paul sadly wrote. "But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed..." (11 Tim. 4:22). One friend however, did remained faithful, and boldly identified himself with

2 Paul's imprisonment. "Onesiphorus...often refreshed me," Paul reported to Timothy, "and was not ashamed of my chains" (11 Tim. 1: 16) In his second imprisonment in Rome, Paul sensed in his spirit that he would not be released from his chains - except through death by execution. With a quiet confidence he could write young Timothy: "I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure" (11 Tim. 4:6). Even though some of his former friends and associates were now "ashamed" of him, Paul remained confident in Christ and unashamed of the Gospel. With dying conviction he wrote: "...of this Gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher. That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed and am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him for that day" (II Tim. 1: I 1-1 2). Young Timothy apparently had not yet matured to that point of conviction and confidence. He was struggling with a spirit of timidity" (11 Tim. 1:7). So with a clarionly clear call, Paul wrote to embolden this young pastor - who was also his son in the faith. "Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead," Paul exhorted. "This is my Gospel, for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God's word is not chained" (11 Tim. 2:8-9). A prisoner like that is a dangerous man! You may chain the man, but you cannot chain the message! Shortly after Paul wrote his Second Letter to Timothy, he was executed by the Romans. Tradition tells us that he was beheaded. But like righteous Abel and all others who have lived and died by faith, Paul...still speaks, even though he is dead" (Heb. 11:4). All around the world today, Christians are still being abused beaten... arrested...imprisoned... executed. Just like Paul wrote to exhort Christians whom he had never met to "Remember my chains"; persecuted saints in other countries are asking us to do the same for them. That's why this Sunday, November 14 th, has been designated "INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER FOR THE PERSECUTED CHURCH." This year there is a special focus on Sudan, where I have recently come from. Therefore, this Sunday is set aside for Christians in the West to remember and identify with the persecutions and sufferings of our brethren around the world. This year some 300,000 churches around the world are prayerfully participating making it the largest single day of prayer in the world! 100,000 of these participating churches will be in the U.S. Paul reminded the Corinthian Christians of our spiritual unity in Christ: "When one member suffers, all the members suffer" (I Cor. 12:26). Likewise, the writer of Hebrews exhorts his Jewish Christian readers: "Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering" (Heb. 13:3). We are all very familiar with the first 34 verses of the famous chapter of 11 of Hebrews - the "Faith Hall of Fame." There we read of the spiritual victorious saints like Abel Enoch Noah...Abraham...Sarah...Isaac...Jacob...Joseph...Moses...Rahab Gideon, etc. We love to read of those who "...through faith conquered kingdoms,

3 administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies." In the first part of that chapter we even read that "...Women received back their dead, raised to life again" (1 1:35). What faith! What testimonies! What victories! What conquests! But as the noted radio commentator Paul Harvey often says in his on the Newscasts: "Now for the rest of the story!" Even though we would just as soon stop reading with all of the spiritual victories through verse 34 of Chapter 11 the Spirit does not stop his reporting there! He goes on to say, "But others... Their lives of faith led them to a far different end. They did not experience victory from death, but rather victory through death. OTHERS were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. These were all commended for their faith (Heb. 11:35-39). In spite of the relative peace and prosperity that we Christians experience and enjoy in the West, the norm for the majority of Christians in the world is privation and persecution. Consider. In 1960, over 70% of all evangelical Christians lived in North America and Western Europe. However, in 1990, 70% of all evangelicals lived in the Third World - and the numbers of conversions continue to grow at an exponential rate! But history has clearly shown that when the Holy Spirit is poured out in revival - the unholy spirits are poured out in counter-revival! Tragically, the vast majority of these new Christian brethren who are being swept into the Kingdom of God, live under non-democratic regimes that allow little or no religious freedom. So one third of the body of Christ has to meet and operate in secrecy, under the threat of discovery...harassment...arrest...imprisonment... death. The geographical part of the world where most of these repressive regimes exist is known as the "10/40 Window." It contains the highest concentration of unreached peoples in the

4 world. 35 of the 59 countries in this least evangelized part of the world do not allow the presence of any foreign Christian missionaries! These are also the countries of the world where Hinduism...Buddhism...Sikhism...Confucianism...Janism...and Islam were born--and are now experiencing a satanic rebirth! All across Asia, the Middle East and Africa, radical strains of militant Islam are growing. And, their missionaries do not have to worry about money. They are well financed with billions of our petrol dollars! Therefore, their religious and political leaders come with offers of endless educational...medical...social help - all if you will believe the Koran and convert to Allah! And this brand of militant Islam converts by the sword whenever necessary! As you know, I have just recently returned from Kenya, Ethiopia and Sudan in Eastern Africa - where a great Christian revival has been going on for over 30 years. Christianity has been consistently growing in Southern Africa at the rate of over 20,000 conversions per day! There are now more Christians on the continent of Africa than in any other country. But now militant Islam is marching from North to South planting the Islamic Crescent in its wake. Their intent is to plant Islam: "From Cairo to Cape Town!" In the process they have in essence declared a jihad or "holy war" against Christianity! Other Asian religions like Hinduism and Buddhism - that used to be passive and tolerant by nature, are also becoming militant and aggressively evangelistic. These revived religions are challenging Christianity on every front - even here in America! Also there are the lingering Communist regimes in countries like China, North Korea, Vietnam, Laos and Cuba. They saw the liberating influence of the Christian Church in bringing down the Iron Curtain in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. They are determined not to let the Church do the same in their countries! As a result, they are aggressively repressive toward the church. The net result is more Christians suffering than ever before in history! Studies therefore clearly show that this is the bloodiest century in the history of the Christian church! In fact, there have been more Christians martyred for their faith in the Twentieth Century - than in all the previous Nineteen Centuries combined! Ours has been rightly called the "Age of Atrocity. The Russian poet Mandelstram calls ours a Tyrant Century." Another writer summarized: "The atrocities enacted in our Century strain our credulity at the possible meaningfulness of human existence!" Likewise, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who exposed the 60 million murdered under Stalin, said in 1983: "Men have forgotten God. The failings of human consciousness, deprived of its divine dimension, have been a determining factor in all the major crimes of this Century. So for many in the world, to choose Christ is to choose persecution and death. Noted missiologist David Barrett, estimates that in 1993 alone about 150,000 Christians died as martyrs around the world! He foresees that annual number moving to 200,000 by the year 2000!

5 It is hard to understand why our brethren in many other parts of the world are persecuted, imprisoned, beaten and enslaved for their faith--when we enjoy such affluence and freedom! Tragically, America is increasingly becoming a country of cultural pluralism and religious toleration. Ours has been called the "Century of Indifference," where the only thing that seems to make a big difference to us is our own prosperity and pleasure! Even though many of the early settlers of America were persecuted Christians looking for a place of religious freedom, we are being cut loose from those early spiritual convictions and are on a dangerous moral drift toward national disaster! There are not many true martyrs in America today except in recent school massacres! The Greek root word means witness. Therefore, to be a martyr you have to believe that something matters more than life itself--and whatever the cost, you will give witness to that reality. Few of us today have the faith of the aged Polycarp, who lived in the Second Century. He was the Bishop of the Church at Smyrna. In an age of growing Caesar worship, Polycarp was unwilling to compromise his witness that "Jesus is Lord!" As a result he was arrested, tried, and tied to a stake for burning. His captors taunted him: Come now Polycarp, they urged, where is the harm in just saying 'Caesar is Lord,' and offering incense to his statue when it will save your life?" To their taunts, threats and pleas for compromise Polycarp replied: "Eighty and six years have I served Him, and he has done me no wrong. How then can I blaspheme my King and My Savior?" -- and Polycarp was set on fire! However, his spirit was already ablaze with the passion of God! Men like Richard Wurmbrand, the Romanian Jewish Christian who spend 14 years in prison - 3 in solitary confinement; wrote Tortured for Christ. Since he wrote this book, he has been documenting with photographs and letters the history of Christian martyrdom in the latter half of the Twentieth Century. He is trying to warn and equip Western Christians to prepare for what he believes is certain and soon repression and suffering. He writes: "Christians, don't be caught off guard. When you are captured and imprisoned it will be too late to equip yourselves to face the enemy with love. Practice today. Practice breathing so that you are calm when questioned. Practice physical pain so that you don't betray your brothers and sisters when put to the test. The time of tolerance may be running out for us as Christians in America! Being "born again" is not popular and acceptable like it was a few years ago. Having spiritual conviction is no longer in vogue. The negative light that Christians are increasingly pictured by in the liberal media and leftist press--may be the first indicators of coming physical persecution. We Christians are increasingly being summarized by words like

6 "extremist...hard-line...bigoted intolerant rigid...mean-spirited...full of hate. We are also being identified in the media with white supremacy groups who carry out hate crimes while calling themselves Christians. As a child I used to spend hours reading the Christian classic, Foxe's Book of Martyrs - and looking at the often gruesome pictures of past saints who were...faithful unto death" (Rev. 2:10). It had a profound impact upon my young life. As I looked at the pictures, I often asked myself if I had the kind of courage to die for my faith. Sometimes I still wonder today! That is not a very popular book these days. It is not on the "best seller list, and is not found in most Christian homes--or bookstores! Instead, bless me books on prosperity have replaced books on missions and martyrs! I believe that John Piper was correct when he said that much of American Christianity struggles with the "inertia of ease" and the "apathy of abundance." In his book, Let the Nations Be Glad, he exhorts the American church with these words: The lesson is that comfort and ease and affluence and prosperity and safety and freedom often cause a tremendous inertia in the church. The very things that we think would produce personnel and energy and creative investment of time and money for the missionary cause, instead produce the exact opposite - weakness, apathy, lethargy, selfcenteredness, preoccupation with security It is a strange principle, that probably goes right to the heart of our sinfulness and Christ's sufficiency--that hard times, like persecution, often produce more personnel, more prayer, more power, more open purses than easy times. We cannot fully understand God's sovereignty in allowing some of His children to suffer poverty and persecution, while others experience peace and prosperity. However, we do clearly know: "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be required" (Lk. 12:48). I believe that one of the reasons God has given us American Christians "much" is so we can give spiritual and material support to our suffering brethren in other countries. Many of them can only be touched and helped through prayer. That's why this coming Sunday has been designated as the "INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER FOR THE PERSECUTED CHURCH If your local church is not already involved in this special prayer focus for our persecuted brethren, please bring it up in your Sunday School Class and worship services this week - and in the weeks ahead. Take the initiative and be an advocate for our brethren in the Suffering Church around the world. Say of them what Paul said of the suffering saints at Thessalonica: "Therefore, among God's churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring (11 Thess. 1:4).

7 As you know, many of the saints we work with in Asian and African countries are members of the Suffering Church. Normal Christianity for them means privation, poverty, and persecution. As a result, God's Spirit prompted me last year to establish the "Smyrna Saints Fund" to help with the material needs of some of these dear saints. Like their First Century brethren at the Church in Smyrna, the risen and reigning Lord says of them: I know your afflictions and your poverty Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life (Rev. 2:9-10). We regularly give aid from the fund to suffering Christians. If you are able to make a special contribution to that Fund now, it would be very timely. Perhaps you could even take up a special "love offering" in your church, Sunday School Class, or Bible Study. And since this need will only increase in the months ahead, please continue to pray and give to this special Fund as the Lord leads and enables you. Through your spiritual and financial partnership with these suffering brethren, you can help "Rescue those being led away to death..." (Prov. 24:1 1) and "...snatch others from the fire and save them" (Jude 23). So please unite your love and prayers this Sunday with all of our brethren around the world who are experiencing the "...fellowship of sharing in His sufferings" (Phil. 3:10), and especially pray for the Christians in Sudan where genocide is taking place at a rate unparalleled anywhere else in the world. (I will shortly send you a special update on Sudan.) To help you as you pray for them and with them, I am enclosing some relevant Bible verses about persecution, suffering and death in the life of the Believer. This Sunday, and in the weeks and months ahead, please continue to "remember their chains!" J. L. P.S. Here are some of the countries where the greatest Christian and Human Rights abuses are taking place: China North Korea Vietnam Laos Cuba Indonesia Pakistan

8 Saudi Arabia Egypt Sudan India Nepal Sri Lanka Philippines Uzbekistan SELECTED SCRIPTURE VERSES ON THE PERSECUTION, SUFFERING & DEATH OF CHRISTIANS "I was in prison and you came to visit Me... whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me" (Matt. 25:36, 40). "My God sent His angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in His sight" (Dan. 6:22). "Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering towards slaughter. If you say, 'But we knew nothing about this,' does not He who weight the heart perceive it...will he not repay each person according to what he has done?" (Prov. 24:11-12). "So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him" (Acts 12:6). "Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering" (Heb. 13:3). "If one part suffers, every part suffers with it" (I Cor. 12:26); "Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trail you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ" (I Pet. 4:12). "To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His steps" (I Pet. 2:21). "Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions, for the sake of His body, which is the church" (Col. 1:24). "If the world hates you keep in mind that it hated Me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember the

9 words I spoke to you: 'No servant is greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you also" (Jn. 15:18-20). "...a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God" (Jn. 16:2). "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you" (Matt. 5:11-12). "In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted" (11 Tim. 3:12). we share in His sufferings in order that we may also share in His glory. I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us" (Rom. 8:17-18). "He suffered death, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone" (Heb. 2:9)....we rejoice in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance..." (Rom. 5:3). "Whoever wishes to save His life shall lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake shall find it" (Matt. 16:24-25). "Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies it bears much fruit" (Jn. 12:24). "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints" (Ps. 116:15). "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord" (Rev ). "The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom" (11 Tim. 4:18). "TO LIVE IS CHRIST, TO DIE IS GAIN" (Phil. 1:21)