Thanks for the reminder…

Thank you for this post. The sober truth is, professing faith in Christ and sacrificially following Him (which should be inseparable from one another) *should be* matters of life definition, no matter where one lives.

In America though, Christ is often crammed into our little boxes of physical, material, and emotional comfort, to fit the comfortable lives that we want to live, in our sinful selfishness. In other countries which are openly hostile to the Gospel, believers do not have such a “luxury.”

Before *God* though, as followers of Christ in America, we don’t truly *have* that luxury– we simply *take* it. Before man, we can often live comfortable Christian lives with little challenge and sacrifice. Before God though, He still calls us to live challenging, sacrificial lives of love for Him, His church, and those who do not know Him.

Currently, how all of this plays out in the lives of Christians often looks very different in America than in many other countries. Some of that is obviously due to America being more friendly to Christian faith. I think that much of it, however, is simply due to American Christians wanting a “comfortable Christ” over the true Jesus of the Bible.

Also, I wonder, if more of us in America *did* live radically challenging, sacrificial lives in Christ, how long would it be before we began to experience *real* persecution? Not to sound like a masochist, but I would like to find out the answer to that question in my own life…

I noticed that there were addresses at the bottom of the article that you referenced. I hate writing official-type letters but this is nuts.

I don’t feel ashamed to have been born in a place where faith in Christ isn’t going to get me killed, but my freedom obligates me to pray, pray, pray for these kids, these brothers and sisters who are paying the price, and to put legs to my prayers whenever I can. Because they’ve been thrust into the arena, where what really matters most becomes evident to all; “You will be my witnesses (martyrs)…” Their suffering bears witness, and nothing should humble us more who have been spared.

Obviesly I would not ask anybody to die for what they believe in, however it is not me who would be doing the asking.

“The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church” (Apologeticus, Chapter 50)

He started coming on his own accord and attended for a couple of years, joining in all the worship, and all prayer. After his first year of doing this, I asked him if he had made a decision for Christ.

He said to me “Mike, if I had, I couldn’t tell you. If I have trusted Jesus for my salvation, and my brothers somehow found out about it, then each of them would consider it their duty to kill me.”

I never got more information out of him than that, but he kept freely coming to the worship times, and freely joining in all that was going on. I believe that he came to faith in Christ but wasn’t willing to share it with the rest of the world. What that means for eternity I will leave up to God. We could debate it but only God knows for sure.

The significance of this was brought home to me several years later when I was reading the sermon on the mount. (Matthew 5)

When it comes to the “persecuted for righteousness sake” Jesus says that “theirs is the kingdom of heaven”. Not “will be”, but “is”.

I thought to myself. Being willing to stand up and be persecuted for the name of Christ, is strongly declaring in the here and now that I belong to Jesus and he belongs to me, and nothing anyone can do is going to change that. Their eternity is assured. Nothing is going to change that. “Theirs IS the kingdom of heaven.”

In the case of the Muslim convert, especially in the case of my friend who faced an almost certain death if went public with his faith in Christ, what a terribly difficult decision to make.