Recently, I read an informative and sad article about the persecution of Christians around the world. Here are some excerpts:
According to the International Society for Human Rights, a secular [group], 80 percent of all acts of religious discrimination in the world today are directed at Christians. Statistically speaking, that makes Christians by far the most persecuted religious body on the planet.
According to the Pew Forum, between 2006 and 2010 Christians faced some form of discrimination… in a staggering total of 139 nations, which is almost three-quarters of all the countries on earth.
According to the Center for the Study of Global Christianity… an average of 100,000 Christians have been killed in what the center calls a situation of witness’ each year for the past decade. That works out to 11 Christians killed somewhere in the world every hour… for reasons related to their faith.
In our country, where we enjoy so much religious freedom, it is hard to personally connect with these statistics. But a year or two ago, God personally challenged me to be regularly praying for persecuted Christians. So Rock Church, I challenge you: do you regularly pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters around the world? This would be a good prayer: 1 Peter 1:6-7 “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
Studying the book of Acts has shown us that God uses persecution like this, without fail, to build His kingdom. So pray for God ’s grace in their lives and that His gospel goes forward strongly!
Josh
Posted in A Word from the Pastor