"The Pope?! How many Divisions does he have?"
~ Josef Stalin
It is amazing to me how American Christians deal with hardships or turbulence in their lives.
In the last 40 years or so, we've been taught to pray it away and have faith that God will take it away.
For this attitude, I blame televangelists.
But I digress.
True persecution of ministers or Christians in general continues even today in some countries in the world.
In the modern era, the most notable government sponsored persecution has come from the Communists.
When the Bolsheviks overthrew the Russian Czar, murdering everyone in sight, they immediately sought to end religion; it is, after all, the "opiate of the people" as their ideological father has stated.
Between 1917-1921, the Bolshevik Communists executed over 1,200 Orthodox Priests.
After World War II, their dealing with Protestants was even worse; condemning evangelicals to
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| Banner over door reads: "Monks - The bloody enemies of working people." |
In all, the Communists in the former Soviet Union killed well over 100,000 Orthodox Priests and Bishops - this from a group of people who deliberately chose to run a country without God believing the overall good of man would triumph.
Looking at other Christians around the globe, they tend to view hardships vastly different than Americans.
For some reason, Americans seem obsessed with pain; maybe that is the reason prescription medication and addiction has sky rocketed in recent years.
We don't want to hurt; but I can tell you from personal experience when I had cancer, those drugs aren't for people who just don't want to hurt - they are for people who don't want to feel anything at all because the pain is so bad.
The prayer meetings in our churches seem to focus on illnesses; one even called it an organ recital - with people talking about their livers, spleens and such.
Our requests to God for healing seem right; but do you realize this is unique to America?
In the past, Christians expected to face opposition; many pastors spent time in jails for their
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| Adoniram Judson |
Yet, today, because of his work, more than a million Burmese Christians can trace their heritage to Judson's faithfulness in his suffering.
To put it bluntly, the Health & Wealth Gospel of the modern Electronic Preacher is simply a cruel lie to the hurting.
Most Christians, even American Christians will experience some type of discrimination.
Usually we think of Muslim countries when it comes to discrimination against a believer, but the truth is that the secular world can be just as bad or worse.
In the United States, we are blessed enough to have religious freedom; yet, Jesus still complicates life at times.
By instinct, we hate suffering and loathe trials; which begs the question -
"Why in the world would anybody choose to follow a man who promises more hardship like Jesus?"
But amazingly, it has been my experience that those who suffer the most tend to complain the least.
Hardship in our lives seems to quicken our appetite for God; something of a spiritual homesickness occurs.
We seek and we want God more because of our suffering; instinctively we know He is our true comforter.
No person gets exempt from hardship of Earth; how we receive it - that makes all the difference in the world.
For if we receive it with God's presence - we'll soon find that it is a peace which transcends all understanding.
How else can you explain the peace to the survivors and parents of national tragedies?
What hope could an atheist give after the September 11th attacks on New York?
Or what about the shootings at Columbine or Jonesboro, Arkansas?
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| Jonesboro Aftermath |
What Agnostic could have provided comfort, compassion and hope in the wake of those teenagers being murdered?
Even at the Boston Marathon, when two terrorists in the name of their religion sought to kill and maim innocents -there was no non-believer offering a view which would provide strength and hope.
What hope could they give the hurting?
Can you imagine any of them saying:
"We live in a meaningless world and you should expect pain without any meaning."
Wow...that's comforting.
Yet, I know those lives lost had meaning - individual meaning, not as a society, but as a person.
And the pain and suffering they experienced, had meaning.
The difference is that God makes a difference in a persons life.
Why do Christians in oppressive, Third World countries seek to minister to those who are hurting - even when persecution could result?
God - He is the difference in a person's life to where they become more than they ever imagined as the vessel through which He touches the world and offers the grand hope of redemption through His Son.For you see, God is in the recycling business.
He redeems the good out of the bad; resurrecting our hope out of every tragedy.
Until next time, win one for the good guys.
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