Post by morningstar on Feb 18, 2014 20:53:53 GMT
This article brought this Scripture to mind:
Prophecy News Watch:
The U.S. House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations held a hearing recently on "The Worldwide Persecution of Christians." The hearing was chaired by Rep. Christopher H. Smith.
In opening this congressional hearing, Rep. Smith pointed out that Christians right now face violence, displacement, or discrimination in 110 nations of the world, and that the 2.3 billion Christians alive today may form the world's largest religion, but that they are also the most persecuted religious group. Rep. Chris Smith said: "It is a huge problem and it's getting worse, not just in the Middle East, but in China, in North Korea and elsewhere." He added that there has been an explosion of persecution against Christians, including martyrdom, torture, and harassment of all kinds.
Boston Globe Associate Editor John Allen, and author of the book The Global War on Christians: Dispatches from the Front Lines of Anti-Christian Persecution was also a speaker at the hearing. Allen reported that Christianity was the largest religious tradition on the planet, representing one-third of the human population, and that two-thirds of Christians in the world today live outside the West; in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and other places where they are targets of convenience for anybody who is mad at the West, at Europe, or the United States."
Reports from Christian organizations operating in countries where persecution is rife reported that the main engine driving persecution of Christians in 36 of the top 50 countries is Islamic extremism, with the most violent region being the states of the African Sahel belt where a fifth of the world’s Christians meet one-seventh of the world’s Muslims in perilous proximity.
However it was pointed out that not all persecution of Christians is to be blamed on radical Islam, and some of the worst anti-Christian pogroms of the 21st century has come not from Islamic extremists but from Hindu nationalists in India. The rise of a violent brand of radical Hinduism in the world's second most populous nation has meant trouble for the much smaller Christian minority.
Elliott Abrams, chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, offered a bit of a rebuke for lawmakers, saying that Congress needed to pay more attention to the growing problem of Christian persecution, and needed to make it a higher priority issue in U.S. relations with all the countries where this persecution is taking place.
Persecution dynamics and The Syrian Crisis.
The early Christians were also subject to empire-wide persecution, and as with the early church, the more the Christians were persecuted the more they grew and spread. This same phenomenon is helping to spread Christianity throughout the Middle East and other countries reporting widespread persecution of the followers of Christ.
Syria has been listed as number three on the Open Doors 2014 World Watch List. The ongoing Syrian crisis has seen Christians become increasingly persecuted as extreme Islamist elements seek to purge the region of Christianity. Although the Syrian church historically enjoyed peace and religious freedom under the Assad regime, the Arab Spring destabilized that peace, and Christians have been typically perceived as supporters of the existing government.
Yet amidst all the violence and persecution, there are sparks of hope. Though many Syrians have had to leave the country or have been internally displaced, there has also been the positive outcome of an increased growth in the number of people who have converted to Christ in the deplorable situation of the civil war. Thousands of Syrian Christians as well as Muslims have fled the war and brutal persecutions and taken refuge in neighboring countries.
Reports on the refugee response to evangelistic activities by Christian aid organizations working with the influx of Syrians seeking refuge in Turkey, Iraq and Lebanon, have been encouraging to say the least. Christian Aid Mission reported that “thousands” of Syrians have committed their hearts to Jesus Christ. One pastor recently told an Open Doors co-worker: '"We have prayed for a revival for years and now it's here, but we never expected that God would use a civil war."
Christian workers are reporting real conversions, with Syrian Muslims showing a surprising openness to hear the gospel, read the Bible, and come to faith in Christ. Three of the ministries that Christian Aid Mission assists in the region and that are headquartered in Lebanon, Turkey and Iraq were able to report the following on the status of Christian conversions in the region:
FULL ARTICLE
Fair use for Discussion & Educational Purposes
Mat 16:18
And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Prophecy News Watch:
The U.S. House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations held a hearing recently on "The Worldwide Persecution of Christians." The hearing was chaired by Rep. Christopher H. Smith.
In opening this congressional hearing, Rep. Smith pointed out that Christians right now face violence, displacement, or discrimination in 110 nations of the world, and that the 2.3 billion Christians alive today may form the world's largest religion, but that they are also the most persecuted religious group. Rep. Chris Smith said: "It is a huge problem and it's getting worse, not just in the Middle East, but in China, in North Korea and elsewhere." He added that there has been an explosion of persecution against Christians, including martyrdom, torture, and harassment of all kinds.
Boston Globe Associate Editor John Allen, and author of the book The Global War on Christians: Dispatches from the Front Lines of Anti-Christian Persecution was also a speaker at the hearing. Allen reported that Christianity was the largest religious tradition on the planet, representing one-third of the human population, and that two-thirds of Christians in the world today live outside the West; in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and other places where they are targets of convenience for anybody who is mad at the West, at Europe, or the United States."
Reports from Christian organizations operating in countries where persecution is rife reported that the main engine driving persecution of Christians in 36 of the top 50 countries is Islamic extremism, with the most violent region being the states of the African Sahel belt where a fifth of the world’s Christians meet one-seventh of the world’s Muslims in perilous proximity.
However it was pointed out that not all persecution of Christians is to be blamed on radical Islam, and some of the worst anti-Christian pogroms of the 21st century has come not from Islamic extremists but from Hindu nationalists in India. The rise of a violent brand of radical Hinduism in the world's second most populous nation has meant trouble for the much smaller Christian minority.
Elliott Abrams, chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, offered a bit of a rebuke for lawmakers, saying that Congress needed to pay more attention to the growing problem of Christian persecution, and needed to make it a higher priority issue in U.S. relations with all the countries where this persecution is taking place.
Persecution dynamics and The Syrian Crisis.
The early Christians were also subject to empire-wide persecution, and as with the early church, the more the Christians were persecuted the more they grew and spread. This same phenomenon is helping to spread Christianity throughout the Middle East and other countries reporting widespread persecution of the followers of Christ.
Syria has been listed as number three on the Open Doors 2014 World Watch List. The ongoing Syrian crisis has seen Christians become increasingly persecuted as extreme Islamist elements seek to purge the region of Christianity. Although the Syrian church historically enjoyed peace and religious freedom under the Assad regime, the Arab Spring destabilized that peace, and Christians have been typically perceived as supporters of the existing government.
Yet amidst all the violence and persecution, there are sparks of hope. Though many Syrians have had to leave the country or have been internally displaced, there has also been the positive outcome of an increased growth in the number of people who have converted to Christ in the deplorable situation of the civil war. Thousands of Syrian Christians as well as Muslims have fled the war and brutal persecutions and taken refuge in neighboring countries.
Reports on the refugee response to evangelistic activities by Christian aid organizations working with the influx of Syrians seeking refuge in Turkey, Iraq and Lebanon, have been encouraging to say the least. Christian Aid Mission reported that “thousands” of Syrians have committed their hearts to Jesus Christ. One pastor recently told an Open Doors co-worker: '"We have prayed for a revival for years and now it's here, but we never expected that God would use a civil war."
Christian workers are reporting real conversions, with Syrian Muslims showing a surprising openness to hear the gospel, read the Bible, and come to faith in Christ. Three of the ministries that Christian Aid Mission assists in the region and that are headquartered in Lebanon, Turkey and Iraq were able to report the following on the status of Christian conversions in the region:
FULL ARTICLE
Fair use for Discussion & Educational Purposes
