Tonight I experienced something unlike I ever have before. I sat in on a secret church service. Luckily for us and this country that we’re in, it was not a real secret church. We are able to be Christian here and have church freely in Thailand. Thank you Lord!! But, while I’m on the topic, I will say, there are some tough things here when it comes to living as a Christian. We are very outnumbered here! In America, 75% of people claim Christianity. That is approximately 241 million people. Here, .07% of people claim Christianity. That’s 5 million! Here, 95% are Buddhist. There are idols and temples on every street corner, and although there is free religion here, the king is required to be Buddhist. And with that, there is a HIGH respect for Buddhism due to the extremely high regards they hold for their king. With that, saying the name of Jesus in the streets of Thailand is not a cultural norm. We could potentially be arrested for evangelizing or worshiping as a group in the streets. But folks, it gets worse. This is NOTHING compared to the things going on around the world that no one knows about.
At secret church tonight, we looked at stories of past missionaries that risked it all for Jesus. These were people that brought his name to new territories and risked death for Jesus. There are so many stories in the Bible that we read about that people were imprisoned or died for their faith, yet we forget that there are people today folks! I can’t even imagine it. I barely know anything about it, and I almost feel convicted that others face this, while I walk freely in the US loving Jesus. Being in a secret church environment tonight really impacted me.
We spent some time during the service looking at prosecution and specifically at the top 50 countries in the world facing prosecution at the highest levels today. And here are the facts: 1 of 9 Christians worldwide face high levels of persecution. 4,136 Christians were killed for faith-related reasons in 2018. That’s 11 each day. In China, they have began providing financial rewards for Christians. They are 27 on the List of the 50 facing persecution the most. In Myanmar, the country we go to next, more than 100,000 Christians live in IDP (internally displaced person) camps, deprived of access to food and health care. And radical Buddhist monks, generally tolerated by the government, have invaded church properties and built Buddhist shrines on church premises. They are ranked 18 on the list. And then, there’s number 1 on the list. North Korea. Kim Jong Un has maintained his tight control over the population, and worshiping anything other than him is not tolerated. If Christians are discovered, not only are they deported to labor camps as political criminals or even killed on the spot, their families will share their fate as well. Christians do not even have the slightest space in society, on the contrary, they are publicly warned against. Meeting other Christians in order to worship is almost impossible and if some believers dare to, it has to be done in utmost secrecy.
We all have different realities we live in. Different things shake those realities. But when our reality is centered on Christ, we as his children, we as his church and we in his kingdom are unshaken. He is unshakable. These Christians facing persecution have a faith so strong that they are unshakable. They would do anything for their faith of Jesus, even die for him. I want to leave you with a few things to think about after you read this information! These are some things I’m thinking about. I’d love for you to share your thoughts with me on these questions below and I’d love to share my thoughts with you!
A Few Questions
- Would you die for Jesus?
- Why do you want to share about Jesus?
- What keeps you from sharing about Jesus?
A Few Takeaways
- Don’t give up opportunities when we live in Freedom to share the Gospel. For the sake of others fighting on our behalf and facing persecution, take the opportunities presented to you!Honor these being persecuted, pray for them, and thank Jesus that we don’t have to walk through this extreme persecution.
- Something I did tonight that I encourage you to do as well: Write down your heart song, the truths God has spoken over you or the promises he’s made to you as his son or daughter. Have this sheet of facts that you can whip out when your faith seems small. When you face persecution.
- And again, remember these people who face extreme persecution today. Honor them and pray for them. The Lord is using them and using you. Just follow Him and fall in love with Jesus! Pursue the calling he’s put on your heart and the passions he’s given you. If he has put this persecution on your heart, pursue ways to help. There are always ways to help. It could be by bringing awareness to your community so they can lift these warriors up in prayer, you could bless people financially so they can go and serve in these countries or rescue Christians or lastly, heck you could even go serve alongside them these people in extreme persecution.
Thanks for reading all of my scattered thoughts and listening to the dramatic buckets of intense passion I just dropped on ya (: I’m just feeling quite inspired tonight. Did I mention that we had church for 4 hours, all 40 of us in a small room with no AC and then we came out and there was no power so we couldn’t shower? Sooooo um yeah, I was so hot and sweaty that it made me focus even harder and be even more grateful that the hardest thing I’m enduring right now is no AC. Ok, now I’m rambling even more (; God bless y’all. Have an amazing day all of you to the west of me! As for me, I think I’ll get some sleep (:
