It is interesting and concerning to me that the characteristics of followers of Jesus are “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” and many nations, such as Iran in this case, take four Christians and lash them 80 times for drinking a bit of wine during communion.
According to a Fox News online report last week this is exactly what the Iranian government did to Christians following the Biblical principle instituted by Jesus to remember His death on the cross for those who believe in Him. This same article stated that “Iran’s regime has made stopping the spread of Christianity a cornerstone of its crackdown on religious freedom.”
Apparently the current government of Iran sees Christians as a “threat” to their country. This is amazing when you look at the teaching of Jesus in the New Testament and how His followers were to speak and act. In Matthew 5:38-42 Jesus says this to His disciples and those listening to the Sermon on the Mount: “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.” In reading these powerful verses again I am not sure where the threat is to the Iranian government. The Christians of that nation are not out to overthrow the government, but to make their nation better.
Tertullian in the 2nd century had powerful insight when he recorded; “the blood of martyrs is the seed of the church.” An implication of this saying is when a Christian is either persecuted, as in this recent story of the Iranian Christians, or the actual killing of Christians it is how they respond to the persecution that is so powerful. In Peshawar, Pakistan a few weeks ago a church was bombed by Muslims who did not want Christians meeting together; the next day Christians were once again in that same church that was bombed. The love they have for their Savior and country cannot be distinguished even when bombs explode around them.
Christians in predominantly Muslim nations do not want to see their countries brought down but their Savior lifted up. In addition to that they desire everyone they know in their respective countries come to know Jesus as Savior, Lord and Life.
Those of us who are Christians are to team up with our brothers and sisters throughout the world that are being persecuted as directed in Hebrews 13:3. “Remember those who are in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.” Though we may meet with a local body in the city or county in which we live it is evident from this verse that we, as Christians, are all connected by the blood of Jesus wherever we may be. Here in the United States we cannot forget those that are in nations that do not have the same freedoms we do to worship our God and Savior.
In these nations where Christians are persecuted for their faith and the government thinks that they exist to subvert or overthrow their nation’s government a couple of questions might need to be asked. If Christians in the nation did not love their country would they not try to leave? If Christians in the nation did not love their country would they not attempt to take up arms and overthrow the current government?
Jesus commanded His followers to love God and love their neighbors, which would include the government of the country in which they live. He also warned His followers in John 15:18; “If the world hates you, know that it has hated Me before it hated you.” Why did they hate Jesus? He answered that a little later in verse 25; “They hated Me without a cause.”
In the meantime Christians here in the U. S. can continue to pray for those in prison around the world as Hebrews 13:3 instructs us. And we can be advocates of those being imprisoned by communicating with our Congressmen and women and also the State Department to intervene and ask for their release from prison. One case that is clearly in the American eye is the case of Saeed Abedini who is being imprisoned in Iran for visiting his family and starting an orphanage in Iran.
You can read the whole story on the Fox News website here.
Thanks to our Guest Contributor:
Pastor Ray Peters
Harvest Alliance Church
