Tuesday, January 28, 2014

As I sit here, someone dies

As I sit here, the country is shaded pink. No, no, not some mixture of red states and some smattering of white. No, pink, for wintry mix and/or snow. I saw it on my I-pad, where the Weather Channel still exists, unlike Direct-TV.

As I sit here, our front is white with ice, coming down in loud plinks on our driveway carport.

As I sit here, somewhere in the world, someone is dying for his or her belief in Jesus Christ.

As I sit here.

In the past couple months, as I sat and enjoyed good food, good warm surroundings, protected livelihood, the worst Christian massacre -- complete with mass graves, tortured to death women and children and destroyed churches took place in Syria, at the hands of the U.S. supported jihad "rebels" and we ignored it. Just ignored it. As I sat and enjoyed my ability to call up biblegateway.com for any and all my research of scripture, 45 Christians were killed in Syria. Children ripped from their mother's arms. Fathers pulled from homes and shot. 

Just a day ago, Open Doors, a non-denominational group supporting persecuted Christians worldwide, said it had documented 2,123 “martyr” killings, compared with 1,201 in 2012. There were 1,213 such deaths in Syria alone last year, it said. “This is a very minimal count based on what has been reported in the media and we can confirm,” said Frans Veerman, head of research for Open Doors. Estimates by other Christian groups put the annual figure as high as 8,000.

As I sit here talking about same-sex marriage and all the things that go with it, someone in the world died just for truly believing in Jesus, for it seems to me that even in the case of the Apostles, to believe in Jesus enough to not only die to self but to die for selflessness is proof of said belief.

As I sit here.


While most Americans are shielded from the true nature of the war by the U.S. media’s reluctance to report on it, apparently, Arabic media, websites, and activists daily report and document atrocity after atrocity—beheadings and bombed churches, Christians slaughtered for refusing to convert to Islam, and countless abducted for ransom or rape—at the hands of those whom the U.S. supports.
It’s enough to point out that “the largest massacre of Christians in Syria,” to quote a top religious leader, was left wholly unreported by any major U.S. news network.
It should be noted, as I sit here, that Syria, which used to be religiously tolerant, is now, in the context of the United States’ trying to bring “democracy” to it, the third worst country in the world in terms of “extreme persecution” of Christians.
In a story on Christian persecution in the Christian Coalition website, it says there are 100 Christians killed every month around the world for their beliefs.
So, while I sit here, typing on my Mac, surrounded by my pets, drinking my coffee brewed on my spectacular coffee-maker, someone is about to die, just for loving the Alpha and Omega, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the maker of us all... King Jesus.
But if I said what I just wrote somewhere in this world we live in, I would die. 
Last September in Pakistan, two suicide bombers exploded shrapnel laden vests outside All Saints' Church in the old city of Peshawar. Choir members and children attending Sunday school were among 81 people killed. The attack left 120 people wounded, with 10 of them in critical condition.

Clearly this is going on more than ever, but not for the first time. The Psalmist wrote, "All your commandments are endearing; I am persecuted without cause; help me."

Jesus taught his disciples, forewarned his disciples (of which I am happily and proudly able to say I am one -- which would get me killed, again, in many parts of the world) Therefore also the Wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute,’

And he said, "“But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name."

And he said, "Remember the word that I said to you, ‘Servants are not greater than their master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also."

Getting the idea?

As I sit here, evil is afoot. Never, never make the mistake of thinking that we battle against foes of flesh. No. Evil still exists, still attacks, still persecutes.

Just one story before I rise from my sitting position.


limjan Yimiti, a Uyghur Christian imprisoned in China, is reportedly ill, though his exact medical condition is unknown. The former house church leader was sentenced in 2009 to 15 years in prison for allegedly “instigating separatism and revealing state secrets.” Those close to the case maintain that he was imprisoned because of his Christian faith and witness among the Uyghur people. They assert that there was never any proof of wrongdoing, and that Yimiti, an agricultural worker, would not have had access to state secrets.
As I sit here, I will do what I can for those who would do for me, or rather for my Christ, all a person can do. I'm going to stop, and I'm going to pray.
Father, as you know far better than I, you are evermore ready to hear my voice than I am to use it. Lift up this morning those who would literally and physically and tragically die for Christ. Let those like myself who often forget how blessed and fortunate we -- I -- truly are. Protect them, watch over them, encourage them. And if their lives do end because of the cause of Christ, let them rise to the heights of Mt. Zion. In the name of the protector and lover of us all, King Jesus, we pray.
That I can do as I sit here this morning.
What about you?



1 comment:

Kevin H said...

Same as you, Billy. It's appalling.