I must confess that I rarely think about my religious freedom. I take it for granted. Always have. Mostly I’ve spent time complaining about a church on every corner. "This town has way too many churches, and most of them are half empty on Sunday morning" I grunt.
Shame on me. This Sunday, November 14, is the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. Churches around the world will focus on prayer and support for our brothers and sisters who are being persecuted for their faith in Jesus Christ.
A ministry called Open Doors USA keeps an annual World Watch List. They say persecution of Christians is most severe in North Korea, Saudi Arabia and Laos. Dare we ever forget the young Christian girls in Sudan, barely teen-agers, sold into prostitution by Muslim warlords?
Can we at least take a minute and pray for the Holy Spirit to encourage the believers who worship with shades drawn and doors bolted? Who of us can even begin to imagine being forced to choose between death and our faith? It’s hard to fathom. Does any of us realize what a gift the freedom of religion really is?
Try this for a second. Put your imagination hat on. Imagine meeting a North Korean, a Saudi Arabian and a Laotian believer at O’Hare International airport. Get them in your car and begin driving them around the suburbs. You drive for three hours, passing hundreds of churches.
Through your translator you say, "Take your pick. We have freedom of religion here. Want to be Vineyard? Here’s a Vineyard church. Want to be Lutheran? We have that. Want to be Polish Catholic? Yep, got that, too. And Mr. North Korean, we have 150 Korean-speaking churches right here in Chicagoland. The choice is yours. No one will will stop you from worshiping God in the manner you choose. Really, friends. You will not be arrested here. No guns. No snooping around your house. No imprisonment. Freedom. Cool, huh?"
They’d be so wide-eyed they wouldn’t know what to do. You’d pull up to a church and they would likely be afraid to leave the car. Instead, they would probably hit the floor board, terrified for their very lives. You think of freedom of religion as your birthright, not giving your freedom a seconds thought. Not so your new-found Christian friends. They think, "I get out of this car and I may end up being arrested and spend 20 years in prison."
No brothers, we can’t even imagine. So let’s not pretend that can.
Let me merely say this from my heart: I deeply appreciate the freedom I have to worship the Lord Jesus Christ freely here in the United States.
Let us now pray, if only for a minute or two, for those in countries where the Good News of Jesus cannot be preached openly, remembering:
1) No power or authority in earth or heaven is over Jesus Christ.
2) That authority given to Jesus Christ is for the benefit of the church. Jesus can intervene.
Brothers, bring our suffering brothers and sisters before the Lord, boldly appealing to him for his mercy and favor. Thank God that Christ Jesus is supreme over all creation and this authority has been given to him for the benefit of the Church.
And while you’re at it, thank God deeply for freedom of religion. It truly is a wonderful gift!
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