Today's Martyrs

Open Doors USA is a ministry that supports and advocates for martyred Christians around the world.  Their website reports that, globally, an average of eight Christians are killed because of their faith in Jesus Christ every day.  The ministry indicates that the exact number of martyrs may be higher, due to the difficulty of obtaining information about what is happening in North Korea.

The following information is published on Open Doors USA’s website:

In just the last year*, there have been:

Over 340 million Christians living in places where they experience high levels of persecution and discrimination

4,761 Christians killed for their faith

4,488 churches and other Christian buildings attacked

4,277 believers detained without trial, arrested, sentenced or imprisoned

https://www.opendoorsusa.org/christian-persecution/

 The ministry says that the 10 most dangerous countries for Christians (in rank order) are:

 

1.    North Korea

2.    Afghanistan

3.    Somalia

4.    Libya

5.    Pakistan

6.    Eritrea

7.    Sudan

8.    Yemen

9.    Iran

10. India

                 (To this list I would add the Peoples Republic of China.)

To be honest, the information provided here about U.S. aid to the named countries is the result of a very quick search on usa.gov, and I am not guaranteeing its exact accuracy.  Please regard them as “ballpark” figures.  That said, after you read this you may find yourselves asking … WHY?

The latest complete data available was for, 2019.  In that year, the U.S. taxpayers provided the named countries with military, economic, humanitarian, etc. aid in the following approximate amounts:

 

1.    North Korea …………       $3.4 million

2.    Afghanistan ………….      $4.9 billion

3.    Somalia ………………      $665 million

4.    Libya ………………….      $91 million

5.    Pakistan ……………...      $684 million

6.    Eritrea ………………...      $1.4 million

7.    Sudan (South) ….........      $674 million

8.    Yemen ………………...     $810 million

9.    Iran …………………….     $1.4 million

10. India ……………………    $97 million

 

(And my personal addition)

 

Communist China …          $29 million

https://explorer.usaid.gov/

To be fair, many of these countries are failed, or failing, states with grave humanitarian problems.  I ask you, however, why we are giving any kind of aid to Communist China and North Korea?  True, we are to love our enemies, but China has more money than they can spend.  North Korea is a fire that may burn down world peace, so why pour gasoline on it?

Under President Xi Jinping, the Chinese churches that are not state sponsored are being closed down, and pastors are being arrested and incarcerated.  Surveillance cameras are tracking Christians, and facial recognition software is being used to provide the police with records to identify them.  The Chinese concentration camps hold a number religious minorities … not just Moslems. They also hold growing numbers of political prisoners.  These persons are often made to do forced labor.

In North Korea, persons who are caught with a Bible, or are even suspected of being Christians are put in concentration camps where they are starved, beaten, and denied medical care.  If that doesn’t kill them, they are often executed.  No one knows how many have lost their lives.

The kind of persecution varies in the other countries. Christianity is illegal in some Islamic states.  At best, Christians there are relegated to second-class citizenship, discriminated against, and/or forced to pay an extra tax.  The families of Christians shun them and beat them.  Honor killings of Christians by their families are not unknown.  The community often turns on them.  Their neighbors beat them, kill them, and burn down their houses.  Radical Hindu nationalists are doing the same thing in India, while the Indian government looks the other way.

Once there were widespread communities of Christians and Jews scattered throughout the Middle East.  Since the beginning of the Twentieth Century, the Jews have either been killed or driven into Israel.  The Christians have been killed or scattered.  More recently, ISIS and other groups have destroyed communities that had been Christian for over a thousand years.

I could go on and on.  What I am asking is why my tax dollars are being given to countries where the leadership has sworn to destroy the United States and Israel?  Why are we being asked to support countries where Christians (and other minorities) are persecuted? What assurance do we have that our humanitarian aid is being used for humanitarian purposes?  How much of it is going into the leaders’ pockets or to fund terrorism?

According to Open Doors USA, the 11 worst persecutors of Christians are:

1.    ISIS

2.    Al-Qaeda 

3.    Kim Jong-un

4.    Hindu Nationalists The predominant Hindu nationalist association is referred to as the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh).

5.    Al-Shabaab

6.    Boko Haram

7.    Militant Fulani Herdsmen

8.    Radical Islam

9.    Drug Cartels

10. Chinese Communist Party

11. Satan (who is behind it all)

More information about the countries and persecutors is provided by the ministry on the website.

https://www.opendoorsusa.org/christian-persecution/stories/every-day-8-christians-killed-for-their-decision-to-follow-jesus/

The Voice of the Martyrs website has a map that asks for prayer for persecuted Christians worldwide.  The countries where Christians are being persecuted most severely are shaded.  In addition to being a prayer guide, the map is interactive.  If you click on a country, you will get a brief description of the country and the kind of persecution that is taking place.

https://www.persecution.com/globalprayerguide/

Conclusion:

The United States provides economic and military aid to a great many countries.  There is always more than one reason that individuals, groups, communities, nations, and world organizations do things. American “foreign aid,” may be provided to help needy people, to equip countries to defend themselves, to alleviate humanitarian crises, in the hope of creating good will, and for other reasons too numerous to list here.  The aid the United States gives to other countries is not always well placed; nor does it always achieve its intended goals.

I urge our government to do a zero based, cost/benefit analysis of the foreign economic and military aid we are providing.  I ask that the human rights record of recipient countries be given the strongest consideration, during that examination.

I ask that you please pray for our persecuted sisters and brothers in Christ at home and abroad.  Please write your elected representatives with your concerns.

SPECIAL NOTE: Like all nation states, the United States is a human creation.  Therefore, like every other country, we have our faults.  The difference is that we have our disagreements in public, for all to see.  That is not a weakness, it is a free society in action.  It does, however, leave us open to cheep shots from those who would rather criticize America than deal with their own human rights problems. (Chinese delegation at Anchorage, Alaska)

A study of American History shows a record of continuous improvement; sometimes at great cost.  When we have real problems, we fix them … eventually.  We do not hide anything, even when things are exploited for political gain by unscrupulous politicians, radicals, and a ratings-hungry press.  That is what makes us different from the countries listed above.

 

 

The Bible Explains Itself

If we seek it out, God’s Word explains itself to us as we read it.  The Parable of the Sower is an obvious example.  At other times, we need to look a lot harder, but it is there.

On that day Jesus had gone out of the house and was sitting by the sea.  And large crowds gathered to Him, so He got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd was standing on the beach.

And He told them many things in parables, saying, “Behold, the Sower went out to sow;  and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up.  Others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and they sprang up immediately, because they had no depth of soil.  But after the sun rose, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.  Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out.  But others fell on the good soil and yielded a crop, some a hundred, some sixty, and some thirty times as much.  The one who has ears,  let him hear.”  (Matthew 13:1-9 NASB) *

Later, Jesus explained the parable to His disciples:

“Listen then to the parable of the Sower.  When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one sown with seed beside the road.  The one sown with seed on the rocky places, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy;  yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution occurs because of the word, immediately he falls away.  And the one sown with seed among the thorns, this is the one who hears the word, and the anxiety of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.  But the one sown with seed on the good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces, some a hundred, some sixty, and some thirty times as much.” (Matthew 13:18-23 NASB) *

In the power of the Holy Spirit, let’s try to reach as many people as we can with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is the good news that Jesus has saved us all from a life of sin and death.

*  https://biblehub.com/nasb_/matthew/13.htm