Articles
What Will it Take? · February 02, 2006
By Hal Mayer
When four Indonesian teenage girls were attacked last October near their homes in Poso, Central Sulawesi, three of them were beheaded. They had been on their way to school, when six men wielding machetes and dressed in ninja-style tunics stormed out of the bush and assaulted them. The girls heads were dropped by a police station and a Pentecostal church.
Violence against Christians is increasing in Indonesia. According to Voice of the Martyrs (November 2005), 1,500 Christians were killed in Central Sulawesi in 2001 and 2002 alone. In the neighboring islands of Maluku, 9,000 people have died since 1999 when fighting broke out. A peace accord in 2002 quelled the violence dramatically, but “mysterious assailants” began attacking Christians. These terrorists effectively continue fighting Christians who make up about half of the people living in that area.
What is happening in Indonesia is not uncommon, especially in strongly Muslim countries. The effect is that Christians in these countries are strongly committed. They risk everything. They have to be that way. After all their lives are at stake just for being believers in Christ. Never mind that the Koran mentions Christ four times more than Mohammed. Never mind that the Koran recommends reading the Bible.
But the facts remain that it takes something special to be a Christian in a country that persecutes, rapes, murders, and otherwise oppresses Christians. Of course not all Muslim countries behead Christians. But regulation in varying degrees of severity limit Christian activity in many places officially. Even when a nation has a freedom of religion “policy,” repressive laws against Christian activity can open the door for radicals to take matters into their own hands without fear of government prosecution.
Bravery, courage, faith, and stamina are all developed by those engaged in God’s work in places of persecution. Its dangerous. This world is becoming less tolerant of the truth, not more tolerant, in spite of much talk of tolerance. This is predicted by Jesus himself and many prophets. Yet most of us are unready for the hard realities of oppression and persecution. We are nearing persecution of those that believe the truth in the western world too. It may seem impossible for persecution to develop in the U.S. or other western nations. But just when we think there is peace and safety, sudden destruction comes.
What sacrifices are you willing to make for the truth? What will it take for you to be ready to leave all, and follow Jesus down that painful path of suffering for Christ’s sake? What will it take for our families, our schools, our churches to be purified and ready for the coming maelstrom? My friends, we must pray that the Holy Spirit will take over our lives, that we will live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. And then do what we must do to achieve it, by God’s grace. That’s what it will take.
