As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
“The Italian Supreme Court’s harassment of an evangelical church serves as a stark reminder that the ongoing threats to religious liberty often come from those who identify as Christians.” - TGC
Christian Solidarity Worldwide says “The 150 members of the Great Commission Fundamental Baptist Church… were forcibly removed from their homes… by local Catholic community leaders on April 26” and “local authorities have effectively ignored their plight despite the guarantees of religious freedom under Mexican law.”- CPost
“This applies to much of China’s biggest religion, Buddhism, and its only indigenous religion, Taoism. The government has also endorsed folk religious practices that it once deemed superstitious, subsidizing pilgrimages and temples.” - CFR
“The USCIRF’s 2024 annual report highlights a series of laws — such as the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, and the Citizenship Amendment Act — and governmental actions that have systematically targeted religious minorities, including Christians” - CPost
“Despite a lack of evidence, Jones observes that the tradition concerning Domitian’s persecution persists: ‘From a frail, almost non-existent basis, it gradually developed and grew large.’ Thus the alternative facts sown by these ancient historians grew to a truism of Christian history.” - Biblical Archaeology Society
“Article 25 of India’s constitution guarantees freedom of religion, affirming ‘Freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion.’ In practice, however, there is significant religious persecution…” - Providence
“The Russian government’s decision to invade Ukraine and to target Baptists and other evangelical Christians in Ukraine has been a tragic hallmark of the war.” - Baptist Press
In my previous post I introduced the subject of persecution and how the early church responded to it. As explained there, I’d like to take this post to summarize and extend an excellent discussion of Paul’s teaching on the subject in 1 Thessalonians by Michael Martin in the New American Commentary volume on Thessalonians.
There’s been a lot of talk lately about persecution of Christians in America. I suppose it’s true that there’s more than there used to be—there’s been some name-calling and a lawsuit about wedding cakes, though the defendant won that one.
“This is the second consecutive year North Korea has been named the world’s worst country to be a Christian ….Others in the top 10 include Somalia (2), Libya (3), Eritrea (4) Yemen (5), Nigeria (6), Pakistan(7), Sudan(8), Iran (9).” - Baptist Paper
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