In early November of 2017, German Chancellor Angela Merkel declared that Christianity is “the most persecuted religion in the world.” Recent research confirms Merkel’s claim — we may not want to hear it, but Christianity is in peril like no other religion. Research shows that “Christians are targeted more than any other body of believers.” It is reported that “200 million Christians (10 percent of the global total) are socially disadvantaged, harassed, or actively oppressed for their beliefs.” Christianity is facing elimination in its Biblical homeland. Between a half and two-thirds of Christians in the Middle East, have departed or been killed over the past century. The intolerance and violence towards Christians can be attributed to the rising Islamicization of Middle Eastern countries. Some of the oppression is government sanctioned and some government permitted; most is government ignored. Recently, the Christian persecution advocacy group Open Doors, announced its annual list of 50 countries where it’s hardest to be a Christian. The majority of the countries are in the Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa, and South and Southeast Asia. The list scores each country in terms in five quality-of-life areas and also looks at religiously motivated violence. For the third year in a row, the scores have gone up, clearly suggesting that persecution against Christians has increased worldwide. The group said the increase in incidents considered persecution, was alarming and only getting worse. They reported that persecution has increased again in 2016, and that they are the worst levels of persecution in modern times. They have gone on to report that the spread of persecution is now hitting nearly every continent in the world. There is coming a time when more and more Christians will be faced with having to give up everything to follow Christ. There are many believers today that are not willing to give up their favourite TV programme to attend a prayer meeting. How are those believers going to cope with the persecution that is coming? Our Lord Jesus said they wouldn’t cope, for He said that there is coming a time when, “you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake. And then many will be offended.”
Michael E.B. Maher
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