Understanding the Persecuted Church

Episode Notes:

These episodes made up today's program:

"Purposeful Suffering"

"God's Story in Iran"

"Hope & Perspective for the Crisis in Ukraine"

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Dannah Gresh: Listen, you need to be praying for the persecuted church right now! Here’s Karen Ellis.

Karen Ellis: God's people are here for a reason. They're here for moments like this. They're here to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ in these moments in word and deed. They desperately need the strength of the rest of the global body doing this—empowering them.

Dannah: Today, we’ll talk about the persecuted church. You’ll be encouraged and challenged.

Welcome to Revive Our Hearts Weekend, I’m Dannah Gresh.

The world seems to have gone crazy. We have a pandemic, we have wars and rumors of wars, we have pain and suffering. And it seems to be on the top of everyone’s mind. Today, I want us to talk about something that can easily be forgotten, in the headlines, and that is the persecuted Church. Did you know that:

• Every day thirteen Christians worldwide are killed because of their faith.
• Every day twelve churches or Christian buildings are attacked.
• Every day twelve Christians are unjustly arrested or imprisoned and another five are abducted.

Did you know that:

• If you were a Christian in Nigeria, your life is always at risk. 
• Believers in North Korea are sent to a remote village when they come to know Christ, with little hope of ever leaving. 
• In Egypt, homes of Christians are broken into every couple of days looking for the men of the household. If they are found, the men are burned alive.

This breaks my heart.

Persecution is nothing new. Jesus talked about it in the New Testament. In fact, even the apostle Paul (when he was still Saul) endorsed the murder of Christians before he came face to face with God and had a change of heart . . . and name. We read in God’s Word promises that He uses persecution to strengthen our faith. 

Let me read to you from Revelation 2, beginning in verse 8:

And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: "The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life." 

Who came back to life? Yes, this is Jesus talking here. Listen to what He says.

“I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death." (vv. 8–11)

A couple of key phrases that stuck out to me are: I know. Jesus knows. He knows what is happening in the world right now. Then He says, "Do not fear, and be faithful." Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth has a beautiful way of looking at this passage. Here’s Nancy reminding us that Jesus knew the persecution that the church was experiencing.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: So the church in Smyrna is experiencing tribulation, poverty, and slander. They’re in desperate need of comfort. And Jesus has said to them, “I know what you’re going through. I know your tribulation. I know your poverty. I know the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not but are a synagogue of Satan.”

Now what you’d like to hear next is Jesus saying, “Hold on! It’s almost over. I’m on my way. I’m coming. I’m going to rescue you out of this mess. I’m going to vindicate you. I’m going to judge the Romans. I’m going to judge these Jewish slanderers. I’m going to judge Satan who is your adversary.”

But that’s not the message Jesus sends these suffering believers. Instead—look at the next verse—he tells them to prepare for worse days and trials ahead. You say, “That doesn’t seem like much comfort.” It’s exactly what they need to hear, and it’s exactly what we need to hear when we’re suffering. Look at verse 10.

Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested and for ten days you will have tribulation.

Wow. Look at the words in that sentence: suffer, prison, tested, tribulation. You say, “Aren’t they already going through enough?”

Jesus is saying to this church, “Expect tribulation.” And that’s a theme you see throughout the New Testament. If you refuse to worship Caesar, if you refuse to worship the gods of this age, you will be opposed and you will suffer consequences.

Jesus was not spared the cross. The Christians in Smyrna were not spared tribulation. So who are we to think that we will be spared going through fires of tribulation and affliction?

Many of you know the name Dietrich Bonhoeffer who was a Lutheran pastor who was martyred in a Nazi concentration camp in 1945. In his book The Cost of Discipleship he says,

Suffering is the badge of the true Christian. The disciple is not above his Master. . . . Discipleship means allegiance to the suffering Christ, and it is therefore not at all surprising that Christians should be called upon to suffer.

That’s what Peter says in his epistle. Don’t let it catch you off guard. Don’t be surprised when these sufferings come upon you. Expect it. Suffering is going to happen. If there is no suffering in your life, if there is no affliction in your life and ultimately if there is no persecution in some measure then you have to wonder, “Are we really standing for the right thing?”

The world opposes Christ, opposes His gospel. And when you stand with Christ as Lord and when you stand with the gospel of Christ and refuse to compromise, you will be opposed.

Now we see another reference here to the devil. The devil is about to throw some of you into prison. We’re reminded that the devil is allowed to afflict God’s people at times. You see that in the whole story of Job.

We tend to blame the people and the circumstances that we can see. We say, “This is the cause, the Roman government or my husband or my kids or my boss or my job or my whatever.” That’s where we tend to put the focus.

But ultimately, Satan, this unseen enemy, is behind all human opposition to God and to Christ and to the gospel. He is the one behind the persecution of the church. Ultimately, it’s not the government that’s persecuting believers in these countries around the world. They’re just instruments in Satan’s hand that he is using to accomplish his purposes. It’s Satan who comes as a lion seeking to devour the people of God.

Then he says the devil is about to throw some of you into prison. Now you need to understand that when those first century believers heard this phrase, they understood that in that day prison was not generally a place you were sent to be punished. Prison was a place to await execution.

So when he said the devil is going to throw some of you into prison, they understood that some of them were not going to come out alive, that they were going to die painful, cruel, torturous deaths.

Then we see in all of this very sad and negative story the beautiful picture of the providence of God. You say, “Where do you see the providence of God in this?” You are about to suffer. The devil is about to throw some of you into prison. You will be tested. For ten days you will have tribulation.

Well what does providence mean? It comes from two words: pro and video, “before,” and “to see.”

• God sees beforehand what’s going to happen.
• He knows.
• He orders.
• He orchestrates.
• He ordains.

He knows what is ahead. He knows the suffering that is coming, and He’s telling them in advance not to be afraid.

Dannah: Don't be afraid in tribulation, in persecution, in our suffering here, God sees, and He is here. He is with all who suffer. There is hope—don’t ever lose that. Be encouraged as you face hardship and as you know friends or missionaries who are facing persecution in special ways right now.

Tom and JoAnn Doyle talked with my friend Erin Davis. Tom and JoAnn are missionaries in the Middle East, and they started Uncharted, a ministry that aids Christians, refugees, and women. Every day Tom and JoAnn they get a front row seat to see God working in amazing ways in places where people are persecuted. God is opening human eyes to the truths of His Word. Tom says, "It’s incredible!"

Tom Doyle: Well, it's truly astonishing what's happening, because starting to go to the Middle East twenty-five years ago, we did not see the receptivity we see today. I think with the growing, alarming rate of terrorism throughout the Middle Eastern countries, the failures of the government, many young people have looked outside of the religion of Islam. In fact, about 70% of the Middle East is thirty or under. 

Erin Davis: Yeah, I read that. That's amazing to me. 

Tom: Yeah, social media connected. They’re talking to people online. They're seeing things on the Internet, and then God started doing something that just shocked us. We were not prepared for it. Muslims around the world started having dreams about Jesus and asking questions. 

Erin: I want to know all about that, because I've heard that. But tell me some stories about Jesus appearing to people in dreams. 

Tom: Wow. I mean, it's just all over the place. We kind of resisted it. We weren't looking for it. But then, now we see it in our work. We have about 70 Middle Eastern leaders that are a part of Uncharted. About half of the Muslims that come to faith in Christ say that they had significant powerful, you'll-never-forget-it-in-your-life dreams about Jesus. 

And so, we have so many of them. We actually wrote a book called Dreams and Visions: Is Jesus Awakening the Muslim World? I'll just give you a quick story. 

There was a young woman, Laila, and she was in Iraq. Her husband used to beat her every day. They're really dedicated Muslims. And night after night, she'd go to bed, he would just beat her, and she just had a broken heart. He was getting violent with their five-year-old son taking cigarettes and burning him. This was horrible. This was demonic what was going on. And every night Laila would pray, “God, where are you? God, Allah, where are you?” She's Muslim; she's committed. 

Finally, one night he hit her with a frying pan. She was knocked out on the floor in the kitchen. When she came to, she went and laid down on the floor to sleep. She didn't want to even be in the same bedroom with him. She laid on the floor. She said, “God, every night I say, ‘God, where are you?’ I'm going to change one word in my prayer tonight. I'm going to say, ‘God, who are you?’ Because who I've been praying to is either too busy or does not care about me. So God, who are you?” 

And what do you think would happen that night? That is an honest, heartfelt prayer. Jesus came to her in a dream and put an arm around her and said, “Laila, I love you. I've given my life for you. Follow Me. You're going to be safe with me.” And that started her journey to the cross where she thoroughly accepted Jesus. I'm telling you, you cannot get Laila to not talk about Jesus with Muslims. She's so filled up with the joy of the Lord.

Erin: I sometimes have to just put my host persona on because I'm the one talking on this show. But I want to lay down on my floor and weep over the goodness of the Lord in situations like that. And I know that's not an outlier. I've heard that many people are seeing Jesus in dreams and responding to Him. He's going after them, even into that dark country. It’s so precious. Your ministry is called Uncharted Ministries. Why’d you name it that?

Tom: So Uncharted is going into uncharted waters. We're by God's grace reaching the unreached. We have a heart for the unreached people groups and standing with the persecuted. And so, when Muslims come to faith in Christ, they will be persecuted. So, we always want to keep that component in mind, and especially for the women, right, JoAnn?

JoAnn Doyle: Absolutely, absolutely. But what happens is, when you are praying to a god your whole life that doesn't answer your prayers, you don't feel closer to god through praying five times a day. And then you meet Jesus, all of the sudden you have hope. Inside you have peace. You have joy. You have all the fruit of the Spirit. So now these men and women have a holy boldness, they are ready to serve Jesus, even if it means to death. Now they have confidence to know where they will spend eternity. Their lives are utterly transformed by our loving God. It's so exciting to see. It has challenged me in that way.

Erin: They inspire me in that way. It’s so challenging. I'm glad you mentioned the persecuted church. I just read a headline this weekend about persecution in Nigeria. I know we're talking about the Middle East, but this was listing the number of Christians who have been martyred in Nigeria in the past year. I took a quick screenshot because I did not want to just keep scrolling. Those are my brothers and they are my sisters. But at the same time, I feel a real sense of hopelessness. What can I do about Christians being killed in Nigeria? What can I do about my Muslim sisters whose husbands are beating them because of their faith? All over the world God's people are experiencing persecution. What can we do here where I sit in America or in other Western countries? How can we respond?

Tom: Well, the first thing that we do is we’ve committed to pray every day for persecuted believers. And so, we have a Facebook page—838, the number 838. And then, 838 prays for believers in prison, persecution, and danger every day at 8:38, with a fresh new story on what happened today. Because it is a daily thing, believers are being persecuted every single day. 

We named the page after Romans 8:38–39: For we are convinced that neither death nor life nor angels nor demons . . . Paul names like nine things shall not be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. So, we may not be called to persecution yet. But we're called to stand with our arms around our brothers and sisters who are being persecuted right now. And that's a daily thing. That's a good start. 

Then there's other things you can do. There are ministries like Voice of the Martyrs, Open Doors, and Uncharted that support persecuted believers. And 100% of what comes in goes to them to help them with their needs. Many of them can't get jobs, or that's it, but they have Jesus and they're strong.

JoAnn: Another thing that we can do which I think is so important, is God has brought the nations to us. We can look at our neighborhood, our schools, and our workplaces, and we see every nation accounted for. One of the things we love to say at Uncharted and Not Forgotten is, every soul matters. So when you see a Muslim, perhaps a woman veil, engage her in relationship, try to get to know her. Don't be ashamed of the gospel of Christ. If she asks you a question, you know, who you are? Are you a Muslim? or whatever. Say, “No, I am a follower of Jesus.” Don't be ashamed. But if you build that relationship that can turn into a friendship, you may have the opportunity of leading a Muslim to faith in Christ, which would be exciting. So again, we don't have to go over the ocean. God has called us to do that even here in our own backyards.

Dannah: That was Tom and JoAnn Doyle talking with Erin Davis on Grounded, a live videocast she and I cohost each week. You can listen to their entire conversation with Tom and JoAnn and hear more of what God is doing in the Middle East, just go to our website ReviveOurHearts.com/weekend and click on today’s episode "Understanding the Persecuted Church." I’ll be sure there’s a link there for you.

What an encouragement Tom and JoAnn are! Did you catch what he said? "We as believers need to stand with our arms around our brothers and sisters who are being persecuted." While most of us can’t do that physically, we can all do that through prayer.

As we started our time together I mentioned a few countries where it takes guts to be a Christian. Here’s a few other countries. Cement these into your mind so you can pray!

• Somalia
• Libya
• India
• Yemen
• Pakistan 

How do we come alongside our brothers and sisters in these difficult places? What can we do so they do not feel so alone in their suffering? We can pray. 

Right now, an area of tremendous suffering is, of course, the Ukraine. A few weeks ago, Erin Davis and I were constructing a special online event to call women to pray for the people of that nation. Now, there are many factors at play in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, but one thing we know is this: historically, Communist regimes seek to stamp out religious freedom.

It's a fact, so our brothers and sisters there need prayer. Well, when we set out to pray, we knew exactly who we needed to help us direct our prayers— Karen Ellis. Karen has worked as an advocate for the global persecuted Church for years. And . . . she’s truly something special. I want you to hear her encouragement for the people of Ukraine—and well, the persecuted Church at large. I think this encouragement is really for anyone facing an enemy today. Maybe that’s you! 

Karen Ellis: Of course, when you hear war and rumors of war, you hear a lot of talk about ammunition. You hear a lot of talk about weapons and weaponry. We, as a different culture, as the kingdom of God on earth, we as those people have been given our own set of weapons and our own ammunition, and our weapons are not the weapons of the world. 

So, it's interesting to me as an advocate, when I see people, when these world events happen, and things become unsettled, there's always people who refuse, even some Christians who rise up and say, “Why are you praying for those people? Why are you praying? Why bother?” 

Don't allow people to disarm you. This is the weapon that we've been given. That distinguishes us from everybody else. It is powerful, and it does move. It moves people. It moves presidents; it moves politics; it moves borders; it moves hearts, and it changes things. 

When we start to believe in that, Dannah, to be anti-prayer is to be anti-Christ. To be anti-prayer is to be against God's people. This is our spiritual weapon.

And so, I've been sort of excited. Prayer is becoming more like breathing for us. We're saying, “Okay, this is the weapon that's been put in our hand. We have the Word. We have the prayers of the saints.” Prayer and the Word appear so often together in the New Testament. I mean, it's so clear to me that this is our first course of action. I grabbed every single prayer list that I could find that was coming from people inside, from Christians inside saying, “This is what we need.” 

There's going to be incredible service that's going to need Holy Spirit empowerment. One thing I can tell you about humanitarian work is it is exhausting. It's exhausting for the people who are fleeing. It's exhausting for the people who are receiving. It's exhausting for the people who are processing. 

We've been seeing the stories about people having different African students who just came to Western Europe to study. They're having trouble getting across the border.

Then there's others who have been received, and they're saying, “If you can get from this point in the north to this point several kilometers away in the south, and you've already been walking in the cold. 

Dannah: Without sleep for days.

Karen: You're carrying your family; you're carrying babies. 

Dannah: Right.

Karen: These are the typical real-life now. imagine the Christian people along the way, waiting to provide help, to provide food. I mean, there's so many untold stories that we won't know about. They fill in the pieces of the puzzle and the pieces of the picture. But they also glorify God as they do it. And they say, “Listen, God's people are here for a reason. They're here for moments like this. They're here to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ in these moments in word and deed.” They desperately need the strength of the rest of the global body doing this in empowering them.

Dannah: Karen, what Scriptures could we be anchoring our prayers in today? What Scriptures do we go to?

Karen: I have been praying over the whole redemptive, historical story of Scripture, that God is superintending these affairs. 

I've been going to Scriptures that talk about God's sovereignty, that He uses these things for the furtherance of His kingdom. He also uses them to refine the Church. He uses them to call people out of darkness into His marvelous light. He's doing it on scales large and small. 

I also have to remind myself constantly of Ephesians 6, what are our spiritual weapons, and what is our spiritual armor in the midst of any spiritual situation—the battle of darkness and darkness versus light that's undergirding all of this. And I'm not saying that the nations are representing Christianity. I'm talking about the fact that God has promised to keep a people for Himself that will be represented by every tongue, every tribe, every nation.

Dannah: So good. Amen.

Karen: And therefore, everyone who is involved in this is a part of this spiritual battle of Him saying, “I am from the very beginning from Genesis, I created a people for myself, and I'm going to get them to Revelation.” Sometimes in spite of us. Mostly in spite of us. He’s going to keep His promise. 

Dannah: He is. Heaven rules, as Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth says over and over and over again, Heaven rules. Would you pray for us? Maybe pray the armor of God onto us as the intercessors. And pray the armor of God onto those that are on the streets right now in the nation of Ukraine. 

Karen: Heavenly Father, I thank You that You have not left us on this earth by ourselves to figure things out and grope around in the darkness. I thank You that You have left Your Holy Spirit to guide us. You have left Your Word to inform us how You are accomplishing Your will. 

And Lord, I thank You to that You have also given us the ability to take up the spiritual weapons that You have given us to fight the battles in our lives, in our everyday lives, to fight the battles that we see happening around us, to fight battles that we can't even see happening in the realm of the heavenlies. 

You have equipped us by union with Your Son with every spiritual blessing, not a handful of spiritual blessings, not this blessing and not that one. But you have equipped us by every spiritual blessing to bring your power against the flesh and blood against the rulers, the authorities, and the cosmic powers of darkness of evil. You have the ability. When we call on You, You are delighted to unleash your spiritual forces in heaven.

So, God help us to dress ourselves in the full armor that You've given us. So that when the moment comes in our lives when we have to make hard decisions, life-giving, life-flourishing decisions for You, we'll be able to stand with the belt of truth around our waist, with the righteousness like our armor on our chest,

You've shod our feet with readiness for the gospel of peace. And God, help us to take up the shield of faith. Lord, the flaming arrows of life are always flying against us and feel like they're denting. You can hear the clatter against them, God. Give us that helmet of salvation where we know that we're yours. Give us the sword of the Spirit, God, which is Your Word. Help us God to be prayerful in all times and not to shirk back from the weapons that You've given us. Thank You that You promised us all these things and You are not a man that You should lie. We praise You for who You are. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Dannah: Amen.

Dannah: If you want to hear my full conversation with Karen Ellis and more about the Ukraine, go to the show notes at ReviveOurHearts.com/weekend and look for today’s episode "Understanding the Persecuted Church." We’ll have a link to that full episode of Grounded for you to view or listen to. 

I hope that our time today leaves you with a renewed passion to pray for our brothers and sisters who are being persecuted. 

Pray for them! Pray that the God of the universe gives them courage and boldness to live truly for Him, to grow and plant His Word down deep in their hearts. Pray that the good news of the gospel spread like wildfire in these hard, hard conditions. Pray that God does what we can’t even imagine or ask for.

Isn’t it exciting to know that God is using you and me and our prayers. As Tom Doyle said, we are wrapping our arms around our brothers and sisters.

As we talk about praying for our persecuted brothers and sisters, I’m thinking of a way that might aid in your prayers for them. A book that Nancy has written. It’s called The Wonder of His Name. This book reminds me that Jesus is Immanuel, Prince of Peace, Mighty God. What if you prayed for the persecuted Church using Jesus’ names—Mighty God, Good Shepherd, Chief Cornerstone. Just a thought.

But this book is yours with a gift of any amount. Just ask for The Wonder of His Name when you call 1-800-569-5959, or go to ReviveOurHearts.com/weekend and click on today’s episode. It’s called "Understanding the Persecuted Church."

Song by Michael Card:

Remember then our brothers who are suffering.
Remember that your sisters are in pain.
For some of them the sun of hope is setting.
For others it will never rise again.¹

Next weekend, we’ll be celebrating Palm Sunday. I want us to look at that week, the week that led up to Easter. Throughout the last few months we’ve talked about preparing our hearts? What about preparing the hearts of our children? That’s next time.

Thanks for listening today. Thanks to our team: Phil Krause, Jared VanOuse, Rebekah Krause, Justin Converse, Michelle Hill, and for Revive Our Hearts Weekend, I’m Dannah Gresh

Revive Our Hearts calling women to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ.

¹Michael Card. “Fellow Prisoners.” Soul Anchor. ℗ 2006 Discovery House Music.

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