This past weekend, I wrote about heroes among us, and thank God for them. Heaven knows that we need them, now more than ever.
Sadly, Christians are facing more and more persecution world-wide. I know I have also written about this before, but the stakes continue to be raised. Oh, how we need heroes among us to help us fight for the very lives of Christians.
I feel it is important before getting into the persecution of Christians that we have a moment to quiet our souls and minds. This piece is one of my favorites, and I think timely for just that – silencing the world around us for the moment:
Amen, and amen.
Honestly, I had planned on writing something else altogether for this weekend. But I cannot ignore the cries of my sisters and brothers to speak out about what is happening to Christians.
As noted in an article KenoshaMarge shared with us this past weekend, ministers must start speaking up about what is happening to Christians. Heaven knows, our Government has been silent in the face of the persecution and slaughter of Christians in other places in the world. We must, we MUST, all of us, start speaking out and calling on our government to do better. The Government can do that both defending Christians and stopping the persecutors, especially Islamists, from targeting Christians, including slaughtering them.
The numbers persecution Christians face are daunting. From Faithwire:
Overall, Open Doors’ World Watch List 2024 found 4,998 Christians were killed over their faith, a figure the organization said is likely much higher due to underreporting. Meanwhile, 365 million Christians face intense persecution and discrimination for their views.
One of the most alarming statistics in the latest report is the massive, seven-fold rise in church, Christian school, and hospital attacks, with that total increasing from 2,110 in the 2023 study to 14,766 in 2024.
Assaults on Christians’ homes also rose from 4,547 to 21,431, with the number of believers pushed out of their houses expanding from 124,310 to 278,716.
And one of the most sobering lines from a press release surrounding the World Watch List 2024 reads, “More than 82% of Christians killed across the globe for faith reasons were in Nigeria.”
The most recent rankings put Nigeria in the sixth spot for persecution and discrimination. But Nigeria isn’t alone, as persecution in sub-Saharan Africa, more broadly, is an area of concern.
“Faith-related killings in sub-Saharan Africa far outstripped those of any other region on the annual list,” the release read. “This has been a trend for several years.”
It’s not just in Africa that Christians are targeted and persecuted. Oh, no. You may not be surprised by one of the countries that persecutes Christians in a big way, North Korea, but how about Country #11 below:
India, which ranked #11, has continued to see rising persecution, particularly in Manipur, a northeastern state. An ethnic dispute morphed into an anti-Christian targeting campaign, with 160 being killed and others driven from their homes; just 17 were killed in the previous year’s report.
Attacks on Christian schools and churches in India skyrocketed from 67 in the 2023 report to 2,228 in 2024.
While Nigeria and India have captured a great deal of attention over the past year for horrific incidents of persecution, North Korea must also be mentioned, as the reclusive East Asian country ranks as the nation where persecution is most pronounced. According to the 2024 World Watch List, believers there must practice their faith in “complete secrecy.”
Isn’t that incredible? In the 21st century, many Christians have to hide their faith. That is just hard to believe in this day and age, but oh, it is so true.
To restore some inner peace, this Gregorian Chant by Catholic Music Initiative is my gift to you:
While I often stay far away from Wikipedia, they do have a good translation of this piece. First, the Latin:
Pange, lingua, gloriósi
Córporis mystérium,
Sanguinísque pretiósi,
Quem in mundi prétium
Fructus ventris generósi
Rex effúdit géntium.Nobis datus, nobis natus
Ex intácta Vírgine,
Et in mundo conversátus,
Sparso verbi sémine,
Sui moras incolátus
Miro clausit órdine.In suprémæ nocte coenæ
Recúmbens cum frátribus
Observáta lege plene
Cibis in legálibus,
Cibum turbæ duodénæ
Se dat suis mánibus.Verbum caro, panem verum
Verbo carnem éfficit:
Fitque sanguis Christi merum,
Et si sensus déficit,
Ad firmándum cor sincérum
Sola fides súfficit.Tantum ergo sacraméntum
Venerémur cérnui:
Et antíquum documéntum
Novo cedat rítui:
Præstet fides suppleméntum
Sénsuum deféctui.Genitóri, Genitóque
Laus et jubilátio,
Salus, honor, virtus quoque
Sit et benedíctio:
Procedénti ab utróque
Compar sit laudátio.
Amen. Alleluja.
And now for the English translation:
Sing, my tongue, the Saviour’s glory,
Of His Flesh, the mystery sing;
Of the Blood, all price exceeding,
Shed by our Immortal King,
Destined, for the world’s redemption,
From a noble Womb to spring.Of a pure and spotless Virgin
Born for us on earth below,
He, as Man, with man conversing,
Stayed, the seeds of truth to sow;
Then He closed in solemn order
Wondrously His Life of woe.On the night of that Last Supper,
Seated with His chosen band,
He, the Paschal Victim eating,
First fulfils the Law’s command;
Then as Food to all his brethren
Gives Himself with His own Hand.Word-made-Flesh, the bread of nature
By His Word to Flesh He turns;
Wine into His Blood He changes:
What though sense no change discerns.
Only be the heart in earnest,
Faith her lesson quickly learns.Down in adoration falling,
Lo, the sacred Host we hail,
Lo, o’er ancient forms departing
Newer rites of grace prevail:
Faith for all defects supplying,
When the feeble senses fail.To the Everlasting Father
And the Son who comes on high
With the Holy Ghost proceeding
Forth from each eternally,
Be salvation, honor, blessing,
Might and endless majesty.
Amen. Alleluia.
Tell, tongue, the mystery
of the glorious Body
and of the precious Blood,
which, for the price of the world,
the fruit of a noble Womb,
the King of the Nations poured forth.Given to us, born for us,
from the untouched Virgin,
and dwelt in the world
after the seed of the Word had been scattered.
His inhabiting ended the delays
with wonderful order.On the night of the Last Supper,
reclining with His brethren,
once the Law had been fully observed
with the prescribed foods,
as food to the crowd of Twelve
He gives Himself with His hands.The Word as Flesh makes true bread
into flesh by a word
and the wine becomes the Blood of Christ.
And if sense is deficient
to strengthen a sincere heart
Faith alone suffices.Therefore, the great Sacrament
let us reverence, prostrate:
and let the old Covenant
give way to a new rite.
Let faith stand forth as substitute
for defect of the senses.To the Begetter and the Begotten
be praise and jubilation,
greeting, honour, strength also
and blessing.
To the One who proceeds from Both
be equal praise.
Amen, Alleluia.
Alleluia, amen, indeed. This is also most appropriate for a weekend piece since many Christians go to Mass or celebrate the Eucharist on Sundays.
Now back to the theme of this post – Christian persecution. David Curry, the CEO of Global Christian Relief, has spoken out on the need to support our brothers and sisters around the world. He has also highlighted a new database about the persecution Christians are enduring. From Faithwire:
David Curry, CEO of Global Christian Relief, told CBN News the database will help give a voice to persecuted Christians and others across the world, as it tracks killings, abductions, forced marriages, arrests, and other acts of persecution, allowing users to search by religion, country, and perpetrator.
“I’m concerned about … this enormous growth in religious persecution, be it the persecution of Christians, which is the largest minority group, as far as numbers, that faces severe persecution, or if it’s antisemitism,” Curry said, warning that there are diabolical “governments, and dictators, and extremists” who want to control peoples religious inclinations.
[…]
“I’m a follower of Jesus, and I want to support the church, the persecuted believers, wherever they may be, to practice their faith, to worship Jesus, to read their Bible in peace, civilly, within whatever country and context they’re in,” he said.
The VID database tracks thousands of incidents of persecution starting with 2022 data, though Curry cautioned that the dataset isn’t “exhaustive,” as it’s impossible to capture every incident, particularly in countries where communicating persecution comes with intensive barriers.
“What we’ve done here is worked with the Institute for International Religious Freedom, and we have researchers and academics who are looking across the database of incidents that can be proven, that are sort of verified in the public sphere,” he said. “And, obviously, then you have networks of people within the countries that are reporting incidents.”
Curry is hoping the VID database helps inspire Christians to learn more about the horrific types of persecution raging across the world.
“We need to wake up on this subject and know that we are called to pray for, care for, support people who are persecuted for the name of Jesus, imprisoned for the name of Jesus, abducted for the name of Jesus,” he said. “We need to stand up for this freedom. … I want the church to awaken.”
YES. Exactly. The CHURCH needs to wake the heck up already, and start supporting fellow Christians who are being oppressed, be they here in the USA, like by our Treasury Department, or in Africa, India, China, the Middle East, in Nicaragua (oh, yes – Catholic priests and bishops are being driven out in a BIG fashion there), or wherever the oppression is occurring.
The Church, by which I mean the communion of all Christians, MUST speak out about this. Silence is NOT an option on this. It is NOT an option. We are called to stand with our fellow Christians. And stand we must. With God’s help, nothing is impossible. God can work miracles through us to help save, support, and protect those facing oppression for their faith. While it may be them today, tomorrow it could be us. And we would want others to stand for and with us, would we not? Indeed, we would…
I think this beautiful hymn, Be Still My Soul, performed below by one of my favorites, Kari Jobe, is a fitting end to this piece:
That’s it for me, friends. I am at a Christian music event all weekend, but I will get to comments as quickly as possible. Feel free to discuss whatever is on your minds.
May God bless and keep you.
This is the Weekend Open Thread.
Rabblerouserruminations's Weblog 