The day was somewhere between hot and warm. The sun beat down, but I was out of its reach
as I sat on a bench in a makeshift courtyard outside of a university
performance hall. The wind was
refreshing and tickled my face like soft, warm feathers. We had been waiting outside of the
performance hall, which was to be the venue of that day’s show, for the last
hour.
Inside the hall, I could hear the voice of a man speaking
over the sound system. He was speaking
either Russian or Kazakh, but I was unable to distinguish between the two
languages. He had been speaking for the
last forty-five minutes to whoever was in there.
The wood of the bench creaked as Paul, the organizer of our
tour and our gracious host, sat down next to me. He smiled at me as I looked over at him. I let an over exaggerated sigh escape from my
lungs in emphasis of my boredom. He
chuckled and motioned back at the hall with his thumb.
“Islam.” He proceeded
to slap his fist into his hand, which indicated to me that the person speaking
inside was an Imam who was giving a rather passionate sermon on something. Then Paul continued on with his specially
developed communication style that closely resembled a game of charades…
“Terrorism.” He made
a sound to mimic an explosion while using his hands to give me a visual
representation of what an explosion would look like.
At that instant, everything I had heard in the news about
terrorism was brought to the surface and my world went quiet. The complacency that was ingrained in me by
my western culture was shattered in that moment and I finally came to the
realization that I was not in Canada anymore…
A Lesson in Fear
It is true!
Persecution against Christians exists more today than ever before in the
world and has become, in many cases, the main obstacle to missions in
particular nations. It is something that
affects the church holistically; from home churches in restricted access
countries to mega churches in the west.
For some reason that makes no sense to us Christians, there are always
people who hate Christ.
I have found that one of the main thoughts that people have
when they think of the missions field is: Isn’t
it dangerous? At least that was my
first thought when I was introduced to the concept of intercultural ministry
way back in the day. The answer is: yes, there is an inextricable connection
between Christianity and persecution.
Christ knew of this what he said “If the world hates you, keep in
mind that it hated me first… If they persecuted me, they will persecute you.” (John
15:18-20).
The history of persecution is a long a grisly one that goes
all the way back to the founding of Christianity in the first century AD. Christians, at that time, were seen as a cultic
movement within Judaism. Soon Jews began
hating Christians and killing them, but that wasn’t the end. Emperor Domitan was a very egocentric
emperor. He viewed himself as a god and
therefore required complete allegiance from all peoples in the Roman
Empire. Christians were unwilling to
submit to another authority other than Christ, so they were arrested and put in
gladiatorial games or burned alive.
The apostles and their disciples were the early missionaries
during these times. Almost every one of
them was brutally killed for their faith.
It wasn’t until the legalization of Christianity within the Roman Empire
in year 313 AD where history saw a significant decline in persecution. Yet Christians continued to travel outside of
Christendom and to this day, we still see Christians met by death for their faith.
Let’s face it, persecution is scary. It quite honestly is probably one of the
major deterrents for people becoming involved in missions. Of course not every area in the world is
equal in its rejection of Christ, but there are many places where Christianity
is outlawed and punished by death.
North America is one of the places where Christians are
relatively safe, although they do see persecution as well. In many places (especially colleges and
universities) divulging one’s faith is synonymous with being socially
ostracized. We face social persecution
instead of physical persecution. It is
only in rare events where we see physical persecution in our world.
So what do we really know of the persecution that the Bible
talks about? How could we understand
what Jesus meant when he said that we would be given up by our families and
friends to our deaths? (Matt 10:21)
When you remove yourself from the safety of your country’s
laws, it doesn’t take long to realize the reality that sits over the majority
of the world like a dark cloud. That
reality is much more grim than the fantasy land we have made for ourselves in
North America. Governments, in many
parts of the world, are oppressive and antagonistic towards their people. Societies in other areas are barely hanging
on to their independence or peace. Some
are ravaged by civil wars or relentless epidemics. Amidst these factors of chaos people still find the common ground to hate and kill
Christians.
Yet, amongst all that is detestable, unjust and cruel there
are pinpricks of light that shine. In
many cases, these lights shine so brightly that those in the darkness can not
help but notice them and be attracted to them.
Seeing the believers in Kazakhstan showed me how flimsy my
faith is in comparison to people who have endured persecution. That is not to say that Christians in
Kazakhstan and other parts of the world are immune to fear or are in some way
better than us, but we need to understand that their faith has been forged in
the fires that we cannot fully relate to.
For me, their faith is something to admire. It is something that I wish to saw more of in
my life. In the case of this “Imam”
preaching terrorism, I was completely mistaken.
Paul was trying to tell me that the person inside was a leader at the
university speaking out against religious extremism. Even so, my realization was extremely
relevant and taught me something about myself…
I fear the unknown. I
like being prepared for anything. I will
read books, articles and papers about various subjects just so that I can be
ready in case I end up in a certain situation.
The knowledge I gain does not guarantee that I will react well or
correctly. I have acknowledged the fact,
as was the case with this trip, that sometimes things will happen that you
cannot anticipate or prepare for. All knowledge
becomes useless and all that matters is that you have faith in the only one place that is safe.
The Place of Refuge
In ancient Israel, there were six cities constructed that
were known as “places of refuge”. Three
were on the east side of the Jordan and three were on the west of the
Jordan. These cities were inhabited by
the Levites and it was well known in the land’s culture that people who had
committed capital sin could seek refuge from those wanting to kill him out of
vengeance. These were not cities where
murderers ran to escape judgement, but where people who had sinned would
receive judgement that was just under
the Law that God had established with His people.
These were places that people felt safe and secure from the
injustice of the world. King David spent
many nights in Hebron, one of these cities, and wrote about a concept that blew
people’s minds. He wrote about how the ultimate “place of refuge” was not in a
particular city or geographical area, like everyone understood it to be, but
that it was in God (Yahweh)!
We are all broken and insecure. We naturally want to find something to put
our security in, such as financial stability or relationship. Even drugs are sought out because they dull
the dark, menacing realities of life.
Some people look to themselves for security. They look to themselves to bring in enough
money by working as hard as they can.
They conform the way they look to the culturally determined body image
in order to find security in various relationships.
We are all fearful creatures, looking for freedom and
rest. We all fear injustice. We are all insecure, in need of a place of refuge.
Where do we find these things?
I believe that we were created to be free from fear and
insecurity and that the only way we can be completely and undeniably free these
things, is to approach the One who created us.
So may you relinquish your fears of death, sickness,
poverty, failure, and rejection to the One who made you…so that you may
experience a place of refuge that no
man can destroy or bring to ruins.