Would You Die for Your Faith?
As Americans who follow Jesus, we do have it very easy. We might get ridiculed by our brother or other family member, but no one is going to put you and your entire family into a slave camp and starve you all to death.
A few observations; in America we can tell other believers that Jesus is coming soon and many are kind of shocked by the thought. They don’t really want this life to end because it’s been such a great ride.
Contrast that with Christians we read about below. You tell them Jesus is coming and they yell, “come Lord Jesus and come today!”
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Are you willing to die for what you believe? This is a question that hundreds of millions of Christians have to ask themselves every single day. The things that you are going to read about in this article are absolutely horrifying, but you won’t hear about them from the corporate media, because the corporate media hates to share stories that put Christians in a sympathetic light. The Christian faith is the most persecuted faith on the entire planet, and every single day Christians are being beaten, tortured, taken to death camps and executed. According to the latest report from Open Doors, a staggering 380 million Christians are currently facing high levels of persecution…
North Korea claimed the number one spot in the report. According to Open Doors, if you are identified as a Christian in North Korea “you could be killed on the spot”…
If your Christian faith is discovered in North Korea, you could be killed on the spot. If you aren’t killed, you will be deported to a labour camp and treated as a political criminal. You will be punished with years of hard labour that few survive. And it’s not only you who will be punished: North Korean authorities are likely to round up your extended family and punish them too, even if your family members aren’t Christians.
The concentration camps in North Korea are some of the most brutal that the world has ever seen.
But we don’t really talk about them anymore, and so most people don’t even know that they exist.
Somalia claimed the number two spot in the report. A radical Islamic terror group that controls much of the country is absolutely obsessed with eradicating the Christian faith…
In Somalia, following Jesus is a matter of life and death. Al-Shabab, a violent Islamist militant group, is at war with the government and controls large swathes of the country. This group enforces a strict form of Sharia (Islamic law) and is committed to eradicating Christianity from Somalia. They have often killed Somali Christians on the spot. The dangers have increased over the years, as the militants have increasingly focused on finding and eliminating Christian leaders.
Yemen claimed the number three spot in the report. Sadly, the Houthis have absolutely no tolerance for Christians…
If someone is reported to be a Christian and or involved in Christian activities, they could face severe monitoring, arbitrary detention, torture, ill-treatment and even murder. In Houthi-controlled areas it’s dangerous to possess a Bible or other Christian books. Leaving Islam to follow Christ is seen as a huge betrayal of the native tribe—punishment by the community can include being disowned, disinherited, divorced and losing custody of their children, being banished or even murdered.
Libya claimed the number four spot in the report. The U.S. went to a great deal of effort to overthrow the government of Libya a number of years ago, but now it has become one of the most anti-Christian nations on the entire planet…
In Libya, following Jesus is a huge risk for anyone. Libyan Christians with a Muslim background face violent pressure from their families and communities to renounce their faith. Foreign Christians, especially those from sub-Saharan Africa, are targeted by Islamist militant and criminal groups. These groups kidnap and sometimes brutally kill Christians. Even if they avoid such a fate, sub-Saharan Christians face harassment and threats from radical Muslims.