Friday 12 September, 2008

World
UK
Middle East

By Charles Gardner

U.S. vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin has come under fire for her evangelical Christian beliefs. But she is in good company. For while Christians in the West have to suffer verbal abuse – and sometimes job and other kinds of discrimination – Christians in the East have much more to endure.

In Iran, for example, where the evangelical house church movement is growing rapidly, believers are being arrested, harassed and persecuted, and in some cases severely beaten. Others have been martyred for sharing their faith with Muslims. And according to one report, a couple died this summer from beatings they received during a raid on their house church meeting in the city of Isfahan.

But just what is an evangelical, and what is it about them that invites such vitriolic vilification? I shall attempt to answer that question in this article. But the paradox of it all is that the very people so often accused of bigotry because of their apparently intolerant beliefs are attacked by those for whom bigotry would be but a mild epithet.

Evangelicals clearly make up a larger proportion of the population in America than they do in the UK, and yet a new report suggests that even Americans are confused about evangelicals – but don’t like them whoever they are!
While they may get a lot of attention from politicians and journalists, most Americans don’t really know who they are, according to a report conducted by Ellison Research. And Ron Sellers, president of the said market research firm, was surprised by how much abuse was aimed at evangelicals.

“Some people used language in describing evangelical Christians that we can’t even re-print in the report,” he said, adding: “Evangelicals were called illiterate, greedy, psychos, racist, stupid, narrow-minded, bigots, idiots, fanatics, nut-cases, screaming loons, delusional, simpletons, pompous, morons, cruel, nitwits and freaks, and that’s just a partial list.” And yet he added: “Some people don’t have any idea what evangelicals actually are or what they believe – they just know they can’t stand evangelicals, whatever they might be.”

But while Britain and American Christians in general are taunted with mere words, millions of believers in other parts of the world are afforded no such luxury, suffering torture and death at the hands of their persecutors.

And yet in the face of discontent and disillusionment with Islam, Christianity is growing apace in Iran where ‘evangelicals’ are risking their lives for the gospel. There is the courage of the Tehran taxi driver, a Muslim convert to Christianity, who despite the risk of arrest and possible death for apostasy, boldly shares his faith with his customers, Bible prominently placed on the front seat.

And just as he has vowed to destroy Israel, Iranian President Ahmadinejad has made it his aim to wipe out Christianity in his country, though possibly unaware of Jesus’ declaration that “the gates of Hell” would not prevail against his Church.

In Orissa, India, meanwhile, dozens of churches have been burned to the ground by Hindu extremists in recent weeks with Christians beaten and killed. More than 800 homes have been ransacked and destroyed, with thousands seeking refuge in the forests, where they remain without adequate food or shelter. One Christian who refused to take part in a Hindu ceremony was killed and his body hacked to pieces.

And yet Gospel for Asia leader Juria Bardhan calmly states: “We know the Lord is in control.” Christians in volatile parts of Asia expect persecution rather than peace – the Bible promises that all true disciples of Jesus will be persecuted. And now we witness the courage of Sarah Palin doing the same in a world blighted by political correctness.

So what is an evangelical? The simple answer is that it describes someone for whom the ‘evangel’ (literally ‘good news’ in Greek) of the risen Jesus has made sufficient personal impact that they feel bound to share the wonderful message. In the same way that you might be bursting to tell friends and family of a new-found love, evangelicals are longing to share with others their discovery of the unfathomable riches of Christ.

Evangelicals are – or should be – marked by compassion, courage, passion and perseverance, but they are also persecuted – especially in places like China, India, Indonesia and North Korea.

But why are evangelicals able to continue with their faith in the face of such overwhelming pressure? Because they have discovered the truth of Jesus’ words that he will be with his disciples until the end of the age; that he will never leave or forsake them.

Evangelicals are world-changers – men like William Wilberforce, David Livingstone, David du Plessis and Billy Graham. Pardon and peace through Christ comes free, but serving him will cost you everything, just as it cost him everything to serve you through his death on the cross.

With acknowledgements to ASSIST News Service – www.assistnews.net

Photo: stock.xchng