Thayer Thursday – One with them
About two years ago I was in Orissa, India – the same state in India that you may have heard about in the news a few weeks ago as a large and powerful cyclone made its landfall there. You may not have heard, however, that in 2008 it was also the location of intense persecution of Christians by Hindu extremists.
Talbot Davis, James-Michael Smith, and I provided teaching and encouragement to the local pastors who are spreading the gospel there. As I wrote in a previous “Thayer’s Thoughts” 5 months ago:
The Kandhamal district of Orissa, India was the location of intense persecution where thousands of Christians were displaced, had their homes burned, and many were murdered. Unfortunately, much of this persecution continues. Every week Christians gather in the face of fear that they could be physically harmed for professing the name of Jesus. Christians in Orissa sometimes lose their jobs and are ostracized from their communities solely because they acknowledge Jesus as their Lord and Savior. After one of our teaching sessions, we sat down with 24 pastors who could speak English. We asked them how many of them had been persecuted for their faith in Jesus. Twelve of them, half, raised their hands. At random, Talbot Davis…asked one of the gentlemen who raised his hand how he was persecuted. He said that his father was killed and he was beaten because he was a Christian.
I’ll never forget the face of that man.
I’ll never forget the matter-of-fact nature with which he shared this traumatic experience in his life: as if it was in some way normal. Talbot, leaning forward with a look of shock and pain in his face asked: “Did you ever consider giving up, did you ever consider stopping preaching the Gospel?”
Without hesitation, the man replied in broken English and a thick accent: “Oh no, I could never stop. I have to preach the Gospel.”
In that moment, I felt a rush of emotions – not the least of which was: how in the world am I supposed to encourage or teach this man anything?
I thought about what we flippantly call persecution in the United States – and became disgusted with myself for ever being fearful of preaching the Gospel due to somebody’s intellectual or social disagreement with it.
I also, to the limited extent that an observer who lives in quite different circumstances can, realized that because this man is my brother in Christ – because we are literally part of the same body (Ephesians 4): I stand with him in his persecution.
We are bonded together through the same Spirit and in this way we both have been beaten for our faith.
I may never know what it feels like to have my flesh marred.
I may never know the gut wrenching reality that my father was killed because of his faith in Jesus.
I may never be, as the apostles in Acts 5, “counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name [of Jesus].”
But WE, as a united body of believers do and are.
While we may never be in the same location – we can be and in a very real sense are “One With Them.” Pray for our brothers and sisters in the faith who face very real persecution for their faith. Ask God for their protection, and celebrate with them that the Gospel is being preached.
Chris Thayer
Categories: Biblical Theology, Blog, Global, Ministry, New Testament, Thayer Thursday