I read two stories today of recent horrifying acts carried out by unbelievers against Christians in China and India.  The pain and devastation, the humiliation and the urge to recompense harm are far greater than any distant wire story can convey.  In one, a Chinese pastor in prison was beaten so severely by another prisoner that he could not move his mouth for 3 days; when he finally complained about the beating to officials, he was penalized behavior points and his assailant was praised.  In the other, two families were told by Hindus in India to renounce Christ; when they refused, villagers were given a green light by local authorities to rape the women in the families.  Within 3 days, villagers force-fed one husband wine when he refused to renounce his faith and then raped his wife; another wife of another believer was dragged from her home by villagers at night and raped repeatedly.  All of these things have happened within the last month.

These are the stories we do not hear.  We swell with righteous indignation at the allegations of malicious harm that are aimed at our own armed servicemen, and if proved true, we are right to be angry.  Hundreds of millions of dollars are spent to draw our attention to stories about such acts, but never when they occur against Christians and never when they occur against Christians in foreign lands. 

I was reading my Bible this morning, Romans 8, verses 11-14 (right in there somewhere, about the mind of the one who is controlled by the Holy Spirit has his mind on good things, right things) and as I was reading, the Lord spoke to my heart about myself, and Isaiah 1 popped into my head.  The Lord told through Isaiah that His people were guilty of blood and of going through the motions of His laws without being seriously devoted to His ways, and that they should wash themselves and become clean, to learn to do what is right and avoid doing what is wrong, and to defend the cause of the fatherless and plead the case of the widow.

Who is fatherless?  Who is a widow?  They're all around us.  And, right now, there's a Chinese pastor in a prison named Pastor Gong, and two families in India who are coping with brutal rapes .... all because they have accepted God's invitation to be their father.  And, maybe, probably, to me undoubtedly, they feel like God is not being very fatherly right now, and maybe these Christian women who were raped feel distant from their husbands because they've been violated so.  I don't know.  But, I do know this:  because their God is mine, too, their causes and cases are mine.  I pray for God to relieve them with peace and comfort, somehow, in all that darkness.  I want to do something to help.    I wish I knew what to do.  For now, I pray and I tell their stories here.  Will you do the same?

Well, just when you thought it was safe to go outside in the good ol' U.S. of A., news is that the Secret Service has raided the Great News Network in  Texas and seized 8,300 gospel tracts that are blatantly fake $1 million bills, not intended to fool anyone about anything but are a novelty. I guess because I give these away myself, I'm a counterfeiter.  Lock me up. I'm ordering a new batch.

The GNN seizure was made by the Secret Service in a counterfeiting investigation after someone supposedly attempted to deposit one of the bills at a bank.  That account is dubious since it is common for those of us who give these bills away to do so with people who handle our money.  I personally use them at fast-food drive-thrus and ALWAYS, ALWAYS get a smile as I share the tract and tell the worker that there's a positive message on the back of the thing.  I had one person ask me for a second, which I gladly obliged.  I do use wisdom though and wait until all money has changed hands and there's no need for the worker to reach into the cash register anymore in our transaction.  These tracts do resemble money, but feel absolutely nothing like it.

Now, seriously, this is not persecution in any physical sense.  At most, it is an embarassing error of judgment and a stupefying lack of common sense. But, lurking behind it is a disturbing sense of the power of government being used to stymie harmless, everyday religous activity.  THAT is the reality we face, that government can and will eventually displace the church by means far more sinister than this. 

As we see the shadows of anti-Jesus hatred approaching, we should remember the courage and the love for their enemies that our brothers and sisters in chains around the world already know, and at personal prices far greater than anything we've personally encountered.  Thank God for their example, and may we honor them with the attitude of Jesus Christ. Pray for your brothers and sisters in Jesus around the world who are really suffering for the faith. 

I have a friend in Christian radio.  A couple of them, actually.  One of them has operated a local AM station to his own financial detriment and sacrifice because he believes in the power of God's Word as it traverses the airwaves.  He committed himself and his family to supporting a work that has largely gone unsupported locally.  Still, people listen and either grow in the faith by the teaching they hear or consider the worth of eternal life; people make crucial life decisions based, in part, on what they hear on this radio staton.  Yet, the market doesn't beat a path to the message.

Today, an email report came to me from Voice of the Martyrs.  Gunmen attacked a Pentecostal church radio station in Nairobi, Kenya on 5/13/2006, killing one person and setting the building on fire. Two others were wounded.  Hope FM broadcast a program that compared teachings of the Bible and the Koran.   Masked assailants, still unidentified to this moment as far as I know, stormed the station and shouted angrily that producers had failed to take their telephone calls. They ordered a technician to take the station off the air, according to church workers. A police spokesman said there had been no arrests, and the identities of the gunmen were unclear.

Right.

The Good News is a magnet for opposition everywhere it goes.  The market place opposes it by ignoring it, providing alternatives that entice the entertainment-loving hearts of listeners to ignore the media that share it.  The nations of oppressors, though, take more direct means: fire, murder, destruction, fear-mongering and intimidation.

In Kenya, church leaders pressed the government to quickly investigate the attack and ensure the culprits are prosecuted. "The station is for spreading the good news, and faith comes by hearing the word of God," Anglican Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi said after visiting the station in a show of solidarity with the Pentecostal church. "It is not right to go at the source of the news and commit violent acts."

May I add that it is also not right to ignore the Source of Life itself?  I'm no promoter of everything that names Jesus on the radio, and I'm aware enough that plenty of it is no better than watching a striptease.  Christian radio programmers in America find themselves between a rock and a hardplace to provide content that doesn't put people off while maintaining integrity and some margin of profitability.  This culture is not much friendlier than the oppressive cultures to the message of Jesus, it just isn't as physically dangerous .... yet.

Pray for the Kenyan believers that their persecutors will stop, and will come to know the love of Jesus Christ through the examples of the believers.  Pray for American believers that we will commit to real, countercultural-yet-relevant way of living that demonstrates the love of Jesus Christ to a hostile, skeptical, cynical population.

Iran's parliament has passed a law that will force non-Muslims to wear clothes to identify them as Jews, Christians or Zoroastrians.  Of course, the immediate image that springs to mind is the Star of David badges forced on the Jews in Nazi Germany as part of Hitler's "Final Solution".  The immediate concern is that the world will yawn in response to this action as just another stunt by Iran's President Ahmadenijad, and that Christians, Jews and even Zoroastrians in Iran will be persecuted further by being forced to publicly wear badges that invite "lawful" mistreatment.

And, when I look at America's plan under the Real ID Act passed in an emergency military spending bill in 2005, and becomes effective in 2008, I see similar 'badges' disguised as legitimate anti-terror and immigration-control tools. 

The bottom line is this:  No person should be forced to identify themselves as anything when their activities are not patently suspiciously criminal.  Benign forms of national identification are not the answer, just as badges of religious branding are not the answer.  We should speak out against both.

Today, I received an email from Voice of the Martyrs that relayed a report from Compass Aid concerning a particular instance of persecution in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan.  Most of us don't know where Turkmenistan is.  But, you do.  It is to the immediate north of the border between Iran and Afghanistan, and is bounded on the east by the Caspian Sea.  It is a nation run by a despot, but the United States does have diplomatic relations and a mission there.  The ambassador for the U.S. in Turkmenistan is Tracey Jacobson.  You may want to fax Amb. Jacobson when you finish reading this.  I did.

On May 3, 2006, police and government officials conducted a warrantless raid on a home church in Ashgabat.  The raid frightened 13 member of the Soygi ("Love") Church.  It happened literally within hours of a declaration by the U.S. that Turkmenistan would likely be labeled by us as one of the world's worst violators of religious freedom.  How's that for punctuation?!

At any rate, the authorities forced the house church members to "reenact" their worship service and videotaped them doing it.  There are 35 Christians in the Soygi Church's Sunday services, and they are not registered under the Turkmen religious registration law.  These laws are prevalent in socialist and Islamic nations as Turkmenistan.  The chilling effect on open worship is far-reaching; the determination of believers to serve Christ is equal to the challenge.  Yet, one of the Soygi Church members said, "We are not being investigated.  We want prayer desperately."

So, pray for the believers in Soygi Church in Turkmenistan, for their freedom, for their oppressors, for their witness and compassion, and for their perseverance in suffering.  And, while you're at it, connect that prayer to some action. 

Fax Ambassador Tracey Jacobson and let it be known that, as an American, you join the cause of the Soygi Church and stand in solidarity with the oppressed Christians in Turkmenistan. Urge Ambassador Jacobson to use all possible influence to communicate that freedom of religion is an important factor in our diplomatic relations with Turkmenistan, and speak words of honor, thanks, well-wishing and respect to the ambassador as you learn to appreciate the very difficult work of any American diplomat in that region.

The fax number is 011 9 9312 39-26-14. 

Peace from Jesus to you.

Visit www.persecution.com and www.persecutionblog.com

Martin Luther King, Jr., for all his flaws and imperfections, said something that we would do well to remember now: "....[the church] is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state. It must be the guide and the critic of the state, and never its tool."

Never have there been greater opportunities to speak the Christian truth to our government and through it.  For those of us chiefly concerned with the treatement of our brothers and sisters in chains around the world because of their faith in Jesus Christ, King's quote should be bolded and underlined twice in our hearts.  If we desire justice and truth, we should seek both on the behalf of the persecuted church.

Today I had the pleasure of emailing President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Secretary of State Rice, Senators Jeff Sessions and Richard Shelby, and Congressmen Bud Cramer and Robert Aderholt on behalf of Mua Say So, a Vietnamese Christian who is imprisoned because he is a follower of Christ. 

So's home was invaded by Vietnamese authorities who killed his brother in a beating aimed specifically at the family for Christian activity.  So took a photograph of his brother in his coffin with a sign reading, "beaten to death for following the gospel".  When authorities learned of his protest, they arrested, tried, convicted and imprisoned So for the murder of his brother and for criticizing the police.  He was sentenced to three years for the crimes the state had committed.  In primitive and unspeakably harsh conditions, So has been told he could be released if only he would deny Christ, but he has refused to do so. 

Our nation has normalized relations with Vietnam.  Our men died in its jungles for the freedom of the people of Vietnam and for our own freedom.  The meek voices of Christ inside Vietnam need their prayers for justice answered.  We can assist them by speaking the truth of what justice demands to our own leaders on their behalf now.

If you read this, I urge you to visit www.persecution.com, www.persecutionblog.com, and to help form a loud, undeniable voice of Christian conscience to our government on behalf Mua Say So and all of the others in the household of faith around the world who daily suffer for the name of Jesus.  Contact the President and your representatives in the Senate and House today.

An open door is a good start, even if it is a late one.

China's Christian voice has been heard by President Bush here, and I'm thankful.  Last week, representatives from a China home-church advocacy group, front-line followers of Jesus and sufferers for the Name, met with President Bush at the White House to discuss the human rights and religious persecution practices of the Chinese government, and to share the reactions of our brothers and sisters in chains to the oppression they face.

Being a lawyer, I was glad to see that Wang Yi, Esq, a law professor at Chengdu University who also represents Christians charged by the Chinese government with violations of its draconian, antichristian religion laws, participated in the meeting.   Mr. Yi has been a target of the Chinese government's antireligious law enforcement: his blogs have been shut down and he attempts to circumvent filters agreed to by megacorporate companies like Google and Microsoft, who partner with the communist regime in exchange for guaranteed market access, and his writings are largely banned in China.

Yet, these gentlemen from the house church movement in China are patriots for their nation, and are not against their homeland.  They pray for their government, their nation and their communities.  They advocate non-violence in response to a very violent and harsh government.  They depend on the power of their words, and ultimately, the power of God's Word (Romans 1:18), which is sharper and more effective than every human weapon of torture and oppression.

The silent, meek voices of Christians in China echo 'round the world to those of us who are burdened to share with them as members of the household of faith.  I pray that our government in America will implement policies that maximize the opportunities for free worship of Christ in China.  I pray that those who are imprisoned or targeted now by the authorities will be supported by individual American Christians and churches in prayer, fasting, encouragement, and materially.  Please visit www.persecution.com and read about their various Bible distribution and Action Pack projects to discover how you can be a practical and spiritual comforter to your brothers and sisters in Christ who live in China.

As I write, countless Hispanics are marching around America to speak out about our federal immigration policy.  Their cause is an important one, no matter what your views are about the matter.  We long to be free, and for the believer in Jesus the reason is that for freedom we were made to be free (Gal. 5:1).

While our Hispanic brothers and sisters among us join with their unbelieving ethnic fellows in protests today, and as socialist and communist nations celebrate their heritages of oppression in Marxism around the globe today, we are reminded that in Christ, we were made to be free and live free to Him.  Our brothers and sisters in chains need for us to make unity of purpose, unity of faith and unity of suffering with them in their bonds the clarion call for today and every day.

Just this past weekend, a large rally for American intervention in Sudan was held in Washington, D.C.  Most of the speakers were politically liberal activists and a few darker-skinned believers in Christ who were right to call our attention and for action about the genocide in Sudan.  Where is the protest, the rally, the cry from the great evangelical church (of ALL races) of Jesus in America about the persecutions of Christians and non-Christians in Sudan?  The church of God in America is eerily, suspiciously quiet, even among ourselves.  Have we become so distant from the sufferings of our Lord and the sufferings of His people for His Name that we are being called to task on the matter from the world system itself? 

I ask God's forgiveness for my wilfully blind eyes.  Let us have eyes to see, ears to hear, hearts that are full of compassion and hands and feet that spring into action for the cause of the oppressed and persecuted-for-Christ where we find them.   

Please visit www.persecution.com and www.persecutionblog.com for more information about the very urgent needs of those who join Jesus in suffering physically and mentally, and the need of salvation for their tormentors.

I've got a lot of turning away from to do yet, it seems.  Without dumping the whole basket of dirty laundry for your viewing pleasure, it has just dawned on me in a moment of epiphany that a certain truth about my life dangles freely in front of my face but I've been oblivious to it.

Here it is:  "I am learning the meaning of success by understanding failure."

Let me share a bit about my failure so you can understand where I'm going with this.  I once was lost, but now I'm found, just like the song says.  After I became a "found one", I learned that what matters to we fortunate found ones is hard work, achievement and living right.  Well, I worked hard, achieved some, and lived right, wrong, right, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, right, wrong, wrong, right, right, wrong, right .... you get the picture.

Yet, all the while, I saw others who were "found" like me, working hard, achieving a lot more, and living more or less the mixed kind of life I knew.  They were apparent successes.  All the while, I have been an apparent (no, make that actual) failure.  That's hard to say aloud, and harder to admit publicly. 

Here's the kicker, though:  What I've failed from is, in large part, not success at all.  Oh, yeah, there have been some serious moral failures, and I'm uncovering more of them everyday.  But, what I thought I was working to achieve?  It isn't success.  It is a death sentence.

Success is not measurable by assets, dollars, savings, retirement plans, accolades, or even people who approve you. Rust, moth, corruption -- all of it vanity and meaningless.  Success is measured by rejection, losing, suffering, experiencing the layers of disappointment that life seems to store aplenty.  Success is not really anything that you can observe and say of it, "I've arrived"; that is comfort, not success, and certainly not a good fit for the life modeled on the One who had no place to lay His head.  To find success, you can only look where you've been and find it among the shards of brokenness that litter your path.  Success is what you find when you turn over the pieces and look at others and see what they've gained because of what you've given up or lost.

Jesus rose from the tomb to find a broken lot of His followers.  They were not in any shape to be establishing one of the big three of the world's monotheistic religions.  They were perfect, though, for shaping the world around them.  He had chosen them, he knew them.  He saw what He had given up for them, and saw who they would be because of it.  It is a reason why the second chapter of Paul's letter to the church in Phillipi remains my favorite passage of scripture. 

Lord, I'm sorry for my oblivion to the truth.  I'm sorry that I've measured falsely.  Of me, I can say honestly that "I'm found, but now I don't really, really see."  I'm sorry that I have been so blind about so many things. You are reshaping how I view everything, and I'm scared about the consequences of my poor decisions until now.  I am thankful that failure, that loss, is redemptive, though.  I believe that you are faithful to complete what you start. 

As much as I hate stepping into a political mudhole, I'm about to do just that. 

I have a message for Christians who read this blog:   If you do not proactively welcome the strangers and aliens around you to your community (and that means to your nation), you should check yourself to see whether you are in the faith.

God says it as head-on as possible in Exodus 23:9: "You shall not oppress a sojourner.You know the heart of a sojourner, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt."  And, again in Leviticus 19:33-34 "When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God."  How I treat aliens/strangers/immigrants, regardless of their legal status, is an important, vital criterion of my faith in God.

This has the same ring to it that was in Jesus' voice when He said "If you reject Me before men, I will reject you before my Father." (Matthew 10:32-33, paraphrased).  It is the tone of Paul's admonition in Romans 15:7, where he said, "Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God."

And, in case you are one of those Christians who believe that the Old Testament has no purchase on your life, and that Jesus and Paul's statements above aren't enough to shape your view of immigrants here, then read this:    One day, Jesus will judge each of us.  Here's what He said (in Matthew 25) that He'll say and do on that day to those on His right hand, those who, among other things, have been kind to the strangers and aliens --- immigrants:

"'Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.' 

Then the righteous will answer him and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?' 

And the king will say to them in reply, 'Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.' "

But, wait.... the other shoe drops here:

"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.'