Duke Jeyaraj
THE MANIPURI CHRISTIANS AND US!
Rev. Dr. Duke Jeyaraj
The sad news about the brutal persecution of Christians in Manipur started in May 2023 brings to the fore the repeated calls in the Bible to be ready for persecution.
At the outset let me say that we do not go looking for persecution! Apostle Paul told King Agrippa: “Short time or long—I pray to God that not only you but all who are listening to me today may become what I am, except for these chains” (Acts 26:29). Apostle Paul wishes that he and other Christians would not have to suffer “chains” (persecution) – we can figure that out from this his reply to King Agrippa!
The Old Testament people of God were persecution for their faith! Jesus talked about them. He said, ‘from the murder of Abel to the murder of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary’ (Luke 11:51). The writer to the Hebrews talked about the painful death of Prophet Isaiah (as extra-biblical history confirms): sawn into two (Heb. 11:37).
Jesus asked us to be persecution-ready. He said, “You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved” (Matt. 10:22). Again he said, “Then they will deliver you over to be persecuted and killed, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name” (Matt. 24:9). Jesus calls us to be “one grain of wheat” in the one life we have (John 12:24) – we ought to be martyrdom-ready.
Paul was persecution-ready. He told a bunch that was super-worried that he would be persecuted in the next city he went to, this: “Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 21:13).
Peter words married “persecution” and “Christian” when he wrote, “However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name” (I Pet. 4:16).
John narrated the story of a man who was persecuted for being a witness for Jesus in his final letter – the Book of Revelation. He wrote, ‘Antipas, my faithful witness, who was put to death in your city—where Satan lives’ (Rev. 2:13). Even as we read the book of Revelation, in our craze for Antichrist, we miss out what Jesus said about this ‘anti’ – Antipas!
Church History is littered with real stories of Christian martyrs: Jim Elliot to John Allen Chau! They are dead, yet they speak. They inspire us to take persecution in stride!
The writer to Hebrews records a complaint made by the author to the church congregation he address via this letter. His complaint was recorded in Hebrews 12:4 – ‘In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.’ The “sin” he was referring to here was the sin of the Jewish believers of this congregation. They wanted to return to their Jewish faith as the local Roman Government recognized the Jewish faith. However they did not recognise the Christian faith. So being a Christian invited trouble, for these believers. But the writer to the Hebrews called Christians to stay as Christians instead of returning to their safer, no-persecution-attracting Jewish religion! But if they stayed as Christians, they would be persecuted, even thrashed till they lost blood from their body! But many believers turned a deaf ear to this Spirit-given command and returned to the Jewish religion to escape persecution! Hence we have the agonizing Hebrews 12:4 complaint!
Let not the Hebrews 12:4 complaint be made against us! Let us be persecution-ready Christians!
(This article written by Duke Jeyaraj was published in the June 2023 issue of Aim magazine of Evangelical Fellowship of India. Duke, the author of this piece, is the founder of Grabbing the Google Generation from Gehenna Mission. Duke and his wife Evangelin work for G4 Mission fulltime. Find out more by WhatsApping 918886040605 or emailing emailduke@gmail.com. This is a reader-supported ministry).
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