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Dear Professor Roy
I too am sure that it will be a "nice hot debate" though I don't see
what it has to do with IPI, considering that the chain letter you
passed on is probably circulating more widely outside India (that is,
among non-Indians) than it is in India - and, more especially,
considering that there are no POLICIES we could follow which would
have any impact on whether or not some nice or not so nice people
decided to pray or not pray (or meditate or not meditate) about
something or nothing....
...unless of course you were proposing that we consider the praying or
meditational habits of every denomination and religion and
thought-system (for example, Marxism) inside and outside India!
I too am afflicted with such letters, for example the following which
I received today.
No, these are not matters for IPI debate...these are matters for
action: click on the reply button and ask them to take you off their
list (as I have done).
prabhu guptara
Worldwide church growing faster than ever
The church is expanding faster than ever in history, but it is not
without a "horrible" cost, Paul Marshall, an expert on the
persecuted church said at a seminar in Fort Worth, Texas, Nov. 2,
1999.
"We are living in the greatest age of the expansion of the church
ever. The church in China grew from 1 million in 1980 to an estimated
50
million in 1999. There is nothing in the Book of Acts that shows
church growth on this scale. There's nothing I know of in the history
of the church in any
country at any time which has church growth at this scale." The
global growth of Christianity, he said, is not coming in Western
Europe or the United States, but in places outside the West. "Africa
will soon be the continent, if not already, with the greatest number
of Christians. Christians in the world are more likely to be Chinese
or Nigerian or Sudanese than to be Westerners. About 80 percent of
those in the church live outside the West. If the church diminishes
in the West, in terms of the kingdom of God, that would be a sad,
but a small thing."
The cost of growth has been persecution of the church, Marshall
said, which
is a horrible, depressing thing that God nevertheless has used for
good. "These are evil, unjust things that should be fought. But what
is the other
side? What is the good news of which this is the dark side? The good
news is the spread of the gospel, the growth of the church, the
power of the gospel in people's lives." Marshall reported to the 150
people in attendance several incidents that have occurred since the
middle of September:
The senior Roman Catholic bishop in China, who has spent 15 years
in prison and has been repeatedly tortured, has disappeared, last
seen with Chinese government security officials.
A prominent national leader in the unregistered Protestant house
church movement in China was executed Oct. 14 by firing squad, the
second leader of this movement to be executed in the past two
months.
Chechnyan militants have kidnapped a young Baptist deacon and are
demanding that his church sell its building and use the money to pay
the ransom. The deacons' predecessors have been kidnapped and
beheaded.
In India, a 26-year-old Catholic nun was raped and mocked for her
faith.
The Myanmar military government attacked 22 villages of a tribe
who are mostly Christians. Witnesses said the military beat and
stabbed to death many people.
A Coptic Orthodox priest in Egypt was shot. A Coptic bishop faces
from eight years in prison to the death penalty on charges resulting
from his reporting that 1,200 members of his diocese had been
tortured in August and
September.
In Vietnam, Sept. 17, security police raided a house church,
arresting >>and interrogating an evangelist and two others.
In a largely Christian Sudanese province, 700 people die from
starvation
each day. An estimated 50,000 mostly Christian children have been
sold into
slavery for "the going rate" of $50.
"We are talking about things that are recent -- not 2,000 years ago,
not 200 years ago, not even 20 years ago or last year," Marshall
said, "In these particular cases, not even two months ago. This is
the situation that
we live in now. It's Nov. 2, 1999." An estimated 200 million
Christians are
exposed to persecution in about 60 or 70 countries. And the
persecution is worsening in countries like China, Vietnam and North
Korea, the latter which is "perhaps the worst situation for
Christians in the world." Marshall also listed Islamic countries
where Muslims who become Christians face the death penalty,
including Sudan, Mauritania, Iran and Iraq. In other countries the
threat comes from family members who have been shamed by the
conversion. "Often you are much more in danger from an uncle than
you are from somebody else in many Islamic countries." It is illegal
to be a Christian in Saudi Arabia, and in Pakistan, blasphemy laws
have been used
against Christians. In some countries like India, Myanmar, Sri
Lanka, Nepal
and Butan, "increasingly aggressive Hinduism and Buddhism" persecute
Christians, adding that in some countries like Ethiopia and Mexico,
"Christians" persecute other Christians.
The reasons for persecution are political and theological, Marshall
said. "In the modern age, when the church grows, democracy grows.
When the church
grows, human rights grow. This is simply an empirical fact," he
said, citing a 1997 report by Freedom House. In that report, 79 of
86 democratic countries were "culturally Christian." The remaining
seven included Israel,
South Korea and Taiwan. "The Christian faith affects the way we live
and it
affects the way societies go, and that worries them." He quoted two
Chinese
newspapers and Chinese police documents that write about the
importance of squashing the churches because of what happened in the
Soviet Union. "If China does not want these things repeated in its
own land, we must strangle
the baby while it is still in the manger," a Beijing newspaper said.
"Tyrants cannot have another king of any kind whatsoever," Marshall
said. "Another king means another loyalty. You have a loyalty to
something more than them. That's why they kill you. That's why the
church is repressed. The fear is real, because [Christianity] will
open up a society." In a Far East Economic Review cover story on
China titled, "God is Back," a Beijing government official is quoted
as saying, "If God had the face of a 70-year-old man, we would not
care if he were back. But he has the face of millions of
20-year-olds and, therefore, we are worried."
Marshall listed five ways that churches in the West can be more
involved in
helping the persecuted church:
Be informed and pray constantly. Marshall said the Internet can
keep people informed of the world situation. He also noted, "No
church should ever meet for congregational worship without praying
for the persecuted church."
Make contacts within the persecuted church. "We can go there. ...
We can
know them and they will change our lives," he said. -- Publicize
the plight of the persecuted church. -- Pressure your government to
take action.
Include the entire church, not just the church in the West, in
our definition of the body of Christ.
"When we use the term church, what's the image that comes to our
mind?" Marshall asked. "The first response should be, 'I am a member
of these people we've talked about in Vietnam, or Ethiopia, or
Nigeria or in Romania.' God has made us one with one another, as one
body; we share the same joys and the same sufferings."
Source: Baptist Press
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