FRANCE – The Open Doors website explains that Christian persecution today in some countries is far worse than many of us in the Western Hemisphere understand.

“In some countries, familial and social pressure make it terribly difficult to follow Jesus, while in other places, faith in Christ is threatened by daily risk of violence and physical oppression.”

Our lack of awareness could have serious consequences.

In the present, our blissful ignorance allows us to fade away into our self-absorbed, narcissistic culture with little or no regard for our brothers and sisters in Christ. We fail to mourn with them. We fail to pray for them. We fail to support them in their time of trial. None of these are the marks of true believers.

Being blind to their current troubles causes us to become less aware of the spread of persecution across the globe. The number of incidents against the Christian culture is rapidly increasing in nations across the European continent. If there, a place once thought of as the bastion of the Christian faith, why would we not expect those types of incidents to migrate to the United States?

Even now, we are at a tipping point that begs for prayer and perseverance.

Insight into incidents in France over the past decade offers an indication of what some describe as “polite persecution” clothed in the disguise of culture, modernity, and progress. As one prominent leader recently noted, “Those who suffer this kind of persecution are not persecuted ‘for confessing Christ’s name, but for wanting to have and manifesting the values of the son of God.”

• 2008 – 275 reported anti-Christian incidents in France
• 2012 – 543 reported incidents
• 2014 – 673 incidents
• 2015 – 808 incidents
• 2016 – 949 incidents
• 2017 – 1,038 incidents
  • 878 attacks on church sites
  • 160 attacks on individuals
• 2018 – 1,063 incidents
  • • 963 attacks on church sites
    • 100 attacks on individuals

Alarmingly, the number of incidents reported in the first quarter of 2019 has increased by 53 percent over the previous year.

What are we to do?

Let us take Sam Brownback’s words to heart.

“It is more dangerous now than any time in history to be a person of faith.”

Having done that, perhaps now is an excellent time to watch and pray and put on the whole armor of God and be prepared to stand upon His Word. Yet, let us not put our faith in might or power, but in the Spirit of the Living God and our Savior, the Lord, Jesus Christ.

Right now, we need to be constant in prayer for other believers who are suffering under much less polite persecution than we.

To read more news on Christian Persecution Today on Missions Box, go here.