Whilst speaking about the destruction of the Temple and signs of the end times, Jesus warns his disciples that they will face persecution as followers of Him from within their own family.
“Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death.” (Mark 13)
In the latest Open Doors prayer diary for March and April there are some examples of this:
- In India, a wife was so badly beaten by her husband when he found her praying that she had to have five stitches in her head.
- In Kyrgyzstan, a wife is being beaten by her husband and he is threatening to divorce her because of her faith in Jesus.
- In the Arabian Peninsula a sister is facing severe abuse from her family-in-law since accepting Christ.
- In Tanzania, a young lady who is 18 years old, secretly converted to Christianity after graduating from high school. She was selected to attend a college, but when her family learnt of her conversion, they rejected her and stopped paying her college fees.
In the West we might complain about Christianity being marginalised and be concerned about what could happen in the future. However, in many counties in this world the price of following Christ is very high as we can see in the examples above. They already right now are facing some incredibly tough situations. There are also other countries where it is just too dangerous for people to be open about their faith and they must keep it secret.
If you wish to pray for your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ in the countries where it is most dangerous to follow Him, then the following resource will be helpful to you.
In January, each year Open Doors publish their World Watch list which lists the most dangerous places in the world to be a Christian. The top 10 countries are currently:
- North Korea
- Afghanistan
- Somalia
- Libya
- Pakistan
- Eritrea
- Sudan
- Yemen
- Iran
- India
For many years Open Doors have been doing a very good job in supporting the worldwide persecuted church and if this is something that interests you, I would highly recommend that you explore their website.
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