Middle East Christian: ‘Don’t Pray for the Persecution to End’
Violent persecution at the hands of Islamic extremists is draining the Middle East of Christians. Nevertheless, one woman from the region says the church shouldn’t pray for the persecution to stop, but for Christians to stand strong.
Maryam remembers what it felt like to watch a Muslim man threaten to kill her father and permanently scar her and her sister with corrosive acid. Their crime? They were Christians.
“I will let you and your sister be orphans,” she recalled the man saying as he blocked her father from entering his store.
After surviving the terrifying threat to her family’s life, Maryam thought the situation would be resolved when her dad reported the incident to police. Unfortunately, her dream of justice violently collided with reality when her father was sentenced to six months in jail for reporting what happened.
Maryam, a false name given to her to protect her identity, knows thousands of Christians across the Middle East can identify with her story all too well.
The Christian Post reports she recently traveled to MeadowBrook Baptist Church in Gadsden, Alabama, to share her plight with the parishioners and tell Christians how to pray for the persecuted church.
Maryam’s experience with persecution is more than just threats and unfair jail sentences; it’s physical too. She told about the time a group of Muslims began harassing her for not adhering to an Islamic dress code.
“I was walking in the street and behind me there were three guys and they started to insult me and things like that. I just kept walking. They held these small stones and they started to throw it on me,” she said. “They shouted in a loud voice, ‘Cover your hair!’ That is what I am seeing. It’s daily life. Every day we are facing situations and it is very hard.”
Not only is Maryam’s story a common one, she says the rate of persecution is increasing.
“The persecution is getting worse and worse and worse,” Maryam said. “But on the other hand, actually, what has encouraged me, encouraged my faith, encouraged my church, encouraged everybody Christian, is that the church is increasing.”
Maryam says many average Muslims are confused about their faith and deeply disturbed about the idea of serving a God who hates infidels and calls for their destruction.
“A lot of Muslim people now, they are so confused about what is going on now. A lot of them are asking, ‘Who is this God whose name is Allah, who orders people to slaughter?'” she said.
While she says there are more than 1 million Muslim converts to Christ living in her home-country, many face persecution. When asked how to pray for the Christians, she gives an unexpected answer.
“Of course, you need to pray for your brothers and sisters in the Middle East who are suffering for being Christians and for their faith, but I am asking you to pray a different prayer,” Maryam reportedly told the Alabama churchgoers.
“Don’t pray for the persecution to be stopped, but pray for the Christians there, for their boldness, their encouragement, for their faith and that they can all be witnesses for God’s work and for God,” she said.
She also encourages American Christians to use the freedom they have to share the gospel.
“Here it is allowed to speak about Jesus and sing songs,” she said. “For us, it is not allowed. If we did something like that, we would be in jail.'” {eoa}
