Years ago, while living in an overwhelmingly Muslim country, I (Chris) was privileged to hear a talk from Nik Ripken about the persecuted church throughout the world. That talk was both challenging and encouraging, and kept me hopeful during some dark trials of faith.
Ripken has shared many of those stories in his Insanity of God, an appropriately named title for some of the downright crazy things God is doing today. One theme that comes up—again and again and again—is the possibility of freedom even in the midst of persecution. We are always free to follow Christ. That’s a lesson we need to cling to, even here in the United States.
Here is an excerpt:
The communists [in China] were not concerned with what Christians believed. What they cared about was political allegiance. And they understood clearly the threat from those who declared the Lordship of Christ, a Lordship that would not be shared with the State or with any other power.
I asked whether, when, and how the oppressed could truly threaten a totalitarian oppressor. They offered this scenario in response:
“The security police regularly harass a believer who owns the property where a house-church meets. The police say, ‘You have got to stop these meetings! If you do not stop these meetings, we will confiscate your house, and we will throw you out into the street.’
Then the property owner will probably respond, ‘Do you want my house? Do you want my farm? Well, if you do, then you need to talk to Jesus because I gave this property to Him.’
The security police will not know what to make of that answer. So they will say, ‘We don’t have any way to get to Jesus, but we can certainly get to you! When we take your property, you and your family will have nowhere to live!’
And the house-church believers will declare, ‘Then we will be free to trust God for shelter as well as for our daily bread.’
‘If you keep this up, we will beat you!’ the persecutors will tell them.
‘Then we will be free to trust Jesus for healing,’ the believers will respond.
‘And then we will put you in prison!” the police will threaten.
By now, the believers’ response is almost predictable: ‘Then we will be free to preach the good news of Jesus to the captives, to set them free. We will be free to plant churches in prison.’
‘If you try to do that, we will kill you!’ the frustrated authorities will vow.
And, with utter consistency, the house-church believers will reply, ‘Then we will be free to go to heaven and be with Jesus forever.’”
I had been asking myself, “Is the resurrection power that the New Testament describes still real and available to believers in our world today?” I left China convinced that it was. Professionally, I wanted to better understand that resurrection power. Personally, I wanted to experience it for myself.
