Persecution: A Continuous Threat To All Christians – Past, Present & Future

Word-Of-The-Day: ‘(10) <Jesus said,>”Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  (11) Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.  (12) Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”’ (Matthew 5:10-12)

I have written about persecution before in a couple of previous blogposts, but I feel it needs to be revisited after watching a video of the Christians in Iran and Syria being persecuted after years of quiet coexistence within their predominant Islamic nations. Most recently, in the Mar Elias Church in Damascus, Syria, on 22 June 2025, resulted in at least 25 deaths and 63 injuries after an Islamic terrorist associated with ISIS went inside the church, opened fire with a gun before denotating his suicide vest.

While there is a great evangelical movement in Iran that is sweeping the nation with many converting to Christianity, there is still a majority of Iranians that are Islamic and follow the ruling mullahs in their form of Sharia (Islamic Religious) Law. Since the conflict with the Israelis started a little over two weeks ago, there have been reports of Christians being harassed and attacked, and Christian gathering places (buildings unofficially used as churches) being vandalized. The Israeli attacks and US involvement likely has removed the tolerance and stirred the hatred toward Christians in the Iranian Islamic State.

When (not if) we are persecuted for our Faith in Christ, as mentioned in Revelation 2:10 (persecution against the Smyrna Church), know that our Lord Jesus and the prophets before Him were all persecuted as well.  Jeremiah was almost killed twice then self-exiled to Egypt (after Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians) as he preached God’s warnings against Israel;  Isaiah (in the Jewish Talmud) is said to have been sawn in half hiding in a cedar tree after a falling out with King Manasseh.

Ezekiel died in Babylon after ridicule from his prophecies (similar to Jeremiah’s) on Israel’s eventual exile.  We also know of the Jewish persecution by the Romans during Jesus’ and Paul’s life times (and on the persons of Jesus and Paul as well), and in modern history we have seen the Jews persecuted by Nazi Germany leading to the Holocaust (resulting in the eventual rebirth of Israel in 1948).

Christians, those of the Gentile persuasion, have been persecuted for years historically by the former USSR, China, North Korea, and Islamic movements such as ISIS.  We have had the Romans use Christians as torches to light the city of Rome, or as meals for hungry animals inside the Colosseum for sport. 

In more recent times, Christians were beheaded or burnt in cages by ISIS, Christian men murdered and women violated in the Balkan Wars (the former Yugoslavian states dividing after Tito’s death), and Christians thrown in prison, put into hard labor or executed for ‘treason’ in North Korea by simply professing Faith.  Churches have been bulldozered flat in Iraq and China, and in Ukraine the Orthodox Churches have been shut down or are made to provide ‘state-approved’ sermons in favor of government actions in the war against Russia.

This may seem excessive but make no mistake, it has happened before, it can happen again, and it has happened in the US.  The burning of black churches in the 1960’s, the FBI ‘intimidation by investigation’ of Catholic Church attendees and the harassment of and arrest of church members segregated in family cars as in a ‘drive-in’ church in Mississippi during COVID, and the recent shutdown of a Christian rally in a Seattle park by LGBTQ activists, along with the condemnation of the Christians by the Seattle mayor. 

We may believe everything is good to go here in southwest Florida, that persecution will never happen to us. But, it can and it does, albeit passively for now. As what is now rampant in England, where a nation based on Anglican Christian principles is now primarily led by Islamists in the local and national levels. The Democratic mayoral primary in our largest city, New York, was won by an Islamic ‘socialist’. Many cities in the northern Midwest, such as Dearborn, Michigan are Islamic led and run. Texas recently had an attempt for the establishment of an Islamic city near its capital, Austin.

If we are not Faithful to the Great Commission, we will face here what many are now facing – the slow but increasing pressure that is applied to Christians to withdraw, stay quiet, and eventually go away. It is a ‘soft’ persecution that may lead to Christians fracturing in fear from fellowship or evangelism to others. If we don’t withdraw, it may lead to the to the ‘hard’ persecution of physical intimidation and attacks to stop us from worshipping Christ.

But we must persevere in the face of persecution.  Jesus did not back down when He faced the ridicule of the Pharisees, and when He was arrested by the Jews and beaten by the Romans, up to His death on the cross.  Paul faced repeated attempts of stoning and beatings before being thrown in prison and beheaded, because Paul had Faith. 

I personally have had people make fun of me being a Christian, of having a Bible on my desk when I was working (I didn’t remove it, and witnessed to one of those who gave ‘lip service’ later on).  One day I may face a mob that will look to do much worse than make a harsh comment. I pray I have the audacity to stand for Christ before I fall by the hands of the mob.    

But I know this, that my Lord is Eternal and that my existence on Earth is not. I may die of old age but if I die because of persecution the difference in time is infinitesimal compared to the eons of Eternal life I will have with Jesus!  We must trust in Jesus, and what He said during His Sermon on the Mount, providing the Beatitudes to us.  We cannot cave when faced with evil, we must stand strong and know that Jesus is protecting us in His hands – if not our demise on Earth He certainly has us in His hands forever in Eternity in Heaven with Our Father God.