NOTE: This was an article written for AIM, a monthly magazine of the Evangelical Fellowship of India.

 

Rajesh was cornered by the policeman finally. He had been looking for Rajesh for many days. The policeman was angry because Rajesh was sharing about his new found faith. Since the police man had ‘Sangh loyalties’, how could he tolerate a budding Christian evangelist in his area?

“Rajesh you must change your ways, or something bad is going to happen to you.” He snarled.

“Do you mean that I should stop preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ sir?” queried Rajesh.

“Yes! Absolutely; if you do not change your ways, you will see what happens.” Retorted the policeman,

Rajesh looked at his face calmly and replied, “Sir if preaching the Gospel was my livelihood, I could have changed it. But how do I change my life?” And he left the policeman dumbfounded.

Indeed how could he change his life? But this puts an important question before us: is the preaching of the Gospel our life? This question rocks the comfortable world of those of us who have never taken the sharing or preaching of the Gospel seriously.

Rajesh was certain about his answer. And many like him who are often persecuted and reviled for their faith are certain about their answer.

If there is one characteristic of the persecuted Church, if there is one thing that we can learn for them, it has to be their passion for sharing Christ. Time and again this lesson comes to us from stories about them.

A young boy detained without charges for days, musters strength and before long manages to tell about a dozen people about this Christ he serves. Not only that, he baptizes many in a tank used for prisoners.

A pastor and his wife on their honeymoon are arrested, end up in separate prison cells, and yet are excited to have this new “parish”. They tell the Lord, “If this is where you want us to have our honeymoon, we will do so gladly.” And then they start sharing the same message which got them in the jail in the first place. With the “captive audience” the fruit just multiplies and the authorities decide that they are doing much more damage in prison than out of it. So they are released some months later, but not before a small congregation comes into existence inside the prison walls.

Jailed falsely and picked up on routinely, these 14 prisoners, all victims of anti-Christian violence in their area, start a prayer meeting in jail while their hearing is still on in the court. They were all falsely accused of murder and spent two and a half years in prison, awaiting justice. But in the meantime, they not only share Christ, but baptize around 30 people and attribute it all to the goodness of God and praise Him for His purpose in bringing them there so that the people could hear God’s message.

So what is it which causes these Christians to go on sharing the good news of Christ despite opposition, physical violence, torture and prison?   

While there can be many reasons, the first reason that comes to mind is that they are absolutely certain of the sovereignty of God. A demonstration of this can be found in Acts 4: 24 – 30 where the believers gather and pray to the “Sovereign” Lord to “enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.”

If the Lord is indeed sovereign and if He is the one who sends the Church out to preach the good news of salvation to all; then He will also grant the messengers boldness and a singularity of purpose.

If God is indeed in control, then the ones carrying out His message need not be in fear. For what is greater? Persecution or God, Distress or God, Peril or God?  No, God is the first reality and everything flows from there.

The second reason is that they really believe that the message of God IS the Good news. It is plain to see when the Gospel is juxtapositioned together with the bad news that is in the world today.

If one believes something, only then can he propagate it with a good conscience and with conviction. If however, one does not believe in the genuineness of the message, conviction is bound to be fleeting. “A truth that is never shared is never really possessed”, says Jowett.

So when people discover that there is a Saviour who can save, that they do not have to die in their sins, and when they are absolutely convinced about that, they want others to have what they do, because they know without this the others will perish. It is like the old preacher who said, “I am just a blind man who received sight and now I tell other fellow blind people that they can see too.”

And finally it seems to be the love of God which becomes the motivation for not giving up sharing the good news. If Jesus Christ loved us enough to die for us, while we were yet sinners, how can we not respond to this love being expressed in our love for the lost?

Trian Dors a Romanian Christian facing the wrath of the government during the ‘Iron-Curtain’ days had the secret police coming to his home regularly for several years. They beat him twice every week and confiscated all that they could. After the beating he would always talk to the officer in charge.

Trian would look into his eyes and say, “Mister, I love you. And I want you to know that if our next meeting is before the judgement throne of God, you will not go to hell because I hate you but because you rejected love.” Trian would repeat these words after every beating. 

Years later that officer came alone to his home one night. Trian prepared himself for another beating. But the officer spoke kindly and said, “Mr. Dors, the next time we meet will be before the judgement throne of God. I came tonight to apologize for what I did to you and to tell you that your love moved my heart. I have asked Christ to save me. But two days ago the doctor discovered that I have a very severe case of cancer and I have only a few weeks to live before I go to be with God. I came tonight to tell you that we will be together on the other side.”

May the Lord give us enough boldness, conviction, and love so that we too like Rajesh can say that the sharing of the good news is our life.