Could You Withstand Persecution for Your Faith?

Yesterday, my 13-year-old daughter had to stay after school for a chorus rehearsal. When my husband went to pick her up, he arrived early and since it was a warm day, he rolled his windows down and waited in the car, listening to Shift, Vol. 1 (Fire), the latest CD from worship leader Eddie James. Mind you, I said "listening to," not "blaring so loudly the entire parking lot could hear it." In other words, you had to walk right by his car to hear much of anything. As other parents passed the car to enter or exit the building, he got more than a few looks as they would catch what he was listening to. Most were smiles and nods of encouragement, but there were a few who looked as though they had stepped on a bug or something equally unpleasant. No one said anything negative, but those who didn't like hearing "God music" made it abundantly clear with their facial expressions and the wide berth they would give him when they walked past a second time.

This didn't happen in some country where Christianity is not the predominant religion. It didn't happen in a big city where you can find more belief systems in a square mile than in some small countries. No, this happend in Georgia - a part of the country considered to be "the Bible belt."

My husband is not naive enough to believe that everyone proclaims Christ, but he was bemused by the behavior and he brought it up at dinner and that is when the real education began. Our girls, 13 and 18, don't live in a bubble but they have been PK's (Pastor's kids) for a long time and because of the circle of friends that they choose to spend time with, they don't have to face persecution (even in the slightest form of disapproving looks). The conversation turned to "real" persecution - the kind that can get you jailed or killed for being a Christian and that led to talking about Rev. Majed El Shafie.

If you're not familiar with that name, El Shafie is and Egyptian-born human rights leader and the founder of One Free World International. A man who converted from Islam to Christianity, he fights for freedom of religion and the rights of minorities even though his own conversion caused him to be severely tortured and sentenced to death in Eygpt. He has shared his story in a book FREEDOM FIGHTER: One Man's Fight for One Free World, which is a companion to the award-winning human rights documentary, FREEDOM FIGHTER.

El Shafie recently spoke with FOX News Radio's Vipp Jaswal and spent an hour sharing his story in graphic detail and talking about the growing problem of religious persecution around the world. During the interview, El Shafie was asked why Christians in the western world remain silent about the persecution taking place around the world. His response was sad but accurate. "Our world is divided into two zones. A conflict zone and a comfort zone. The more that you are a Christian in the conflict zone, the more that you are under heat, you are facing the front line, you are facing persecution, you are united. The more you are in the comfort zone, that's United States, Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and so on and so forth, they are selfish, un-united, divided, lazy. Don't want to hear about the message of persecution. They prefer the message of prosperity and healing and salvation than the message of persecution. They don't want to touch it. They are scared to read it. They are scared to hear about it. So about it they don't know. They are ignorant. Not all of them, but a lot of them." He continued, "If you think that you are far away from persecution, think again. It's just a matter of time to reach you. If you do not stand for others today, they will come against you tomorrow. Our world today is unfair place, unjust place. Not because the people are doing evil, because the people who remain silent about it."

I can not imagine living in a part of the world where listening to a Christian band's CD in my car could get me jailed. I spend my life sharing my Savior and writing about the music that glorifies Him. In some parts of the world, that could cause me to be tortured or sentenced to death. Could you be strong enough in your faith to withstand that kind of persecution? Would you still publicly proclaim Christ if it could get you killed?

Tags : Religious persecution Rev. Majed El Shafie One Free World International