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TechnoratiIn a few weeks my family as well as many other Christians in the United States and other countries will gather in churches and homes to celebrate the birth of the baby Jesus.
We will sing Christmas carols, attend pageants and worship our King of Kings.
But in many restrictive countries, Christians are unable to worship Jesus in freedom. In fact, many believers are under siege and facing even more intense persecution during the Christmas season.
Let me give you two examples.
India
According to Compass Direct News, Christians in Orissa state are anticipating Christmas with fear as Hindu extremists have called for a state-wide bandh, or forced shutdown on all sectors of society, on December 25 – a move that could provide Hindu extremists the pretext for attacking anyone publicly celebrating the birth of Christ. Last year one of the area’s worst outbreaks of violence came during the Christmas season.
The state’s chief minister has said there should be no such shutdown but stopped short of prohibiting the Hindu extremists’ plan. The federal government has expressed its disapproval of the proposal, but the Hindu extremist umbrella organization Sangh Parivar has vowed to press ahead with the shutdown, according to a report.
At least 500 people, mostly Christians, were estimated to have been killed, according to a report by a Communist Party fact-finding team, and at least 4,500 houses and churches in Orissa’s Kandhamal district were destroyed in two months of violence this fall.
North Korea
No bright lights, no Christmas dinner and not even a Christmas Eve service for the followers of Jesus Christ in North Korea, the top persecutor of Christians in the world. The government officially doesn’t allow the observance of the birth of our Redeemer. And, of course, Christmas is not a holiday in this hermit communist kingdom.
This Christmas – just like any other day in the year – there are no festive lights in the streets of Pyongyang. The city is largely shrouded in darkness. North Korea is the only country in the world where the Cold War is not yet over, and one of the few countries in which it is not permitted to celebrate Christmas at all. Thousands of Christians are annually targeted – and often throw into prisons or executed – for holding secret house church meetings or reading Christian materials.
But there is light….even in the dark country of North Korea.
“But of course Christians do reflect on the birth of Jesus Christ,” says brother Simon, who coordinates the work of Open Doors in North Korea from a secret location in China. “Only they can’t just go along to church to sing or listen to a sermon. They cannot even visit one another to read the Bible together. Being a Christian in North Korea is very lonely.
“Christmas is mainly celebrated in the heart of the Christian. Only if the whole family has turned to Christ is it possible to have something like a real gathering. As long as it is possible to keep your faith hidden from the neighbors. Besides this, it is sometimes possible to hold a meeting in remote areas with a group of 10 to 20 people. Very occasionally, it is possible for Christians to go unobtrusively into the mountains and to hold a ‘service’ at a secret location. Then there might be as many as 60 or 70 North Koreans gathered together.”
I also recall the story of Brother Vince in China last Christmas. He is a leader of a house church network. He organized a Christmas service despite being arrested twice before and warned by the Public Security Bureau (PSB). About 800 people attended the service even though the event was by personal invitation only and Brother Vince had tried to keep the location secret. But the PSB found out about the service and arrested Brother Vince. He spent 15 days in jail.
Christians celebrating Christmas despite severe persecution motivate me to get down on my knees in prayer for the persecuted. And we as the church in the West need to continue to support and encourage our beloved brothers and sisters in Christ. We need to be the hands and feet of Jesus Christ during this Christmas season and into 2009. Go to Open Doors’ Website at www.OpenDoors.USA to find out how you can help strengthen the persecuted, including donating through our Gifts of Hope catalogue.
Dr. Carl Moeller is president/CEO of Open Doors USA.
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