Signs of Truth

Often enough, people don’t want to hear the truth, especially when it’s stark and perhaps a bit frightening, the kind of truth that denies their Weltanschauung and their hopes for the future, as well as the hopes and lives of those they love. I suppose that’s a normal human response when things seem to be going reasonably well, and then someone comes along and insists on a very different view of the world. 

But faithful Christians don’t view their lives through a worldly lens. For them the truth is always “Good News” even when, to the worldly, it seems very bad indeed. After all, Jesus is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life” [Jn 14:6]. When the world and its confusion and hatreds pour into our lives, we Christians should be joyful because it’s an opportunity to suffer for the proclamation of the Gospel. 

Oops! Today most Christians in the West don’t expect to suffer simply because they go to church on Sunday and drop a few bucks in the basket. And yet, here we are, facing what could be another era of persecution. Don’t believe it? Just look around the world and realize it’s on its way to you and to me…and a lot sooner than we probably think. But the Church has been there before, many times, and yet it’s still here and will be here until the end. Although in the US and in Europe, the Church appears to be in decline, this isn’t true globally. In Africa and parts of Asia the Church is growing, just as it grew in its earliest years.

We need only look to that early Church and its response to persecution. Tertullian (died c. 220 A.D.) was a lawyer (we’ll forgive him for that) who converted to Christianity largely due to the courage of condemned Christians he witnessed as they went to their deaths singing hymns. His ultimate response, one directed to the Roman Empire:

“We are not a new philosophy but a divine revelation. That’s why you can’t just exterminate us; the more you kill the more we are. The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. You praise those who endured pain and death – so long as they aren’t Christians! Your cruelties merely prove our innocence of the crimes you charge against us…

Yes, indeed, “the seed of the Church.” God calls us Christians to sacrifice and actually expects His disciples to give all for Him: evangelization without compromise. But that’s a truth few of us want to hear, much less think about. The signs, though, are there for all to see. The persecution of Christians today is greater than at any other time in history. And where is the Church growing? Wherever it suffers persecution.

I’ve focused below on only three nations: France, Finland, and Nigeria. These nations, from almost every measurement, seem to have little in common. France, a nation once considered among the most vibrant Catholic nations in the world, now hosts a Catholic Church in decline. Finland, a largely Protestant nation, now has a government that prosecutes members of parliament and clergy for speaking the truth about Christian morality. And Nigeria, where Christians of all denominations are subjected to deadly persecution. 

The stories that follow were pulled from the news in just a few days. As you might expect, most of them haven’t received much attention from the mainstream media or Western governments. 

Catholicism in France. As in many European countries, the Church in France has been in decline. To my knowledge French Catholics aren’t being imprisoned or sent to the guillotine just because they practice their faith. But persecution often involves the application of far more subtle means as secular governments merge with societal forces intent on undermining religious values. And their primary targets are children and young adults. We see this throughout the western world, in schoolrooms, in social media, in advertising, in businesses, and through dozens of other channels. And yet, as Isaac Newton demonstrated, actions generate reactions.

In France, as in much of Europe, roadside crucifixes (calvaires in French) are common sights. Many, erected decades ago, are in need of restoration. In 1987, in a small town in northern France, SOS Calvaires was formed to maintain these roadside crucifixes. Since then this apostolate has expanded its work to include the erection of new crucifixes throughout the country.  As might be expected, the organization has attracted both religious and laypeople. Perhaps surprisingly, most of the latter are young people in their teens and twenties. Three years ago it set a goal to build a new roadside crucifix each month, but it now averages more than one every day and has expanded to include 65 affiliated groups throughout France. 

It might sound like a small thing, but it isn’t. Every day in what many have called “pagan France” the young Catholics who make up SOS Calvaires are erecting crucifixes, some as tall as 13 feet, somewhere in the country. And as they do this work — work which demands both physical strength and moral courage — people see them witnessing to Jesus Christ. Their witness remains embedded in each crucifix, a sign to all of their personal faith and a sign pointing back to the once-vibrant faith of France. The French government might ignore the nation’s ancient and formative Christian heritage, and the Church might continue to suffer physical attacks (more than 800 in 2022), but things are changing. Even baptisms are up. As a leader of SOS Calvaires said, “If we don’t see the Cross, we don’t think about God.” May their tribe increase.

Finland. The enemies of Christianity sometimes wear business suits and hang out in courtrooms and parliaments. That’s certainly true in Helsinki where a member of parliament, Päivi Räisäne, has been charged, again, with violating “hate speech” laws by quoting the Bible’s teaching on marriage. The state prosecutors are very upset with one of her 2019 tweets that included pictures of Bible verses, as well as a 2004 pamphlet she wrote on marriage. And so, she now faces a trial for expressing her Christian views on marriage and sexuality. Interestingly, two years ago she was acquitted of these same charges by the Helsinki District Court. I don’t know for sure, but perhaps Finland doesn’t protect its citizens against double jeopardy, or maybe these are new charges based on different writings by Räsänen. But that’s all irrelevant. One would think a so-called Western nation like Finland would appreciate and encourage free speech.

Defending their case, the prosecutors, displaying an obvious but subtle hatred of Christianity, stated that as prosecutors they “can limit freedom of expression in the outward expression of religion.” I suppose that’s a plus when compared to the beliefs of some prosecutors in the UK who have charged people for praying silently outside abortion clinics. Before arresting these dangerous Christians, the police had to ask them if they were actually praying, or just standing around. All of this is happening in nations that were once a part of Christendom, but are now just failing secular states competing with each other as they race to oblivion.

As Räsänen herself stated so eloquently:

“Everyone should be able to share their beliefs without fearing censorship by state-authorities. I know that the prosecution is trying to make an example of me to scare others into silence. Yet, you do not have to align with my views to agree that everyone should be able to speak freely. With God’s help I will remain steadfast and continue defending everyone’s human right to free speech.”

Pray for this courageous woman who takes her Christian faith seriously. 

Nigeria. In many parts of the world, persecution is far less subtle. For example, Christians in northern Nigeria are the most persecuted people on earth, and theirs is a deadly persecution. According to Open Doors, in 2022 roughly 90% of the world’s Christian martyrs — which equates to over 5,000 Christians — were slaughtered for their faith in this part of Nigeria. Who’s been murdering them? Islamists. This has been going on for a long time. In the past 15 years 52,250 Nigerian Christians have been brutally murdered at the hands of Islamist militants. They not only kill Christians — men, women, and children — but also destroy churches — over 18,000 Christian churches and 2,200 Christian schools were set ablaze during this same period. And if you’re a moderate Muslim who objects to such genocide, the Islamists will kill you too. Approximately 34,000 moderate Nigerian Muslims died in Islamist attacks.

Megan Meador, communications director of Aid to the Church in Need (ACD) describes the situation faced by Christians and others in today’s Nigeria:

“The persecution comes from terrorists, from machete-wielding militias, from mob violence and laws that implicitly encourage them, and from authorities who are indifferent to the mayhem and shrug off these atrocities, allowing perpetrators to go free while punishing victims…We’ve had cases where Christians have been hauled in front of Sharia courts, without jurisdiction, and accused of crimes like apostasy, which is not supposed to be a crime in Nigeria…We are right now supporting a Sufi Muslim young singer, Yahaya Sharif-Aminu, who was sentenced to death on blasphemy accusations for posting lyrics to social media, and is now challenging that law at the Supreme Court. Nigeria needs to fully practice what is protected under its Constitution."

ACD is a strong and constant supporter of religious freedom throughout the world. In Nigeria ACD’s work includes defending Christians from legal attacks, false accusations, and discrimination. They also support those who are threatened by blasphemy laws if they express their religious beliefs openly. Both Open Doors and ACD deserve our support for the work they do.