Persecution & Revival

I received an email resonantly from a friend asking us to be praying for the christian church in a particular location in India. It went on to say about how over 200 church's had been burnt down and many Christians killed by some radical Buddhist group. The treat that more church's were to follow with more deaths as well was eminent. Something sever is happening to the christian church in that Nation, and the request for prayer was maid.

Persecution; a word that is well known by the christian church, or in any religious setting for that matter. It has been there for as long as anyone can remember. I am not going to go into the why's, lets just say that it is there. We were warned about this from Christ himself when he said.(paraphrased) “you will be persecuted because of my name sake. In the same way they persecuted those before you, you also will be persecuted and even put to death. If they persecuted me they will persecute you.”

I don't know about you but I don't get any comfort from those words.... Those are the kind of words you read and then sit and think about if you want to continue on the path your headed.

As a boy growing up in church I learned these scriptures, read the stories over and over in the bible. Heard them taught by various pastors. But I really didn't understand them! Lets be honest, I had no point of reference. It didn't really fit into my cultural setting. I had the freedom of religion behind me, (thank you bill of rights)... unless being called a Jesus freak, holy roller, and holy man is considered persecution. I was taught that sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me. This of course is not entirely true, names can and do hurt. In the culture I am in now I meet so many wounded people. People with names that mean; Not wanted, forgotten, having no one, alone, demon, pain, inconsiderate, and the list goes on and on... I guess it can be a form of persecution.

I grew up not thinking that name calling could be persecution but in my mind it was something totally different. Being beaten almost to death because of confessing Jesus as lord and savior of your life. Thrown in prison and having unthinkable things happen to you due to your faith. Losing your entire family as they right you off as being dead because you say that Jesus is Lord. Having a rope put around your neck and hung from a tree until dead because you believed in Christ as the son of God. Having your head cut off and put on a pole for show because you believed in Jesus as your savior. Many years ago In North Korea they rounded up the Christians they found from the underground church and laid them all on the road so that they could be ran over by a steam roller, starting at their feet and proceeding to the head.

All of these things and more have happened and are still happening today. We rarely hear about them, they have stopped to be reported. We put labels on some them such as holy wars, or terrorism.

This I do know as I look at the Christian church in the various nations and people groups that have been experiencing an seeing such horrifying acts as mentioned above one thing always rings through. You could say that history has continued to repeat it self. It is this, it produces a harvest of righteousness, the church grows, it becomes stronger, and the glory and power of God is seen in ways not known to us in the western church.

As I sat and pondered this I couldn't help but to think about my own Nation and people in North America. I found myself getting a bit sad almost to the point of tears. I thought to myself it's not fair why has the west been so blessed with your presence?
Why are we always experiencing so many revivals? God why is this? We keep being blessed by you pouring out your spirit. Fires of revival our breaking out all over the west while our brothers and sisters every where els our dieing.
The Christian faith in the west as a whole still seems so weak compared to our brothers and sisters abroad. Isn't time that the roles are reversed let revival break out among the developing Nations, among the least of these. Let the western church experience some real persecution for a while.
Oh crap did I just say that??? what am I thinking? Lord only you know, I am so glad I don't have your job!!

As I sit and meditate on those thoughts I am reminded of a conversation I had with this very wise and beautiful young women, my wife. She made a comment that struck me as we were discussing this one day. She said “ I wounder if God keeps blessing the western church with revival because it is during those times that the most resources are given to the persecuted church”. Ummmmm........
Another thought that came to my mind was the persecuted church does not need to be revived because they are already very much awake.

I am reading a book now in titled “The rising Revival” this book has many contributors (co authors) for the making. The main editors were Peter Wagner & Pablo Deiros. In the beginning of the book Peter Wagner gives a bit of history of revivals in the west. The focus is on the fact that with an exception of a few of them, most only lasted for 2 to 3 years. This is very interesting to me because the list of noted revivals with in the west is quite large and the effects have been pretty amazing. But why this constant on and off thing? Why only 2 or 3 years? Some times many years go by before anything happens again. What can be done to sustain it longer? Peter has some interesting thoughts as he writes about and gives examples of the revival that broke out in Argentina and lasted for over 15 years.
He says “I am convinced that many revivals have not lasted because they were focused on blessing those who were already Christians----renewing their faith in God, increasing their intimacy with Jesus, intensifying their worship experiences, healing their bodies, restoring broken family relationships, providing for financial needs, deepening their hunger for God's word, encouraging them with prophetic words and the like. Evangelizing the lost in the community and out in the world is invariably mentioned, but is frequently subject to an underlying assumption: we must first polish up the existing Christians and develop their walk with God first. Then when this is done, we will be properly equipped to move out to evangelize the lost. There is much truth in that assumption, but the fact of the matter is that many revivals have become stuck in implementing the first part and they have never gotten around to aggressively evangelizing the lost.
The Argentine revival was kicked off by an evangelist that never deviated a bit from his primary calling to reach the lost. Because the two main faces of that revival maintained singular focus in the early days of the revival, it kept it from falling victim to the “bless-me syndrome” that has been the down fall of so many others.”

As I look at other revivals that have happened outside the U.S. to compare them I can see what Mr. Wagner is talking about. With the exception of the east African revival back in the 70's which went on for thirty years. The Argentina revival is the only other recorded revival that I have found that has lasted longer than a few years.

The Focus on the lost is one of the biggest differences between theses revivals. We are talking about moves of God that radically blew through Nations changing everything in it's path. Nations that were known for their low percentages of Christians all of a sudden were being called and considered to be Christian nations. The Nation of Uganda particularly at one time had such a high rate of HIV Aids that it was said by experts that if some thing did not happen fast that Uganda would soon be no more.(paraphrased) Well something did happen, a miracle, all of a sudden with no way for man to explain it the HIV Aids rate drastically went down. This was due to the president of the nation in that time calling out to the church and dedicating his nation to the Lord.( ummm... Nation's leaders calling out to God.)


This is the kind of revival that is needed again, a revival fire so hot that it burns everything in it's path, transforming everything from politics to health care, to even the weather. Drought disappearing in the regions where only famine was known, HIV Aids disappearing and life expectancies increasing, Nations know for fraud, deception, and corruption will all of a sudden have a mantel of integrity and humility.
This is the revival that is being conceived on the continent of Africa where I am now residing. We are praying, working, and waiting for the labor pains to start.
Oh for the Joy set before us, Lord help us not to be weary but to fix our eyes on the prize.