How much they must suffer for my name.

I was praying for Lebanon one day as I was walking through a barn, when I felt God speaking to me. He brought this passage of scripture to my mind:

Acts 9:10 Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, "Ananias." And he said, "Here I am, Lord."

And the Lord said to him, "Rise and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight."

But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name."

But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name."

Then God said to me "You are not Paul, that is not my design for you. You are Ananias. You must go to the people of Lebanon and tell them how much they must suffer for my name."

God is scary, and following him is scary. He's not content to let me live out my life in comfort like a Hobbit in a hole, to borrow from Tolkien. Yet, my part is among the least scary. Yes, I'm called to go to a strange place, where there are people who kill people like me. But God has already shown me that my part is not the dangerous one. The young men whom God raises up to carry the Gospel to the closed nations of the Arab world will be the ones in danger.

I had the opportunity this past Sunday night to hear the story of such a young man. The names in this story have been changed to protect the righteous.

Naji (who told us the story) is the Pastor of a Baptist congregation in a violent and dangerous region of the Middle East. They suffer persecution from Muslim gangs, and have no protection from the police, because of the militant Muslim control of the government.

Their facilities were bombed, and during the time they were responding to that, a member of the flock whom we'll call Sami was kidnapped by Muslim thugs. This is often done to Christians to try to force them to convert to Islam. Those who convert are released, but those who don't convert may be killed. Sami's body was later found, shot through the back of the head -execution style.

I can't imagine how difficult it is to live in a place where this happens. How can the Church spread in such a place when it means death to those who give their lives to Christ?

The widow of Sami, we'll call her Lydia, provides us with the answer. She had to deal with rage, anxiety, fear, depression, and all the emotions that come from such a tragedy. Yet, at the one year remembrance of her husband's murder, she said these words:

This is my revenge for my husband's death, that those who murdered him would come to know Jesus Christ.

I will not pretend that I could ever teach this woman what it means to follow Jesus. She has graduated far beyond my level. The Samis and Lydias of the Arab world are the ones who must suffer for the name of Jesus. I pray that they find their strength in him.