Antioch Church recently joined with the other 214 Covenant Brethren congregations around the world to celebrate our 5th birthday. It was a special time of worship for what God has done in and through all of our congregations and members scattered over 4 continents and throughout 12 countries.
As part of our celebration, we remembered the persecution that some of our spiritual ancestors endured in Europe that eventually motivated them to move to America. Because the Anabaptists (those who were rebaptized as adults) were not part of any established church, their property was seized, their possessions were confiscated, and some were imprisoned, tortured and even killed for believing basically what the CBC and many other denominations espouse today.
As I shared this, one lady who joins us each Sunday by Livestream from Yuba City, California, emailed me to share the story of her sixth great grandfather, Hans Landis, who held anabaptist services in his home in Zurich, Switzerland. He was imprisoned for life for this in 1589 but was later released by a sympathetic judge.
Bro Landis, however, continued to preach in the nearby woods and was rearrested. He was pressured to recant his faith or be sent to another country but he refused to do either and quoted Psalm 24:1 declaring his right to live in his homeland and that no earthly ruler had authority to expel him from land belonging to God. As a result, he was beheaded on September 30, 1614 in his mid-40s.
An observer described the event in a letter, writing that Hans was led out cheerfully with a rope. His wife and children ran up in tears to say their goodbyes. After having done so, he asked them to leave and when his executioner asked him for forgiveness, Hans replied, “I have already forgiven you and may God forgive you also. I am aware that you must execute the sentence of the magistracy; be undismayed, and see that nothing hinders you in this matter.” He was then summarily executed.
It’s hard to imagine such brutality against what we would consider fairly mild religious dissent, but such was common at the time and many dissenters were either similarly tortured and/or killed, or forced to move to avoid such fates. It was a very dark chapter in world history.
Sadly, that chapter has not concluded. While the perpetrators and victims have changed, more Christians have been killed for their faith in the past few decades than in all of church history combined. According to the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, 125,000 Christians have been killed in Nigeria alone in the last 16 years. Over 7,000 have been martyred already this year averaging over 30 per day. In addition, radical Muslims have also killed an estimated 60,000 of their own whom they deemed “too liberal.”
Since 2009, 18,000 Nigerian church buildings have been burned or vandalized in addition to many homes of believers, and an estimated 15 million Christians have been displaced as a result of the persecution that the world is ignoring. Nearly 8,000 Nigerian Christians have also been kidnapped by Muslims since January of this year and are still being held in captivity.
Tragically, Nigeria is not unique. Some 162 million Christians in sub-Saharan Africa have had to leave their homes and rely on displaced persons camps or similar arrangements to survive. And this doesn’t include those in North Korea, China, and other countries who are being tortured, imprisoned, and killed for following Jesus.
The first Sunday in November is always designated as International Day of Prayer for Persecuted Christians and all believers are encouraged not only to pray but to also wear orange to stand in solidarity and fellowship with our suffering brothers and sisters. Thank God for the religious freedom we have in this country but please pray for those who are suffering bitterly elsewhere, and pray for Jesus’ soon return to end such injustice. Praying, George