Thoughts on the Church in Afghanistan

Thoughts on the Church in Afghanistan

You may not necessarily agree with this, and if you have some knowledge of the church situation there, I’d appreciate your input.

I realise it’s very easy for me to make the following comments from my centrally heated home where I have plenty to eat and drink and live in a very peaceful part of the world. I also don’t have to wonder if the door will suddenly burst open and my children and wife will be taken away, or wonder if I’ll be taken outside and beheaded because I’m a Christian and have a Bible app on my phone. I do not fear for my life. I’m fully aware of all that. And I’m thankful for that too. I shouldn’t despise the providence that God has been pleased to bless me with.

Having said that, here’s my thinking on the situation of the church in Afghanistan. Few would deny the withdrawal has been handled with anything other than total incompetence. Even wickedness. But this too has been brought about by the Sovereign Lord. It isn’t a mistake. As a Christian I’m sure your thoughts turned immediately to the church in that truly awful situation. I do not in any way wish to, or mean to undermine, or trivialise the situation of our brothers and sisters there. Maybe you read some of the reports of Afghani pastors. Perhaps you read about their determination to stand for the Lord Jesus. One can only say, ‘Of whom the world is not worthy (Heb 11:38).’

This is where I might need some specialised help. The Lord Jesus has his people everywhere so we know there must have been Christians in Afghanistan before the US arrived 20 years ago. Probably very few and known only to a few on a need-to-know basis. But it seems to me that the church in Afghanistan, though still small, is a lot larger than it was. And is vocal and visible. I shared this with a friend (originally from Lebanon) the other day who thought it made sense. I asked him this ‘What makes the church grow more than anything else?’ His answer was ‘Persecution.’ Which is exactly right. Was it Tertullian that said, ‘The blood of the Martyrs is the seed of the church?’

If that is true, and church history confirms that it is often the case, then the arrival, or return, of the Taliban, far from destroying the church could in fact be the means by which it will grow and be strengthened. Jesus has said, ‘I will build my church (Matt 16:18).’ It’s His church!

What I’m saying is that for the past 20 years the church has not been dormant. They weren’t 20 wasted years. We’re being told they are wasted years because world governments have no interest whatsoever in the church. Their concern is entirely materialistic. It’s purely utilitarian. So if you are in the military, and a Christian, or even if you are not a Christian, your service there was not in vain.

With all the above in mind then, here are some things that I will be praying:

Pray the Lord of the church with keep them and watch over them.

Pray for the Church that they will remain faithful (even unto death (Rev 2:10).) – and if some of them don’t remain faithful, pray for their restoration.

Pray that even under those terrible circumstances the church, and especially the Pastors, will be bold for Christ.

Pray the church will receive good sound teaching that will build them up in their most holy faith: and for the availability of the Bible, in print, and electronic. And for good literature.

Pray for a real and powerful visitation of God by his Holy Spirit. Upon the church and upon the people.

Pray that God will also visit the Taliban and convert many of them. Pray that their zealous opposition to the Lord Jesus will be turned, like the apostle Paul. “He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” Acts 9:21 & 22; Galatians 1: 23 & 24.

Pray that God will open the hearts of the Afghan people to the Gospel and for opportunities to hear the message of life.

We should also thank God that he has a people in Afghanistan at all.

It is a truly terrible situation. Of course it is. I do not minimise that for a moment. But these things, it seems to me, are the things of first importance. Obviously, much could be added to the above that are not unimportant (health, safety etc.).

There’s an irony in that the Taliban think they have come to destroy the church. But God may have brought them to help build it.

And let’s not forget, God will not leave those sins of the Taliban, or of wicked evil Western governments that abandoned them, to go unpunished. God will not be mocked, not by Joe Biden, Boris Johnson, the Taliban, or by anyone else.

I don’t have a direct line to the secret plans of the Lord God, but I pray this is so. I could be completely off on this. But why can’t God do it? Let’s pray He will.

Am I talking nonsense? I hope not.

Church Services and Boiling Frogs

On 3rd November a friend posted this on Facebook:
‘If we are going to press for the continuation of public worship in Christian churches, can we get beyond the somewhat tepid assertion that it is good for our mental health?’

This post, in part, is an attempt to answer that very important question.

[Apologies, if the formatting is not working correctly]

It sounds dramatic, but the Apostle John warned us about the Anti-Christ. (1 John 2:18; 2:22; 4:3; 2 John 1:7) And Jesus told us to look out for false Christs that will seek to deceive us. (Matt 24:5) Kim Riddlebarger, if I’m channeling him correctly, said the sign of the Anti-Christ is when the machinery of the State is mobilised to persecute the church. The question is, is this what we are seeing now? Are we seeing movement towards that? When does it cross the line from a painful inconvenience, that we are told benefits our neighbour, to outright persecution? Are the powers that be acting with more subtlety than we see in China? In China we definitely see the State mobilised against the church – and against religion in general. It would be insulting and quite ridiculous to compare our situation with Christians that are losing their lives simply for being Christians. Or are we in the West seeing the proverb ‘Softly softly catchee monkey’ being played out. Would a full on assault be too obvious? You’ve heard of boiling frogs. Is that us?

My recent reading about Cyprian of Carthage (200-258), The Scottish Covenanters, and Martin Luther has raised all sorts of questions. Christians then were asking similar questions. I have a couple of quotes from the book on Cyprian that, I think, puts where we are at, or where some think we are at, here in the UK and the US. It’s a debate that is happening right now. Is the fact that church doors are closed and gathered Worship is restricted, some might say forbidden, demonstrating State persecution? Is the State boiling a few frogs?

The following quotes ‘might’ help the discussion.

‘Persecution and prosecution were the same thing in these cases. Being prosecuted for disobeying laws that violate religious conviction is germane to persecution. We empty persecution of its meaning if we do not include prosecution for refusal to do something that would violate a person’s faith. [The writer] Moss does not see it this way. She writes, ‘There is something different about being persecuted under a law – however unjust – that is not designed to target or rout out any particular group. It may be unfortunate, it may be unfair, but it is not persecution.’ p. 70 & 71.

Some feel that way now. Perhaps saying ‘The lockdown doesn’t seem fair, but it isn’t persecution. Christians aren’t being singled out.’ Brian Arnold gives a footnote to the comment above from Moss, saying;

”I understand Moss’s point and I believe the point is well-taken in certain instances. Take for instance Dietrich Bonhoeffer who was killed, not for his faith, but for his attempt to assassinate Hitler. Should he be considered a martyr? Perhaps not. But early Christians do not fit this category. They were killed because they were asked to do things that would have severed their souls from Christ for eternity.”This is footnote 21 on p. 71: Moss, The Myth of Persecution, 14-15.

This is at the heart of it. Are we Christians being asked to do, or not do something that is a serious violation of our faith?

Some say yes, or at least, we are close to it. Others say no. Did I say Cyprian experienced persecution and plague? He also had some interesting things to say, I thought, on the Lord’s Supper. He was eventually beheaded in the year 258.

Shifting or sifting?

Whatever it is the Lord is doing (some of which may be a sifting), in a few months we have shifted (a lot have anyway) from worshipping in our church buildings (whatever the building) to worshipping as an online church community. We say, ‘What a blessing from God this technology is that we can meet. It isn’t ideal but we can meet. How wonderful.’ And it is, but we all know this is second best to meeting together as a church. Right? I’m seriously wondering if our online church experience is really just boiling frogs. It’s a bit weird for the minister speaking into a camera, or just one or two techie guys there but it’s what we are doing. Some are a little further on from that and are working towards more being able to attend. I’m not quite sure what happens when the church building reaches its social distancing capacity. For us, we simply aren’t going to all be able to attend with the current regulations in place. That’s my understanding anyway. I’m amazed at how quickly habits can form. There’s no rush to make the meeting. There’s no inconvenience. There’s little or no discipline. There’s no need for punctuality. You can amble into your living room, if you get up at all, watch the service at your own convenience while still wearing your pyjamas and eating your breakfast. And, you can pause the service while you boil the kettle and make your cup of tea.

Jesus came in the flesh. He had a body while on earth. He still has a body on earth – it’s called The Church. There’s something deeply Incarnational about gathering physically as the church. The Bible speaks of giving the right hand of fellowship (Gal 2:9), or greeting one another with a kiss (1 Peter 5:14) or simply sitting down with one another. Speaking to one another face to face. And if your church practices it – washing one another’s feet! Or the laying on of hands or anointing. I must admit to not seeing a lot of anointing with oil. Still, these all require physical contact.

The Lord’s Table

Then there’s the Lords Table – Communion. Breaking bread together. I know some churches are managing to do this online. We can’t ask Cyprian or Luther what they would have done today, but Luther did say this:

‘The Lord’s Supper is given as a daily food and sustenance so that our faith may refresh itself and not weaken in the struggle but continually grow stronger…. The devil is a furious enemy; when he sees that we resist him and attacks the old man, and when he cannot rout us by force, he sneaks and skulks about everywhere, trying all kinds of tricks, and does not stop until he has finally worn us out so that we either renounce our faith or yield hand and foot and become indifferent and impatient. For such times, when our heart feels too sorely pressed, this comfort of the Lord’s Supper is given to bring us new strength and refreshment.‘ Martin Luther: A Guided Tour of His Life and Though’ by Stephen J. Nichols, p.129.

We are moving towards a year now. When was the last time we physically assembled for the Lord’s Table? And when will we be able to celebrate again? Many of us celebrated (past tense) the Lord’s Table each month. Churches do this differently, but whatever the frequency, we must surely celebrate this means of grace at the minimum annually. Is it a command from The Lord Christ, or a suggestion? The State, however we frame it, intentional or not, is causing us to neglect the physicality of the Lords Table. This is how I see it. And it’s a problem. Isn’t it? When will we be able to celebrate this again and strengthen and refresh our faith together and say ‘Until He comes.’

Then what shall we say of Baptism? Will we have ‘Socially Distanced’ baptism’s? But perhaps we’ll leave that for another time.

Overstepping Authority?

Has the State over-stepped its authority? Surely it has no authority over the church of The Lord Jesus Christ. Meeting online, however convenient, is at best a very poor substitute for the physical gathering of the body of Christ – His church.

Now, what to do? That’s the question. We pray. We need a great deal of Grace and Wisdom from God. Be patient – for now. I am not suggesting we storm Westminster, or that we start a riot. And I’m not advocating for Civil Disobedience. Maybe in time that will come. There is some legitimate push back from some quarters. Remember, frogs that are slowly boiled eventually die (or submit). We should resist thinking an online church is a true expression of the church at worship. It isn’t.

Whatever happens, even if we never physically meet together again, the Lord has promised to build his church (Matt 16:18) in the face of the severest opposition, as we see in other countries today. And He will. The Lord has done exactly that in times past when in Cyprian’s day ‘the blood of the martyrs was the truly the seed of the church (Tertullian).’ However He will do it, He (The Lord Christ) continues to build His church. and will build it. And ‘He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied….’ (Isaiah 53:11)

‘For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.’ (Romans 1:16)

The call is to be discerning and ‘Know the times.’

Cranmer: Canon Andrew White: “You have got to be prepared to die for your faith”

Cranmer: Canon Andrew White: “You have got to be prepared to die for your faith”.

Saw this on BBC ‘Newsnight’ last evening.  Andrew White tells it like it is – Dreadful. Very sobering reading from Cranmer. He is right, Christians do seem to be sidelined.

Cranmer: Canon Andrew White deserves a knighthood

Cranmer: Canon Andrew White deserves a knighthood.

Canon Andrew White is known as ‘The Vicar of Baghdad’. This post by Cranmer makes for very Sober & Prayerful reading.

 

Sudan Christian Meriam Ibrahim ‘detained’ again: Call to Prayer and Action | The Domain for Truth

Sudan Christian Meriam Ibrahim ‘detained’ again: Call to Prayer and Action | The Domain for Truth.

Lots of contact info from The Domain for Truth.

Radical Islam in the House

I’ve started listening to The Janet Mefford Show, downloading (Available through iPlayer) to listen on the way to work. I listened for the first time to Dr Oliphint (Covenantal Apologetics) on the show and was pretty shocked by some of the other stuff – particularly the Homosexual ideology and Islam. I was a bit skeptical to begin with, the concern was if Janet was a fundamentalist nutcase. Some of her callers gave me that impression. But I have to say she has some excellent guests and to be honest I now lament afresh the fact there is nothing like it over here in the UK. It would probably be shut down over here as a show that promotes hate speech – even though that’s far from the truth. Disagreement is becoming more and more problematic. I heard via another online broadcaster (not Janet) the term ‘Gaystapo’ for the first time to describe the Homosexual lobby / agenda / ideology. Whilst the term may not be that helpful I think we get the point. Basically, disagree and expect to be dealt with. And it’s really no different when it comes to Islam. The cry of Islamophobe is fairly common here – we had it from the BBC Question Time audience just last Thursday – compete with (measured) applause.

Back to the point of the post. It was on Janet’s show (yesterday I think) I heard an interview with Dr Michael Coffman to discuss his book ‘Radical Islam in the House’. Whether he went too far in his prognosis is hard to say, but if 10% of what he says is true America (Could be too late for us, unless the Lord graciously steps in) seriously needs to wake up – and fast. I know nothing of Michael Coffman but I’m about to order the book on kindle – here’s the blurb below:

Product DetailsProduct Description
Radical Islam In the House exposes the very real Islamist threat to America. It’s no longer lurking at America’s door, it has already penetrated deeply into the federal government and our culture. The over arching goal of the leadership of every major Islamic sect is to create a global Caliphate or world government.

Iran wants to create world chaos to allow the Shi’ite Muslims to form a Shia Caliphate. While allowing Iran to obtain the nuclear bomb will be catastrophic, there is an equally dangerous Islamist cancer that is systematically Islamizing American politics and culture; Wahhabi Islam.

Saudi Arabia’s Wahhabi Islam is the foundation of al Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood. Al Qaeda uses violence, while the Muslim Brotherhood uses stealth and deception. By preying on political correctness, they have convinced most Americans they are peaceful, share the same God and want to coexist. While peaceful coexistence may be what the average Muslim wants, it is not true of the Islamic Brotherhood leadership. The Brotherhood has a well-developed, step-by-step plan to turn America into an Islamic controlled nation within a few years as part of their world Caliphate.

Nearly all Muslims believe that the return of the Mahdi, their messiah, is eminent. When that happens he will lead Islam into global conquest and a global Caliphate. This story quite literally leaps off the pages of the Bible in ways non-Jews, Christians and even Muslims will find shocking.

Very few Americans know that Obama’s Kenyan family is steeped in Wahhabi Islam, or that prior to the 2008 election Egyptian TV and radio bragged that a Muslim was going to be president. The implications are stunning and should be understood by everyone — before it is too late.

Cranmer: Syria’s al-Qaeda freedom fighters invade Christian village

Cranmer: Syria’s al-Qaeda freedom fighters invade Christian village.

Follow the above for Archbishop Cranmer’s Blog post. Once again this story like most others involving Christian persecution will probably go unnoticed. Cranmer’s concluding paragraphs are:

Under the protection of the mystical Shi’a-Alawites, Syria’s ethnic and religious minorities have been relatively free to live and worship. This will not be the case under the Sunni-Wahhabis (my emphasis). We know that Assad has stockpiles of chemical weapons. He may have used them, but it is by no means certain that he has. What is certain is that the ‘rebels’ which the US and France are about to assist are itching to get their righteous hands upon them (my emphasis). Syria’s nuns do not want to be bombed: a group have written

The Pope has spoken up, patriarchs and bishops have spoken up, numberless witnesses have spoken up, analysts and people of experience have spoken up, even the opponents of the regime have spoken up…. Yet here we all are, waiting for just one word from the great Obama? And if it weren’t him, it would be someone else. It isn’t he who is “the great one,” it is the Evil One who these days is really acting up.

If the US and France assist Syria’s ‘rebels’, Maloula’s nuns and all those who shelter in its convent will eventually be gassed to death in Al-Qaeda’s final solution (my comment: with help of President Obama). Their equation for salvation is simple: Christians + Sarin = Allahu Akbar.

Afghan MPs call for death of converts | Barnabas – Christian persecution

Afghan MPs call for death of converts | Barnabas – Christian persecution.

You don’t often hear this in the news, but here’s a sample:

Afghan MPs have issued threats in parliament against converts from Islam to Christianity, calling for them to be killed in accordance with sharia law. (My Comment: And this is the same Sharia law Muslims want here in the UK & USA)

The matter has been raised twice in recent debates, principally focused on Afghans who are living in India. Many converts to Christianity have fled there, fearing persecution from the Afghan authorities and the Taliban. There are around 250 in Delhi, where a growing Afghan church has been established.

On 15 July, MP Abdul Sattar Khawasi – who has previously called in Parliament for the public execution of Christians – referred to the evangelistic work that is being carried out by the Afghan church in Delhi and said that the Afghan government should put pressure on its Indian counterpart to provide a list of Afghans who have converted to Christianity there.

He said that the Afghan authorities would then be able to arrest and punish these Christians if they returned to Afghanistan in the future, highlighting Quranic verses that prescribe the death penalty for those who leave Islam.

In another parliamentary session on the subject two days later, MP Nazir Ahmad Hanafi called for all Afghan converts to Christianity to be hanged to stop the conversions that were happening in India.

Parliamentary speaker Abdul Rauf Rahimi ordered the country’s national security services to take serious steps to stop the spread of Christianity.

(My Comment: Most MP’s over here just don’t (or don’t want to) understand what they are supporting. Actually, a Turkish friend of mine says they – the Government – know exactly what they are doing)

Egypt seeing “worst persecution of Christians since 1321” | Christian Concern

Here’s an extract:

Accounts

Bishop Nazir-Ali said: “The accounts I’m getting from Christian leaders are the exact opposite of what we’re seeing in the media (my emphasis). 

“What we have had are not only peaceful demonstrators, but the use of mosques as arsenals with women and children being used as a shield.

“This is a well known tactic of radical Islamists all over the world and we shouldn’t be surprised that it’s being used also in Egypt.”

Follow link to read the full article.

Egypt seeing “worst persecution of Christians since 1321” | Christian Concern.

Definition of ‘Anti-Christ’

 

Mao at Stalin's side on a ceremony arranged fo...
Mao at Stalin’s side on a ceremony arranged for Stalin’s 70th birthday in Moscow in December 1949.

In the last post I used the term ‘Anti-Christ’ and thought rather than just leave its interpretation a matter for speculation it seemed like a good idea to very briefly supply a definition.

This is probably one of those doctrines that continues to generate large amounts of heat. So if you are looking for someone to debate your take on the issue you will be disappointed. Leave a comment by all means but don’t expect a reply as I’m not getting into a never-ending debate about dates and signs of the end.

So for those that are sitting on the edge of your seats – here it is:

My simple understanding is that when the machinery of the State is used to persecute Christians – there you have the Anti-Christ. We don’t see it as the early Church did with the Emperor Nero, or Stalin, or Chairman Mao: but we do see the beginnings of it albeit in many cases more subtly expressed but in a sense no less powerful. Remember the purpose is to destroy the Church, and if the Church can be made to look ridiculous, or bigoted, unloving, or just fundamentalist nut-jobs it’s perhaps even more successful.

So it’s in the above sense that I use the term Anti-Christ and see no reason for the term not to be used of David Cameron, Nick Clegg, their cronies and of this Parliament.

To counter the spirit of Ant-Christ however, we have the word of the Lord Jesus where He said ‘I will build my Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it’ (Matthew 16:18). Perhaps our Government will have a short-lived success but in the end it will be the Lord Jesus that will prevail – Praise God!