Such a realization is welcome, as persecution of Christians has often been a blind spot for secular media and politicians.
However, this greater realization also gives us cause to reflect on how we as individuals observe and how the media portrays the persecution of Christians. I often observe a distinctly negative angle on persecution. It's as if the gaze is exclusively judicial - that the persecution of Christians is an injustice that should be brought to an end.
But does this view of persecution harmonize with Jesus' words in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:11-12), where he says: "Blessed are you when you are mocked and persecuted..."? Or with the reaction of the apostles who, after being scourged, were 'happy because they had been deemed worthy to be dishonored for the name of Jesus' (Acts 5:41)? When Ananias is called to seek out the temporarily blind Saul, God says to him: "... I will show him how much he has to suffer for my name's sake" (Acts 9:16). Although Paul, as he was later called, was thus promised persecution, there is an example of him using his Roman citizenship to avoid the lash (Acts 22:25). This is the theological reason why the Danish European Mission from time to time provides legal aid to persecuted Christians. Thus, we can try to utilize the opportunities offered by the legal system, but in the many cases where persecution cannot be avoided, we should encourage and support the persecuted Christians in the midst of the challenges they face.
In our humanistic age, these biblical perspectives on persecution may seem incomprehensible. But church history shows that God has often turned persecution into good, so that in the midst of persecution, the church grows. Tertullian's (160 - 240 AD) words that "the blood of martyrs is the seed of the church" is confirmed these years in the countries where Danish European Mission donors help persecuted Christians, including Syria, Iran, Iraq and Sri Lanka, where hundreds, even thousands of people are converting to the Christian faith.
The media is not yet telling this revival story, but for Christians who want to be biblically faithful, it is crucial not only to stop at a legal perspective on persecution, but to go a step further and see our persecuted brothers and sisters with the eyes of faith so that we do not overlook how God turns death into life in the midst of persecution. That persecuted Christians experience firsthand the victory that Jesus won on the cross (Romans 8:33-37) when they identify their pain with His suffering and death and thus also share in His resurrection. And His resurrection power not only leads to eternal life once, but also manifests itself here on earth, incomprehensible to human logic, as the Gospel gains ground in countries and circumstances where it seems impossible.
Perhaps we should therefore consider calling the persecuted Christians: persecuted but victorious Christians - or persecuted but blessed Christians?
