As many as 40,000 of our fellow image-bearers remain stranded atop a mountain in northwest Iraq while we go about what can only be described by most of the world as comfortable, even luxurious, lives. If they remain on the mountain, they face death by dehydration. If they descend the mountain, they face death from Islamic militants.
Most of those stranded are Yazidis, a minority religious group in Iraq. Some reportedly are Christians. They fled to Mount Sinjar as the ruthless forces of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) neared their homes. Some children and adults already have died from thirst. Some men and women did not escape execution and rape by the extremists.
Tens of thousands of other Iraqis also have become refugees to avoid ISIS’ murderous campaign. The mass exodus of Christians from Iraq – which is more than a decade old -- may be near its end game. An estimated 1.2 million Christians lived in Iraq before Saddam Hussein’s regime fell in 2003. Now fewer than 200,000 remain. ISIS drove all Christians from Mosul, the country’s second largest city, a few weeks ago. The militants are determined to rid the entire land of Christians and other religious minorities.
This is only the latest example of a sobering reality for followers of Christ: To be identified with Jesus is to invite mistreatment, imprisonment, torture and execution. An average of 180 Christians around the world are killed each month for their faith. Christians in more than 60 countries face persecution from their government or neighbors.
In response, we can feel powerless to help the people on Mount Sinjar or our fellow saints in not only Iraq but countries such as Iran, Pakistan, North Korea and Syria. We may viscerally react with grief and disgust at reports of atrocities, but we move on to more immediate concerns in our lives that we acknowledge pale in comparison. We may ask: What can we do?
Last Sunday, one of the young ladies in our church read aloud Heb. 13:3 before we prayed for persecuted Christians and others in need. That verse says, “Remember the prisoners, as though in prison with them, and those who are ill-treated, since you yourselves also are in the body.”
The context appears to indicate the writer is referring here to Christians who are imprisoned or mistreated. Certainly we should defend, care for and pray for any who are threatened or brutalized. But there is a special expectation that we, as followers of Christ, would remember our brothers and sisters in the faith.
How do we remember them? With the assistance of others, I offer these as some ways:
1. To remember a persecuted Christian is first to keep him or her in mind. The oppressed in other countries have testified one of their greatest burdens or fears is they would be forgotten during their suffering. We should not forget those who are enduring affliction on the basis of their identification with the same Savior with whom we are identified.
2. To remember a persecuted Christian is to identify with his or her suffering. Heb. 13:3 says we are to remember prisoners “as though in prison with them.” This verse seems to call for us to think about what it would be like to be a fellow prisoner with that saint. It also says we are to remember the mistreated since we also “are in the body.” That seems to mean we -- who also have a physical body and know something of what it means to be in pain – should identify in our bodies with the suffering of our brother or sister. We should take time to agonize with our fellow saint.
3. To remember a persecuted Christian implies we are to care for, help and tend to the needs of the one who is suffering. If we are near, it can mean visits to prison or caring for the family of the prisoner. If we are far away, it can mean writing or otherwise communicating with our fellow saint.
4. To remember a persecuted Christian is to pray for him or her. We remember that Christian to God. There is nothing greater we can do for a suffering saint than pray for God’s gracious provision in his or her life. We can pray for deliverance from persecution, as well as endurance during it. We can pray for a bold gospel witness by the persecuted and for the breaking up of the hard soil of the heart in the persecutor.
May we remember the persecuted, and may God prepare us for any persecution to come in our own lives.
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