Facing the Persecution

This man has eaten at my table.

He ate food I helped prepare.

I filled his cup with drink.

I never realized what a hero of faith was sitting at my table that evening.

Sometimes you never know who God brings in your path... how powerfully He will use them. When a friend of ours, Pastor Bijay Pradhan, asked me to help him with a blog post he had written in English, that's when I became fully aware of the hero I had met.

Please allow me to introduce you to this man.

Chandan Mandal: A Man of Faith

 Chandan, second from the left

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

Hebrews 11:1

“And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.” Psalm 9:10

The Hall of Faith. That’s what they call Hebrews 11. It’s a list of many of those who knew what real faith is and demonstrated it in their lives, often at great cost. We read about them, but it is difficult to imagine meeting or seeing such faith lived out so vividly firsthand.

In Hebrews 11:1, we learn that faith is not something that we see, but “the substance of things [which we] hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” When we continue reading this chapter, we learn about many godly people who were examples of strong faith. What kept their faith alive was that they walked with the LORD continuously, even while facing intense, dreadful persecution and pain.

It is rare to find someone of such great faith these days, but it is not impossible.

When people are blessed to meet such a person of faith, it grips their hearts and changes their lives forever. His story should be told. That is why I am sharing this with you. I have met such a man.

He isn’t famous. He isn’t well-known. In all likelihood, most people have never heard his name. He is Chandan Mandal. Chandan lives in the remote eastern part of Nepal. He was saved in May 2009, and baptized a month later. Since he was saved, he has been a faithful and fruitful Christian for the Lord. After returning from a foreign based job in 2011, he decided to stay at his village and share about Jesus Christ with his family, friends, and villagers. That’s when the intense physical, emotional, and spiritual persecution began.

One day he told me that he was called to a discussion in the village with those who are against Christians. I asked him if he was going alone. His answer surprised me and pricked my heart. In reply he said, "No! God is with me." Oh, what a faith! At that time he was the only Christian in his village. His walk with the Lord was so intimate that he was burdened to start a church in his village no matter the danger… no matter the cost.

In 2012, I had an opportunity to go to Chandan’s village with one of our Bible college students. We held a Gospel preaching meeting. Two people got saved on that day. One of them was Chandan’s father.

The following month, a group of us returned and had an open air meeting. More than fifty villagers attended. During the service time, several young Hindus came to hinder the service. Although they did not physically assault us, they threatened us and demanded that we not do any Christian activities. When our trip was finished, our group returned home, but Chandan boldly stayed in his village.

Since then, Chandan has suffered persecution in many different forms, but because of his faithfulness the Lord has blessed him. Two young men in the village have since received Christ as their Saviour.

On April 24, 2015, early in the morning a deadly cobra bit Chandan’s only son. He was just eight years old. Proper medical treatment was too far away, and they were too late to help him. While Chandan was taking his son to the hospital in an ambulance, this young boy died just one hour after being bitten.

I was 200 miles away from him, but I had been keeping in touch with him on the phone. After talking with him that day, he said his son had no more progress; he was dead. I tried to comfort him. In answer he said, "I believe God will make my son alive again, but if not, I will still accept that He gave me a son, and He took him back." To trust God’s sovereignty, wisdom, and love in such pain and heartbreak! Oh, what faith!

When I heard this tragic news, I and two friends immediately left Kathmandu to comfort him. After travelling all night, we reached Chandan’s village. The scenario was very painful. His wife was unconscious and was admitted to a local dispensary. All the family members were mourning.

After a while I noticed that Chandan’s father and some other relatives were not treating Chandan well. I asked him the reason, although I had suspicions of what it was. As I guessed, he told me that they were blaming him that his son died. They believed the snake god was angry because Chandan had become a Christian. They thought it was a curse, a very common reasoning in this country. I tried to convince his father, who was a professing Christian, but he was not convinced.

The relatives had created an atmosphere of superstitious hysteria. As far as they know, Chandan’s son was the first person in his village that died because of a snake bite. This also made them blame him for other things going wrong in the village. They believed the gods had been angered, including the snake god.

In the following days, the people attempted to force Chandan to do many religious activities they do after someone's death. These things included shaving the head, puja (religious worship of gods), purifying his body by taking a ceremonial bath, etc. Their attempts to force him failed. Chandan refused and would not give in. He would not forsake the Lord no matter the danger.

Later, the persecution became so intense that Chandan was almost ready to leave his village. He asked me what to do. I told him he must do what he felt the Lord wanted him to do. Finally, he decided not to leave his village, because he said he did not want to be an example of a Christian running away from suffering for Christ. Oh! What faith!

It has been eight months since this tragic moment in his life; he is still faithful in the Lord and trusting Him with all his heart.

God is working in this village. Some have been saved, and some hearts have been softened toward the Gospel too. Even one of his brothers accepted Christ, and another one is listening closely.

In Matthew 8:10, Jesus spoke to a centurion about his great faith. “When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.” I also can say that I have not seen a man of this much faith in my life. I am very thankful to the Lord for him. As for me, he is an example of true faith. And oh! What faith!

Please join me in prayer for this dear brother.

Pastor Bijay Pradan
Truths Inside the Bible

(Thank you, Brother Pradhan, for allowing me to help with this post as well as allowing me to share this story. God used it to challenge me to stay faithful at any cost.)

The Happy Are Ye Crowd

1 Peter 3:14 “But and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye:

and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled;”

In the States, my picture of suffering was very different than it is now. To me, suffering was:

• The rejected tract at Walmart
• The criticism of Christians by the Atheists downtown
• The Facebook comment that bashes biblical Christianity
• The anti-creationist blog post
• The city law requiring a permit for street preaching
• The restaurant manager who says tracts may not be distributed there
• The student told he couldn’t bring his Bible to class

Those things are difficult and most certainly are a form of persecution.

Matthew 5:11-12  Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. 

But I must admit, my views of suffering have transformed since coming here.

It now looks more like this:

• The daughter kicked out of the home and family for becoming a Christian
• The wife rebuked for going to church
• The Bible college student beaten for wanting to plant a church
• The husband/son-in-law rejected for refusing to worship a statue
• The church bombed
• The man chased out of the village with machetes for being a Christian
• The political group fighting to force the nation to return to being Hindu-only
• The anti-Christian rallies
• Taxis driving around with loud speakers threatening Christians

And in recent months as have watched the news, my view of suffering has changed again. It looks more like:

• The mother raped and killed because she will not reject the Saviour
• The child beheaded because he owns a Bible
• The father shot execution style because he will not convert to Islam
• Heads mounted on stakes to drive fear into the heart of Christians
• People fleeing to the mountains, with no food or water

But there is another face of suffering that we as Christians should never forget…

Acts 16:23-25 “And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely: Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks. And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.”

The news will never show it. It doesn’t fit their agenda. It doesn’t gain an audience. The “happy are ye” crowd.

“… if ye suffer for righteousness’ sake, happy are ye…” 

I have seen the "happy are ye" crowd. They walk into church with a smile on their faces. They preach with bruises. They attend Bible college without family support. They pray for their persecutors. And they sing.

In the States, I wasn’t in the “happy are ye” crowd. I was the victim. I couldn’t believe that I could be suffering such persecution or rejection. I had my rights. And I should be treated fairly! But the more my view of suffering changes, the more my response to it changes, too. I am no victim. I am blessed.

I wonder how many of our persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ are singing, though through tears at times. I wonder how many times the news media cameras edited out the Christian who praised Jesus with their last breath. I wonder how many people have knelt down to pray and tell Jesus He is worthy of it all. I wonder…

Sing on, my brothers and sisters. Your suffering is not in vain. And joy comes in the morning. Happy are ye…

     Pray for our persecuted brethren.

           Pray for our fellow missionaries who are reaching in to these areas.

               And search your heart.

                     Are you really suffering?

                          If not, is it because you are not doing anything to exalt the name of Christ?

If you are not facing persecution, it may be a symptom of a much greater problem in your life…

2 Timothy 3:12 “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.”

"And in Nothing Terrified"

A few months ago when we celebrated 10 years in Africa, I mentioned that I would share some verses that have encouraged us to keep going in ministry, even when outward results seem unimpressive. I have since shared one passage that encourages us that God will build His church.  Today I wanted to share a verse that strengthened me during one of our darkest trials.

I appreciated the advice given here to Baptist Missionary Women on how to handle persecution. One of the things I most appreciated in that article was that Lou Ann assumed that we will experience persecution. My life was fairly free from persecution in the States, so I have always felt cautious about claiming to be persecuted in any way. The word "persecution" seems like such a strong word for what most of us have experienced in comparison to what the early church experienced, or what some people in Communistic or Muslim countries experience today.

Nevertheless, when you enter a stronghold of Satan, where he has had free realm for centuries, you must expect that your adversary the Devil will seek to devour you, or at the least, to get you back out of his domain. Missionaries will certainly experience persecution, even if they didn't in the States, because of entering another area that might not be so friendly to Christianity (perhaps even one of those countries mentioned above). I also appreciated the balance of the writer in showing how some persecution can come about because of our own faults or stupidity!

Late in our first term, we experienced what seemed like a Satanic attack from one of our friends and church members. It almost numbed me with fright. I couldn't think clearly and was in panic mode. "Get me out of here!" was the dangerous reaction slamming through my brain.

By God's grace, He kept me here. I was reading through Philippians, and the verses at the end of chapter one, especially verses 28-30 returned some calm to my soul and helped me to persevere.

Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;

And in nothing terrified by your adversaries: which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God.

For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;

Having the same conflict which ye saw in me, and now hear to be in me.

When you experience unexpected and "unreasonable" persecution that paralyzes you with fear, you are having the same conflict that Paul had, and you are sharing in Christ's sufferings. Paul admits here that you may be terrified. This is the conflict, or the struggle. We will be terrified, but instead should feel encouraged and joyful! We should view persecution as a confirmation that we are saved, that we are His. The apostles and early disciples counted themselves unworthy to suffer for Christ's sake. They felt joy to do so. The contrast between their attitude and mine illuminated my weakness.

The Christian Martyrs' Last Prayer by Jean-Leon Gerome

As with so many other issues in Christianity, this struggle comes down to right feelings (orthopathy). You can't control this kind of persecution, initiated by Satan and his followers; in fact, that's sometimes why it's so terrifying--it was completely unexpected! But you can in some ways control your feelings about it. It may seem impossible, but you must with the Holy Spirit's guidance, somehow change from the extremes on the feelings spectrum of terror to joy.

No longer terrified by your adversaries, but counting it all joy.

How to Handle Persecution

Photo by: David Castillo Dominici

If it hasn’t happened yet, it will. The Bible says, Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution (2 Timothy 3:12). This wasn’t written to discourage us. It's a plain fact. Lest we get a black cloud complex, we remember what happened to the perfect Son of God while He was on earth. He wasn’t to blame in any way, yet his peers called him illegitimate (not understanding the virgin birth), a devil (He was God!), and an impostor. They wanted to kill Him, simply because He told the truth about Himself. Jesus was tortured, spat upon, flogged, and killed on the cross—all because He loved us and laid His life down for us. (John 10:17-18)

We’re missionaries, and sometimes we suffer for no reason at all. So, we throw a pity party—maybe private, maybe public, maybe for all the family to see. “Poor me. I’ve been attacked.”

Some missionaries—count me in on this one—do dumb or completely ignorant things that have negative consequences. Maybe we don’t understand the culture, or we say something that doesn’t need to be said, or we just make a stupid boo-boo. This isn't persecution. This is suffering the consequences of being human and making mistakes.

Some missionaries frustrate those to whom they minister. They talk about controversial issues often and openly. They compare the native people’s customs with “the way we do it in America.” (The people don’t care about our politics, our sports, and our customs. We are visitors in their country, and it’s our duty to adapt to them.) Baiting might bring on persecution, but that kind of persecution isn't because of godly living or representing Christ. It’s because of a lack of tact and wisdom.

Let’s address true persecution, because it's so very important to know how to handle it.

Persecution from the World

It is absolutely inevitable that sooner or later unbelieving people around you will turn against you. It might only be one person. It could be one person who infects others by telling lies. Or, it might be the whole neighborhood. Persecution has many forms, from unkind words, to defacing the church, to outright threats and attacks. Missionaries all over the world are acutely aware that the people might not understand what they're doing. Those people might persecute in ignorance—like saying the missionary is there to get money out of the people, even though he is fully supported by churches outside their country. (They don’t know. They see how you dress, the car you drive, the house you live in, and they jump to wrong conclusions.) Persecution might come from an outright rejection of your message. In some very religious countries, the people might be extremely offended by the preaching of Christ. Some “persecution” comes from young people trying to have “fun.” They might get a kick out of writing a threatening note, making a demand, throwing a firecracker in the door, defecating at the entrance, defacing, or robbing the church. (All of these have happened at our church.) It’s something to do on a Friday night. They don’t think of it as harmful; it’s just “fun.” Whatever kind of persecution we receive from the world, we should consider the source: unsaved people, people without the Spirit of wisdom. Jesus said, These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world (John 16:33). Be of good cheer. Jesus has already overcome this kind of persecution. In Him, we can maintain a calm, peaceful spirit.

Persecution from Believers

This is when someone who should be walking with the Lord is critical without reason and makes your life miserable. It could be someone in your church or one of your co-workers.

When it’s someone in the church, especially a new Christian, it helps to understand that he’s in the process of sanctification. If it’s serious, his offense can be dealt with biblically using Matthew 18:15-17. Work towards a resolution. The offended person (you) should pray, then go and humbly confront the offender, with peace being your goal.

The Psalmist David understood how hurtful it is to be wounded by both friends and even his own son. Listen to David’s anguish in these passages: Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me (Psalm 41:9). “A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son.” LORD, how are they increased that trouble me! many are they that rise up against me (Psalm 3:1).

I’m always encouraged when I read missionary biographies. I can’t think of one missionary man or woman who wasn’t severely criticized by the public back home, his own mission agency, or a co-worker. Read about Adoniram Judson, Hudson Taylor, William Carey, David Livingstone, Amy Carmichael, Eric Liddell, and all the rest. Each was criticized unfairly, yet they went ahead and did God’s work. They persevered. They forgave, even though the hurts went deep.

The example of Jesus, who suffered verbal and physical abuse without striking back, should help us know how to react. Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously (1 Peter 2:23). God is The Judge. Even Jesus, equal with God, committed His hurts to His Father.

If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good (Romans 12:17-21). Give the problem to the Lord, if there’s no resolution possible. Only do good to the person that offended you. Keep the offense to yourself, and leave judgment and revenge to the Lord.

Here are a few practical pointers for missionary women:

1. Don’t be surprised by persecution. It will come.
2. Determine in your heart you will be an encourager and, with God’s help, never to slander someone else.
3. If the persecution comes from the world, pray for the lost person, understanding the source.
4. If the persecution comes from a Christian friend, either forget it in forgiveness, or try to resolve the problem. (Matthew 18:15-17; Mark 11:25)
5. Only do good to others, even those who have done you wrong. (Matthew 5:44; Luke 6:27)
6. Watch what you say—in your home, in the church, on the phone, on social media, and on your blog. Make sure your words are filtered by the Holy Spirit. Pray as you go. It’s perfectly okay to leave something unsaid. If you blow it—when you blow it—be humble and ask for forgiveness.
7. Don’t be guilty of judging others wrongly or of being unkind. If you have a grievance, go prayerfully and privately to that person and have a loving chat.
8. If someone picks a fight, don’t respond. (No one can fight all by himself!)
9. Don’t be catty.
10. For those who work in a team ministry: If you are the less-experienced missionary, yield to the more-experienced missionary. Let the “older” missionary lead. Communicate clearly your ideas, but let the older missionary lead. Don't overstep your bounds. If you want to take on something extra, ask first. If you don’t understand your place in your team, ask for clearer guidelines.
11. When hurt, forgive. Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye (Colossians 3:13).
12. Value your mission purpose (to win the lost and disciple believers) over pettiness (she doesn’t like me).
13. Resist the temptation to compare yourself to other women. It is never helpful. You are who you are, and they are, too. The Lord Jesus Christ is our model.
14. Keep God’s priorities as your priorities: 1. Personal relationship with God  2. Relationship with husband  3. Being a mother  4. Ministry and all the rest. (1 Corinthians 7:34)
15. Rejoice in the Lord, always. (Philippians 4:4)

But I say unto you, Love your enemies,

bless them that curse you,

do good to them that hate you,

and pray for them which despitefully use you,

and persecute you (Matthew 5:44).