Archive for category: Blog

In this episode, Nik Ripken shares insights into the methods of persecution of Christians in the Soviet Union. He discusses how the Soviet government used propaganda to convince the people that Christians were enemies of the state. They used violence and intimidation to force Christians to renounce their faith. Nik also explains how the Soviet government tried to control the churches by appointing their own officials and how they restricted religious freedom.

Be sure to subscribe to the Witness & Persecution Podcast on your favorite platform.

Defending the Pulpit

In the Soviet Union, resistance against unbiblical teachings began with members of the congregation taking a stand.

When the communist-placed pastor got up to preach his approved sermon by the governments of the Soviet Union, those older women […] would line the pulpit area and lock arms and not let him in the pulpit to preach his nonsense. They would keep him, and they were wise, and they were so honored, and so respected, that no one would beat them – no one would push aside – and so that pastor would not know what to do. He would turn around and leave.

Nik shares that violence increased as time passed. The persecution of Christians in the Soviet Union continued. Later on, the communist regime abused those older ladies and knocked them down so their designated pastor could preach.

And you know what those old ladies would do? They would stand up, when he started preaching, with their backs toward the pulpit. They would show him what they thought about him, and how they knew what he was up to, and who he had been sent from.

The men fared worse.

Persecution of Christians Leads to Death

Meanwhile, 400 pastors were placed into a Siberian labor camp. On average, all of these pastors died in 3 to 6 months. The conditions in the camp were brutal. The prisoners were constantly worked to exhaustion. Eventually, many of the pastors died from exposure to the cold.

“They got typhoid, cholera, pneumonia and the flu, and 400 pastors were dead […] and thrown out into the frozen tundra for the beasts to devour them.”

Although the Soviet Union has fallen, the persecution of Christians continues to lead to violence and death in dangerous places around the world. In many cases, innocent men and women are forced out of their homes or killed for their beliefs. Religious freedom is a fundamental human right that is contested everywhere.

If ever there was a thorn in the flesh of Islam in her country it was “Sophia.”  We first met her at a self-made orphanage outside of Mogadishu during some of the worst months of the Civil War in Somalia.  We tracked her down through the unusual means of hearing children singing in a destroyed section of the capital city where there were no songs.  Over the years our lives have touched and crisscrossed through the tragedy which is the Somali people.

As the persecution increased in Mogadishu she escaped with her daughter, along with hundreds of other Somalis, to a neighboring country inside of a boat intended to transfer cattle from one country to another.  Once upon the high seas, those who could not produce an additional monetary rite of passage were callously thrown into the ocean.  Surviving such ordeals, Sophia found herself in a refugee camp among a people who were almost as dangerous to her faith as those in the country where she had recently fled.

While she was a stranger in a foreign country, we were able to discover that her children, long thought dead along with her husband, were still alive!  There were many efforts to reunite her with her children only to be told by her in-laws, “as long as she was a follower of Jesus, she would never be allowed to touch her children again.”

She was forced to marry someone within her deceased husband’s clan.  Submitting to this plan she chose to marry a man who was very interested in her faith in Christ.  Soon after her marriage she found herself pregnant once again.  She was known throughout her small-town as “that evil woman” whose witness was converting many Muslims to Jesus.  Through the status of her marriage and the strength of her witness, they could not silence her.

The day arrived when she was in labor with the child of her new husband.  There was a serious problem with the position of the baby so she went to the hospital for assistance from the professional medical community.  Quickly she befriended those in the hospital especially one medical orderly.

He was to be used by God to save her life.

As her contractions continued over an unhealthy length of time, this orderly heard a doctor and nurse discuss the case of Sophia’s pregnancy.  He heard them discussing that this woman had caused many people to turn to faith in Jesus Christ and all the attempts used to silence her had not been successful.  To his horror, this aide overheard the doctor and nurse consent to do nothing to help her, allowing her to die “normally” giving birth to her child, thus erasing such a witnessing thorn from the flesh of the community.

The orderly acted quickly with inspiration.  He went to a public phone and called the only believer he knew in the capital city of his country.  This believer quickly contacted a believing airline pilot with the national carrier who arranged to change his flight schedule with another pilot.  Flying immediately to this small desert city, the believing pilot left the airplane in the hands of his co-pilot, climbed into a bush taxi, rushed to the rural hospital, and found the believing sister, still painfully having contractions, lying untreated in the hospital.

He wrapped a blanket around Sophia, picked her from her bed-tubes intact, placed her in the taxi, took her back to his airplane, strapped her in a First Class seat, and flew her to the capital city.  Believers were waiting for the airplane and took her by ambulance to a local hospital where her son was successfully born by cesarean section 3 hours later.

Two days later I was able to visit with her.   I held this baby boy, another miracle child saved from the clutches of a modern day Pharaoh or Herod and their cronies.

Being a New Testament light in the midst of the Old Testament is never easy and it is always dangerous. Be prepared for evil yet never forget to watch for the miracle.

It was 25 years ago when I watched my 16-year-old son die in Nairobi, Kenya, as a result of a severe asthma attack.

His death on an Easter morning wounded the hearts of an entire community.

People asked me, How can God allow your son to die on Easter? You were only seeking to serve and praise Him among peoples unreached and untouched with the Gospel. How can a father handle watching his son die long before his child’s dreams could be realized?

I imagine God’s thoughts when Jesus died on the cross could have been similar to this:

My Son was a skilled carpenter, but I knew that He was made for something more than shaping wood with His hands. He was made for shaping lives with His words, with a touch or even with His tears.

His life’s work was that of doing the miraculous — He healed the sick, fed thousands, allowed those without worth and unclean to touch Him and to be touched by Him.

He could weep over the death of a friend and almost in the midst of a sob call him from the grave to life again. People were enamored with the miraculous things He said and did. A few people begin to discern that it wasn’t what He did that was miraculous.

The real truth, they began to discover, was not that He did miracles but that He was The Miracle.

Others feared what they did not understand. I saw my Son arrested and ridiculed. Their spit ran down His face, their jeers rang in His ears and their tools of torture caused blood to disfigure His countenance.

Cheers from the days before when He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey turned to the jeering of a mob as they watched my Son drag His own cross up to a hill of death, where they raised His mutilated body, nailed upon a wooden cross, to the sky.

Today, I watched my son die.

The political and religious leaders of His day thought this was the end of the threat. Those who had followed Him believed their hope was dead, so they denied they had ever known Him. Both sides deeply believed this was the end of the story, this death, this killing of My son — once praised now, once and for all, crucified to death.

And here was everyone’s mistake, their misunderstanding. They believed that crucifixion was the end of the story, that death ended all things — the threat to the reigning government and the people’s hopes for an earthly Messiah.

Everyone was wrong. My Son was not to be defined by the waving palm leaves of the adoring multitude or by the shouts of the jeering crowd. Neither would He be defined by a crucifixion.

There was more to come — more to the story. This was my plan. The crucifixion by man was a prelude to the resurrection by the Father. I allowed and watched my Son die, to be crucified, to demonstrate my love and forgiveness for all people, for all times.

But I am not only a Father of love, I am a Father of power.

And while my love allowed for the crucifixion of my Son, my power would not allow Him to stay dead because I had determined that crucifixion was just the prelude to the resurrection.

For my family, the anniversary of my son’s death at Easter brings this bittersweet reminder — There is no shortcut, no easy way out, no way to avoid wounds made inevitable by living in a broken, imperfect world — but that isn’t the end of the story.

My family knows that this earthly life is just a prelude to the eternal life we can have through and with Christ because of His sacrifice for us on the cross. Jesus’ crucifixion was for a moment in time. His resurrection is forever.

2020-2021 have not been my favorite years. Due to health issues and other reasons, we’ve had to return to America and settle in a country that has not been our home for over 35 years. Over these decades we’ve moved 28 times, immersed in languages that include Chewa, Xhosa, Swahili, Somali, while dabbling in Amharic and Arabic. What a shock that a country boy to have visited 80 countries!  We’ve owned, in those 35 years, one used car.  Our three sons were wondrous partners and have said to me, “Daddy, we’ve had the greatest lives that any kid could ever have.” In the core of our being we believe that God made us to live and serve in an overseas environment. 

 

Returning from living overseas after almost four decades, being introduced for the first time to a house mortgage and insurance, buying two vehicles and insurance, local, state, and federal taxes have caught me by surprise. It’s been the hardest adjustment in my life. Political realities and pandemic have added to my culture shock.

 

I’ve promised God that I’ll do better, honoring His investment in us, putting into practice in the U.S. much that He’s taught us, especially through believers and His church in persecution.  As an example, let me describe the environment which believers in East Asia live out their faith. When we first began to visit these believers we experience;

 

… When a woman became biologically able to bear children she was required by her government to have a pregnancy test monthly. If it was discovered that she was pregnant, without approval from the government, she was forced to abort the child immediately.

… If a woman wanted to travel from one province to another she was required to undergo another, more expensive pregnancy test to prove that she was not sneaking off to a place where she was not known, attempting to give birth illegally. If it was discovered that she was pregnant without approval from the government, she was forced to abort the child immediately.

… While in the equivalent of our high schools, one took aptitude tests through which the government would decide whether you went to university or technical school.

… Once in the assigned technical school or university it was decided by government officials, and further tests, what your major would be.

… Upon finishing technical school or university you were assigned where you would live and work, given your apartment, with your electricity and water provided by the government. You salary and benefits were not negotiable.

… Deciding to marry, a couple had to receive permission from their work supervisor before informing their parents.

… They could apply for permission from the government to have one (1) child. Their names were put on the list and they would have to wait their turn for permission to conceive and deliver a child.

… Failure to adhere to these rules could cost one the ability to work,  their place of residence, and could lead to serious fines and/or imprisonment.

 

 Therefore it should not surprise us that their government is seriously opposed to citizens following Jesus or adhering to any form of religious faith. It was heartbreaking to learn, when we first visited, that 40% of the leaders within the Christian faith were incarcerated in prison for three years. Surprisingly, the government was not necessarily opposed to Jesus. What they were opposed to was your freedom to choose your God. Their thinking was/is, that if you are free to choose your God, then by implication you are free to choose everything else; what school to go to, your major, where you want to live, what job to aspire, who you marry, and how many kids you choose to have.

 

 Given the truth of all the limits placed upon human life in East Asia one could be forgiven for assuming that following Jesus and gathering as His Body is all but impossible. In 1948/49 communists within this East Asian country sought to annihilate Christianity. There were approximately 400,000 Christians in East Asia within this period of history. They burned churches, turned them into beer halls and brothels. The government martyred pastors and missionaries. It was obvious that the government would not be content until the last church was destroyed and the last follower of Jesus eliminated. I remember reading an article in 1984,  that questioned, as this country seem to be opening up, would there be any Christians left alive inside of this country?

 

As minimum travel was allowed around this time it was discovered that the 400,000 followers of Jesus now numbered 10 million! After our last visit inside this country, conservative estimates are that Christians, gathered mostly in house churches of 30 or less, number, conservatively, around 85 million souls!

 

Friends, believers in Jesus the Christ, Americans. Hear the words of the Lord. The setting described above is much like the New Testament setting in which Jesus was born, lived, was crucified, and rose from the grave. It would be different, nuanced – but the setting described in East Asia would be familiar to Jewish and Gentile believers found in the New Testament. Occupied by the Roman Empire, while one had to pay taxes and be counted in a census, they could choose their government, serve in the police force or the military- let alone be protected by them. They could not vote or belong to a political party. They lived under Roman Law. Roman Law not only took away one’s ability to choose it could also travel to a small village called Bethlehem and murder all the male children under three years of age. The parents of these children had no recourse. They could not hire a lawyer and take these murderers to court. Their ability to choose the right to be human within their culture and government was severely hindered – almost nonexistent.

 

But they could choose to follow Jesus – and they did in their thousands. They were scattered throughout the known world. Yet they still chose to share their faith. Often the cost was great. They could choose to be like their Jesus. Galatians 5:22 described them and should describe us. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” There’s another list in Galatians 5:19-21. It’s not a list of deeds, it’s also a list that defines your essence, who you are. It’s not a list you want to be on.

 

Honestly, we’re on one list or the other. It’s our choice.

 

This is my prayer for us in this New Year. May 2022 find us, who call ourselves Christians, people defined by our love for God and for one another. This is preferable than being consumed by politics or political parties; race and ethnicity. Sure, good government is important. Good governments can bring people together. But government alliances should not, and must not, distract God’s people from hungering for the One Whom we can never deserve. My unsettledness in returning to America isn’t due to taxes, a mortgage or political divisions. My discontent is failing to focus on Jesus, staying in His Word, and talking about Him. It’s in Him that true freedom, eternal freedom, is to be found.

 

I titled this article, “Defined by What?” That was a mistake.  I should’ve entitled this article “Defined by WHO?” Isn’t that more the issue as we embrace 2022?  

 

To love. To forgive. To trade anger for peace.  To choose joy. To be like Jesus.

As followers of Jesus, allow me to remind us – we have chosen the side of good over evil. Nowhere is this clearer than in environments of persecution where, as one proclaims the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the price for doing so is increasingly costly (Revelation 2:10). While the battle with the Evil One certainly has physical manifestations, believers in persecution suggest that the deeper war is both internal & spiritual. Suggested here are 5 responses to evil for your consideration. These 5 responses increasingly represent a closer spiritual pilgrimage/walk with Jesus.

The first two responses to evil are quite universal.

Seemingly, the 1st two responses to evil are shared equally between the secular world and those of us who claim allegiance to Jesus the Christ. Dare I say this? Can this be true?

Sadly, most governments, organizations, churches, and sermons that struggle with persecution seldom lead us past these beginners’ responses to evil and the resulting persecution of followers of Jesus.

The last 3 of these 5 responses are overtly spiritual & represent, increasingly, being “in Christ.”
What makes followers of Jesus different from a secular NGO? How are we believers to be separate from the governments, militaries, and humanitarian organizations on this planet?

1. “God save me!”

This is very normal and understandable. It represents the first half of the prayer of Jesus (Matthew 26:36) in the garden before his crucifixion. He prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me…” If my family or I were in prison we would want scores of people to pray this prayer on our behalf!! I would certainly pray this prayer myself. Yet it only represents half of the prayer of Jesus in the garden. Almost in the same breath, we do not pray the second half of His prayer: “yet, not my will but your will be done.”

2. “God punish them.”

Our normal response to evil and its persecution is biblically anemic. We see persecution as abnormal and we call upon governments and militaries to rescue us from what God may be using for our own growth and His glory. Sometimes God needs Joseph in pharaoh’s prison for the salvation of the Egyptians & the Jews in Egypt. We must pray both halves of the prayer of Jesus including, “not my will, but yours be done.”

Calling on God to punish our enemies is a far cry from loving them. Followers of Jesus who refused to get stuck in the first two responses to evil could find themselves joining Jesus and Stephen in praying, “When did it become OK to die for one’s country, but not die for one’s Jesus?”

3. “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.”

This just might be the most un-American thought that I share with you. This response to evil recognizes that followers of Jesus can see themselves both as a target of satanic attack yet still victorious in their Savior. From Jesus on the cross and then Stephen in Acts 7:60 – even as the stones tore into his flesh – recognized that their persecutors were themselves victims in need of forgiveness as well as individuals responsible for their actions.

This response does not come easy. It is not the normal response of governments, militaries, or, sadly, the church. Such a response takes strength of soul and character seldom witnessed today. Seeking forgiveness for one’s enemies is counterintuitive, unpopular, and often seen as weakness.

Hating Muslims is popular. Calling Mohammed & Islam ugly names can elicit “amens” from many corners of the church. Greatness is measured by the size of one’s military, economic growth, and within democratic forms of government. Yet forgiving one’s enemies exemplifies a New Testament faith in a world defined by Old Testament responses and reactions.

As one continues to grow in Christ they may come to pray the most dangerous prayer possible,

4. “Father, forgive me as I forgive those who have sinned against me.”

Could there be a more dangerous prayer on the face of the earth for one’s soul? Are we willing to place our souls in jeopardy based upon whether or not we forgive our enemies? This is precisely how Jesus taught his disciples to pray.

It’s quite popular to “fight fire with fire” within the world that is still defined by the Old Testament premise of an “eye for an eye and a tooth for tooth”. Tying our forgiveness by God to our forgiveness toward our enemies represents a growth, and a risk, in Christ that is otherworldly. It demands that we be defined by heaven on earth, acknowledging that living the Lord’s Prayer might just be the most dangerous thing one can ever attempt.

As we grow in Christ there is a response to evil that transcends all others as we pray:

5. “Father, today, glorify Yourself in me.”

This prayer makes a bold statement. It prays to God and proclaims to the world that political environments are not what define our faith. We are as free to share our faith in Christ in Saudi Arabia as we are in South Carolina. We are as free to share our faith in Christ in North Korea as in the Bible Belt of Southern America. No one can stop us from getting off of airplanes, out of buses, and cars from proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Persecutors can certainly punish us for sharing our faith, but by doing so, they help us to proclaim it all the more! If we don’t quit, if we don’t exit the fight at the entry level where we demand “God save me” and “God punish them,” we can grow into the fullness of Christ where we understand faith is not tied to political freedom but is about glorifying God – wherever.

Can we pray, “Lord from the time we rise this morning until the time we go to bed tonight we want everything we have said and done to have glorified you, our God.” If you ever accomplish this kind of growth in Jesus then the hard fight truly begins. Glorifying God is never a static achievement. Believers in persecution record how they have come to this place of glorifying God when they themselves were the focus of persecution. But, oh, how hard the battle becomes when evil attacks those we love; a wife, children, or the people of God for whom we love and have responsibility. It is so easy to become stuck at “God save those I love” and “punish those who harm them.”

Glorifying God, when the cross is borne by those we love, causes us to ask, “Is Jesus worth my life, the life of my wife, my kids, and those that I love?”