Youcef Nadarkhani, a man in Iran who is around my age, engaged in the same profession as I, is in prison and in danger of execution for upholding the same Christian faith I affirm.
Like the majority of people who live in the Middle East, Youcef Nadarkhani said while he has Muslim ancestry, he has never been a Muslim as an adult. But he was told by an Iranian provincial court that he must recant his faith in Jesus Christ because conversion is outlawed in that country. Now Iran’s Supreme Court had ordered the trial court to determine whether Nadarkhani had been a Muslim prior to converting to Christianity.
The White House issued a statement, “Pastor Nadarkhani has done nothing more than maintain his devout faith, which is a universal right for all people…We call upon the Iranian authorities to release Pastor Nadarkhani, and demonstrate a commitment to basic, universal human rights, including freedom of religion.”
Christians have been persecuted throughout the centuries and it actually fueled it growth. Christ himself said, “You’re blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God’s kingdom.” Matthew 5:10 (The Message). “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you.” John 15:18-20 NIV
Christianity is a love-driven faith. This sort of love isn’t a matter of sentiment or emotion. It isn’t necessarily something we feel but something we do. It is a choice. It falls within that range of things that matter most of all and we can choose it—or not. Believers in Jesus Christ, because of His love for us and our love for Him, will, even in the face of death, choose to be identified with Christ! Hebrews chapter 11 tells us of the long procession of the faithful who chose Christ over life itself.
Back when Christianity was barely 200 years old, one of the Christian bishops named, Polycarp experienced persecution his entire life as a Christian. When Polycarp refused to burn incense to the Roman Emperor, he was told by the Roman court to recant his faith. He said, “Eighty and six years I have served him, how then can I blaspheme my King and Saviour? Bring forth what thou wilt.” Polycarp was burned at the stake.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran minister who believed in the God of love participated in the German resistance against Hitler’s hate-driven Nazism was taken to a concentration camp, and eventually condemned to death by hanging. The camp doctor who witnessed the execution wrote: “I saw Pastor Bonhoeffer … kneeling on the floor praying fervently to God. I was most deeply moved by the way this lovable man prayed, so devout and so certain that God heard his prayer. At the place of execution, he again said a short prayer and then climbed the few steps to the gallows, brave and composed. His death ensued after a few seconds. In the almost fifty years that I worked as a doctor, I have hardly ever seen a man die so entirely submissive to the will of God.”
Polycarp and Bonhoeffer are but two of the thousands of persecuted Christians who fueled the spread of the Christian faith.
Many of us hope and pray that Youcef Nadarkhani will be released and be given the freedom to exercise his faith he and all of us so deserve. But even in the face of death, God allows for His power, love and witness be made known in ways beyond human comprehension.
