Persecution calls for joy in hope, patience in affliction and faithfulness in prayer.

Imagine feeling a shot of panic every time you hear a motorbike go past your home. Or waving your spouse off to the shops, or your children off to school, knowing there is a distinct possibility they may be abducted or slaughtered. Or wondering every time you go to a church service whether you and your loved ones will come out alive.

This is the grim reality for Christians in many parts of northern and central Africa, where Islamist militant gangs like Boko Haram and al Shabaab are spreading terror, inspired and supported by better-known groups like Al Qaeda.

This month alone, the Barnabas Fund has reported that Islamist gunmen have been on a killing spree in northern Burkina Faso, storming church services, rounding up congregants and shooting them dead. In predominantly Muslim Niger, a pastor has been shot and a church looted, following a spate of attacks on churches. In mainly Christian Cameroon, two Christian villages have been ransacked.

In Nigeria, one of the deadliest countries in Africa for Christians, 17 church-goers were abducted by Boko Haram last weekend whilst at their choir practice. ISIS-inspired Boko Haram are intent on establishing a caliphate from north-eastern Nigeria to northern Cameroon.

Writing this on a beautifully sunny spring day in England, it’s difficult to imagine what these believers and their families are going through. The long night of Islamist persecution in Africa (particularly in the Sahel region) grows ever darker, with no sign of dawn.

Great is the Darkness

The vast regions of western Africa provide sadly plentiful examples of the persecution of the faithful but, as Open Doors unveils every year with its ‘World Watch List’, Christians are being discriminated against and abused, imprisoned and murdered all around the globe.

The Easter Day attacks in Sri Lanka made shocking headlines, but the fuller list is exhausting: Christians are being targeted by hard-line Islamists in Indonesia and Pakistan, communist state pressure in North Korea, China and Vietnam, radical Hindu attacks in India and Nepal, radical Buddhists in Laos and Myanmar, and Islamic persecution in virtually every country in central Asia, the Middle East (save for Israel) and north Africa.

Christians are being discriminated against and abused, imprisoned and murdered all around the globe.

Such a bleak map spurred the Bishop of Truro to claim in his recent report to the Foreign Secretary that persecution of Christians in some areas is at ‘near genocide’ levels, though political correctness has generally stopped it being reported in the mainstream Western press.

Open Doors' 2019 World Watch List map, showing in colour the 50 worst countries for persecution of Christians.Here in Britain, we may justifiably be concerned about the erosion of free speech, or the gradual encroachment of secularism or Islam, or the threats posed by a Corbyn government. But even with the recent spate of Islamist terror attacks on people and churches in Europe, Christians in the West do not yet face anything like the danger being faced on a daily basis by our brothers and sisters elsewhere around the world.

Refining Fire

In Matthew 24, speaking to his disciples, Jesus said that in addition to deception, wars, famines and earthquakes, one sign of his imminent return would be that “you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me” (Matt 24:9). But just because these things ‘must happen’, it does not mean that Christians in the comparatively safe West should turn a blind eye, or fail to speak up on these issues, or withhold their prayers. It may not be long before we are next.

Mark well Jesus’ subsequent words: “At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.” (emphasis added).

High levels of persecution lead to a flourishing underground Church; the Gospel has always, paradoxically, produced most life in the fires of hardship. These fires are refining: strengthening faithful believers and removing their impurities through testing.

But they are also refining in another sense, purging the dross from the Body of Christ. As persecution increases, we see the less committed falling away, their attachment to Christ not strong enough to withstand threats to their personal safety or dignity. Still others become ensnared by the smooth words and enticing promises of false prophets, who provide a tempting diversion from harsh reality.

I believe that we are seeing the beginnings of this refining in the Western Church today, where false teachings have already ensnared many and where an increasingly stark division is apparent between Christians who cleave to Scripture and to their Lord (whatever the cost), and those who have accepted a syncretistic or worldly gospel which cannot save.

Just because these things ‘must happen’, it does not mean that Christians in the comparatively safe West should turn a blind eye.

Momentous Drama

It may be that one day soon, believers in the old heartlands of Christianity will face the same long night as our brothers and sisters are currently enduring elsewhere around the world. We must pray that if and when it comes, we will be found faithful.

The wonderful news is that a worldwide surge in persecution will be accompanied by the worldwide spread of the true Gospel and the adding of many more believers to the true Church, who is being prepared as a Bride for her Husband (Matt 24:14).

As this momentous drama unfolds, we are enjoined by the Lord Jesus to guard our hearts and not let our love grow cold – which I take to mean both our love for him, and our love for each other. May this dreadful news from west Africa this month fan the flame of love in our hearts, especially for our persecuted family, in the knowledge that one day soon, our Lord will return and justice will be done (Rev 6:9-11).

Here are several ministries through which you can stand with the persecuted Church. If you know of others, please post them below.

• Barnabas Fund https://barnabasfund.org/en
  
• Open Doors https://www.opendoorsuk.org/
  
• Release International https://releaseinternational.org/
  
• Samaritan’s Purse https://www.samaritans-purse.org.uk/article/help-persecuted-christians/
  
• Sat-7 (satellite network reaching the Middle East and North Africa with the Gospel) https://www.sat7uk.org/
• Morningstar News (news service focusing exclusively on the persecuted Church) https://morningstarnews.org

True prophets are those who have been set on fire by the Spirit of God.

When God began to reveal himself to Moses he chose to do so in flames of fire enveloping a bush. As Moses came upon the scene he was puzzled to see that, although the bush was on fire, it did not burn up. So he decided to look into the matter more closely. When the Lord saw that he had gone over to investigate, God called to him from within the bush.

What do we learn from this encounter about the nature of the God we worship, and what have today's prophets to learn from the fact that the God they proclaim is a consuming fire? (Ex 3:1-6).

Lessons at the Burning Bush

Moses was mystified to observe that, although the bush was obviously on fire, it was not consumed. This showed him that Yahweh, the God who had chosen to reveal himself to Moses, was completely self-sufficient. The flames needed no fuel. This God needed no help from anyone else. He was self-perpetuating. Therefore, he could be trusted absolutely.

Another lesson was that mortal man must not approach Yahweh. For God had said to Moses, "Do not come any closer...Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground". Moses had become aware that he was in fact being confronted by none other than God himself. "For Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God" (Ex 3:6).

The burning bush that was not consumed shows that God is completely self-sufficient and needs no help from anyone else – and therefore he can be trusted absolutely.

God subsequently told Moses that he was aware of the suffering of his people at the hands of their Egyptian overseers, and that he had come down to rescue them (Ex 3:7-8). By the conclusion of this encounter, Moses knew that God was totally self-sufficient, and that he was holy and must not be approached by sinful man. But he also knew that God cared about his people Israel and intended to rescue them from their Egyptian slavery in fulfilment of his covenant relationship with their fathers (Ex 3:6).

Other Revelations of God by Fire

The first incident in which God appears in fire comes at the end of the story of the fall of man, when God had to banish Adam and Eve from the garden of Eden and placed "cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life" (Gen 3:24). The Garden of Eden was closed to man because of his sin, and the flaming sword disclosed the wrath of a holy God on all who, like Adam, are disobedient.

However, the method of navigation in darkness which God gave to his pilgrim people reveals the beneficial use of fire. "By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night" (Ex 13:31). The same God who had banned them from Eden now took his place at the head of their wandering tribes to lead them by the pillar of fire until they reached their promised land.

The same God who banned his people from Eden with a flaming sword took his place at their head in Exodus, leading them by fire to the Promised Land.

Offerings Made by Fire

The Levitical offerings which prefigure the saving work of Christ and enable us to understand the way of salvation are listed in the book of Leviticus chapters 1 to 7, and it contains one phrase which repeats over 40 times. The offerings were made to the Lord "by fire" (Lev 2:3).

This fire, which was kindled by God himself, was never to be allowed to die. "The fire must be kept burning on the altar continuously; it must not go out" (Lev 6:13). We are told that this "fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed the burnt offering, whereupon the people shouted for joy and fell face down" (Lev 9:24). The two sons of Aaron the high priest, Nadab and Abihu, dared to offer unauthorised fire on God's altar, and perished for their presumption (Lev 10:1-2).

Charles Wesley had the right attitude to the place of sacred fire in our reverence and esteem when he wrote, "O thou who camest from above the pure celestial fire to impart, kindle a flame of sacred love on the mean altar of my heart. There let it for thy glory burn with inextinguishable blaze".

In Leviticus we read about the sacred altar fire, kindled by God himself, which shows that he demands reverence and esteem.

Commandments Through the Fire

It was through the medium of fire, Moses told the people, that God spoke his commandments. Communication of the Law in this manner must have impressed Moses, for he refers to it at least nine times in the book of Deuteronomy:

Then the Lord spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of words but saw no form; there was only a voice. He declared to you his covenant, the ten commandments which he commanded you to follow. (Deut 4:12-13)

The impression it had on Moses can be judged by his challenge to the people, "Has any other people heard the voice of God speaking out of fire, as you have and lived?" (Deut 4:33).

Proof by Fire

Centuries later the prophet Elijah brought a challenge to the prophets of Baal with the proclamation, "You call on the name of your god and I will call on the name of the Lord. The God who answers by fire - he is God!" (1 Ki 18:24). After hours of fruitless praying and screaming to their god, and at the time of the evening sacrifice, Elijah stepped forward and quietly asked that God would vindicate his confidence and act. "Then the fire of the Lord fell...When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, 'The Lord - he is God. The Lord - he is God!'" (1 Ki 18:38-39).

Two Words for 'Burning'

There are at least nine words in the Hebrew Bible which can be translated 'burn', five of which occur only two or three times. One word, alah, means 'to ascend', but the other two are interesting because of the way in which they are used. The word qatar is reserved for those offerings, whether of incense or of sacrificial animals, the smells of which ascend to God as a pleasant aroma. On the other hand, the term saraph is reserved for destructive burning.

It is important to note this distinction, for the Bible throughout is careful to differentiate between the fire of God that destroys and the fire that blesses. Amos says, "This is what the Sovereign Lord showed: The Sovereign Lord was calling for judgment by fire" (Amos 7:4). On the other hand, according to the prophet Zechariah, "Jerusalem will be a city without walls...I myself will be a wall of fire around it", declares the Lord" (Zech 2:4-5).

The different Hebrew words translated as 'burn' distinguish between the fire of God that destroys and the fire that blesses.

So the God of the Bible who is revealed to us in contrasting ways is both the consuming fire of Deuteronomy 4:24 and Hebrews 12:29 and the refining fire of Malachi 3:3-4 that purifies us until we are like gold and silver.

The Burning Heart of the Prophet

In the prophecy of Jeremiah, we have three examples of how the prophet reacted to his particular situation.

1. "Therefore this is what the Lord God almighty says: 'Because the people have spoken these words, I will make my words in your mouth a fire and these people the wood it consumes.'" These people had been saying that Jeremiah and other prophets were wind-bags (Jer 5:13) and that, despite their rebellious spirit, "no harm will come to us" (Jer 5:12). But God promises that he will make their words disappear like a pile of dry sticks when they are set alight.
2. "But if I say, 'I will not mention him or speak any more in his name. His word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones...'" Jeremiah had decided that he could no longer serve as a prophet. He is not thrilled with the message God has given him, and bares his heart as he tells that the flame burning in his heart compels him to carry on despite all the problems (Jer 20:9).
3. "'Is not my word like fire', declares the Lord, 'and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?'" (Jer 23:29). In contrast with the false prophets and their powerless words, God's truth is like fire and like a hammer. It is both penetrating and purifying, and so should encourage all who have experienced frustration and pointlessness to begin again with new confidence in the fire of God's presence with them. Jeremiah's experience is beautifully expressed in the words of Psalm 39:2-3: "when I was silent and still, not even saying anything good, my anguish increased. My heart grew hot within me, and as I meditated, the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue."

To Jeremiah, God's word was like a fire burning in his heart and mouth, powerful and compelling.

His Servants Like Flames of Fire

These words from Psalm 104:4 indicate what God wants his servants to be. He wants them to blaze. This is why part of the experience of Pentecost is that of being completely immersed in the fire of God (Matt 3:11). On the day of Pentecost, the Spirit of God came upon the disciples, and the visual manifestations that accompanied his presence were tongues of fire.

We can therefore conclude that a true prophet is someone who has been set on fire by the Spirit of God. He is one who has made a complete offering of himself to God, one who not only proclaims the fire of God's love but also reverences the God who is a consuming fire. He is one whose heart has been strangely warmed, and who can keep on speaking even when this makes him unpopular and unacceptable with the false prophets who are content to prophesy only what people want to hear (Jer 23: 16-18).

Seeing God as Fire

The prophet Ezekiel writes, "While I was among the exiles by the Kebar River, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God. I looked and saw an immense cloud with flashing lightning and surrounded by brilliant light. The centre of the fire looked like glowing metal..." (Ezek 1:1, 1:4). Ezekiel continues, "...he looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded him. Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him" (Ezekiel 1:27-28).

A true prophet has made a complete offering of himself to God, and proclaims the fire of God's love whilst also reverencing the God who is a consuming fire.

The experience of sitting among the exiles by the river for a week overwhelmed Ezekiel. Every prophet has times when all he can see is the disaster, the difficulty and the discouragement all around. How good if at that time we can also be envisioned to see Jesus "crowned with glory and honour" (Heb 2:9). Suddenly we experience the light and heat which streams to us from the God who is never cold and
forbidding but is always welcoming like a warm fire.

First published in Prophecy Today, Vol 7 No 1, January/February 1991.