Throughout the history of mankind God’s people have been persecuted. Even the casual Bible reader is aware that the prophets were usually tortured and killed.

Most people are aware that the Jews have always been persecution and rejected. Over and over again they were attacked and taken into captivity – even robbed of their homeland for centuries. They were turned out of many countries and have been the object of prejudice and discrimination continually.

Then along came the Christian faith – growing out of Judaism because Jesus was a Jew, the Jews were God’s people, and Christianity is the fulfillment of the promise to the Jews of a Savior.

The church began to be persecuted.

Jesus, of course, was crucified for his teaching, but John the Baptist was the first martyr to die for the Christian faith. He was beheaded.

Later, the disciples were jailed and beaten for spreading that faith. Stephen was stoned to death. What a horrible way to die, but it gets worse.

James, the church leader, was executed. Paul was often beaten and jailed and was finally beheaded. Peter was reportedly crucified upside down, his own choosing because he felt unworthy to die the same way Jesus did. Most of the original disciples were crucified, put to death by sword or spear, of beheaded.

In Rome, to bear the name of Christian was a crime punishable by death. Nero, the Roman Emperor, had creative ways or torturing believers. He would have them covered with animal skins and then let dogs tear them to pieces until dead. Others he would crucify or set on fire and allow them to burn through the night, lighting up his villages.

Christians were often taken into the arenas and mauled and eaten by lions while crowds cheered for the lions.

In the second Century, Polycarp, a church leader, was punished for not denying his faith, as many were. They set him on fire, but he wouldn’t burn. So they ran him through with the sword and he bled so much that his blood extinguished the fire.

A woman, Blandina, was tortured all day till her torturers were worn out, but she wouldn’t die. So they finally hung her by a rope and allowed wild animals to each her alive.

Others were place on hot iron chairs or beds and roasted to death. Some were hung up and disemboweled or gutted. A man named Romanus was whipped unmercifully, but didn’t die, so they carved him to the bone, knocked his teeth out to quiet his preaching, tore his eyelids off, branded his cheeks with hot knives, and plucked his beard out a little at a time till his face was totally disfigured.

Children were tortured to death in front of their parents.

But lest you think this is just a lesson in ancient history, look at what’s happening around the world today.

According to the Organization - International Christian Concern there is known persecution of Christians in at least 41 countries:

Algeria Azerbajan Bangladesh Bhutan Burma China

Columbia Cuba Egypt Ethiopia Germany Haiti

India Indonesia Iran Israel Jordan Kazakhstan

Kuwait Laos Latvia Libya Macedonia Mexico

Morocco Nepal Nigeria North Korea Pakistan Peru

Philippines Romania Russia Rwanda Saudi Arabia Sri Lanka

Sudan Turkey Vietnam Uzebkistan Yemen

Believe it or not, there have been more Christians killed in the 20th century than in the previous nineteen centuries combined. Today millions of people of faith around the world are being killed, tortured, raped or maimed, sold as slaves and more, for no reason other than their faith. More than 150,000 Christians were expected to be killed for their faith in 1997. China, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq are nations that disregard religious freedom.

Here are just a few examples of what is happening in our world today:

Under new government regulations, foreign religious workers will be allowed to stay in Russia for only three months at a time.

A high school headmaster was threatened with imprisonment or mob assassination by his Muslim accusers in Pakistan for showing disrespect for the Koran by throwing a copy of Islam's holy book on the table.

THIS PAST AUGUST, 18 FOREIGNERS -- including six Americans -- were sentenced to five years of hard labor for handing out pro-democracy literature in Burma. Propagation of the Christian faith is viewed as far more serious.

The government maintains a policy of systematic repression, including random arrests, extrajudicial killings, rape, forced labor, forced military service, and torture.

Well-known Christian prisoner, Ayub Masih languished in a jail cell for months, and was later tried by the district court in a secret trial without being allowed proper defense and was sentenced to death . Even Muslim officials who have sympathized with the Christian community have been assassinated.

Believers are ridiculed, beaten, electrocuted, spit upon, tortured, and even executed for the simple fact that they love God and are unable to contain that love. Gao Feng was recently imprisoned without trial because he was attempting to register his "illegal" Protestant church. While in prison, he was shocked repeatedly with cattle prods because he began a hunger strike to protest the taking of his Bible. Withstanding various forms of brainwashing and extreme suffering,

he did not give up. He stated, "I would prefer to be in prison for two years than to do nothing

for God."

A teacher kidnapped a 14-year old girl and took her to a police station and tried to convince and bribe her to embrace Islam. Even under these circumstances, the girl stood strong in her faith and did not fall to the persuasion of these Muslims. Throughout Egyptian society, there are many laws and customs that are intolerant of Christians and cause them to live in a constant state of fear.

The identification card that Egyptians are required to carry specifies the holder's religion. Before being hired, all applicants must display this card, which has resulted in the

discrimination and unemployment of many Christians.

The Castro regime has been known to close down churches, arrest evangelists, and confiscate church property.

Six-year-old Athak Diok Deng was abducted last year by

the National Islamic Front (NIF) militia. He was kidnapped, stripped, beaten, and taken north to be sold as a slave to a Muslim master. Nuba, located in the prominently Muslim north, is a place of much devastation and pain for the Christian believers. Murder, crucifixions, enslavement, destruction of villages, and the burning of churches are common occurrences in the NIF's holy war against Christians. There are reports of families being captured and sent to concentration camps. In these camps, the children are separated from their families and brain-washed to join this holy war. The women are raped so that their children will be more Arab than Nuba.

First, Why is Christianity so persecuted? Why have, first the Jews, then the Christians been so hated, so persecuted, so reacted against throughout history? Why are we such a threat to the rest of the world?

We are certainly not the most intolerant group around. Muslims are known to militantly overtake people's lives and governments, yet they are welcomed with open arms to our country. Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses are much more aggressive in their evangelistic efforts (sad to say), but are not persecuted like the true church of Jesus. Other groups are more isolationist in belief and practice.

So what is it about us that makes us such a threat? Could it be that the enemy (Satan) knows something that even we don't grasp?

Remember that we "wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against … spiritual powers and rulers of darkness…". People are not the enemy. Satan is. The simple fact is that it is not people who consider us such a threat. It is the devil who rules those people who fears and persecutes us.

Note also that the persecution happens in those places where there is the most "Christian" activity, or where the gospel is making the most difference. Where believers are willing to pay the price and spread the gospel - where the church is effectively reaching people and winning souls, the devil is fighting the hardest.

Satan wages war against the church of Jesus Christ because it is the only real threat to his kingdom.

Secondly, why would people suffer for their beliefs like Christians have? Why would people endure such pain and hardship, such mistreatment, such torture, such unfair persecution simply to hold on to a religious ideology?

It is because the truth of the gospel has so impacted their lives that they simply could not live without it. It is because they have found the teachings of Christianity to be true and necessary. It is because the gospel has wrought such a change in their lives that they are not willing to go back to their former ways. Rather, they are willing to suffer and even die for what they know to be true and essential to life. It is because there is no real life outside of the Christian faith.

The disciples of Jesus were willing to suffer anything, and in fact, considered it an honor to suffer for being a follower of Jesus. Why? Because it is the only salvation there is.

Satan fights us because we have the only thing that can keep us from his control. We have the only means of salvation - the only thing that stands between us and his kingdom. And we are willing to suffer and die for it because it is the only hope there is in this life.

Apart from Christ there is only a semblance of life. He is the real thing.