Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all
who are destitute. Proverbs 31:8
Jesus’ basic communication theory in Matthew 12 is that
people speak and act from the overflow of what is in their heart. Jeremiah and
others remind us that the heart can be exceedingly wicked. One of Aleksandr
Solzhenitsyn’s famous statements is “The line of good and evil cuts through the
heart of every human being.”
Christian persecution within a country or state rarely happens suddenly or in
isolation. It is most often a process. Some years ago Rev. Dr. Johan Candelin,
who headed the World Evangelical Alliance’s (WEA) Religious Liberties Commission
recognized this and devised a three-stage process of what happens leading up to
persecution becoming entrenched in any society. He labeled the three stages of
downward spiral as disinformation, discrimination and persecution.
Dr. Candelin later expanded it to a six-stage process with each of the three
having a passive, then active, aspect.
Dr. Jim Cunningham and I included this process in the first edition of
Standing Strong Through the Storm (SSTS) and in our seminars.
Some academicians and wordsmiths found it problematic to label the third
stage with the same word as that of the process. So we began to wrestle with
this issue from a sociological, historical and biblical perspective. We found
interesting academic parallels. For example, in 1996, Professor Gregory Stanton,
President of Genocide Watch, proposed an excellent model of an eight stage
process of genocide. There are interesting similarities between this downward
spiral and what psychologist John Gottman has labeled as the four most likely
predictors of divorce.
When we accepted Jesus’ four verb definition of persecution in Luke 6:22, we
then found four clear biblical steps in understanding the downward spiral in the
process of persecution: opposition, disinformation, injustice and
mistreatment. We will look at these four steps forming the acronym ODIM
individually over the next four days.
Why is this important to you and me? Just today I read again the poignant
words of German theologian Martin Niemoller written after he had been imprisoned
for eight years in concentration camps as the personal prisoner of Adolf
Hitler:
First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out because I was not
a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out because I was
not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out because I was not a
Jew.
And then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
RESPONSE: Today I will speak out for the rights of those who have no voice
to speak for themselves.
PRAYER: Help me, Lord, to be aware of the forces of evil that conspire
against Your Kingdom.
No comments:
Post a Comment