There’s a pattern that shows up in history, in politics, and in religion. And once you see it, you can’t unsee it.
When an idea is genuinely good, it doesn’t need to silence competing ideas. It wins in the open marketplace. It invites comparison. It welcomes debate. Truth, as they say, has nothing to fear from examination.
But when an idea can’t win on its merits – when its own proponents know it won’t survive honest scrutiny – the strategy changes. The goal shifts from persuasion to suppression. You don’t argue. You destroy. You don’t debate. You deplatform.
We see this in American politics today. Whatever your views on the specific policies at issue, the ferocity of the attacks on political opponents, particularly on President Trump and those who support him, reveals something telling: the aggression is wildly disproportionate to any normal political disagreement. When your policies are broadly popular, you campaign on them. When they’re not, you make the opponent the story. You don’t run toward the spotlight; you drag your enemy into the mud.
This is not new. It is, in fact, one of the oldest strategies in human history.
The Pattern the Persecuted Church Knows Well
Visit the Voice of the Martyrs Global Prayer Guide, and you’ll see a sobering map of the world. Vast regions are marked as places where Christians face persecution, suppression, imprisonment, and/or death, simply for following Jesus.
Why? Why would any religion feel threatened enough by Christianity to imprison its teachers, burn its churches, or execute its converts?
Think about it. If another belief system were clearly superior – if it offered a more compelling vision of God, a more satisfying answer to human suffering, a more beautiful way to live – it wouldn’t need to suppress Christianity. It would simply outshine it. People would walk away from the Cross on their own.
The persecution itself is the tell.
It’s the sign that somewhere, in the hearts of those doing the persecuting, there is a fear. A fear that if their followers actually heard the Gospel, really heard it, some of them might not come back.
What Makes the Message So Dangerous to Its Opponents?
Christianity offers something remarkable. Not just the “pleasant” parts that one might expect to be attractive – a Heavenly Father who loves us beyond our imagining, a Savior who willingly died to rescue us from the consequences of our own sin, a Holy Spirit who works from the inside out to produce in us love, patience, kindness, and peace.
No, even the hard parts of Christianity are appealing to an honest heart.
Jesus Christ challenges His followers to deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow Him. (Matthew 16:24)
To someone who has spent years chasing pleasure, status, and self-gratification – and found only emptiness at the end of it – that invitation doesn’t sound like a prison sentence. It sounds like a rescue.
And then there is this, from the Sermon on the Mount:
“Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” (Matthew 5:44)
In a world weary of war, hate, and deceit, a religion that commands its followers to love their enemies is startling. And refreshing! Members of such a religion are not burdened with the obligation to cage, threaten, or silence anyone. They don’t need to. They don’t win new followers by overpowering them, but by praying for them. And by loving them.
That kind of faith doesn’t fear scrutiny. It invites it.
Two Sides of the Same Coin
The aggressive suppression of Christianity around the world and the vicious political attacks on conservative voices in America share the same root logic: if you cannot defeat the message, destroy the messenger.
It doesn’t work forever. It never has.
The early church was outlawed by Rome. It outlasted Rome. Christians were fed to lions, exiled to mines, and executed publicly. The faith spread anyway because of the witness of those who died rather than deny it.
Truth is remarkably hard to kill.
For those of us who are eagerly waiting for the return of Jesus Christ (Hebrews 9:28), this is not cause for despair but for confidence. We were told it would be this way. We were told to expect opposition. And we were told something even better:
The gates of hell shall not prevail against His church. (Matthew 16:18)
No political machine will either.
If you want to pray specifically for persecuted Christians around the world, I encourage you to visit the Voice of the Martyrs Global Prayer Guide. And if you’re looking for resources to go deeper in your own faith while you wait for His return, explore the Bible studies and books available here on Eagerly Waiting.
The Bible book of Esther tells the story of persecution against the Jewish exiles in Babylon. It also reveals how God silently delivered and promoted His people without His name ever being mentioned. You can hear Esther tell the story in her own words in my audiobook Esther: If I Perish, I Perish. Or read the eBook. Both are available on Sqrindle:
EBook
Here are links to my blog indexes, so please click one and keep reading!
My Books, Workbooks, and Fun Books
Knowing the Unknowable One
Opening the Treasure Chest
Walking Heart-to-Heart with God
Walking Heart-to-Heart with Each Other
Fighting the Good Fight of Faith
Christian Mysteries: Why I Love Them!
List of Some Nonfiction Books You Don’t Want to Miss
Index of Assorted Topics