Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: Persecuted (08/22/24)
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TITLE: Eyes Opened | Previous Challenge Entry
By Asha John
08/27/24 -
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Little did I know how flawed my perspective was in the scope of how it appeared in different situations.
Three decades of serving as a missionary amidst unreached people groups illustrated 2 Timothy 3:12* better than any Biblical commentary could. “And, indeed, all desiring to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”
Needless to say, I have witnessed this truth being played out over and over in all the places our family lived. As painful as each situation was, the impact of some were monumental.
The account of Alisher, an esteemed police officer in a police-controlled state is unforgettable.
About 23 years back, he was at the peak of his career. His lucrative job with plenty of tax-free benefits ensured a cushy life. Knowing how to wield power in a benevolent way helped him garner the respect of his community.
Then he met Christ and what a turnaround! The Gospel lit such a fire in him that his one passion outside of a diligent work life became the salvation of everyone around him. Paying no attention to the injunction that police personnel in his country were not allowed to practice any religion and that any kind of proselytizing was considered illegal, Alisher had it coming when his bold witness to colleagues and neighbors resulted in a big harvest.
I still remember the quiver in his voice as he elaborated on what followed (when we met several years later).
“The hostility at my workplace was palpable. Snide remarks and mean comments from colleagues escalated to masked warnings from superiors. And then came the blow. I was thrown out from my job. Unceremoniously. In the months that followed, my best friends turned into enemies, disdain replaced respect and I was reduced to a nobody in my community. What hurt most was the price my family had to pay. I could hardly make ends meet as my savings depleted and no one would give me a job.”
Fast forward to ten years later in a province of a neighboring country where you meet Mujiba. Her story, though heartrending, is a compelling account of God’s sustaining grace.
You could say that her life was easy and uneventful growing up in a close-knit and religious family. Daily observances of Koran readings and prayers were as normal as family mealtimes. She could never have imagined another way of life. That is, until a college friend discreetly gifted her a booklet at the beginning of her senior year. The crisp accounts in it of what Jesus did and taught leading up to the crucifixion captured Mujiba’s mind as nothing had ever before.
Excerpts from her testimony published some years later in a periodical gives us a glimpse into what ensued.
“I could not comprehend that the God who created the whole universe loved me and was concerned about my life. Yet, I was so irresistibly drawn to this. I desperately needed to know more at whatever cost”
It never occurred to her then that that decision would turn her world upside down.
She goes on to share some of the immediate consequences after she turned to Christ.
“I could hear mother’s tearful voice pleading with father to let me out from the room I had been locked up in for weeks. No one would speak to me. The cold silence and the utter loneliness had become unbearable. If only father hadn’t burnt my Bible. If only they would let me finish college”
Recalling the ordeal of another tactic her family used to dissuade her from “heresy”, she writes, “In deep distress, I kept praying that they would put a stop to their obsessive pursuit of trying to get me married off. How sorely tempted I was to give in, but I knew I could never consent to a marriage with a man who does not share my faith in Christ”.
She gratefully remembers that “The faithful prayers of my friend who introduced me to Christ kept me going through the lonely trial of the next two years.”
Just two among the many faithful saints who opened my eyes.
*LIT
Based on true stories
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