Recently seventy Christians were beheaded in their house of worship by Islamic militants in the Congo. Imagine if you reversed the order of those words—it would be front page news in every publication. It’s hardly a blip in this week’s news. 

This shouldn’t be too surprising. Jesus said his followers should not seek assimilation but persecution from a rebellious world passing away. 

That being said, it’s worth noting that 50,000 Christians have been murdered for their faith in the past 10 years. That is the most conservative estimate. Many researchers consider the number to be significantly higher due to underreporting and challenges in data collection in remote areas. In Nigeria alone over 7000 Christians have been murdered for their faith in just the past 3 years. 

We tend to think that the mass persecution of Christians was something that occurred in the distant past under the Roman empire. But decade after decade, the persecution and martyrdom of Christians in the modern world has eclipsed those numbers time and again. 

The number of Christians the atheist regime of the Soviet Union put to death between 1937 and its collapse in 1991 is probably close to a million. Since then, Islamic expansion in Africa and the Middle East has been the leading cause. 

While many of our brothers and sisters in foreign lands are courageously staying faithful to the scriptures, many Christians in the West are tripping over themselves for how fast they can surrender up the Scriptures to be culturally accepted by a fallen world. Yet Jesus warned us “If they hated me, they will hate you” (Matthew 15:20).

That being said, other churches are surrendering to the temptation to drape Jesus in the American flag and over-borrow political power from a fallen world, such that politics can find itself in the driver seat rather than a passenger in the car. I DO believe Christians need to be involved and engaged in the political realm, but we must also resist its influence in our hearts when we no longer have a heart to “pray for our enemies and do good to those that persecute us” (Matthew 5:44)

To be salt and light, we neither need to be assimilated by a fallen world, nor do we need to try and politically assimilate it into God’s image. Our focus? The kingdom of God.

Why? Because the risen Jesus, Lord and Savior, is not in the middle.

He is above it all.