Burmese Girls and Persecution

21 February 2010

Dear Phyllis,

 The other day as I was riding my motor bike home my friend Mark’s wife, Astrid, hollered at me. I turned around to see what she wanted. What a blessing! She had two jewels she wanted to show me. They were two little girls she had just brought home from Burma.

Chula is five and as adorable a little girl as you will ever see. Her family had been driven from their home and village by the Burmese army and had lived like hunted animals in the jungles. At one point she had a stick in her eye which had seriously damaged the nerve to the extent that she has lost sight in that eye. At another point, she had broken her arm in two places. It had been improperly set by a jungle doctor so that it has grown together making it impossible for her to extend that arm. Her family was almost dead from starvation when they were able to make it to an IDP refugee camp. IDP is for Internally Displaced People – of which there are thousands in Burma. These are refugee camps set up inside Burma to help these desperate people who have been butchered and driven from their homes by the Burmese army. Two months ago Chula’s mother had died in childbirth. Her father had seriously damaged his foot to the extent that doctors suggested it would have to be amputated. He was unable to care for his children.  Astrid was able to get this precious one and another little jewel and bring them home to Chiang Mai. It is illegal for these children to be here in Thailand, but Astrid was able to safely get them by several military check points to get them this far.

Once she got Chula to Chiang Mai, she took her to a hospital to see what could be done for her eye and arm. When the doctor examined Chula’s eye, he was amazed that the eye pressure was double normal, causing severe pain. He asked why she didn’t complain about the pain. Chula simply replied that the pain was always there and she thought that was normal.

Can you imagine the shock it is to these little girls who have never been out of the jungle, to suddenly be transported to a modern city like Chiang Mai? They had never seen a car before until Astrid loaded them in her car to bring them home. Astrid bought them some ice cream. Chula had never felt anything cool in her life. When that cold ice cream hit her tongue she was frightened. Astrid assured her it was safe. Then the strange sweet taste of ice cream made her brain go into a tail spin. But five minutes later Astrid had a beaming little girl with the remains of ice cream smeared on her face. I asked if she had ever been on a motor bike. Of course not. She was a brave little tyke as I picked her up to place her in front of me on my bike and rode around our neighborhood.

What these preciously little ones are going through is like taking an angel from one planet and suddenly being transported to a totally different world. They had never heard of such a world and had no idea such a place existed until suddenly they found themselves living on this unimaginable planet. To these little girls living in a dangerous hostile environment, with extreme privation, death, and suffering is normal. To suddenly find themselves living securely in a house like they had never imagined existed, with an abundance of food and love is like being in heaven.

On the other side of the ledger, recently I have been reading the biography of Whitefield. I had read many of those biographies 45 years ago but had forgotten the intense persecution men in that day went through. We are all familiar of their tremendous success, but we soon forget the stonings. This has brought me to a renewed realization of what an unreal world we live in. People who live in the 21^st century America, think that an absence of persecution is normal, and are stunned to hear stories of severe problems our brethren are going through in other countries.

Basically there are three areas from which persecution can come. It can be from a hostile government, such as we deal with in communist countries. It can come from religious societies, as they have to face in Islamic countries. Or it can just come from unregenerate humanity, among whom we all live. The government in the days of Whitefield and Wesley was no problem. They did get some static from the clergy. But the mobs they faced were as fierce as any in the world today. Whitefield and his fellow preachers were stoned and beaten on numerous occasions. Women had their clothes torn off them. Houses of believers were virtually demolished. They were dragged though the streets and thrown in the village pond. Some preachers died of injuries suffered from the hands of the mob. This was accepted as normal. It was part and parcel to preaching the Gospel.

This was no different than what is happening in many places of the world today. Twelve churches were burned in Malaysia last month. Last year in northern India there was horrible persecution with several churches being burned and a number of Christians being killed. I personally know of three preachers in Laos who have been murdered since I have been here. I have seen first hand severe persecution in Vietnam with Christians being arrested, tortured and driven from their homes. A friend of mine from Pakistan told me that if he goes home the minimum he would get would be ten years, and the maximum would be life imprisonment.  I could fill pages of stories of persecution going on today. We think this is unusual, but that is exactly what Whitefield, Wesley, and their brethren faced in their days. William Booth faced the same.

I am persuaded that this is the normal Christian experience. Brother Andrew told of the time when he was having a private meeting with some brethren in Czechoslovakia when a stranger walked in. Brother Andrew didn’t know who he was, but it was obvious by the demeanor of the other pastors, here was a man highly regarded. He had just been released from his third imprisonment. In the ensuing conversation this senior saint looked at Brother Andrew and asked, “How many pastor are in prison in your country?” Brother Andrew was embarrassed to answer, “None”. Then the man of God challenged, “What do you do with the Scripture in 2 Tim. 3:12, “All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” All Brother Andrew could reply was, “Sir, that is a subject about which we have no understanding in the western world.”

We enjoy our religious freedom, but I feel there is something lacking. Paul warned in Phil. 1:29, “For unto you it is given in behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but to suffer for His sake.” And again in writing to the Thessalonians in 1 Thes. 3:3, 4, Paul admonishes, “That no man should be moved by these affliction, for yourselves know that we are appointed to suffer them…we told you before that we should suffer tribulation.” It should be evident from the Scripture that persecution and affliction is not something that should surprise us; but on the contrary, the absence of opposition is something that should be a serious concern.

Who wants to be stoned? Who wants to have the windows in their house smashed? Who wants to have daily threats on their life as they go forth to proclaim the Gospel of salvation? Of course, no one. But the lack of serious threats can prove to be more deadly than physical injury. Our brethren in China are not praying for less persecution, but they are earnestly pleading with the Father to be saved from the deadly disease that has destroyed the church in America.

With all of her affluence, ease, and popularity, the church in America seems oblivious to what has happened to her. By living in an environment where persecution is viewed as an abnormality, the church in America has probably become the most cowardly church in history. Living here in SEA where we are involved with two different cultures at the same time, makes the contrast of these cultures very sharp. One of the most embarrassing things I have ever seen was the response of America to the attack after 9-11. Someone asked George Bush what was the best way to fight terrorism. He wisely replied, “By flying on airplanes, going to ball games, and singing with joy in your heart.” But what was America’s response? Exactly what the terrorist wanted. No one wanted to fly on an airplane although it had never been safer. We were having a large number of teams coming from America to SEA to help us carry loads of Bibles into the countries around here. But for three months we had 100% cancellation. God doesn’t want us to do such a dangerous thing as to fly on an airplane. The same thing happened two years later with SARS. That was too great a risk. They might catch cold if they came to SEA Some Mennonites were a rare exception.

I am presently agonizing over a personal issue where we have one of the most amazing testimonies I have ever heard of, but have been warmed not to mention the name of this man of history publicly. The concern is that if his testimony was generally known, that might tarnish his reputation as a national hero and there have been threats on his life. My goodness, isn’t that the way it is supposed to work?! I wrote a brother and said, “I would rather be dead with a bold testimony than alive with a silent one.” To cower before threats is a disgrace to the Name of Christ.

The rest of the world is normal. The church in other countries is thriving in the face of terrible persecution. Suffering has made them strong and utterly fearless. But in western nations, we have developed an attitude that danger is something to be avoided at all cost, and this has produced a generation of cowards.

Lord, give us some fearless men of steel of the fiber of Whitefield; for Jesus sake.          

                                                                                                                              bill