Persecution of Christians Continues Today

Recently I heard a pastor tell his congregation that the 20th century has been a time when more Christians were persecuted than in any previous. While I acknowledge that the persecution of us Christians has been immense during the past century, I wonder how we can know that this is so.

There are a number of websites that bring news about persecution and suffering of Christians world wide. Here is a partial list from a Google search:

• Persecution News of Churches Persecuted & Christian Sufferings
• The Voice of Martyrs
• Christian Persecution Info
• Open Doors: serving persecution Christians worldwide
• Christian Freedom: serving the persecuted church
• History of Christianity portfolio: with stories of martyrs 

The Religion Facts site, writing about persecution in the early church, states the following: 

The total number of Christians martyred in the early church is unknown. Although some early writers speak of "great multitudes," modern scholars tend to believe the actual number is not so great as is sometimes imagined. Out of the 54 emperors who ruled between 30 and 311 AD, only about a dozen went out of their way to persecute Christians.{5}
It has been calculated that between the first persecution under Nero in 64 to the Edict of Milan in 313, Christians experienced 129 years of persecution and 120 years of toleration and peace. {6} 

The Roman persecutions were generally sporadic, localized, and dependent on the political climate and disposition of each emperor. Moreover, imperial decrees against Christians were often directed against church property, the Scriptures, or clergy only. It has been estimated that more Christians have been martyred in the last 50 years than in the church's first 300 years. {7}

 The last sentence quoted above comes from Dr. Everett Ferguson, "Did You Know?" Christian History, Issue 27 (Vol. XI, No. 3), inside cover. Dr. Ferguson (born 2/18/1933) is professor of Bible at Abilene Christian University in Abilene, TX. and author of Backgrounds of Early Christianity (Eerdmans, 1987). He currently serves as Distinguished Scholar in Residence at Abilene Christian University and  is author of numerous books on early Christian studies. He served as co-editor of the Journal of Early Christian Studies. 


So far I have not discovered how Dr. Ferguson arrived at his conclusions. From my own reading of history and from the perspective of most historians, it is not safe to make such sweeping comments. I did find one website listing "Selected Death Tolls for Wars, Massacres and Attrocities Before the 20th Century." Matthew White, the author of that site, writes, 

"The principle argument against the accuracy of ancient atrocity statistics is that they come from innumerate societies without the modern skill in counting large numbers of people and keeping accurate records. Conquerors liked to brag about their exploits, and the vast hordes of the enemy army grew with each retelling. Civilization before the Enlightenment was rather flexible when it came to historic accuracy, and medieval historians never let the truth get in the way of a good story . . .

"We should keep in mind that many of the numbers from well-documented modern horrors are too big to be believed, but true nonetheless. The danger in doubting too easily is that we'll approach the subject with a double standard, believing the stories we want to believe, and denying the ones we don't."

The lessons in all of this are several:

1. Be cautious about making sweeping statements about such things as persecution, hatred, etc. without a solid basis for what you say or write. Everyone writes history from personal bias.
2. Be ready to examine your motives for making any such statements, e.g. "I want to shock you into realizing what a dangerous world we Christians live in and what a brave person I am to endure hatred and persecution in my own life."   
3. Know that Jesus did indeed predict that we Christians must be prepared to take up our own crosses to follow him (Luke 9:23-29; 14:26-27, etc.). We will be persecuted, because the world is under the control of the god of this world, Satan (Ephesians 2:2-3; John 8:44; 12:30-31, etc.).
4. Your quiet, but firm witness to your faith in Jesus as the Christ can and will have great influence upon those around you. 
5. In all of this, recognize that enduring persecution and hatred is not a way to get the LORD to admire, love or forgive you. As always, we are saved by His grace. Our salvation and hope is and always will be a precious and most undeserved gift (Ephesians 2:4-9).