Living (dying) for Jesus

Several weeks ago I started a review of a Horizons magazine by explaining why I did not review an earlier edition.(1) I wrote:

“Security in the Midst of Violence,” was a very good edition. I started a review of the articles making a comparison between some of the articles and Fox’s Book of Martyrs. Several of the stories were about Christians under persecution and how they lived through the ordeal. They all caught my attention, including one about a pastor and his family fleeing from Iraq and the violence they experienced because of their Christian faith.

I had about two pages written and then looked at some of the resource material offered. An inset beneath the Iraqi article pointed to www.pcusa.org/worldwide/middleeast and www.pcusa.org/peacemaking. Most of the material I found on those two sites was about dialogue between Muslims and Christians and the problems and issues between the Israelis and Palestinians. And of course on that last item it was all pro-Palestinian. But there was nothing about the persecution of Christians by radical Islam.

Something inside of me stopped. I simply could not go farther despite a reasonably good issue. The contradiction was just too blaring. I thought of recommending such non-Presbyterian organizations as The Voice of the Martyrs. But my most basic thought was that Presbyterians in the PC(U.S.A.) have nothing to offer those who are facing persecution from radical Islam.”

Likewise, this posting is about living, which entails dying, for Christ. It was Dietrich Bonheoffer who said “when Christ calls a man he bids him come and die.”

Reading about the martyr Martin Burnham I discovered that of the 70 million Christian martyrs that have existed since the time of Christ, 60 million lived (died) in the twentieth century. Here is an article about Garcia Burnham who with her husband was held captive by Abu Sayyaf, a group in the Philippines. who are linked to Al Qaeda.

It is entitled “The Believers” and written by Eliza Griswold and, no surprise, found at a Catholic site, Christian Catholic Resource center.

The article begins:

“Gracia Burnham needed a backpack. Months earlier, she and her husband, Martin, had been kidnapped and dragged into the jungles of the Philippines by members of the Al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf, or "Bearer of the Sword," and they had nothing in which to carry their few belongings. Until, that is, one morning when one of their kidnappers was shot and killed in the midst of a blundered rescue effort by the Filipino army. As the other militants divvied up the dead man's belongings, Gracia snatched his backpack, and she and Martin shoved in their possessions—a batik sheet, some underwear, a shared toothbrush. Gracia and Martin, both evangelical missionaries, were nearly starving: The kidnappers had kept them unfed and on the move. At various times, they had watched a male hostage led off to be beheaded or several women taken to be raped. "Abu Sayyaf thought of themselves as pious and holy," Burnham told me recently. "All this lofty chivalry crumbled before our eyes. Anything they wanted or desired, all they had to say was, 'This is jihad and the rules don't apply.'"

Garcia recounts that fleeing with her husband and the Abu Sayyaf captors, from an attack, she forgot the backpack. The author of the article goes on in finer detail:

“During months of hunger, fear, sleeping on the mosquito-infested ground, and hiking for hours seemingly in circles, Gracia's faith occasionally failed her. "The worst part was seeing who I really was," she said. She coveted food sent into the jungle for them, which Abu Sayyaf refused to share. She tired of praying to "a God who sometimes seemed to have forgotten us." She would say to Martin, "You know, scripture says these words: If you will ask anything in my name, I will do it.' In my situation, that verse is not true, so why is that in there?" But Martin encouraged her. "You believe it all, or you don't believe it at all," he told her gently.”

The article covers more than the Burnham’s story. And it is worthwhile reading. The reality of our time as American Christians in history sometimes seems, well, like a bed of roses. Perhaps we should take deeper notice of our times which are His times.





1. Horizons is the magazine of the Presbyterian Women of the PCUSA