The hope and horror of a 28-year old woman in Uganda is unimaginable.
After seeing Jesus in her dreams, Hawa Amoti became his worshipper on May 29, 2022 while visiting a Christian neighbor. The two went to church, and Hawa returned home late afternoon. She was immediately attacked by her Muslim brothers at the instigation of her father, Haji Shariifu Agaba, who pierced her eyes with a sharp knife. Hawa wailed and screamed. Despite the best efforts of one compassionate brother and neighbors, who ran toward her for a vain rescue, she died of profuse bleeding. The father and brothers had retreated inside their house.
The pain she must have endured is unimaginable. What sort of deceived devil could even conceive of executing one’s own daughter, and plunging a dagger into the eyeballs of another human being? From behind closed doors and with pitiless hearts, her family heard Hawa’s wrenching wails and perhaps watched her writhing in excruciating agony. Good Lord.
Christians have certainly always been persecuted, even if not to the pain of death. The Church was born to persecution, and its Lord, of course, was crucified. Practically no sooner had Jesus’ original followers been awashed and energized in God, than they were jailed, and bathed in their own blood. Accounts such as happened to Hawa Amoti are stark reminders that the challenge of Jesus to his would-be students is to ‘count the cost’ (Lk 14:25-35). He issued what was surely a sobering warning to prepare disciples for uneasy choices and fateful consequences: “If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also” (Jn 15:20). “Not everyone has faith,” former persecutor Paul impressed to fellow Christians, urging them to prayer for deliverance from “wicked and evil men” (2 Th 2:2).
The core confession of Christians that “Jesus is Lord” is uncompromising and unconditional. Our ancient truth claim is that he is the divine embodiment of verity and virtue; the source of goodness and knowledge; the creator and power of both perceptible and unseen realms; the conqueror of death; the possessor of life and master philosopher of living; the promised claimant to universal empire. Every person must confront that eternal, sole prerogative of Christ and come to terms with his or her unceasing destiny in it.
That claim has and will invite opposition — whether ostracism, ridicule, job loss, family division, fine, or worse. Admittedly, few Christians, especially in the Western hemisphere, will suffer for their faith like Hawa Amoti. Also, our governments do not explicitly endorse or enforce harsh persecution measures by legislation or order as in strict totalitarian regimes. However, in his book Live Not By Lies: A Manual for Christian Dissidents, Rod Dreher signals the encroachment of a ‘soft totalitarianism’ from a confluence of factors that will increasingly challenge American Christians to remain faithful. Dreher points to identity politics, corporate censorship of its disapproved socio-political viewpoints, widespread use of technology and social media that ‘surveils’ users’ habits, and consumerism that diverts and dulls disciplines of mind. We should heed the times. From the stories of people who lived under Communist regimes in Eastern Europe, Dreher found hope and strategies for perseverance such as in tight-knit relationships. Meetings of groups worked to counteract institutional propaganda. One family watched heroic movies such as High Noon, and read (and reread) classic literature like Lord of the Rings because, said the mother, “we knew Mordor was real.”
We must fortify our minds and shape our outlook for the possibility of opposition that we may encounter for professing Christ. We can take to heart the allegiance of some early Christians when even others from their own number had turned back from their faith. An early second-century Roman governor, Pliny the Younger, wrote to Emperor Trajan for advice about how to handle cases of persons who were accused of being Christians:
If they admit it, I repeat the questions a second and third time, threatening capital punishment; if they persist, I sentence them to death. For I do not doubt that, whatever kind of crime it may be to which they have confessed, their pertinacity and inflexible obstinacy should certainly be punished.
Their faithfulness in the face of death, despite repeated threats to renounce Christ, exhort us to courage. The steadfast allegiance to Christ of those early Christians was such that their stubborn persistence was itself was considered deserving of punishment. If the early Christians persevered at the prospect of death, surely we who have rarely, if ever, faced grave consequences for adhering to Christ and the truth, can take hope! Recalling Jesus himself and the heroic forerunners in the faith, the writer to the Hebrews encourages perseverance: “You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood” (Heb 12:4).
We can also take to heart the examples of contemporary Christians. They are those among us who have discovered Christ as the raison d’être for living, and have lived long and persevered in him even when doubts, difficulties, or desires test their confidence and hope. Trials of various sort all pose challenges to both accept the faith and to continue in it — death, disease, disappointments, broken families, abuse and neglect, regret and remorse.
The Good Confession film series by Confessio Films highlights the stories of faithful Christians. We have captured stories of people whom Christ has captivated. They come from diverse backgrounds including China, Ethiopia, Russia, Rwanda. Each has a witness to the power of God and for his kingdom. Whether one has embraced Christ since childhood or experienced his protection as girl during genocide, may they remind us to stay as close as possible to Jesus. He is worth it.