No refuge for Christians

Many of us pray for the persecuted church all over the world. There are many places where it is dangerous to express faith in Jesus Christ. Christians, in the United States, are often mocked for claims of religious intolerance even as they are targeted for lawsuits. When Christians are in the minority, their lives are often in danger. Where does this hatred come from? Remember, we are facing spiritual warfare (Ephesians 6).

For the Christians in Afghanistan, they knew that shootings, hangings, beheadings, crucifixions, being burned alive in cages and other forms of torture would start as soon as the Taliban were in charge.

I read an article by the National Catholic Register that better explains this scenario. The title is "Christians in Afghanistan: 5 Things You Need to Know." As the title implies, this was written before the Aug. 31 deadline for U.S. troops to leave. I will quote each point and give a summary of the explanation:

1. Christians in Afghanistan live in the second-worst country for Christians, according to the Open Doors World Watch List. Only North Korea is considered more dangerous. When a Muslim converts to Christianity it is believed to be apostacy and is punishable by death. The only hope for these Christians is to escape to another country.

2. Pope Francis has asked Christians to fast and pray for the people of Afghanistan. He states that the situation in Afghanistan demands that we not remain indifferent. We should intensify our prayer and fast as we ask the Lord for mercy and forgiveness. Fasting is giving up food or something else to help us focus on prayer. Officially, there are less than ten thousand Christians in Afghanistan, but the number could be higher.

3. The U.S. government has not agreed to provide Christians with a special status that would allow them to enter the U.S. despite efforts by several humanitarian organizations and even members of Congress requesting special status for them. Special designations include journalists, pilots, academics, civil society and women at risk, to name a few, but not Christians or other religious minorities. Promises of safe passage to the airport being guaranteed by the Taliban, untrue by many accounts, never applied to Christians.

4. Private efforts to assist Christians out of Afghanistan have allegedly been blocked by the State Department. Taliban check points made it nearly impossible for Christians to leave. According to several blogs and news groups of religious freedom activists, the State Department blocked private evacuation operations at the airport.

The Nazarene Fund raised more than $28 million over a three-day period with the help of radio personality Glenn Beck. He told media outlets that the charity has flown (at the time) 5,200 Christians and other Afghans to safety. Without permission from the State Department and cooperation from the Taliban, they could not extricate additional Christians to countries other than the U.S. that have agreed to receive them. In an interview, Beck said surrounding Muslim nations were showing more compassion than our US government.

According to the article, they reached out to the department to verify the allegations. The spokesperson said, "The United States Government has no role in organizing private charter evacuation flights. The U.S. is not communicating through third parties related to Hamid Karzai International Airport (HKIA) access nor does the USG endorse any third parties claiming to provide access to HKIA."

5. Several Christians who were contacted say that their fate is very dark despite reassurances by the Taliban leadership to Western governments. Christians were already being killed on the spot after identifying as Christian. Eyewitnesses claim the Taliban was searching the crowds to find Christians. It was reported that anyone found with a Bible app on their phone was killed.

Christians are disappointed and feel abandoned by the people they thought would help them. Foreign troops left and their government fled. They knew the day would come, but that does not make it less painful.

Those who did not escape expect to be martyred. For the Christians in Afghanistan the nightmare of torture, suffering, and death has come true. God will judge those who have innocent blood on their hands.