Persecuted believers are not forsaken
By Abigail Hofland | August 18, 2025
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
International (MNN) — A new report outlines how India, China, Indonesia, and Pakistan, four of the world’s five most populous countries, systematically persecute Christians. Greg Kelley with Unknown Nations says mistreatment of believers is neither new nor unexpected.
“Jesus told us: they didn’t like me; they’re going to hate you as my followers. So I think that we shouldn’t be shocked by the persecutions,” he says. “However, we need to come alongside these brothers and sisters because they are on the front lines. They are in the war zones.”
Kelley says we can assist by encouraging and resourcing Christians facing persecution.
“But we also need to be praying,” he adds. “We need to pray to the Lord of the harvest to send forth additional laborers into these fields. This is the ground zero of where the church needs to be paying attention: these harshly persecuted areas of the world.”
While persecution happens across societal levels, it’s most intensified and targeted when people convert to Christianity out of dominant national religions.
“It’s the Christian who makes a stand for Jesus and is willing. That’s the person who’s a threat, because they’re serious about their faith; and so they face the wrath of the highest level of government all the way down to the nuclear family,” Kelley says.
Baptism and evangelism in particular trigger the Islamic community’s religious immune system.
“Many times the manifestation of the persecution is a vigilante justice,” he says. “It’s sort of a mob-generated response that the government in many instances is turning a cheek.”
Failure of law enforcement to respond to the plight of Christians is a frustration to those expecting basic protections from their government. On the other hand, persecuted believers regularly dismiss calls for vindication from their leaders, expressing the understanding that persecution of believers is par for the course in a kingdom walk. Kelley says Christians in the crucible are white hot with Gospel fire.
“The people groups that we’re talking about are less than one percent Christian, but those followers of Jesus are passionate,” he remarks.
And their faith is spreading in spite of attacks against it.
“They are not people who, in the face of threats, intimidation, humiliation, harassment, will turn back from their faith,” Kelley says. “They will absolutely not, so they’re very determined to share their faith with others and to multiply.”
The fifth nation topping the population charts is our own: the United States of America. Notably, Kelley remarks, our home country is an outlier in terms of how the justice system responds to persecution. Kelley points to the Muslim-dominant community of Dearborn, Michigan, as an example.
“The culture you feel in Dearborn is going to be very similar to a Middle Eastern experience. If someone converts to Christianity, the family may punish them,” he explains, even perhaps outside the bounds of law. “But at the end of the day, if local law enforcement hears about it, that person would absolutely be held accountable.”
For many believers across India, China, Indonesia, and Pakistan, that simply is not the case.
Whether you find yourself under the protection of governing officials or at the mercy of their evil intentions, would you take a moment to pray for persecuted believers around the world?
Please pray that the Holy Spirit would strengthen them, comfort them, and give them words to say when they are brought before governing officials. Pray that nations under the rule of darkness would turn toward the glorious light of Christ, and that the Kingdom of God would grow in the midst of all pressure against it.
Header image courtesy of Amar via Pexels
https://www.mnnonline.org/news/216439/