Christians in the West must 'stand strong' or risk losing religious freedoms： humanitarian activist
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Summary
In this episode, Gia Chacon, founder of For the Martyrs, joins me to talk about the persecution of Christians, and why Christians should never be allowed to practice their faith in public. Gia and I talk about why Christians are the most persecuted group in the world, and how we can do something about it.
Transcript
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We cannot deny that there is an anti-Christian movement in the United States, in Europe,
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definitely in Canada, that does not want to see the Christian in the public square.
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So we have to realize that religious freedom does not mean that we have the ability to go to church.
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Okay, religious freedom doesn't mean that we can wake up on Sunday and go to church and no one's
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going to bother us. Religious freedom means that we have the ability to practice our deeply held
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religious beliefs in every area of society. You know, one of the most underreported things
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today, in fact, it's lied about, is that Christians are the most persecuted group on earth. They're
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the ones martyred the most, killed the most. You'd never know that by watching the mainstream media,
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but you would know that if you speak to Gia Chacon. She not only has been there with the
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martyrs in Iraq and other places, she's actually founded a movement called For the Martyrs,
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and now a march across the United States called March for the Martyrs that's going to go all
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over the U.S. You're going to want to stay tuned for this show.
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Let's begin as we always do with the sign of the cross.
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In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
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So, Gia Chacon, it's great to have you. Let's start with, I think, what everybody needs to know,
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because this is suppressed. The mainstream media, which has been suppressing all kinds of life,
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family, faith, and freedom news for a long time, actually has been doing the suppression
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of the persecution of Christians for decades already. Tell us, please.
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Right out the gate, we can't deny that there is an anti-Christian movement in the United States,
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and of course in Canada, and throughout Europe. What's happening to our brothers and sisters abroad
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is more than just an anti-Christian movement. We are living in an era where there is more persecution
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than any other time in church history. There are more martyrs today for their faith than in the
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times of the early church, and when we hear this, we can be kind of shocked because, as you said,
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we never see Christian persecution talked about in the mainstream media, and even in our communities
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of faith, this issue is overlooked. But I want to share some important statistics. Open Doors released
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their world watch list this January, and they reported the number that now over 360 million
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Christians around the world face high levels of persecution for their faith. What does this mean?
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This means our brothers and sisters are facing imprisonment, loss of their businesses, torture,
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and even death solely because of their faith in Christ. When we heard the story of what was happening
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in the Middle East under ISIS to Iraqi and Syrian Christians, we heard of that Christian genocide,
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but the reality is that there is an ongoing genocide not only in the Middle East. Right now,
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there are thousands of Christians who are being slaughtered in Nigeria. Christians are being
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persecuted in China and North Korea, and actually in over 50 countries around the world. Christians are
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suffering for their faith. Now, it is true. One of the things that broke through the bubble of media
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silence on this issue was when the Iraqi Christians were lined up and beheaded for all the cameras to
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see. That, even though it was a horrific thing, I'm sure for those Christian martyrs, they were
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glorying in the fact that they could give their lives for Christ. But it also served to break a media
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bubble around this, which was really staggering. So tell me your thoughts on that.
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I believe it was in 2015 we saw the Coptic Christian martyrs, well, about to be beheaded. They
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lined up 21 young Coptic Christians on the beach, and ISIS famously beheaded these Christians. But
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what's beautiful about this is that before these Christians were put to death, they were actually
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saying the prayer, Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner, right as they were about to die.
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And I want to share this part of the story. There was actually initially 20 Christians that were
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kidnapped. And their bold witness, the way that they were faithful to Jesus during their time of
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captivity, actually converted another young man. So the 21 Coptic martyrs, 20 of them were initially
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Coptic, but one of them was a convert from Islam who gave his life for Jesus and was ultimately beheaded
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shortly after his conversion. So beautiful witness, beautiful testimony, horrific violence, but still
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this story touched the world. But really, John Henry, it's unfortunate that it takes something of
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that level. It's unfortunate that it takes 21 Christians beheaded on the shores of Libya or beheaded
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for the world to see in order for the mainstream media to talk about it. Right now, there are thousands
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of Christians, as I said, who are being slaughtered in Nigeria. We actually see the most violent
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persecution of Christians in Nigeria. And Nigeria is a predominantly Christian country. I think it's
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51 or 52% Christian. So if that's the case, why are Christians being slaughtered? And yet there is still
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this silence around the issue. So we believe at For the Martyrs that Christian persecution is a human
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rights crisis. The only reason that people don't talk about this issue is because of the mere fact
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that they are Christian, that it's Christians who are the ones who are suffering, and it's seen as an
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issue for the church. But Christian persecution should be seen as and treated with the same level
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of urgency as any other human rights crisis. Something fascinating about you is that you've been there
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and spoken with them. It's, I know, part of your conversion story. But if you can tell us what
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that revelation was like and how you got there. So in 2017, I traveled to Egypt for the first time in
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my adult life. I had been to Egypt when I was young. When I was about 12 years old, I went to Egypt for
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the first time with my grandmother, who runs a nonprofit organization that focuses on international
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crisis relief. And when I was 12 years old, I remember the bold faith of the Egyptian Christians.
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I remember being touched by their love. But when I returned for the first time in my adult life in
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2017, it was really at that time that I realized that Christians are willing to lay down their life
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for Christ. That it wasn't just the older generations or the, and it wasn't just something of the past that
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Christians were persecuted, but young people my age and even younger were so on fire, so in love
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with Jesus and made the radical decision to be willing to sacrifice anything for the name of
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Jesus and being surrounded by the faith of the persecuted in Egypt, surrounded by these bold,
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young Egyptian Christians, I made the decision to turn my life totally over to Jesus. I had been
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raised a Christian my whole life, but I always say that I try to maintain a balancing act like so many
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of us do. We had, I had one foot in my faith and the other was dipping into the world. But in Egypt,
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surrounded by the faith of the persecuted, I made the decision, Jesus, I never want to live another
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day, not totally in service to you. And over the years, I had the opportunity to continue to travel
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and do work with the persecuted. And there is one story in particular that changed my life. And the
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Lord through this, the Lord put a heavy burden on my heart for the persecuted. It was 2018. And I was
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traveling with my grandmother's nonprofit and we were doing work with the Iraqi and Syrian refugees.
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And I had an opportunity to sit down with the Iraqi refugees, hear their stories and hear what they
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had suffered under ISIS. And when I heard the testimony of young Iraqi Christians who fled Iraq in the
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middle of the night, who had been charged by ISIS, convert or be killed. And rather than doing the easy
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thing, which would have been to convert and just, you know, say outwardly that you converted, but in
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your heart, keep a secret faith. No, rather than do that, they fled everything they knew in the middle
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of the night and to look for safety. And when I heard these stories, I chart, it encouraged me to start
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doing research into persecution. And I came to the realization, as I mentioned earlier, that Christians
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are the most persecuted religious group, that Christian persecution is increasing every year. So if this is the
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case, why is there such a silence around this issue? And so the Lord placed a burden on my heart
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to do something for the persecuted church, to make an impact in the lives of the suffering faithful.
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I have a question for you that's a little bit political, but I think it plays in here.
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I saw a recent video. We're trying to figure out if it's true or not. It was by persecuted Christians
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in the Middle East. And they were saying, they're warning Americans about the speech that President
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Biden gave, which seemed to attack Christians. And their warning was, hey, this is exactly the kind
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of language from the government that's put out here. And it leads to our persecution. And it was a
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warning to their brother and sister Christians in America that if this rhetoric continues from
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the president, that persecution is coming. What's your take on that?
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Salaam, dear brothers and sisters in the West. We recently watched the speech by President Biden
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to the American people. In his speech, he banged his fists and angrily declared that his political
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opponents are a threat to democracy, to the rule of law, and to freedom. Two years ago,
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the Lord showed us that the persecution we live with here in Iran is quickly coming to the United
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States and to the West. Dear friends, please hear us. The words spoken by President Biden are almost
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identical to the things said by the Iranian government. They warn that we underground Christians
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are a great threat to Iran. They say we are a threat to the rule of law, even though we are ordinary
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people and families and law-abiding citizens. Jesus was very clear that the days are coming when the
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world will hate us and even kill us, believing they are serving God. We live with this kind of threat
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from the spirit of radical Islam. Although it is not the spirit of Islam, the same evil spirit is growing
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presently in your own nations. The day when your own government treats ordinary citizens like a threat has
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arrived. Dear friends, please hear us. The final period of testing is coming quickly. Now is the hour for the
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Western Church to resolve in your hearts to stand firmly for Jesus, no matter what it costs you. Blessed
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are those with eyes to see and ears to hear. Thank you for listening. May the grace of our Lord Jesus
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Christ be with you all. Just a quick note before we return. If you would like to stay up to date on
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LifeSite's coverage of the latest life, family, and culture news, subscribe to one of our many
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truth-telling coverage to millions around the world, please consider making a one-time or monthly
00:13:04.000
donation at give.lifesitenews.com. And now back to the video. We've been sounding the alarm at For
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the Martyrs since our beginning that persecution will come knocking at the door of the American
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Church. And I believe, if I may get even more political than that statement, I believe that
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the government's response to COVID, the way that they targeted churches during that time was almost a
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testing period to see how willing is the American church to sacrifice our freedoms, to give up our
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ability to worship, to close our church doors, and to refuse to gather. And I'm actually based in
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California, and we had our governor actually say that we weren't allowed to sing worship in the church.
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And Christians, many churchgoers, I mean, we had many strong pastors and priests, but for the vast
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majority, Christians were willing to say, okay, we won't worship. Okay, we won't gather. And we saw the way
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that the government was targeting our churches. And as I mentioned earlier, we cannot deny that there is
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an anti-Christian movement in the United States, in Europe, definitely in Canada, that wants to see
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the Christian, that does not want to see the Christian in the public square. So we have to
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realize that religious freedom does not mean that we have the ability to go to church. Okay, religious
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freedom doesn't mean that we can wake up on Sunday and go to church and no one's going to bother us.
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So religious freedom means that we have the ability to practice our deeply held religious
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beliefs in every area of society. So if that means that a doctor doesn't want to perform an abortion
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because they believe that it's against life and against human dignity, then there should be,
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they should have the freedom to not practice abortion, to not administer birth control, to not
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be forced to do gender reassignment surgeries, let alone if we want the ability to continue to keep our
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doors open and to practice, these are our freedoms that we must protect. If Christians do not stand
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strong now in the West, these kinds of anti-Christian movements and attacks will only get worse,
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What can people do to bring this awareness? And where can people go to find out more about you and
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We encourage everyone not to underestimate the power of their voice. I think a lot of times when we hear
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about the stories of persecuted, when we look at what's happening in Nigeria, when we look at what
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is happening in China or the Middle East, it can feel like, well, A, what does this have to do with
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me as an American Christian or as a Western Christian? But B, how can I even make a difference
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if Christian persecution is this huge issue? How can I make a difference? Well, I can say that never
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underestimate the power of your voice. Throughout my travel with the persecuted church,
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there's been one consistent thing that almost every persecuted believer will say. When you ask them
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what the greatest need is, they won't say safety, they won't say aid, they won't say food. The number
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one thing they will say is, please continue to pray for us. Before all else, their first request of the
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persecuted church is that their brothers and sisters around the world are praying for them. And the second
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thing they'll say is, thank you for knowing and caring about our suffering. So it is so important that the
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church in the West is advocating on behalf of the persecuted. And you can do that as something as
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simple as sharing statistics and stories on social media. And you can connect with us at March for the
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Martyrs or at for the Martyrs on our social media platforms to stay connected with the persecuted and be
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able to learn more of these statistics that we talked about. You can also join us on at our March for
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the Martyrs on Saturday, September 24th in Washington, DC. We're having an annual march to stand in
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solidarity with the persecuted church. And this is an annual event that we host in Washington, DC. So if
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you weren't able to make it this year, you can definitely make it next year. And you can learn
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more about that at forthemartyrs.com. It is time that Christians here in the West, in America,
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especially, but also in all of Europe, stand up for their brothers and sisters who are being
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persecuted, because it is coming for them as well. But that revelation that those, the persecuted,
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the ones who are actually suffering and their lives being threatened, their families' lives
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being threatened, they're asking and begging for the recognition, not so that they can get
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donations, not even so that they can get rescued, but so that they can have our prayers.
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I think a lot of times the American church or the Western church is very inward focused. We
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oftentimes think of ourselves as the missionary church that we're sending people out to far-off
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nations. When in reality, we need the witness of the persecuted church. We need the stories of the
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bold Christians who are laying down their life for Christ. Because as we stand with the persecuted
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church, as we're their voice, as we pray for them, we can be encouraged and emboldened by their bold
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witness. So we know through scripture that when one member of the body of Christ suffers, we all suffer.
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So we are in no way separated or isolated from our brothers and sisters. They need our prayers.
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They need our voice, our advocacy, and we need their witness and their boldness.
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Amen to that. And something you said earlier, that what, you know, I know talking to the other
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person, what would we care in the West about, you know, Christians over there? Because we're all over
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here. We're actually closer to those brothers and sisters in Christ than we are to our own neighbors
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if they're not sharing the faith with us. Because we are united in Christ in a way that's more real
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than being related by blood. So let us pray for our brothers and sisters. Let's see them and
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recognize them. Gia, thank you so much for what you're doing. Thank you so much, John Henry.
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And God bless you. And God bless all of you. And we'll see you next time.
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Hi, everyone. This is John Henry Weston. We hope you enjoyed this program. To see more like it,
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