The John-Henry Westen Show - Christians in the West must 'stand strong' or risk losing religious freedoms： humanitarian activist

00:00:00.000 We cannot deny that there is an anti-Christian movement in the United States, in Europe,

00:00:05.200 definitely in Canada, that does not want to see the Christian in the public square. 1.00

00:00:09.680 So we have to realize that religious freedom does not mean that we have the ability to go to church.

00:00:15.200 Okay, religious freedom doesn't mean that we can wake up on Sunday and go to church and no one's

00:00:19.060 going to bother us. Religious freedom means that we have the ability to practice our deeply held

00:00:24.120 religious beliefs in every area of society. You know, one of the most underreported things

00:00:31.660 today, in fact, it's lied about, is that Christians are the most persecuted group on earth. They're

00:00:39.040 the ones martyred the most, killed the most. You'd never know that by watching the mainstream media,

00:00:45.620 but you would know that if you speak to Gia Chacon. She not only has been there with the

00:00:54.100 martyrs in Iraq and other places, she's actually founded a movement called For the Martyrs,

00:00:59.780 and now a march across the United States called March for the Martyrs that's going to go all

00:01:05.560 over the U.S. You're going to want to stay tuned for this show.

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00:02:41.560 Gia, welcome to the program.

00:02:43.120 John Henry, thank you so much for having me.

00:02:45.220 Let's begin as we always do with the sign of the cross.

00:02:47.940 In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

00:02:53.500 So, Gia Chacon, it's great to have you. Let's start with, I think, what everybody needs to know,

00:03:00.060 because this is suppressed. The mainstream media, which has been suppressing all kinds of life,

00:03:05.840 family, faith, and freedom news for a long time, actually has been doing the suppression

00:03:10.360 of the persecution of Christians for decades already. Tell us, please.

00:03:16.580 Right out the gate, we can't deny that there is an anti-Christian movement in the United States,

00:03:21.560 and of course in Canada, and throughout Europe. What's happening to our brothers and sisters abroad

00:03:25.660 is more than just an anti-Christian movement. We are living in an era where there is more persecution

00:03:30.580 than any other time in church history. There are more martyrs today for their faith than in the

00:03:36.100 times of the early church, and when we hear this, we can be kind of shocked because, as you said,

00:03:40.960 we never see Christian persecution talked about in the mainstream media, and even in our communities

00:03:46.760 of faith, this issue is overlooked. But I want to share some important statistics. Open Doors released

00:03:52.460 their world watch list this January, and they reported the number that now over 360 million

00:04:00.120 Christians around the world face high levels of persecution for their faith. What does this mean?

00:04:06.560 This means our brothers and sisters are facing imprisonment, loss of their businesses, torture,

00:04:12.300 and even death solely because of their faith in Christ. When we heard the story of what was happening

00:04:18.120 in the Middle East under ISIS to Iraqi and Syrian Christians, we heard of that Christian genocide,

00:04:25.380 but the reality is that there is an ongoing genocide not only in the Middle East. Right now,

00:04:29.720 there are thousands of Christians who are being slaughtered in Nigeria. Christians are being 0.83

00:04:33.840 persecuted in China and North Korea, and actually in over 50 countries around the world. Christians are 0.95

00:04:39.680 suffering for their faith. Now, it is true. One of the things that broke through the bubble of media

00:04:45.880 silence on this issue was when the Iraqi Christians were lined up and beheaded for all the cameras to

00:04:53.100 see. That, even though it was a horrific thing, I'm sure for those Christian martyrs, they were

00:05:00.680 glorying in the fact that they could give their lives for Christ. But it also served to break a media

00:05:06.440 bubble around this, which was really staggering. So tell me your thoughts on that.

00:05:11.540 I believe it was in 2015 we saw the Coptic Christian martyrs, well, about to be beheaded. They

00:05:18.760 lined up 21 young Coptic Christians on the beach, and ISIS famously beheaded these Christians. But

00:05:26.980 what's beautiful about this is that before these Christians were put to death, they were actually 0.97

00:05:32.760 saying the prayer, Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner, right as they were about to die.

00:05:38.680 And I want to share this part of the story. There was actually initially 20 Christians that were

00:05:44.620 kidnapped. And their bold witness, the way that they were faithful to Jesus during their time of

00:05:50.480 captivity, actually converted another young man. So the 21 Coptic martyrs, 20 of them were initially

00:05:58.640 Coptic, but one of them was a convert from Islam who gave his life for Jesus and was ultimately beheaded 0.99

00:06:03.900 shortly after his conversion. So beautiful witness, beautiful testimony, horrific violence, but still

00:06:10.420 this story touched the world. But really, John Henry, it's unfortunate that it takes something of

00:06:15.540 that level. It's unfortunate that it takes 21 Christians beheaded on the shores of Libya or beheaded

00:06:21.820 for the world to see in order for the mainstream media to talk about it. Right now, there are thousands

00:06:27.660 of Christians, as I said, who are being slaughtered in Nigeria. We actually see the most violent 0.95

00:06:33.280 persecution of Christians in Nigeria. And Nigeria is a predominantly Christian country. I think it's

00:06:39.200 51 or 52% Christian. So if that's the case, why are Christians being slaughtered? And yet there is still 0.81

00:06:46.780 this silence around the issue. So we believe at For the Martyrs that Christian persecution is a human

00:06:51.880 rights crisis. The only reason that people don't talk about this issue is because of the mere fact

00:06:58.780 that they are Christian, that it's Christians who are the ones who are suffering, and it's seen as an 0.58

00:07:03.960 issue for the church. But Christian persecution should be seen as and treated with the same level

00:07:09.140 of urgency as any other human rights crisis. Something fascinating about you is that you've been there

00:07:16.240 and spoken with them. It's, I know, part of your conversion story. But if you can tell us what

00:07:22.120 that revelation was like and how you got there. So in 2017, I traveled to Egypt for the first time in

00:07:29.340 my adult life. I had been to Egypt when I was young. When I was about 12 years old, I went to Egypt for

00:07:35.020 the first time with my grandmother, who runs a nonprofit organization that focuses on international

00:07:40.200 crisis relief. And when I was 12 years old, I remember the bold faith of the Egyptian Christians.

00:07:46.740 I remember being touched by their love. But when I returned for the first time in my adult life in

00:07:51.780 2017, it was really at that time that I realized that Christians are willing to lay down their life 0.99

00:07:58.380 for Christ. That it wasn't just the older generations or the, and it wasn't just something of the past that

00:08:03.880 Christians were persecuted, but young people my age and even younger were so on fire, so in love

00:08:10.160 with Jesus and made the radical decision to be willing to sacrifice anything for the name of

00:08:16.080 Jesus and being surrounded by the faith of the persecuted in Egypt, surrounded by these bold,

00:08:21.280 young Egyptian Christians, I made the decision to turn my life totally over to Jesus. I had been

00:08:28.240 raised a Christian my whole life, but I always say that I try to maintain a balancing act like so many

00:08:34.160 of us do. We had, I had one foot in my faith and the other was dipping into the world. But in Egypt,

00:08:40.160 surrounded by the faith of the persecuted, I made the decision, Jesus, I never want to live another 0.60

00:08:45.200 day, not totally in service to you. And over the years, I had the opportunity to continue to travel

00:08:51.820 and do work with the persecuted. And there is one story in particular that changed my life. And the

00:08:58.560 Lord through this, the Lord put a heavy burden on my heart for the persecuted. It was 2018. And I was

00:09:05.020 traveling with my grandmother's nonprofit and we were doing work with the Iraqi and Syrian refugees.

00:09:10.220 And I had an opportunity to sit down with the Iraqi refugees, hear their stories and hear what they

00:09:15.780 had suffered under ISIS. And when I heard the testimony of young Iraqi Christians who fled Iraq in the

00:09:24.080 middle of the night, who had been charged by ISIS, convert or be killed. And rather than doing the easy

00:09:29.960 thing, which would have been to convert and just, you know, say outwardly that you converted, but in

00:09:34.540 your heart, keep a secret faith. No, rather than do that, they fled everything they knew in the middle

00:09:39.600 of the night and to look for safety. And when I heard these stories, I chart, it encouraged me to start

00:09:46.620 doing research into persecution. And I came to the realization, as I mentioned earlier, that Christians

00:09:52.580 are the most persecuted religious group, that Christian persecution is increasing every year. So if this is the

00:09:59.140 case, why is there such a silence around this issue? And so the Lord placed a burden on my heart

00:10:03.780 to do something for the persecuted church, to make an impact in the lives of the suffering faithful.

00:10:08.720 And through that, for the martyrs was born.

00:10:10.320 I have a question for you that's a little bit political, but I think it plays in here.

00:10:15.240 I saw a recent video. We're trying to figure out if it's true or not. It was by persecuted Christians 0.76

00:10:21.080 in the Middle East. And they were saying, they're warning Americans about the speech that President

00:10:29.160 Biden gave, which seemed to attack Christians. And their warning was, hey, this is exactly the kind 0.95

00:10:38.120 of language from the government that's put out here. And it leads to our persecution. And it was a

00:10:44.080 warning to their brother and sister Christians in America that if this rhetoric continues from

00:10:50.840 the president, that persecution is coming. What's your take on that?

00:10:58.140 Salaam, dear brothers and sisters in the West. We recently watched the speech by President Biden

00:11:04.140 to the American people. In his speech, he banged his fists and angrily declared that his political

00:11:10.200 opponents are a threat to democracy, to the rule of law, and to freedom. Two years ago,

00:11:16.220 the Lord showed us that the persecution we live with here in Iran is quickly coming to the United

00:11:22.480 States and to the West. Dear friends, please hear us. The words spoken by President Biden are almost

00:11:29.960 identical to the things said by the Iranian government. They warn that we underground Christians

00:11:36.020 are a great threat to Iran. They say we are a threat to the rule of law, even though we are ordinary

00:11:42.660 people and families and law-abiding citizens. Jesus was very clear that the days are coming when the

00:11:50.940 world will hate us and even kill us, believing they are serving God. We live with this kind of threat

00:11:57.860 from the spirit of radical Islam. Although it is not the spirit of Islam, the same evil spirit is growing 1.00

00:12:06.520 presently in your own nations. The day when your own government treats ordinary citizens like a threat has

00:12:15.060 arrived. Dear friends, please hear us. The final period of testing is coming quickly. Now is the hour for the

00:12:24.000 Western Church to resolve in your hearts to stand firmly for Jesus, no matter what it costs you. Blessed

00:12:31.900 are those with eyes to see and ears to hear. Thank you for listening. May the grace of our Lord Jesus

00:12:40.860 Christ be with you all. Just a quick note before we return. If you would like to stay up to date on

00:12:48.740 LifeSite's coverage of the latest life, family, and culture news, subscribe to one of our many

00:12:53.340 newsletters by going to LifeSiteNews.com slash subscribe. And if you'd like to help us bring our

00:12:59.180 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

00:13:12.780 the Martyrs since our beginning that persecution will come knocking at the door of the American

00:13:19.180 Church. And I believe, if I may get even more political than that statement, I believe that

00:13:24.380 the government's response to COVID, the way that they targeted churches during that time was almost a

00:13:31.640 testing period to see how willing is the American church to sacrifice our freedoms, to give up our

00:13:37.080 ability to worship, to close our church doors, and to refuse to gather. And I'm actually based in

00:13:42.400 California, and we had our governor actually say that we weren't allowed to sing worship in the church.

00:13:49.180 And Christians, many churchgoers, I mean, we had many strong pastors and priests, but for the vast

00:13:54.260 majority, Christians were willing to say, okay, we won't worship. Okay, we won't gather. And we saw the way 0.95

00:14:00.460 that the government was targeting our churches. And as I mentioned earlier, we cannot deny that there is

00:14:06.780 an anti-Christian movement in the United States, in Europe, definitely in Canada, that wants to see

00:14:13.140 the Christian, that does not want to see the Christian in the public square. So we have to 1.00

00:14:18.800 realize that religious freedom does not mean that we have the ability to go to church. Okay, religious

00:14:23.840 freedom doesn't mean that we can wake up on Sunday and go to church and no one's going to bother us.

00:14:27.840 So religious freedom means that we have the ability to practice our deeply held religious

00:14:32.660 beliefs in every area of society. So if that means that a doctor doesn't want to perform an abortion

00:14:40.340 because they believe that it's against life and against human dignity, then there should be,

00:14:44.480 they should have the freedom to not practice abortion, to not administer birth control, to not

00:14:48.980 be forced to do gender reassignment surgeries, let alone if we want the ability to continue to keep our

00:14:56.720 doors open and to practice, these are our freedoms that we must protect. If Christians do not stand 1.00

00:15:01.800 strong now in the West, these kinds of anti-Christian movements and attacks will only get worse,

00:15:07.680 and we will soon lose our religious freedom.

00:15:09.720 What can people do to bring this awareness? And where can people go to find out more about you and

00:15:16.040 your work?

00:15:16.600 We encourage everyone not to underestimate the power of their voice. I think a lot of times when we hear

00:15:22.700 about the stories of persecuted, when we look at what's happening in Nigeria, when we look at what

00:15:27.960 is happening in China or the Middle East, it can feel like, well, A, what does this have to do with

00:15:33.140 me as an American Christian or as a Western Christian? But B, how can I even make a difference

00:15:38.420 if Christian persecution is this huge issue? How can I make a difference? Well, I can say that never

00:15:44.200 underestimate the power of your voice. Throughout my travel with the persecuted church,

00:15:48.960 there's been one consistent thing that almost every persecuted believer will say. When you ask them

00:15:54.860 what the greatest need is, they won't say safety, they won't say aid, they won't say food. The number

00:16:00.320 one thing they will say is, please continue to pray for us. Before all else, their first request of the

00:16:06.820 persecuted church is that their brothers and sisters around the world are praying for them. And the second

00:16:11.940 thing they'll say is, thank you for knowing and caring about our suffering. So it is so important that the

00:16:17.520 church in the West is advocating on behalf of the persecuted. And you can do that as something as

00:16:22.940 simple as sharing statistics and stories on social media. And you can connect with us at March for the

00:16:28.220 Martyrs or at for the Martyrs on our social media platforms to stay connected with the persecuted and be

00:16:33.800 able to learn more of these statistics that we talked about. You can also join us on at our March for

00:16:39.740 the Martyrs on Saturday, September 24th in Washington, DC. We're having an annual march to stand in

00:16:45.460 solidarity with the persecuted church. And this is an annual event that we host in Washington, DC. So if

00:16:51.020 you weren't able to make it this year, you can definitely make it next year. And you can learn

00:16:54.700 more about that at forthemartyrs.com. It is time that Christians here in the West, in America, 0.99

00:17:01.340 especially, but also in all of Europe, stand up for their brothers and sisters who are being

00:17:05.740 persecuted, because it is coming for them as well. But that revelation that those, the persecuted,

00:17:13.260 the ones who are actually suffering and their lives being threatened, their families' lives

00:17:17.040 being threatened, they're asking and begging for the recognition, not so that they can get

00:17:23.920 donations, not even so that they can get rescued, but so that they can have our prayers.

00:17:28.440 I think a lot of times the American church or the Western church is very inward focused. We

00:17:32.760 oftentimes think of ourselves as the missionary church that we're sending people out to far-off

00:17:38.040 nations. When in reality, we need the witness of the persecuted church. We need the stories of the

00:17:44.740 bold Christians who are laying down their life for Christ. Because as we stand with the persecuted

00:17:50.480 church, as we're their voice, as we pray for them, we can be encouraged and emboldened by their bold

00:17:55.760 witness. So we know through scripture that when one member of the body of Christ suffers, we all suffer.

00:18:01.260 So we are in no way separated or isolated from our brothers and sisters. They need our prayers.

00:18:06.300 They need our voice, our advocacy, and we need their witness and their boldness.

00:18:11.440 Amen to that. And something you said earlier, that what, you know, I know talking to the other

00:18:18.220 person, what would we care in the West about, you know, Christians over there? Because we're all over 1.00

00:18:23.080 here. We're actually closer to those brothers and sisters in Christ than we are to our own neighbors

00:18:29.200 if they're not sharing the faith with us. Because we are united in Christ in a way that's more real

00:18:34.860 than being related by blood. So let us pray for our brothers and sisters. Let's see them and

00:18:41.360 recognize them. Gia, thank you so much for what you're doing. Thank you so much, John Henry.

00:18:45.980 And God bless you. And God bless all of you. And we'll see you next time.

00:18:49.680 Hi, everyone. This is John Henry Weston. We hope you enjoyed this program. To see more like it,

00:19:02.080 be sure to hit the subscribe button below to get all the latest content from LifeSite News. Check

00:19:07.000 the links in the description to read more and connect with us on social media so that you can

00:19:11.100 stay up to date with all the latest life, family, faith, and freedom news. Thanks for watching,

00:19:15.720 and may God bless you.

The John-Henry Westen Show - September 21, 2022

Christians in the West must 'stand strong' or risk losing religious freedoms： humanitarian activist

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