Walls of water

In the Book of Exodus, Pharaoh was so blinded by his hatred of the Hebrews that while chasing them (in order to slaughter them) he ignored the walls of water on both sides - until it was too late.

I thought about that Bible story because of two events. The first was today, when the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (Uscirf) released its 14th annual report. The report recommended that the State Department officially designate the following countries to be designated a “Country of Concern”:

Burma

China

Egypt

Eritrea

Iran

Iraq

Nigeria

North Korea

Pakistan

Saudi Arabia

North Sudan

Tajikistan

Turkey

Turkmenistan

Uzbekistan

Vietnam

Key quote from the article:

Christians are far from the only religious group persecuted in these countries. But, Christians are the only group persecuted in each and every one of them. This pattern has been found by sources as diverse as the Vatican, Open Doors, Pew Research Center, Newsweek, and The Economist, all of which recently reported that an overwhelming majority of the religiously persecuted around the world are Christians. Globally, this persecution is experienced by all Christian faith traditions from Pentecostal and evangelical to Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Orthodox.

The second event was the recent decision by my hometown newspaper to publish this bombastic editorial. Here are some screenshots just in case the editors suddenly get cold feet and decide to dump it down the memory hole:

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It is safe to say this editorial would keep an army of psychiatrists busy for quite a while dissecting the various paranoiac fears that seem to drive its authors. But the most important thing to remember is that the frightened bigots at The Eagle who wrote the editorial represent the soft and pampered secular progressives that dominate academia and the media in Western countries. The more removed they are from actual oppression and violence, the more likely they are to see it in everyday life - and to try to extract revenge on those who dare to disagree with them. Like Pharaoh, the only thing truly real to them is their hate.

But rather than blindly strike back at their oppressors, Christians should never forget that evil men and women are punished by God in the end. Whatever men (and women) sow in this life they will reap in the next. The bigots and bullies who rage today will eventually tremble before God's holy judgment. Turn the other cheek - and pray that our oppressors will do likewise. This is what God has commanded us to do.