Article 156: Is it going to be a problem? (Part -1)

"Hey, what's going on in your country?  The government is trying to ban the evangelistic work?" Said Ben.

"Yes, today (April 12th) is the last day for Nepali people to send their responses to the proposed bill on criminal offense, especially section 9, article 156." I replied to him.

"What do you think? Is it going to be a problem? You don’t seem to be excited, brother" said Ben

"Well, I wonder how it is going to happen!  We are praying for Nepal."  My voice sounded discharged, and Ben could read my face as well.

Ben just looked at his feet and said to me. "You know Janak, persecution starts, churches flourish.  Persecution starts, churches awake. When government stands against God's work, you see miracles more than ever before.  That's what Church history says to us. That does not mean I want the government of Nepal to ban the work of the gospel.  I hope and pray that the churches in Nepal would draw their attention more to heaven than to parliament's door."

Ben's thought would not let me rest.  I just pondered what he was saying.  I am sure that Nepali churches are doing the same thing.  We are not just stuck at hunger strikes, or at the meetings and conferences, also we are kneeling and seeking God's will to be done in and through Nepal.  

We have been wondering how it is going to happen if the government passes the bill that has been purposed at the legislature Parliament of Nepal.  I am sure that it is not going to be an easy way once they succeeded in passing the integration and amendment of existing laws on criminal Act -2071.  I would not want such a situation to take place in the country.  As a Christian citizen of Nepal, I wrote an email to the legislature parliament on why the government of Nepal should not pass the bill.  I stand here with solidarity towards Nepali Christians and God's interest.  Arguments from Christian Graduate Fellowship were reasonable. Thanks for the CBS, CGF, NBCBS friends for their initiative. All the churches in Nepal are praying at the moment.  FCCN is also writing up a memorandum and letter to the chief district offices and trying to threaten hunger strikes if their demands are not met. Hindu groups are threatening to the government with similar kinds of protest if the government does not listen to their demands.  I sometimes wonder, what our Lord would have done, had He been here in Nepal.

I would like to trace out some of the glimpses of the history and see what legacy we could draw from it. How did the early Christian church survive? The church was considered illegal ( a religio prava).  The meetings took place in homes.  The first actual church building to be found is at Dura Europos on the Euphrates, dating about 231 AD.  However the churches flourished from north to south and east to west. No power could overcome the growth of the Kingdom.

In Sevaste (present day Turkey), forty Christian solder's bodies were bruised, their skins were tattered and their blood flowed just because that they refused to offer sacrifices by emperor Licinus.  What happened after that?  There were hundreds of people who opened their hearts to Jesus. God can turn persecution into blessing! But it is sad that Jim Eliot had to die in Ecuador by the hand of cannibals. But God chose this as the opening door for the mission in the lives of those people so that many more people from those tribes could turn to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

John Piper says that persecution can have harmful effects on the church. But prosperity, it seems, is even more devastating to the mission to which God calls us. (…to be continued)