BookPastor >> "Circumcised Heart" (Hilmy Nor)

TITLE: Circumcised Heart
AUTHOR: Hilmy Nor
PUBLISHER: KL: Kairos Research Center, 1999, (102 pages).

This is a story of a courageous man (A Malay Muslim who embraced the Christian faith in Malaysia) who despite the odds, is able to remain faithful to the calling he had felt given by God. It is a story of how Nor gradually grows from fear to faith. As a successful marketing executive with Shell Petroleum company, a huge multinational corporation in Malaysia, the author shares about how his step of faith to embrace Christianity resulted in so many different kinds of persecutions and prosecutions. With one blatant expression of faith, he becomes a target by religious authorities in Malaysia. He was jailed for 14 months for his faith under the charge of being a threat to the internal security of the country. His career suffered a premature end. Instead of giving in to the accusations and charges of Operation Lallang, he remained steadfast to the end. Eventually upon release, in 1997 he headed to Regent College in Canada to study theology, ten years after he was arrested, humiliated, tortured, and jailed in a Malaysian prison. Instead of being squashed, his faith grew. Instead of harbouring bitterness for the guards who humiliated him, he extends love and prayed for them. Instead of becoming down and out, he learns to look up to God. Instead of stopping his involvement in the Christian Church scene, he went into full time ministry. This is a story of how faith in a Muslim country does not come easy especially during the fateful year in 1987.

This book shows us that we cannot take faith for granted. We cannot assume that the freedom we have now will remain unchanged. We need to pray for our persecuted brethren all over the world, both known and unknown. For with every one story told and published like this, there are countless others that remain unseen, unnoticed, unpublished and unknown. For such, the plain comfort is this: God knows. Lest readers begin to point fingers at authorities or powers around Nor, note that the author emphatically writes:

"This book is not about external power plays, nor rights, nor negotiations, nor justice. This book is about what happens inside an ordinary man when suddenly he is confined, cut off from everyday life, and bereft of all that is dear. It is about growth of a human spirit through the grace of God." (3)

Read this book to learn about how despite intense persecutions, the author is able to go through it all with his faith tested but remained intact to this day.

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BookPastor >> "The Privilege of Persecution"

This book review was first published at "Panorama of a Book Saint" on April 11, 2011.

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TITLE: THE PRIVILEGE OF PERSECUTION (and other things the global church knows that we don't)
AUTHORS: Carl Moeller & David W. Hegg
PUBLISHER: Moody Press, 2011, (160 pages).

[This book is an advanced reader copy. The final copy released may be subject to change.]

Some books convey ideas. Other books try to convince readers to change. This book goes a step further to convict readers so much so that they will re-consider and re-align their lives back toward what it means to be salt and light of the world. This book does two things well:

1. It reveals a faith of the persecuted (global) church that grows stronger with determination in the midst of persecution and restriction/control of religious practices;
2. It admonishes the faith of a comfortable church that grows fatter with complacency in the midst of freedom.

In a hard-hitting rebuke at the modern Western Church, the authors compare and contrast the difference between the free church in the Western hemisphere, to the persecuted Church in the rest of the world. The key thesis of the book is that every church in the world is a persecuted church. The only difference lies in the TYPE of persecution.

"Like the church in the West, it (the global church) is composed of human believers who sin and struggle with their own personal and cultural baggage. It's just that our bags don't look alike." (17)

One then ought to see persecution as a privilege because it helps one affirm one's faith even more.

Persecution in Silence

Living in the West, it is so easy to talk about human rights. As champions of democracy and free speech, people are up in arms every time *ANYTHING* is said about discrimination or unfair treatment. Whether it is racial profiling, sex orientation, or treatment of the various age groups, the general public will speak out against any unjust treatment. While the general reactions are predictable, it can only happen when people know about it. If discrimination of undemocratic actions are not reported or under-reported, there will be silence. How can anyone do anything about things that they do not know? For example, the OccupyVancouver movement is part of a movement that has generated a lot of media publicity. When this happens, public eyes scrutinize the words and actions of the authorities, the police, and anyone who speaks about it. When I see the dedications of the protesters and the reactions from the public, on one hand, it is good for these people to stand up for their convictions. On the other hand, when compared to other more gross violations of human rights, it gives us a different perspective of life altogether. It is like complaining about not getting the right kind of mineral water when others have NO water at all.

Christian killed for his faith.
(Photo Credit: faithfreedom.org)

When I read this news today about Somali women suffering in silence, I am really sad. These women have been persecuted by their own communities simply because they choose a different faith. For some of them, because they convert to Christianity, their husbands divorce them. Others suffer physical abuse and violence. Some lose all of their possessions including their children who were snatched away from them. The violence is also against men who become Christians. One story tells about a man whose fingers were chopped off when it was discovered he changed his faith. 

Our Deafening Silence and Selective Protests

I look at the fierce protesters outside the Vancouver Art Gallery vigorously protesting against the 'top 1%' who are profiting at the expense of the other 99%. I ask: "What do you have to say about these Somalian Christians who have lost everything simply because they embrace a different faith? Is that none of your concern?"

I look at the barrage of accusations against religious institutions, where people condemn sexual abuses, ecclesiastical authority, and the negativity toward institutions. I ask: "What about the crimes against believers or people who have a right to believe? Are you going to be silent and only speak up for atheists or secularists?"

I look at the readiness in the media to highlight the political scandals, the ethical problems in the West, where editors, commentators, and writers condemn with the full force of the pen the shortcomings of their own leaders. I ask: "Why are you so relatively quiet when it comes to persecutions of the weak and vulnerable in the other parts of the world?"

I think the accusations of hypocrisy ought to be pointed back at all of us. We are all guilty of being hypocrites at various ways. We are all guilty of overestimating our rights and underplaying our responsibilities. Reflecting on life in the West, I think we must be humble to acknowledge that the peace and lifestyle we have cannot be taken for granted. We need to learn to speak up not just for our own rights in our lands. We need to speak up for all. Christians, do not just speak up for Christians, speak up for all. Secularists, do not just speak up for your cause, speak up for all. Atheists, the same applies apply to all. Our common denominator is being human. Let us speak up for all humans. 

Those who condemn Christians for whatever version of faith they have must also be ready to fight for Christians who are persecuted. Those who criticize the Church as being a place of hypocrites need to look at themselves whether they too are hypocrites in their own lives. Those who speak up for the injustices in the West need to make sure that their fight is not limited to the West, but to other parts of the world. If we scream and shout for our rights to assemble in a public space, why are we silent when Christians in Somalia are deprived of their basic right to believe in a religion?

One of these ways is to publicize the atrocities and the injustice happening not just in our own lands, but in any part of the world. This blog post is one small way to do that. My challenge to anyone in the West, vigorous protesting about injustice in the West, maybe it is time to look at the bigger picture that the world is bigger than the West. There are bigger more pressing issues of poverty, persecution, and disgusting levels of inhumane acts. In other words, when you protest loudly for a small infringement, make sure you protest LOUDER for a large crime. Make your volume of protests fit the 'crime.' When one starts to see that the poverty in other lands is so much more pathetic, one starts to realize that the inconveniences we have in our affluent world are really nothing. 

conrade