CHAPTER 31
Brother Andrew
Brother Andrew was the founder of Open Doors International and wrote the book God’s Smuggler. His ministry strengthens the persecuted church, sustaining indigenous Christians in hostile lands so that they can continue to spread the gospel to the majority around them.
My last meeting with Iranian pastor Haik Hovsepian-Mehr was especially memorable. For many years he had served as a shepherd for the churches in Iran, always declaring the gospel wisely but openly. As we parted, we shook hands and he said to me, “Brother Andrew, when they kill me, it will be for speaking and not for being silent.” He said, “When.” He did not say “if.” He knew he would be killed. The next month he was murdered. He had suffered for his faith for years. He was killed for his faithfulness to declare it. He was a rare and precious man, but he was not alone. There are millions of beleaguered Christians living in areas where their faith costs them greatly. It costs them the most when they proclaim their faith.
As they suffer with Christ, they become the message by saying, “I am willing to die for Him and I’m willing to die for you because that is what He did!”
I’m convinced that we are living in the most cruel period of history. More people suffer for Christ’s name than in any other generation. As Christians who are not under such persecution, we must find any way that we can to help our persecuted brothers and sisters. They need us more than ever—our presence, our encouragement, our support, our teaching, our fellowship, and perhaps more than anything else, our prayers.
Our prayers are crucial because our best praying will move us into our best action. I’m reminded of another man who prayed for God’s suffering people. This man was Nehemiah. Nehemiah belonged to a small Jewish minority group living in what is now Iran. He was a man of good standing and high position, with relatives living in extremely difficult circumstances. Receiving news of the desperate situation in Jerusalem, he sat down and wept for many days. Hearing the need, he took it as a call to act.
He spoke up for God’s people in high government circles, as we need to do. He was bold with sustained service for a beleaguered people, as we need to be. His prayer shows us a way to pray with passion and we need to pray now more than ever.
The plight of God’s people in Jerusalem in that day is similar to the suffering that Christians endure in many lands today. Nehemiah heard of the temple in ruins and of God’s name being defiled. There are lands where God’s household has suffered so severely for so many generations that the church no longer exists there. I have sometimes referred to this suffering church as “the vanished church.” And there are other places where there has never been a church. When new churches are planted in these places, they are sure to suffer. How will we respond to the report of God’s people being broken, imprisoned, enslaved, beaten, cold, and hungry?
Nehemiah’s response was amazing: Even though he was a man of action, and a welltrained administrator, he fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.
The passion of his prayer is even more important than his petition. Three aspects of his passion in prayer worth noting are
- his zeal for the glory of God,
- love for his people, and
- counting his own life as nothing.
Nehemiah reminded God of His promise to gather His people from all over the world to worship His name openly (Neh 1:8–9). Zeal for the glory and name of Jesus should also be our motivation. For how many of us is this true? Do we pray for the glory of God’s name, or do we pray only for ourselves?
As Christians who are not under such persecution, we must find any way that we can to help our persecuted brothers and sisters.
Nehemiah identified with his people. He had a fairly comfortable position. The problems weren’t of his own doing. But he identified so greatly with the whole family of God’s people that he prayed on their behalf as if he had been responsible for their predicament. That sense of responsibility spurred him into action. Do we put on sackcloth like Nehemiah, for the sins of our people, our church? Or do we wash our hands in innocence and pass the blame to politicians and church leaders?
Nehemiah’s compassion moved him to action because he identified with the suffering people as if they were his own family. He also identified himself as a servant of God. He knew that to serve God you must serve people. He didn’t shirk from being in touch with people and having compassion for them.
After an appeal for the glory of God and acknowledgment of his own guilt and that of his family and people, he at last gets around to the request: “Oh, Lord, let me find favor with the king.” Nehemiah was laying his life on the line by pleading with this heathen king for Jerusalem and the Jewish people.
What was Nehemiah afraid of? What are Christians in Iran, Iraq, Egypt, and Pakistan afraid of? They fear the leader of their country, who by definition is of a different faith, and who can suppress the Christian minority with impunity. We learn from Nehemiah that in such countries, we should pray for favor in the eyes of that leader.
Let’s pray that Christian leaders in Iran—and all the other countries—will find favor with the people in power. We can ask that boldly, because every leader in power is accountable to God, whether in a Muslim country, communist China, or a so-called Christian country.
When we ask for favor with the leaders of regimes hostile to the gospel, we position ourselves well to express God’s favor upon them. The Bible clearly teaches that the only solution is forgiveness and reconciliation. When I visited a Christian town totally destroyed in one night by a wild Muslim mob, leaving between ten to twenty thousand Christians homeless, having seen all their possessions destroyed, we had a big gathering of Christians and Muslims and we spoke about forgiveness and reconciliation.
We should pray for favor boldly, but not presumptuously. In many cases, God allows an even greater witness for His glory in which God displays His own favor, as He did in the case of Stephen, whose last words repeated Christ’s last words of forgiveness (Luke 23:34; Acts 7:60). The story of Nehemiah is not simple. Even with the leader expressing favor, Nehemiah endured years of opposition. We should not expect something easy. We should pursue what is worthy, whatever the cost.
We can only pray like Nehemiah if we have the attitude of Nehemiah: first, zeal for the glory of God, then, deep compassion desiring the well-being of the people. And then with Esther’s attitude (Esth 4:16), we leave the rest up to God: “If I perish, I perish.” 