‘It’s a different world’: Inside the horror of Christian persecution

By Billy Hallowell (Pureflix), Pureflix.com Sunday, July 14, 2019

The battle over the separation of church and state continues to rage in the United States, but David Curry, CEO of Open Doors USA, wants American Christians to know what persecution is like in other areas of the globe — and it’s a pretty shocking paradigm.

“It’s a different world,” Curry said in a recent interview on “The Pure Flix Podcast,” noting the intensity of the persecution in some countries. “What it can do for us, though, is to inform us and we can learn a lot from these people in these countries in our own walk. As such, I think they treasure scripture more.”

He continued, “They believe in worship together and church more — to be able to get together and talk about Jesus in safety and to let your kids go to church and learn are the kind of things that we so devalue in some ways and we can learn a lot from them.”

Listen to Curry discuss the shocking realities on the ground in Nigeria:

Curry explained that the fate of Christians in northern Nigeria is especially dire. Nigeria has an estimated 91 million Christians. There has been a rise in Christian persecution in the last decade, with an average of 10 Christians a day being killed for their faith.

“There are these Islamic terrorist groups with safe haven in the north and the government has done little to nothing to root them out,” he said. “That makes the north of Nigeria one of the most dangerous places for Christians.”

There has been an attack against Christian churches or groups at least once every two weeks, Curry said. One of the most recent occurred on May 18 where Islamic extremists attacked a choir practice; 17 members are still being held captive.

“We don’t know who is alive and who is not. The women are either forced into marriage to jihadists — under Shariah law there is often nothing they can do to get those individuals back — they are ransomed to raise money for terrorist activity or they are killed,” Curry said. There are a number of things that can happen and none of them are good. This is the kind of thing that happens in the north of Nigeria.”

Despite the attacks and Christian persecution, Curry said Nigerian Christians are living out their faith in amazing and inspiring ways.

“Their life is stripped down to the basics and they decide what is the most important. And it comes down to their spiritual life and that piece you get from scripture and wisdom to help you live every day, even in these really hard circumstances, especially in these really hard circumstances,” he said. “I think it’s really critical. You can find these folks that are held captive for a long time and you see their faith walk grow despite [the fact that] they have been stripped of every comfort.”

Listen to the rest of the interview with Curry to learn more about Christian persecution around the world. And for more inspiring stories of faith and perseverance, be sure to check in to the Pure Flix Insider blog.

This article was originally published on Pure Flix Insider. Visit Pure Flix for access to thousands of faith and family-friendly movies and TV shows. You can get a free, one-month trial here.

Billy Hallowell, author of "The Armageddon Code," has contributed to TheBlaze, the Washington Post, Human Events, the Daily Caller, Mediaite, and the Huffington Post, among other news sites. Through journalism, media, public speaking appearances, and the blogosphere, Hallowell has worked as a journalist and commentator for more than a decade.