Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Compliments of the season. May the grace of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ be with you in all its fullness and power. I know some of you may be wondering why a person with a non-Christian sounding name has taken the unusual step to write to the British Christian community during this Christmas season. Before you ponder any further, please lend me (a dreg of humanity) your ears.

I hereby declare my bona fide. My name is Ahmed Olayinka Sule. I am a sinner (in fact the chief of all sinners) who has been saved by Grace in JESUS. I was born into a Muslim family and had my Damascus Road conversion experience during my high school years. Shortly after my conversion, I rejected Christ and did not turn back to God until 2000. I acknowledge that I am unworthy to write this letter to the church for two reasons. First, I am not a man of the collar, so I may not be well grounded in theology and second, there is nothing good in my sinful nature as the things that what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate I do. So I apologize in advance if anything I say appears to be more worldly than spiritual.

In today’s Britain, the British church is under siege. Although the attack on the church may not be as severe as in other countries where Christians are killed and maimed, nevertheless, the British Christian community is facing its most challenging season in living memory. Partly due to political correctness, Britain’s racial past and present and the gradual secularization of the society, British Christians are coming under increasing attack from different segments of British society including but not limited to the media, the government, the judiciary, employers, professional bodies and the general public.

Christians in Britain are continuously seeing their religious freedoms taken away from them. They have been subjected to persecution because of their commitment to the Master, Jesus Christ. Many Christians are being discriminated at work because of their faith. In 2006, Nadia Eweida, an employee of British Airways was suspended for wearing a silver cross on her neck and refusing to conceal it. One then wonders why an employee could be suspended for wearing a symbol of her faith, when other employees can pin a badge of their favorite premiership club onto their jacket lapel. In another instance, a judge told a Christian doctor who was suspended at work (for emailing a prayer request to his colleague), that it is ‘inappropriate’ to say he is a Christian at work. Early this year, The General Medical Council gave a Christian doctor an official warning because he shared his faith with a patient. At a hearing in the European Court of Human Rights in 2012, the UK Government lawyers urged the human rights judges to reject a religious discrimination case brought by four Christians. The UK Government lawyers argued that Christians might have to forgo their jobs if they want to express their religious freedoms at work.

A group of Christians in Gloucester were prevented by the City Council from distributing Christian literature, while in 2008, the Oxford Council dropped the word “Christmas” from the city’s 2008 celebration— an act so ridiculous that even leaders from other faiths had to object to such an act. In Camden, the local authorities instructed a Roman Catholic group to remove the words  ‘Christian’ and ‘God’ from a religious event on climate change.

In the media, Christians are often portrayed negatively. They are stereotyped as inflexible, hostile and unintelligent. According to David Blevins, a former news correspondent, Christians get negative news coverage based on a largely anti-Christian ideology. A former head of the BBC admitted that BBC would never mock Muhammad like how it mocks Jesus, while a Roger Bolton, a former BBC radio presenter said that the UK TV elite assumes that Christians are lunatics.

Christians in the UK are also increasingly being subjected to violent attacks. According to a report published by the Christian Institute, between May 2008 and May 2009, there were more than twenty arson attacks on UK churches, which were reported in the press.  Vicars have also been attacked in different parts of the UK. An organization sponsored by Ecclesiastical Insurance reported that vicars are subjected to more physical attacks than other professionals such as GPs and probation officers. Another report published by the Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians in Europe stated that 95 percent of religiously motivated targets in Scotland were committed against Christians. A 2006 survey carried out on 90 clergymen revealed that around 50 percent of the respondents said that they had been attacked in the previous year. A couple of days ago, a darts fan was kicked out of a darts competition because the fans felt that he ‘looked like Jesus’.

One of the key champions in the persecution of the church is the UK Government. Over the years, the government has proposed a number of legislations that negatively impact Christians. For instance, a couple of years ago, the government proposed an Incitement To Religious Hatred legislation, which would have criminalized religious debate. Under the proposed regulation, a Christian could have been arrested for saying: “Jesus, is the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to God except through him”. Eventually, the vote for the bill was defeated in Parliament by one vote. Recently, Prime Minister David Cameron expressed his desire for churches in England and Wales to be allowed to conduct same-sex marriage ceremonies. This created a lot of uproar and a couple of days later, the Government announced that gay weddings in the Churches of England and Wales would be explicitly banned under new laws on same-sex marriage. A couple of months earlier, the Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg had to withdraw comments in a speech in which he called opponents of same sex marriages ‘bigots’.

As King Solomon once said: “there is nothing new under the sun”. Throughout the vestige of time, people of faith have been mocked, arrested, beaten, maimed and killed for their beliefs.  From Scriptures, we read how Daniel was thrown into a den of lions because he chose to worship God; from Scriptures, we read how the three young men were thrown into fire because they refused to bow down to the gods of Babylon; from scriptures, we read how Paul was flogged 40 times minus one because he decided to spread the Good News; from scriptures, we read how Peter was thrown into jail for declaring the Lordship of Jesus; from history, we read how Christian martyrs were torn to pieces by wild beasts at the Roman Coliseum; from scriptures, we read how our Lord and Saviour was mocked, arrested, beaten, maimed and killed because he said that he was the son of God.

Since British Christians find themselves in a society that is increasingly hostile to Christians, what are they to do? Where do we go from here? Do we pick up our bags and leave the UK? Do we succumb to the pressure? Should we abandon our faith? Or should we just fold our arms and do nothing? As we continue to face persecution, there are a number of things that the Christian community should do.

Pray: Christians must and should continue to be spiritually sharpened by devoting time for intense praying and fasting. This should be the starting point, as things need to be sorted out in the spiritual realm before:

a) We begin to see the physical manifestation and

b) Try to act in the physical realm.

We face challenging times and the Master has told us in his Word the importance of prayer and fasting. We should pray for God to give us the grace to endure the persecution taking place and the persecution that is to come. We should also pray for our political leaders that God should touch their hearts. We should also pray for those who despise and persecute us as our Master taught us. We must pray that the atmosphere in Britain becomes more conducive for Christians to operate. Like our Lord and Master, we should also pray: “Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from us. Yet we want your will to be done, not ours.”

Unite: As the saying goes: “united we stand and divided we fall.” It is time for the church to be united, after all, we all have one thing in common i.e. we are followers of Jesus Christ. We must stop the “I follow Paul; I follow Apollos” attitude. At the moment, there is so much division in the church. We have the Black church, the White church, the evangelicals, the Church of England, the Catholic Church, the liberals, the conservatives etc.  Very often, the government plays on this division knowing that when it comes up with a controversial policy impacting the church that there will be people within the church community that would support the governments view even if it were detrimental to the body of Christ. What then should be the basis of our unity? There can only be one basis of unity and that is the WORD OF GOD. We should all align behind God’s Word. There should also be regular dialogue among the various segments of the churches and from time to time, the churches should gather together for a time of prayer like they did in September at Wembley Stadium during the National Day of Prayer and Worship.

Engage With Others: There are certain aspects of government’s policies that affect not only Christians negatively, but also people of other faiths such as those practicing Islam and Judaism. We could consider reaching out and co-operating with our Muslim and Jewish brothers and sisters on areas of mutual interest.

Evangelize: One reason why there is a lot of hostility towards Christians is becausemany people do not understand what true Christianity is really about. They have been fed with what they read in the newspaper and watch on television. By evangelizing effectively, we can kill two birds with one stone. First and more importantly, we will be able to populate the Kingdom of God as we spread the good news to all in accordance with the Great Commission and win converts for Christ. Second, as more people join the faith, the government is likely to take into consideration the consequence of alienating potential Christian voters through its anti-Christian policies.

Get Our Acts Together: For the church to be taken seriously, it is important that certain issues within our community are addressed. There are a number of instances in which some sections of the body of Christ have diverted from the teachings of Jesus Christ. For instance, some so-called men of God have used the pulpit to enrich themselves to the detriment of their congregations. Some churches have refrained from investing in the communities in which they operate and rather have used their charitable status to enrich the founders/church leaders. In some churches, children have been branded as “witches” and have subsequently been subjected to physical and psychological torture. Furthermore, the manipulation of Scriptures for the benefit of the spiritual leaders of some of our churches needs to be discontinued.   These activities by “wolves in sheep clothing” often posing as church leaders have been widely reported in the press and this in turn makes the public hostile to the church. To get our acts together, we once again have to align ourselves with the teachings of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Deal With Conflicts Between the Word of God and the Law of the Land: When asked about whether it is right to pay taxes to the ruler at the time, Jesus responded saying these words which have stood the test of time: “”Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.”  A couple of years after Jesus said these immortal words, Apostle Paul of Tarsus said: “Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established.”  Does this therefore mean that we should obey the law of the land even if it conflicts with the law of God? Are we to disobey God’s Word all in the name of meeting the requirements of Government laws? Absolutely not.

Very often, the law of the Land aligns with the Word of God. For instance in Britain, it is a crime to commit fraud, it is a crime to steal, it is a crime to murder a person. The requirements in the Word of God are of a higher requirement than that of the law of the land. For example, the Word of God tells us that we should love our enemies and pray for those who ill-treat us. It also tells us that we should not retaliate and that “If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.” The teachings of our Lord and Saviour Jesus are such that if adopted by the nations on earth, there is no doubt that the world would be a better place.

So back to the issue of a conflict between the two laws—in this event, as Christians, when the law of the land is in alignment with the Word of God, we should and must obey the law of the land; when the law of the land does not contradict the Word of God, we should and must obey the law of the land; however when the law of the land contravenes the Word of God, then we SHOULD and MUST obey the WORD OF GOD and DISOBEY THE LAW OF THE LAND. However, we must bear in mind that as we disobey the law of the land in order to obey the Word of God, we must also be prepared to pay the price and face the music for such disobedience. The Master made it very clear that whoever wants to follow him must carry his/her cross. Perhaps now is the time for us to be like Simon of Cyrene and carry our cross.

As we opt to stand by the Word of God, we are likely to be called names, thrown into prison, lose our possessions, our jobs and our friends, be made bankrupt and if possible be killed. But even if we are killed for standing on the Word of God, so be it. We must be like Daniel and be ready to be thrown into the lions den for refusing to obey the decree of King Darius; We must be like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and be ready to say to King Nebuchadnezzar: “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand.  But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up”; We must be like John the Baptist and be ready to be beheaded for saying to King Herod: “It is not lawful for you to have her”; We must be like Esther and be ready to say: “I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.”

Our church leaders must be prepared to lead the march and the laity should be prepared to follow the leaders into prisons and while we are locked up for obeying the Word of God, we will transform the prisons from a “dungeon of shame” to a “cathedral of worship”.

Conclusion

As Christians in Britain, we are living in challenging times, but perhaps we need these challenges to wake us up from our complacency. A flip through the pages of church history reveals that very often, church persecution sometimes coincides with church growth. We do not know how the current hostility against the church in Britain will end, but as Christians, we should hope for the best and be prepared for the worst. We should however always have at the back of our minds the words of the Master: “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”

Selah.

I wish all of you a very wonderful and prosperous year ahead and may the name of our Lord, Saviour and Master, Jesus Christ be glorified today, tomorrow and forevermore.

Have a merry Christmas and a blessed holiday.

Happy holidays.

Ahmed Olayinka Sule, CFA

December 2012

CC