Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Ministry founder: U.S. Christians 'absolutely not prepared' for persecution

The founder of Gospel for Asia says while persecution is increasing worldwide for Christians, he believes it will soon impact believers in America-and K.P. Yohannan says they need to get ready for it.Persecution against Christians is increasing worldwide, especially in countries such as India, where attacks on churches and Christians by Hindu extremists have increased dramatically.In fact, when missionaries graduate from Gospel for Asia (GFA) Bible colleges, they are told to expect persecution-and perhaps even death-for spreading the gospel.According to GFA founder K.P. Yohannan, Christians in those countries expect such treatment and are prepared when the tough times come.But he believes Christians in America will soon be faced with persecution as well-and he is fearful that many are not ready."The great falling-away from faith could be worst here in America because people are absolutely not prepared to face suffering or persecution-because we cannot imagine a gospel with the cross and the suffering in it," says Yohannan."Yet the Bible teaches very strong about it. So as the Word of God says: He who has ears, let him hear."The ministry leader is convinced that prosperity has caused many Christians in America to focus on material possessions instead of surrendering all to Christ.The result, he says, is that American Christians have become "very naïve" in thinking that real persecution will never come their way."These are warning signs," he exclaims."God is telling us that we need to prepare our lives. And preachers going around saying that revival is coming, and everything is okay, and all these things? I think that people are being set up for huge disaster and denying their faith when they face problems."It is estimated that more than 16,000 Christians are martyred worldwide each year for their faith.

As in the days of Noah....

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