Let me just have a talk about some of the ethnic wars. In 1913, the Armenians were killed by the Turks. They're still in denial about it - more than a million people, and they were crucified! They were tortured! They were sold into slavery! They were put to death! That was all ethnic and religious. It was radical Islam against Christians.
In 1941 the Nazis and the Jews - millions killed, an ethnic war. In 1947, in Kashmir - Indians, Pakistanis, ethnic war. In 1978 in Afghanistan, ethnic war; 1991 in Somalia, still going on; 1997 Rwanda, some of you would remember the Hutu and the Tutsi, and the millions that were slaughtered. What was it all about? It's tribal ethnic wars. Millions killed, slain. Iraq, 2003. Sudan is still in turmoil right now, in poverty and turmoil, and it's religious and ethnic wars.
In Nigeria, most people don't know what's going on in Nigeria, but you may have heard of Boko Haram? Boko Haram is a word meaning literally, against western education. It's radical Islamists, and they're against Christians. They're against people of other tribes and groups - and they're killing them, every week. Every week, people are being killed. If you get the right access to the right news and find out what's happening in the globe, you'll find out what's going on - and so this is happening.
In North Korea, people were shot just for having a Bible, and so it goes on. China has got the greatest wave of persecution against religious freedom right now, and against ethnic minorities. They've literally got internment camps, with more than a million people, Uighurs from the northern area. They say it's ‘re-education’, but it's a prison camp.
Right now, the persecution against the church has increased, right across China, right now. Even the organised church, the Three-Self Church, even that is suffering right now. They want the 10 Commandments taken down, and they want their doctrine of the Chinese Communist Party up there instead. They want the Chinese Communist Party to be God in the nation, so no other God is acceptable.
This is like in Nebuchadnezzar's day, when they put up the big image, and said: everyone must worship it; but three men stood up and said: “we won't”; and God redeemed them, and saved them, and promoted them.
In Somalia, Libya, Iraq, and right across the Middle East… Look at what's happened there - all the ethnic wars that have been going on, in our time - millions killed and displaced. This is in our day, that this is happening. This is happening now.
In Hebrews 13, it tells us not to ignore the suffering that's going on in other nations, among the family of God. Amen!
Currently, Christians are the most persecuted religious group in the whole world right now. There are more people killed for faith in Christ now, than at any time in history. In China, they are paying people to report the ones they know are Christians. You understand? This is not to just shock you. It's just to make you aware, this is a sign of the times - just one of the signs!
The next sign I want to share is, a worldwide hatred against Christians.
There are ethnic wars, and pandemics. There are earthquakes; and the frequency of earthquakes seems to me, to be bigger, and we're far more aware of earthquakes - major earthquakes now, shaking up nations all over the earth. The issue of the Covid is something we've never seen in our lifetime, of a whole world pretty much being shut down. These are all signs leading to something. They're all the ‘birth pains’, and these are all these natural signs.
Jesus said: that's only the beginning! If you can't handle the footmen, how are you going to handle the horses? If you're upset by little stuff now, how are you going to handle the big stuff, when it comes?
The reason that God brings our attention to all of this, is so we can prepare. It's all to prepare the church. I love it! So, there's a spirit of hatred being released, right across the world, to all who follow Christ - and it's horrendous! If you make a stand for Christ, for Christian values, for godly marriage, for purity - if you build your life around those things, you are now a target. There is a spirit of hatred released, right through the world, against Christians and followers of Christ. It's the rise of an antichrist spirit. I read an article, and it said there were relentless persecutions against Christians, in over 140 countries in the world - imprisoned, tortured, enslaved, raped, sold into slavery, sold into forced marriages, all kinds of things. It's happening now!