Document: pub/resources/text/breakpoint: BPT.94.04.01.TXT ------------------------------------------------------ Note: Prison Fellowship has recently asked that email transmission of the BreakPoint commentaries be suspended until they decide how they wish to proceed with that matter. However, I have been given permission to email special noncommentary items like fact sheets and urgent announcements. Write me for the recent posts about transmitting BreakPoint over email. You have my permission to forward these posts ONLY if you are being sensitive to and respectful of the recipients' views and you KNOW that these posts will not be a threat to or abuse of their ideals, only if the copyright notice (if present) is retained, and only if there is no profit involved. If you've missed a post, you may get it from the USENET newsgroup bit.listserv.christia. This is an UNOFFICIAL transcript made from the radio broadcast. Mistakes in it are mine, not Mr Colson's nor Prison Fellowship's. Comments, corrections, questions are welcome; send to . * Friday, April 1, 1994 BREAKPOINT with Chuck Colson The day of Christian martyrs is not over. Just weeks ago more than two thousand people gathered in the country of Iran to mourn the death of a great Christian leader - Bishop Pike Obsepian Mayor. The Bishop was apparently murdered by Iranian authorities. But if the Muslim government in Iran thinks this is the way to wipe Christianity out of their country, they're making a serious mistake. The Cross of Christ which we celebrate on this Good Friday, teaches us that when the Church is persecuted, it only grows stronger. When the seeds of the gospel are buried they blossom ever more brightly. >From the day Bishop Pike entered the ministry he endured frequent persecution. His Assembly of God church was attacked several times by radical Islamic groups who threw rocks through the windows and tried to burn the building down. Bishop Pike himself was arrested repeatedly, threatened, and harassed. Yet his ministry thrived. The number of churches under his authority grew from 7 to 12. After the Iranian revolution in 1979, evangelical churches suffered even harsher persecution. Foreign missionaries were expelled from the country. Bible courses by correspondence were cut off. All publication of Bibles and Christian literature was stopped. The Islamic government even made it a capital crime to convert from Islam to any other religion. In other words, becoming a Christian could mean the death penalty. And still the Christian church in Iran thrived. The number of Muslim converts grew from only 300 in 1977 to more than 7,500 today with many more Iranian Christians dispersed around the globe. Bishop Pike's path to martyrdom began last year when he appealed to the United Nations regarding human rights abuses against Iran's evangelical Christians - imprisonment, torture, and even execution. When the UN investigated, the Iranian authorities tried to polish up their image by pressuring all non-Muslim churches to sign a document affirming that they do enjoy religious freedom. They were also pressured to pledge not to evangelize their Muslim neighbors. The document was nothing but a farce, and a threat, and Bishop Pike refused to sign it. But the Bishop became a real thorn in their side when he protested government persecution of another Assembly of God pastor. That pastors only crime was that he had become a Christian. Yet he had been imprisoned for 10 years and was about to be executed. This time, international outrage was so loud that the Iranian authorities set the pastor free. But just days later, Bishop Pike disappeared. When his family came to identify the body, they saw that he had been stabbed 10 times. No one has claimed responsibility, but Middle East human rights groups are convinced that the Iranian government did away with the troublesome pastor. Iranian Christians are in deep morning over the loss of their Bishop. Yet the message of Good Friday is that the Cross is always followed by resurrection - the seed that is buried will blossom a hundred fold. As Western Christians, let us join today with believers around the world who are suffering for their faith - that we all may grasp the hope of what this day means; that our Lord died on a cross, but that he has risen and He lives. * BreakPoint is copyright (c) 1994 by Prison Fellowship. BreakPoint with Chuck Colson is a daily radio commentary on news and trends from a Christian perspective. Its purpose is to equip listeners with a biblical world view that enables them to contend for truth in modern society. Carried on 250 stations nationwide, it is a ministry of Prison Fellowship. Founded by Chuck Colson in 1976, Prison Fellowship organizes and trains volunteers for a variety of ministries to prisoners, ex-prisoners, their families, and the victims of crime. It also works through volunteer citizen task forces to promote biblical standards of justice in the criminal justice system. BreakPoint is supported by audience donations and by readers who purchase subscriptions to the monthly BreakPoint magazine which contains transcripts of the daily broadcast plus occasional guest commentaries. A one-year subscription of 12 monthly issues costs $35. To subscribe, call BreakPoint at 1-800-995-8777. For information on stations in your area that carry BreakPoint, call Prison Fellowship at 1-800-497-0122 or write them at the address below. Prison Fellowship, PO Box 17500, Washington, D.C. 20041-0500 To talk with Prison Fellowship about emailing BreakPoint write or call: Prison Fellowship (800) 497-0122 PO Box 17500 (703) 478-0100 Washington, DC 20041 (703) 834-3658 fax The unofficial BreakPoint FTP site is ftp.cs.albany.edu:/pub/ault/bp ----------- David S McMeans amUous Mind Puzzles Dayton, OH BreakPoint with Chuck Colson