Are we seeing new forms of religious persecution popping up? Did Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sign a law on August 24, 2024 banning the Orthodox Church in Ukraine? Did Rwanda recently shut down over 5,100 churches, including house churches? Was this really about safety or perhaps also politics? Did Rwandan President Paul Kagame state that he is considering implementing a tax on church donations? Did the Nicaraguan government under its President Daniel Noriega change laws on August 22, 2024 that could allow it to impose taxes of up to 30 percent of a church's annual income? Did the Nicaraguan government recently shut does 1,500 non-governmental organizations, including 678 religious associations? Is Burundi causing issues for the churches of God because of some of its rules? Did Jesus prophesy about persecution? Will some Christians be beheaded and others burned according to biblical, as well as Greco-Roman, prophecies? Is economic 666 persecution also prophesied? What should the faithful do? Steve Dupuie and Dr. Thiel address these matters.
A written article of related interest is available titled 'Religious persecuting policies popping up in Ukraine, Rwanda, Nicaragua, and Burundi' URL: https://www.cogwriter.com/news/cog-news/religious-persecuting-policies-popping-up-in-rwanda-nicaragua-and-burundi/
A written article of related interest is available titled 'Religious persecuting policies popping up in Ukraine, Rwanda, Nicaragua, and Burundi' URL: https://www.cogwriter.com/news/cog-news/religious-persecuting-policies-popping-up-in-rwanda-nicaragua-and-burundi/
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00:00Dr. Teal, the Bible speaks of religious persecution, and over the centuries that has been true.
00:14Talk to us about the possibilities of current and future persecutions.
00:18Well, during COVID, we saw a variety of anti-religious regulations enforced by governments around
00:24the world.
00:25Pretty much those are gone, but now we're seeing different types of new persecution
00:29pop up.
00:30For example, this week, the Ukrainian parliament voted to ban what has been the largest religious
00:37organization in that country for political reasons.
00:39And today, when we read this, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a law banning the
00:47Orthodox Church of Ukraine.
00:50And they banned this one, which distanced itself from the Russian Orthodox back in 2018
00:54because they don't trust it, they don't think it's far enough away from Russia.
00:58But they're banning what was the largest religion in that country.
01:02And there's also a trend to put pressure on and basically persecute or ban house churches.
01:08Now, despite them being common in the New Testament, the Book of Romans, Corinthians,
01:13Colossians, and Flyman, these persecutions and regulatory pressures are popping up in
01:19nations whose most of their citizens claim to be Christian.
01:25Now, for example, over in the African nation of Rwanda, they shut down 5,600 churches over
01:31safety violations, supposedly.
01:34And they say this is due to health, safety, and regulatory issues such as inadequate soundproofing.
01:41And they issued a letter saying they're doing an evaluation of the affected faith-based
01:49organizations because they're operating in contravention of existing regulations.
01:55Well, health and safety issues seem to be valid reasons for concern.
02:00What else is there?
02:01Well, that's basically just a pretense.
02:04They're also going out and trying to say that you have to have some formal theological training
02:09for some kind of a document.
02:11Early Christians didn't have that.
02:13And they left out also in terms of their regulations.
02:18Rwanda is requiring that you own a church that has its own land and owns its own building.
02:24So that's got nothing to do with safety.
02:26Now, because of this, we actually had one of our house churches shut down in Rwanda,
02:32but one of them is still around.
02:34And we actually had to go out, send funds in order to buy land in Rwanda this month.
02:42And we're going to probably just send some more funds eventually so they can build on
02:45there.
02:46And that's affecting our ability to go on more radio stations.
02:48But we think the reason this rule is in place is they're worried that terrorists or political
02:54opposition will get together pretending to be religion.
02:57We think maybe that's the reason.
02:59But even more than that, the president of Rwanda seems to have a problem with religion.
03:06Rwandan President Paul Kagame says he wants to put a tax on church donations because he
03:13thinks church preachers are just trying to get money.
03:18He said in his first speech following his recent re-election, he condemned them and
03:24said, these unscrupulous people use religion and churches to manipulate and please the
03:28people, their money and other things will force us to introduce a tax so churches pay
03:32tax on the money they get from the people.
03:36I just don't see how taxing the preachers brings any relief to those that donate.
03:41Do other governments think that taxing the supposed wrongdoers benefits the faithful?
03:47Well, earlier this month, Uganda started to look at this.
03:50But shortly after Rwanda proposed this, Nicaragua decided to do this.
03:56Headline, Nicaragua orders churches to pay taxes in ongoing crackdown.
04:03They have a resolution that repealed the law exempting non-government organizations from
04:09tax.
04:10This was published in the official newspaper and signed by the President Daniel Ortega.
04:15Now they'll have to pay up to 30% of their annual income.
04:21Another article says, Nicaragua persecution of church continues, Nicaragua acts against
04:26the church are continuing systematically with President Daniel Ortega seemingly determined
04:31to extinguish anything that might resemble even the shadow of criticism of his power.
04:37The dictatorship of Daniel Ortega eliminated 1,500 nonprofit organizations, the largest
04:44number of eliminations at one time.
04:49Among such groups that were dissolved were 678 religious associations.
04:54Anyway, the trend from many governments is not good.
04:58Well, I can see where the dissolution of 678 religious associations is worse than mere
05:05taxation.
05:06Even though it may be mild, that's a type of persecution.
05:09Does the Bible address this?
05:11Well, in John 15 verse 20, Eugene James, Jesus said, they persecuted me, they'll also persecute
05:18you.
05:19Now, on a somewhat more positive, but slightly negative note, Jesus also said, John 16 verse
05:2633, these things I've spoken to you that in me you may have peace, in the world you'll
05:31have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I've overcome the world.
05:36Is the shutting down of churches the tribulation Jesus was speaking of?
05:40Well, economic and other pressures against worship certainly is a type of tribulation.
05:47And speaking of additional tribulations in this world, I was speaking to a leader in
05:52another Church of God group this week, and he informed me that Brundi in Africa now has
05:58a law that says all churches have to have at least 500 members.
06:03His church doesn't have that many, and so he was talking to some other churches to see
06:07if we could all get together.
06:09And in our case, we just recently started to get people in Brundi, so we only got a
06:13few families.
06:15And so we'll see if we can work together on this or not, but we're not sure.
06:19And this also might be financially challenging, and so it might not be feasible for us to
06:24legally function in Brundi, and we're going to have to see how that goes.
06:30But Jesus said in Matthew 10, 23, when they persecute you in this city, flee to another.
06:36And we see the persecution is prophesied, and sometimes Christians are going to have
06:40to flee geographically because of it.
06:42But still, that doesn't seem like too great a burden to bear.
06:46Well, actually, I think it is.
06:48Saying you have to have 500 adult members to be a religion in a country is wrong.
06:55Anyway, that says that what's going to happen in the future, though, is much worse.
07:01Go to Revelation chapter 13, starting in verse 4.
07:05We read, the world marveled and followed the beast, and they said, who is like the beast?
07:12Who can make war with him?
07:14And he was given a mouth to speak great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority
07:18to continue for 42 months.
07:20Then he opened his mouth and blasphemy against God, blaspheming his name, his tabernacle,
07:26those who dwell in heaven, and those who follow that God.
07:29And it was granted with him to make war with the saints, the true believers, and overcome
07:33them.
07:35All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the book
07:38of life of the Lamb, slain from the foundation of the world.
07:42So not worshiping the beast is going to become a cause of persecution.
07:47And being killed, by the way, is prophesied.
07:50So being killed is definitely a great burden to bear.
07:54Tell us more.
07:55Well, if you pick this up in Revelation 13, verse 11, we see another beast comes out of
08:02the earth.
08:03He's got two horns like a lamb, so it looks like a good religious leader, but he speaks
08:07like a dragon.
08:08He doesn't really teach the Bible.
08:10And he exercises all authority over the first beast in his presence, and he causes the earth
08:14and all who dwell in it to worship the first beast.
08:18He performs great signs so that he makes even fire come down from heaven on the earth
08:23in the sight of men.
08:24And he deceives those who are on the earth by the signs he was granted to do in the sight
08:29of the beast.
08:30He tells those who dwell on the earth to make an image of the beast who was wounded by the
08:34sword and lived.
08:35And he was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of
08:39the beast should both speak and cause as many who would not worship the image of this beast
08:45to be killed.
08:48And by the way, one of the ways Christians and likely others are going to be killed is
08:51going to be by being beheaded.
08:54Is that in the Bible?
08:55Yes.
08:56Revelation 20, verse 4 says, I saw the thrones and they that sat on them and judgment was
09:02committed to them.
09:03Then I saw the souls of them who've been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word
09:09of God and had not worshiped the beast or his image, and they had not received their
09:13mark on their foreheads or on their hands.
09:16And they will live and reign with Jesus 4,000 years.
09:20I know that's yet future, but it's a giant step from taxation to beheading.
09:26Is there any religious encouragement from Christian persecution?
09:30Yes.
09:32There's an Eastern Orthodox prophecy that points the public executioner, Sabbath keepers
09:36coming.
09:38There's one called the Blessed Runimus Agathogelos from the 13th century.
09:46He says basically to you, Sabbath keepers, this is not the end.
09:50Sabbath keepers against the divine law.
09:52You promote the Hebrew Sabbath at the expense of the Christian Sabbath, you're not going
09:56to succeed.
09:57You became an apostate on behalf of the Sabbath.
10:00And behold, there's an evil assembly of the crafty evening leader dressed in black mourning
10:06apparel, taking in a hypocritical manner the most holy name of Christ by their flowery
10:14and dissembling speeches.
10:16These are men who are concealing their impiety under the mask of virtue.
10:20So he's saying these Sabbath keepers, they look good, but they're really not.
10:25They're the most filthy citizens of, in English, the five cities.
10:31They despise the divine law, they're wolves in sheep's clothing.
10:36I want to comment about that for a second.
10:39Neither you nor I, by the way, take a salary from donations given to the Continuing Church
10:44of God.
10:45So I realize they're trying to imply that some of these people are going to take money.
10:50President Rwanda said people were doing it.
10:52Anyway, he says that these Sabbath keepers, in promoting it, we're going to have a price
10:58to pay before the public execution of the Sabbath keepers.
11:01And he calls those who keep the Sabbath inventors of distorted heresies, even though every scholar
11:08knows early Christians started off keeping Sabbath.
11:12Anyway, by the way, being beheaded would be consistent with a public execution of Sabbath
11:18keepers.
11:19And by the way, the Bible also shows that some Christians are going to be burned by
11:24supporters of the beast.
11:26There's more?
11:27Where can we find being burned in the Bible?
11:31In the book of Daniel, it talks about end time persecution.
11:35Daniel 33, chapter 11 says, and those are the people who understand are going to instruct
11:39many.
11:40Yet for days, they're going to fall by sword and flame, by captivity and plundering.
11:46Now, let me add that there's Greco-Roman prophecies that point to those in small church being
11:51burnt.
11:53There's one they call Andrew Fool for Christ from the fifth century, said during the end
11:58times, the king, this is the beast, King of the North, will turn against them for blasphemous
12:04religion.
12:05The remaining ones are being annihilated and they're going to be burned to death.
12:09They'll die a cruel death.
12:11And then 1822, a Roman Catholic nun by the name of Anne Catherine Emmerich said that
12:18St. Peter's is almost entirely destroyed by the sect, the small church, but that all that's
12:27going to belong to them, their aprons and their tools were burned by the executioners
12:30in a public place.
12:31It's another public executioner, and they were made of horse leather and the stench
12:37from them was so offensive that it made me quite sick.
12:40So she's saying these Christians are going to be burnt and it's really going to smell
12:44bad.
12:45Well, obviously annihilation and burning are certainly forms of persecution and those are
12:50consistent with biblical prophecies.
12:52Furthermore, the Bible shows that economic persecution is going to be used.
12:59In Revelation 13, starting verse 16, we read that this beast is going to cause all, small
13:05and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on the right hand of their
13:10forehead.
13:11You can't buy or sell except if you've got the mark or the name of the beast or the number
13:15of his name.
13:16Here is wisdom, that him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast.
13:21Of course, the number of his man, his number is 666.
13:25Well, when this was written, you couldn't control all buying and selling, but you can
13:30now.
13:31We've got moves in Europe for them getting a digital currency.
13:35So we're seeing steps that we're going to go into place that are going to enable economic
13:40persecution in the future.
13:43For now, though, we're seeing with these rulings in Ukraine, Rwanda, Nicaragua, and Burundi,
13:51we're seeing governments implementing religious persecution that, in a sense, can help actually
13:57perhaps set a precedent for the coming beast power who is set to rise up in Europe and
14:02who's going to persecute.
14:03We all need to pray, as Jesus said in Matthew 610, for God's kingdom to come.
14:10Thank you, Dr. Thiel.
14:11For more interviews with Dr. Thiel, in addition to written as well as audio articles, visit
14:16our website at biblenewsprophecy.net.
14:19This is Steve Dupuy for the Bible News Prophecy Program.