Remember Those Who Are Mistreated

Remember Those Who Are Mistreated.  As sophisticated as we think we are in global society, we are equally, simultaneously, inescapably brutal. If the optics generated on our screens are true indicators of reality, then we seem to show more compassion for distressed animals than for distressed people. Collectively speaking, we typically get the treatment of others horribly wrong when we ourselves become the judge, jury, and executioner of our own twisted moral codes. Antisemitism, class warfare, bigotry, and political attacks aside, which are all indefensible and abhorrent to the biblical worldwide, Christian persecution specifically is on the uptick globally, especially steep in Nigeria in 2025. In northern Nigeria nothing seems to slow down ISIS-aligned terror cells from brutally abducting, killing, and mistreating anyone they suspect as non-compliant to their own interpretation of their own version of Sharia law. 

Although Nigeria justifiably grabbed the most headline news in 2025, the World Watch List compiled by Open Doors, a global ministry dedicated to serving persecuted Christians, lists Nigeria as the seventh worst nation in terms of Christian persecution. The Worst Fifteen are: 1). North Korea, 2). Somalia, 3). Yemen, 4). Libya, 5). Sudan, 6). Eritrea, 7). Nigeria, 8). Pakistan, 9). Iran, 10). Afghanistan, 11). India, 12). Saudi Arabia, 13). Myanmar, 14). Mali, and 15). China.

All in all, 2025 was a particularly bloody year. Murdered in 2025 were 4476 people, for no other reason than their public faith in Christ. Churches and personal property of church members burned or confiscated in 2025 were 7679, for no other reason than their open association with the gospel of Christ. Imprisoned in 2025 were 4744 people, for no other reason than their Christian witness. The statistical aggregate is appalling: one in seven Christians worldwide are persecuted, one in five Christians in Africa are persecuted, two in five Christians in Asia are persecuted.

The church in Jerusalem suffered terrible persecution in the First Century, yet they banded together. “But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one” (Heb. 10:32-34). Against that backdrop, the entire church is commanded to remember the prisoner (e.g., the ones imprisoned because of their Christian faith, not because of wrongdoing [1 Pet. 2:20; 4:15]), empathizing with their plight, identifying with the mistreated, and understanding the theological ramifications that if persecution touches one Christian, then the entire church is impacted. “Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body” (Heb. 13:3).