I was surfing today before work when I saw a post on PersecutionBlog.com about persecution in Mexico. I thought this was rather interesting (Mexico wasn’t on my list of countries I thought of as participating in persecution). Stacy linked to the Compas Direct article which I went and read. Here is what I found out:
Juan Mendez Mendez became a Christian in a village outside of this city in Chiapas state on April 7, and two days later local authorities put him in jail for leaving their religious blend of Roman Catholicism and native custom.
A catechist or doctrinal instructor in the traditionalist Catholic church in the village of Pasté (pahs-TEH), the 25-year-old Mendez was released on Tuesday (April 10) after spending the night in jail. The previous Easter Sunday, political bosses in the Tzotzil Maya village noticed him missing from a church festival involving what Mendez considered to be idolatrous rites; they summoned him that evening.
They said, What do you mean that youve accepted Christ you mean you dont believe in our gods [Catholic saints]? Mendez told Compass. And I said, Well, those were just apostles, and now I belong to Christ.
Later on, Juan is threated:
The officials threatened to strip him and throw cold water on him in jail, Mendez said. You know what else were going to do? one of them told the father of three pre-school children. Were going to beat you. Were going to hit you.
Mendez said he replied, You know, if youre going to beat me, then here I am. Here I am, if youre going to beat me. But another said, No, were not going to beat him.
This should serve as a wake-up call to American Christians. While we aren’t being jailed today for our faith, the day may come (in the not so distant future…it could be tomorrow depending on what laws our government passes) where we too will be faced with persectution. The time to decide how you will act and what your faith means to you is not then…it is today!
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