In the U.S. Christians often feel “persecuted” when the courts force the removal of the Ten Commandments on the courthouse square or when a public school refuses to use the word “Christmas” instead of the more generic “Holidays.” How silly and trite that must all sound in Eritrea.
In Eritrea (in East Africa) more than 800 Christians sit in prison for nothing other than their faith. And these aren’t cushy American prisons with cable TV and three meals a day. Many imprisoned Christians are reportedly put into metal shipping containers where they suffer extreme African heat during the day and frigid temperatures at night – all without sanitation, leading to disease and disgust. Christians are forbid to worship privately in their homes (echoes of Daniel here), and new church registrations are basically impossible. Many believers face torture in an attempt to get them to recant. Of course such persecution is not new and was predicted by Jesus and the apostles.
We could talk about many places where Christians face severe persecution (ie Saudi Arabia, North Korea, Sudan, China, etc.). But we dare not insult our brethern by our cries of persecution here.