The persecution of millions of Christians during the 1st-16th centuries of the Roman and Holy Roman empires, is about to be unleashed again. Finnish parliamentarian Päivi Räsänen, faced jail for posting a Bible verse on her personal Twitter account. Simply because Räsänen expressed her sincerely held beliefs publicly, the police launched an investigation and subjected her to a four-hour interview. Räsänen faced a maximum penalty of two years imprisonment for the crime of so-called “ethnic agitation.” Although she was freed by a lower court, the prosecutors appealed the case in a higher court.
It all began in June 2019 when the church board of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland announced its official partnership with the LGBT event “Pride 2019”. Räsänen questioned her church’s leadership on this decision on social media, attaching an image of a Bible passage.
The prosecution has also dug up a secondary charge, which finds fault with a pamphlet she wrote in 2004 “Male and female He created them – Homosexual relationships challenge the Christian concept of humanity”. The third charge stems from Räsänen’s views on a Finnish Broadcasting Corporation radio station on the topic of “What would Jesus think about homosexuals?”. Despite facing jail and ongoing persecution, Räsänen showed indomitable strength:
“I cannot accept that voicing my religious beliefs could mean imprisonment. I do not consider myself guilty of threatening, slandering, or insulting anyone. My statements were all based on the Bible’s teachings on marriage and sexuality,” she said.
“I will defend my right to confess my faith so that no one else would be deprived of their right to freedom of religion and speech. I hold on to the view that my expressions are legal and should not be censored. I will not back down from my views. I will not be intimidated into hiding my faith. The more Christians keep silent on controversial themes, the narrower the space for freedom of speech gets.”
The suppression of Christianity and persecution of those who hold strongly to their Christianity, is well known in history. Millions of Christians lost their lives for their faith and airing their views. Millions fled Europe towards American shores to worship God freely. This persecution is prophesied to return, and the event above is testimony to the fact that we are in the shadows of the last days, even at the door.
During the recent Paris Olympics in 2024, we saw how Christianity was mocked with the parody of the last supper, shows how the world is denigrating Jesus and His followers, something they will dare not do to Muslims. The rampant suppression and oppression of people of faith and religion in public and work environments, as well as on social media portrays the intolerance exercised towards Christianity in particular. Who ever thought that a time will come when parents would not have the right to determine their children’s future? Yet, courts are ruling that children can change their gender without their parents’ consent. Indeed, a federal appeals court in Massachusetts just ruled that parents have no right to know that schools are transitioning (changing the sex of) their kids. Teachers are openly teaching and cajoling young inexperienced kids to change their sex with impunity.
Is it a surprise that a recent Gallup poll A Gallup Poll shows that nearly one in 10 adults in the United States identifies as being LGBTQ+, with results showing that the figures have nearly doubled since 2020 and nearly tripled since 2012 when the pollsters first measured the numbers? Why are governments supporting organizations promoting abortion, homosexuality, and other anti-Biblical concepts such as evolution and never supporting Biblical views? In the UK, people cannot even pray outside or within certain kilometers of abortion centers. Jesus said the world shall be as Sodom and Gomorrah during His return …aren’t we already like Sodom and Gomorrah?
A former Mexican congressman and presidential candidate Gabriel Quadri was convicted as a “political violator against women” for Twitter/X posts on gender in 2022 expressing concerns about gender ideology. Specifically, Quadri commented that it was unfair for men who identify as women to take spaces in Mexico’s Congress reserved for women. The highest electoral court in Mexico ruled that Quadri’s posts were discriminatory and ordered him to delete his posts, issue a compelled public apology, and be registered as a gender-based political violator—censorship measures that infringed on his civil and political rights as a Mexican citizen and breach his human right to free speech.
This story of this parliamentarian won’t be the last. Indeed, it shall worsen as stricter and heartless laws are already in place to punish those who shall speak against LGBTQ using the Bible. Many have already lost their jobs as a result and space won’t permit me to describe them here. If a parliamentarian is being persecuted, then what shall happen to the common man? If there was ever a time to stand for our Christian beliefs, it’s now! Satan is angry, because he knows his time is short!
Let’s ponder on these and seek for God’s strength to stand firm during the approaching persecutions.
