What do cakes and kidnappings have in common? OK … the opening line here hangs like a comedian’s pregnant pause, just waiting for the punch line to drop and the laughter to follow. Sadly, in this case, there is no laughter. 

Cakes and kidnappings are indicators of Christian persecution around the world. Jack Phillips, a Colorado cakeshop artist, spent 12 years in and out of courts, seeking justice against a Colorado state agency that was finally ruled to have targeted him specifically for his Christian beliefs. Phillips was targeted and harassed specifically on account of his Christian convictions.  

Phillips was an artist. His cakes were works of art. He didn’t create these cakes for everyone. Like any artist, he chose what to create. He desired to create cakes that would glorify God. He assumed that he had the same freedom as other cake artists in Colorado — artists who were free to choose which cakes to create and which to decline. In 2012, Phillips declined to create a cake when a couple wanted to use one of his masterpieces to celebrate their same-sex marriage. They filed suit against him with the Colorado Civil Rights Commission. Finally, after a dozen years of harassment, Phillips won.

“The Supreme Court made it clear that Colorado can’t treat me worse than other cake artists because of my religious beliefs,” Phillips said. His business and his family suffered — all because of Phillips’ decision to uphold Christ’s righteousness.  

In other places, specifically Nigeria, the situation is admittedly more severe. Earlier this year, International Christian Concern (ICC) produced a special report on persecution in Nigeria. That report mentioned two separate incidents of Christian girls who were kidnapped, forced to marry Muslims, and forced to convert to Islam. In one of the most heinous injustices imaginable, a Sharia court in Niger state approved of the forced marriage and forced conversion of a 16-year-old Christian girl.  

While the cases are obviously different, they are also very similar. How? Each of the victims was targeted for the hostile injustices because they were Christians. Furthermore, they were targeted based on God’s righteousness. Indeed, in both cases, the righteousness of God in marriage was the key component provoking hostility.  

On one hand, Phillips was targeted because he stood firm on his conviction regarding his Christian view of marriage. On the other hand, the 16-year-old Christian girl represented Christianity’s righteousness in the face of a Muslim’s insistence that — through marriage — she ought to be Muslim, not Christian. Marriage played a key role in both forms of persecution because marriage is integral to humanity’s ideals of living in community. In fact, in the case of the Nigerian girl, Christian approval was ruled irrelevant by a Sharia court. The court was unmoved by the plea of the girl’s father that he did not give consent. The marriage was approved despite his protests.  

While being forced to bake a cake against your convictions may not be as emotionally scarring as being kidnapped, forced into marriage, and forced to convert to Islam, the same animus against God’s righteousness is fueling these injustices. The degree of persecution in Nigeria is more severe than the degree Phillips faced in Colorado. Still, the motives behind the acts of persecution are rooted in the same thing: hostility toward Jesus.  

Christian persecution happens when Christ — and God’s righteousness — are represented. Other powers — seeking a righteousness of their own — must squelch the righteousness of God on display through Christ and his people. Whether it’s a Christian family in Nigeria or a cake maker in Colorado, the presence of Christ is a threat to lesser powers and wannabe kings. Because they have no real power in the face of God, these wannabe kings must enforce silence. However, true kingdom people cannot be silent. They represent the king of kings.  

So, to the question, what do cakes and kidnappings have in common? Christ and his righteousness. Christ unites Christians in Colorado with those in Nigeria and to the uttermost parts of the earth. 

Source: International Christian Concern

Photo: Terézia Bašová