I just saw a CNN news clip about the Chinese government practice of spying on and detaining Christians. It is amazing how much manpower they dedicate to following and recording church activity.
In Puerto Rico, persecution takes a subtle, but very real form. When our churches wish to build, we are required to go by a certain building code that is not applied to businesses, schools or churches in favor with the government. Parking is a problem here, for example. Most businesses and our church have only 2 or 3 parking spaces in front of them, so people just park where they can and walk to get there. The government limits our attendance to 5 people per parking space, but the Catholic church, the taverns and even the Post Office in our town, can have hundreds of people and are not required to limit their attendance.
I think it works this way: They find out you are an Evangelical Christian and wish to build, so they take out a large, rarely used book of odd laws, blow off the dust and trot out the most expensive or onerous ones they can find. If you were a tavern, or a church in favor with the government, that dusty book never comes out.
I guess that is why we have the book of Nehemiah in the Bible. He went through problems with local officials, but got it done anyway. But not until a lot of tears, prayers energy and money had been spent.
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