(DW) – Pastor Andrew Brunson soberly predicted on Sunday that Christians in the United States will face increasing hostility regardless of whether President Donald Trump prevails in his legal battles regarding the presidential election.
Brunson, who was an American missionary to Turkey for 25 years until he was unjustly imprisoned by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 2016, owes his freedom in part to the hardline diplomatic measures that the Trump administration took against Turkey on his behalf.
Nevertheless, Brunson said, the most that American Christians could hope from a second Trump term is a “delay” of the persecution that he discerns to be inevitable for his home country, for which reason he urges people of faith to prepare for intense pushback.
Speaking Sunday evening to a group of Christians who gathered via Zoom to pray for the integrity of the U.S. election, Brunson explained how he has been burdened with “a new urgency” toward the U.S. since he returned after being released from his imprisonment two years ago.
“On my return to the U.S. just over two years ago, for the first time in my life—most of my life I’ve been focused overseas—for the first time in my life, I really, I have an urgency for this country, for the United States,” Brunson said. “And not just with this election. It’s not precipitated by this election, but it has been growing in me these last two years.” READ MORE
