Norman McLaughlin, of Open Doors, an organisation that aids persecuted Christians around the world, talked to the group about the three worst countries in which to be a believer: North Korea, Iraq and Eritrea.

“Of these three countries, only one, Iraq, is dangerous due to Islamic extremism,” Mr McLaughlin said. 

“Before the fall of Saddam Hussein, Iraq was a wealthy, prosperous country where most, if not all, people were well educated.”

He told the story of an Iraqi Christian man who had a business partner and friend who rang him when ISIS took control of their town.

“He said ‘I am in your house, and I have claimed it in the name of ISIS’,” he said.

“But after this, the man said ‘before ISIS came, and I lost everything, I was a Christian only in name, but now my faith is real’.

The group heard that the Marxist dictatorship of Eritrea had outlawed evangelical churches in 2002, and that thousands of Christians had been tortured and/or imprisoned since then.

Mr McLaughlin told the story of a Christian worship leader badly beaten and locked in a shipping container for 32 months.

“She was eventually smuggled out of the country, but now she wants to win for Christ those who hurt her,” he said.

He said that North Korea was “by far the worst” country in which to be a Christian, or follower of any faith, with tens of thousands of believers in forced labour camps.

“Kim Il Sung, the founder of North Korea, is seen as the eternal father,” he said.

“Children were told at school to go home and find a particular book, and bring it in the next day,” Mr McLaughlin said.

“The books were Bibles, and after they were brought in, the children who brought them in never saw their parents again,” he said.

“Three generations of Christians can be punished.” 

Find out more about Open Doors at www.opendoors.org.au.