Cuba: I Want to Be Like Christ Print E-mail
Cuba is just 90 miles from the Florida coast, yet many Americans do not know much about the island country. That’s because Cuba is a communist country, and the Cuban media are not free to report what goes on there. In Cuba, the communist government controls every aspect of a Cuban’s life. The government tells each family how much it can eat each month, what car to drive and what house to live in. The government even tells children who they should look up to.

Each year Cuban schools make children pledge allegiance to the government. (To pledge allegiance means to promise to be loyal.) This pledge is not like the pledge in America. Instead of promoting freedom of speech, religion and pursuit of happiness, the Cuban pledge asks children to pledge their loyalty to guerrillas who have killed many people. Every child in Cuba is required to be a pionero, or pioneer, for communism. Children are asked to shout, “We will be like Ché.” Ché Guevara was a revolutionary who helped overthrow Cuba’s U.S.-backed dictator in the 1950s. He was also a guerrilla who killed many people.

But many Cuban Christians do not believe in taking this pledge. They say children should be like Christ, not like any man. One of those Christians is Pastor Ruben.

Pastor Ruben and his wife have a small church in Havana. Pastor Ruben is very dedicated to the Lord. He and his family sacrificed their home in order to build a church for his congregation. When Pastor Ruben’s daughter, Isabel, was about 9 years old, she came home and told her father about the pioneros pledge.  “Honey,” Pastor Ruben said to Isabel, “you cannot be a pionero. I do not want you to be a communist. I do not want you to be a guerrilla like Ché. I want you to be a Christian. I want you to be like Jesus Christ.”

At first Isabel was upset. She didn’t understand why she couldn’t be like everyone else. Children who pledge to be a pionero receive a special badge and get to wear a pretty red scarf over their school uniform. They also get to go on special field trips. Children who do not pledge are made fun of. They are called trouble makers, and school officials make life hard for them. When Isabel went back to school, she experienced all this and more. Children called her names. Teachers were unkind to her. But Isabel stood firm. She believed her father was right. She should be like Christ, not man.

“The Bible says you do not bow down or worship any idol,” Pastor Ruben said. “We only bow down and worship God. My daughter is exercising her freedom because she can do what she chooses to do. I know I live in Cuba, but to serve God you have to be ready to pay the price.”

What about you? Have you ever faced a situation where someone asked you to be loyal to something other than Christ? How did you handle it?