Persecution Then And Now: Are You Ready To Fight For The Faith?

Persecution Then and Now: Are you ready to fight for the faith? By Kelly Durant 7-12-15

Acts 5:29 Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.

2. How many of you have ever been in a fight over your faith? Has someone every attacked you, insulted you, hit you, or tried to get you fired over your faith in Jesus Christ? If you have a real faith, it will happen! It has happened to me and it will happen to anyone who opens their mouth to proclaim Jesus as the Lord of Lords! I have even been arrested and put in jail a few hours a few times over passing out salvation tracts! I remember one time in Brazil the policeman detaining me was very upset because I was giving out evangelical tracts and not Catholic ones! He called me a blasphemer and that I should rot in jail but I was freed with no charges! There were no laws restricting evangelizing then there but today too many laws are in place everywhere! According to Jesus there will be a final great persecution. (Matthew 24)

When I was a young Christian and got to know my Bible there are verses that seemed disturbing such as, 2 Timothy 3:12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Another one is what Jesus said, John 15:20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. Mark 13:11 But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost. 12 Now the brother shall betray the brother to death, and the father the son; and children shall rise up against their parents, and shall cause them to be put to death. 13 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

My first reaction was, what have I gotten into, what now? You and I certainly will be hated by a few over professing Jesus and there is nothing we can do about! And I still am disturbed that even family may betray you to death! Historically people have proven to be loyal to Hitler, Stalin and to any Satanist murderer rather than to the loving harmless Christians! God sees all and each will reap what they sew!

3. Why am I bringing this subject of persecution up? Because as Christians we need strength and unity! Because all the news outlets are bringing it up! They point out that the new current laws in this land are clashing with the Biblical values, and already in the works is a plan to go on to the next steps of persecuting those of faith. Remember in the Salvation Army there have been martyrs and we should be proud of those who go in the streets to bring lost ones Jesus!

Certain activists already have announced they plan on suing churches in order to eliminate religious freedom altogether for those who oppose their worldviews. Suing Christians, or exuberantly fining them, is already a lucrative endeavor where corrupt judges prevail perverting the laws. In the works also are proposals to change the current laws to impose taxes on churches (currently exempt) in order to bankrupt them. Another thing some activists declare is they want the Bible categorized as a ‘hate speech’, a book that needs to be expunged from all the public sectors! Already certain U.S. schools children are taught to recite prayers to Alla and learn about the Satanists religion!? The separation of church and state is obviously being violated! This is an imposition by wicked people in high places that need to be resisted.

Certain people rapidly brought about the expunging the confederate flag from the conservative southerners with rapid execution! Many contest that it is not a racist symbol but rather a historical reminder to not repeat the past. I observe that this flag was just a pretext to see how far the experiment would go, to see how much resistance or not a cultural symbol would endure attack. We must accept it, things will get uglier as the Bible is being targeted! Rev. Graham Jr., and a few like him expose this, but it is not a popular message. Sadly the bulk of Christianity has compromised into a complacent state as the Laodiceans in Revelation 4.

4. Haters seem to persuade the masses easily with half-truths and distorted information. We must recall that the majority of the people in the world do not have the love of Jesus, nor the discernment of the Holy Spirit! Sadly, when awakened, the evil side of human nature is passionate and aggressive to satisfy an appetite for destruction! The ones who hate something seem to live obsessed, dedicating 24/7 until they accomplish their dominion. But our hope is Jesus who gave us power to cast out demons and defend the kingdom of God. They can lie about us, defame us, make us illegal, imprison us, charge us huge fines, harass us, use psych ops on us, even torture and kill us but one thing I know is that they will not get rid of us as Jesus and Christians remain strong! Despite all current persecutions and despite all barbaric attacks in world history, His truth keeps marching on! Glory, glory, hallelujah!