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Persecution and
Martyrdom --
The New
Testament Norm
from Harry
Bethel, www.bethelministries.com
Christians in the
United States and many other countries know very little, if anything,
of the persecution and martyrdom experienced by those in the early
Church and throughout church history. Regarding persecution, the
reason many Christians today are living peaceful lives is not because
God's blessing is upon them. Nor is it because Satan has changed his
strategy for the Church. God's blessing never has been upon, and
Satan never has persecuted a worldly or compromising church. Jesus
said to His disciples, "If ye were of the world, the world would
love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen
you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you....The servant
is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will
also persecute you..." (Jn. 15:19-20). Why aren't Christians in
America being persecuted?
"For even
hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving
us an example, that ye should follow his steps" (1 Pet. 2:21).
"Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer
persecution" (2 Tim. 3:12). Why do so many Christians know
nothing of persecution? Again, because Satan does not persecute
worldly or compromising Christians.
Conditions for Disciples
Very few
Christians in America know anything of meeting the three conditions
set forth by Jesus in Luke 14. If you do not meet these conditions
Jesus said three times you "cannot be my disciple" (Lk.
14:26-27, 33).
One awful aspect
of apostasy is its insidiousness. The enemy has worked so subtly that
most of the brethren do not realize what has happened to themselves
and their congregation. One thing that has impaired our vision is
that the most spiritual and conservative churches look at those who
have fallen into greater depths of apostasy and think they themselves
are in pretty good shape. And when this comparison is made, the
former does indeed look very good. But the challenge should be not to
compare ourselves to other churches, but compare ourselves to the
standard of God's Word. When we do this, the honest and objective
seeker will admit that even the best of Christendom today has much
room for improvement. "...They measuring themselves by
themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not
wise" (2 Cor. 10:12).
God's people now
embrace many of the ways of Babylon. This is more than a matter of
the need for separation from the world. The spirit of Laodicea has
permeated the Church. We do not realize how much the prevailing
apostasy has influenced the thinking and lives of even the most
conservative Christians. Jesus reproved the church in Laodicea
saying, "...Thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods,
and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and
miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked" (Rev. 3:17). Those
were not worldlings, they were Christians that Jesus rebuked. And the
Christians of Ephesus had patience and discerned false apostles and
labored for Jesus' name's sake, yet our Lord rebuked them because
they had left their first love. He told them to repent and do the
first works or else He would remove their candlestick (Rev. 2:2-5).
What Brings Persecution?
Just what is it
that brings on persecution? Doing that which always has been the
primary work of the Church. That is evangelizing the unsaved and
making disciples of the converts so that they can evangelize the
unsaved and make disciples of the converts (and taking care of our
widows and orphans) until Jesus comes back. Persecution comes when
Christians are disciples according to Luke 14, filled with the Holy
Ghost, and expose the work of the Devil by proclaiming the truths of
Scripture, and refuse to compromise those truths.
We do not need to
seek persecution, but if we do God's work His way persecution is
inevitable. But many Christians in America believe the highest
priority is to have a business or farm and raise a family. Raising a
family is important, but that emphasis is nowhere to be found in the
New Testament. (It is difficult to make this point without being
misunderstood.) It is important to raise godly children and protect
them from the pervasive evil influences of this Babylon in which we
live. But a biblical faith and things that are eternally significant
will much more likely be passed on (in a limited sense) to the next
generation if they saw their fathers suffering for doing the main
work of the Church rather than building bigger barns and teaching how
to make money and have a big bank account.
Our Lord said,
"Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to
send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance
against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the
daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man's foes shall be
they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than
me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than
me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and
followeth after me, is not worthy of me" (Mat. 10:34-38).
Persecution is
Normal for Christians
It is normal for
the disciple of Christ to be persecuted. It is abnormal if you have
been a Christian for very long and have not suffered persecution.
Most of the suffering that Christians experience today is not
persecution, it is chastisement because they are out of God's will.
(Many are in debt up to their ears, playing with the world, laying up
treasures on earth, filling their minds with the filth of television,
ungodly music, and the cheap output of the press, and many other
things.) God chastens His own (Heb. 12:5-11), but chastening is not
persecution. And reaping the hard way of the transgressor is not
persecution. "For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience
toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it,
if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently?
but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently,
this is acceptable with God"(1 Pet. 2:19-20).
This writer has
been put in jail and prison for taking a stand with Jesus Christ and
for truth and righteousness. Sad to say that much of the persecution
he has experienced came not only from unsaved loved ones but from
compromising Christian brothers who are gripped by the allurements of
this world. The jails would be full of preachers if we took to the
streets and instead of singing to sinners and telling them how much
Jesus loves them, preached: "Repent of your fornication and
adultery and sodomy and covetousness. Quit lusting in your
hearts---get rid of your television sets and ungodly music. Repent!
Humble yourself before Jesus Christ and receive forgiveness for your
sins. Escape the wrath to come!"
(If Spirit-filled
prophets and evangelists did this, the problem would be finding
qualified, God-sent pastors to shepherd and disciple the converts.
There are precious few today who are not entangled in the offerings
of this Babylonian system, or cannot control their children, or are
otherwise scripturally unqualified. In fact, there are no God-sent
pastors, anywhere.)
Of course you
would not have to take to the streets to be persecuted for preaching
a message like that. You would see that by preaching to
"Christians" as they came out of most church buildings
about noontime on First Days. No one likes to be persecuted. And we
don't need to seek it. It will come, however, if we preached like
John the Baptizer, the early Christians, and several others
throughout Church history, and applied the truths to our own lives.
God's Grace is Sufficient
God's grace is
always sufficient to endure persecution even unto death. There are
many accounts of Christians throughout much of Church history who,
for example, praised the Lord and otherwise manifested the grace of
God while being burned at the stake.
The prophets and
other saints of the Old Testament also suffered persecution when sin
was exposed in people's lives. Beginning with Abel there is a trail
of blood and suffering for righteousness throughout the Old
Dispensation. The Book of Hebrews tells about some of those godly
saints: they "were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that
they might obtain a better resurrection: and others had trial of
cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and
imprisonment: they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted,
were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and
goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; (of whom the world
was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in
dens and caves of the earth" (Heb. 11:35-38). While much of
Israel's history reveals a backslidden, apostate people, these
particular saints were not.
Satan has not
changed. He still works through men and women whose "heart is
deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked" (Jer. 17:9)
to persecute God's people who are zealous for Him and the
proclamation of His truths. John the Baptizer thundered out against
sin and preached repentance, calling the religious experts of the day
a "generation of vipers." His head was chopped off for
telling King Herod that it was not lawful for him to be in an
incestuous marriage. There would be many headless corpses of
preachers in their graves if they preached the way John did.
Many Christians
today think that Jesus suffered so that they won't have to. But this
is a perverted message of the easy-believism social gospel of today.
To preach that message, one must ignore a substantial portion of the
New Testament. It is true that Jesus died a spiritual death so that
we would not have to, but suffering for righteousness' sake has been
the norm for true disciples of Christ beginning with Steven and the Apostles.
According to
Church history all the apostles suffered martyrdom except John who
was banished to the isle of Patmos. The apostles were thrown into
prison time and again during their ministry, and suffered beatings
and other persecution Acts 5:40; 16:23; 2 Cor. 11:25; et al.). Steven
was stoned to death for preaching to the religious group of his day
calling them "stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and
ears" (Acts 7:51). And later James was martyred by the sword
(Acts 12:1-2). Paul was in and out of jail, suffered beatings and was
incarcerated, under house-arrest, for two years (Acts 28:30) before
his martyrdom.
And today any of
God's people who are sold-out to Jesus Christ and want to live a
godly life, according to the Scriptures "shall suffer
persecution." Regarding persecution, some would say that
Christians in America are living at peace with the enemy because we
are privileged to live in a Christian nation. But this nation was not
founded by Christians, and in general, never has been
"Christian." (Please see article titled DEMOCRACY---A
Scriptural Perspective.)
America is Not
a "Christian" Nation
While it is true
that many laws have been based on scriptural principles, no one can
rightly say that we are a God-honoring nation. Our laws have been
changed to meet the demands of a pleasure-loving, covetous, immoral
majority. Citizens of this country now have the right to murder their
unwanted, unborn children. They have the right to leave their
marriage partners and live in an adulterous relationship. Sodomites,
instead of being prosecuted for their crime, now have rights given by
the governments to obtain parade permits to block traffic and march
down the middle of the streets with their banners and placards,
flaunting their sin. We now have the "First-Amendment right"
to publish the vilest pornographic magazines, send them through the
U.S. Mail, and distribute them in countless convenience stores and
newsstands throughout the country. The same "rights" are
given to the producers of pornographic films and sensual commercial
advertisements to broadcast their perversion and filth and Godless
humanism into virtually any home on this planet (via satellites and re-broadcasting).
And a U.S. Surgeon General who claimed to be a Christian, rather
than calling people to repent of their sin of fornication, adultery,
and sodomy, used government funds to tell teenagers and adults how to
have "safe sex." And instead of continuing to prosecute
people for violating liquor laws, the prohibition laws were repealed
and strong drink is distilled by the trainload and made available
throughout the land. Many thousands of people are slaughtered on the
highways and untold numbers of homes are broken up every year. And
hardly a business exists today that doesn't have sensual rock music
coming over their speakers or `music-on-hold' telephone systems. How
can this be a "Christian" nation when we would even make
the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah blush?
The salt has lost
its savor. Candlesticks have been removed from churches. Holy Ghost
anointed preaching has been replaced with programs and plays and
fiction and films.
Persecution has
come in every generation when Christians preached the truths of God's
Word in the power of the Holy Spirit and applied them to their lives,
and stood in opposition to the things the world holds dear. "That
which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of
God" (Lk. 16:15b). When there is a sharp contrast between
Christians and the world (not merely conservative dress) there will
be persecution and martyrdom. If this is true, and it is, then what
does this say about Christians in America for the past few generations?
Jesus Christ is
coming back for His saints, including "a glorious church, not
having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be
holy and without blemish" (Eph. 5:27). How can so many
Christians believe that our Lord is coming back for His bride in her
present condition? God is going to clean us up. And it is going to be
by persecution and tribulation like the world has never seen before.
It is not the
wrath of God that Christians will directly experience. It will be
persecution from ungodly worldlings under the unprecedented influence
of demonic spirits, having been drawn away by the lusts of their
wicked hearts. A time is coming when it will cost you and your family
something to follow Jesus Christ. The apostle John in the Revelation
saw not just Jews but "a great multitude, which no man could
number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood
before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white
robes....And one of the elders [around the throne] answered, saying
unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence
came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me,
These are they which came out of [the] great tribulation
[thlipsis]..." (Rev. 7:9, 13-14). The Greek noun thlipsis was
also used in Acts 11:19 concerning the persecution of the Church at
the time of Stephen's martyrdom and is rendered "persecution."
"Blessed are
they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and
persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely,
for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward
in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before
you" (Mat. 5:10-12). "Yea, and all that will live godly in
Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution" (2 Tim. 3:12). "For
even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us,
leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps" (1 Pet. 2:21).
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