''Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.''
2 Timothy 3:13
''Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake, fortheirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and 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 they persecuted the prophets which were before you.''. Matthew 5:10-12
How have Americans experienced persecution?
In 1962, prayer was taken out of public schools.
Christian holidays and festivals associated with them have been reclassif-
ied, and given secular names.
Because of steps to intimidate and control pastors to incorporate and en-
courage seemingly harmless pagan worship while churches are
being discouraged from preaching the true gospel message.Many
pastors fear losing their 501 c3 status if they don't comply.
Biblical views are being classified as ''hate speech'', and such is prohibited
from being expressed in media, such as radio, TV, newspapers.
Today, in 2014, many of the largest mainstream ''christian'' churches are
promoting and practicing the removal of the cross symbol so as not to
offend anyone.
Evolution, a theory, is taught as truth and fact, while no mention of cre-
ationism is taught in schools or universities.
How should you handle being persecuted against?
As a Christian, you should examine persecution and expect it. While no one wants to be hurt or upset, it is important that you know what persecution is and expect that, if you are walking right, you will be persecuted. Paul reminds us in 1Peter 2:21 that if Christ, being God and our saviour, was persecuted, why shouldn't we expect to be? John 15:19-20 has a message from Jesus, where He tells us if you were of the world the world would love its own, but you are not of the world, and so the world hates you. In fact, ....''the time will come when they will think its a good thing when they kill you..'' (John 16:2).
Before I continue tell you about surviving persecution, I need to address the idea of avoidance. Remember peter said if we are living godly lives we will suffer persecution? If you are not experiencing persecution, either you are not sharing the fact that you are a christian (hiding it to avoid persecution) or you are not living godly lives. If you live like unbelievers, you won't experience any persecution. You need to examine yourself to see where you fit, and pray and change it.
God tells the believer to confront the world. This will undoubtedly bring persecution, but He promises to both give us the words that we are to use and to be with us! ''I will never leave you nor forsake you.''
I encourage you to read acts 3. You will see how Peter and John healed a man and were loved. When they began preaching the gospel people became offended and angry at them. We see this today. Sch responses from offended [convicted] people include: ''The Christian is incompetent''. ''You are ulearned''. ''You're ignorant''. ''You're spreading hate instead of love.''. Why does this happen? Because, at the core of it, people don't want to be accountable to a creator. People, through secular humanism, have become little ''gods'', in control of ones own destiny. Padding self esteem is top priority. Today in competitions, everyone gets a trophy, noones a loser. No one left behind. Kids can't be disciplined, and are not exposed to Gods word. T has gotten to where a large number of churches have eliminated the words ''sin'', ''lost'', ''hell'', and replaced with ''churched vs. unchurched'' ''love''. These churches have removed crosses from buildings and pulpits, as someone's feelings were hurt. We as Christians must never be ashamed of the gospel, reading it as is, believing, and evangelizing.
Persecution brings growth. As you learn to respond, giving a defense of the faith, you learn more in the scriptures and you get ''thicker skin''. The more you suffer for Christ the stronger of a soldier you become in the cause of the cross. Matthew 13:24-26 tells a parable of the wheat and tares. The wheat is strong, enduring and carrying the church through boldly preaching the word and suffering for doing so. The tares, on the other hand, stay out of things, lay quiet, keeping the peace. Ultimately, they suffer little or not at all. In essence, they are dead weight while the wheat carries the church. James 1:2 tells us to count it all joy when you are persecuted.
1 Peter 1:6-7 tells gold is tested by fire, so, then, or faith is tested by persecution. Stay strong. Don't let the world engage you in battle, where you end up sinning in your anger. You will be strengthened through persecution.
Friends, persecution is nothing new. The early Christians were jailed, or tortured, often unto death. As Christians in America, we are being pushed down and being silenced. We are legislated against, claiming [only the] Christian bible is hate speech, punishable by fines and or jail time. There was a minister in Florida, for example who was arrested in his pulpit for preaching about the sin of homosexuality. What should you do? Fellowship with other believers. Read and study your bible. Pray each day for strength in trials. Don't use anything but scripture in defense and confronting. Don't fight the world using its tactics, you are a child of the most high, as saint, a soldier for Christ. Be strong and courageous. We are the church. We are blessed! We house the Holy Spirit. If you need help, encouragement,, prayer, advice, contact a fellow Christian you trust. You may contact me as well. I am continuously being persecuted for preaching the word and confronting the world. I am happy, that means I'm living a godly life!
In closing, I invite you to share your persecution experiences, post in comments below. I pray you are well, blessed and growing in Christ.
In His Service,
Pastor Aaron
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