20/10/2022
Good morning from overcast Lapu-Lapu City.
Today we are looking at persecution; what it is, and is America experiencing it, yet?
Over the course of my over 50 year walk with Christ I have heard many of my fellow Americans talk about how we are being persecuted.
To which my first thought is always, “Come on, do we really understand what persecution is?”
And why?
Simple, has anyone had all their possessions ceased and been sent to a camp?
Not yet, but we will!
Have any yet been beaten or stoned as Paul was, “Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned,,,”? (2 Corinthians 11:24-25)
Not yet, but we may yet!
Has any of our family or friends been beheaded?
Not unless they lived in the Middle East, but such things will be coming to the so-called “free-world!”
We American Christians, and yes I include myself, are basically a soft, pampered, spoiled church!
If someone calls us an idiot for sharing the gospel with them our tendency is to say of that rejection “I was persecuted.”
No, they are simply exercising their freedom of speech and we can exercise our freedom to not listen.
“They persecuted me at work, they fired me!”
Oh really, or were you actually fired for talking about Jesus all the time, which was NOT in your job description, instead of working?
You see as humans we have a tendency to internalize everything and always make it about us and what we are experiencing and then tell it in a way that makes us look our “best.”
The reality as a believer it is ALWAYS about Him and what we truly endure for His sake.
But let us continue.
God has prepared many for what is ahead; in my case, for the first four and a half months after getting saved I read the Bible 4-8 hours a day, 7 days a week; no TV, no other reading; and, radio only for Christian music to and from work and J\. Vernon McGee’s “Through the Bible” with my lunch.
After the half months Shortly after getting saved I read Richard Wurmbrand’s “Tortured for Christ” and “Foxes Book of Martyrs;” and, the Holy Spirit spoke to my spirit and said, ”The catching away will happen in your lifetime but only after you see that same persecution happening in America!”
And, no it was NOT a subjective reaction to the two books I read, it was a burning conviction deep in my soul that has only grown in strength through continual study of Scripture and comparing that knowledge with world events.
We Americans tend to look at the SCOTUS decisions of 1965, 1973 and now 2015 and say “We are being persecuted!”
Yes, they did in fact remove our religious right from the class room, legalize murder and finally legalize abominable marriages.
But allow me to offer you another thought, all these things is simply the NWO paving the way for true persecution.
In my well observed opinion he next SCOTUS decision will be to totally eradicate freedom of speech and make teaching Scripture and evangelizing the lost a Federal offense THEN we will see the true “beginning of sorrows.”
Obama came close with his “hate speech” law; and SCOTUS ever more increasingly epitomizes, “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20)
But as God is NOT mocked they will reap “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man sows that shall he also reap.” (Galatians 6:7)
And that WILL be a mighty harvest “For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind:” (Hosea 8:7a)
We may never see people burned at the stake or fed to the lions but we will see more and more Christians beheaded or otherwise slain, Jesus said so in His signs of the times warning, “For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.” (Matthew 24:7-9 and Mark 13:7-9)
And, no, that was NOT just a warning to His disciples 2,000 years ago.
But, ah yes, that ubiquitous BUT, take heart, “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.” (Romans 8:37)
So simply continue “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2) “And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draws nigh.” (Luke 21:28)
So, what do we do as we await the inevitable?
Pray for our brothers and sisters who ARE being persecuted in other parts of the world, “Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.” (Hebrews 13:3)
And, encourage one another, “Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.” (1 Thessalonians 5:11) ~ Baruch HaShem Adonai