Prosperity teachers have misled many brothers and sisters in Christ to believe that following Christ will consist of full coffers, and every comfort. These teachers claim that Christ will give a Christian “all the desires of their heart.” (Psalm 37:4). Somehow Christ’s teachings on not storing up treasures, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also,” (Matthew 6:19-21), not serving two masters, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money,” (Matthew 6:24), giving up family and property, “And everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or property, for my sake, will receive a hundred times as much in return and will inherit eternal life,” (Matthew 19:29) and being hated by the entire world, “And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in this city, flee to another. For assuredly, I say to you, you will not have gone through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes.” (Matthew 10:22-24).
The call to be a Christian is not a call to be comfortable. We are at variance with this world and our conviction is that while we have paradise in the next life and eternal life now through Jesus Christ, we shall suffer in this life. The fallacy that a Christian is meant to live a cushy existence comes from the Old Testament promises that are blessings and curses (Deuteronomy 28) and a misunderstanding of Malachi Chapter 3, but the Old Covenant is obsolete (Hebrews 8:13) and the truth is that we are saved but this life is pain. In Old Testament believers had a good and easy life but an uncertain destination, they went to Sheol or Abraham’s Bosom. We in contrast go to heaven and eternity but in this life we suffer.
Are we ready to endure all? What if we lose our hearing, sight, or other senses? What if our bodies are damaged and we cannot function as we once did before? How will we respond when persecution comes and begins to marginalize us until we are the underground church? Many are not ready because they have been sold on a prosperity gospel and doctrine that promises good days, banquets, treasures, and prestige. In truth being a Christian is about dying. Carrying Christ’s death in us and watching as this world and it’s allure perishes inside us and this vessel the clay of flesh decay, break and become subdued. Then we behold as Christ resurrects in us the New Man while our old man suffocates in suffering.
We have to drown ourselves in the blood of Christ and bear His marks (Galatians 6:17). We are not called to a pleasant life of position, power, and possessions but instead to carry our cross (Matthew 16:24-26), to join in Christ’s passion as poor pilgrims full of afflictions and persecutions. Our aim isn’t to save ourselves, Jesus Christ our Lord and God has done that already, instead we follow the Master who lives in us (1 John 4:15) and bear the suffering He promised in addition to our salvation, “If they hated me, they will hate you, I have told you that the serving is no greater than the master,” (John 15:18-25) and “you shall be hated and despised by all people and nations on account of my name.” (Matthew 24:9).
A crushing is coming (Revelation 13:7) that will make us Christians all be in the same boat of suffering. My fear is that those duped by the false prosperity message will not endure the road of sorrows ahead of the church and unlike those who willingly were fed to the lions in the early church, will instead shirk the marks of Christ for the Mark of the Antichrist, “And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away.” (Mark 4:17).
Suffering, persecution (Revelation 14:12), and enmity have always been part of the Church. A Christian that does not feel the crushing is in danger of being lukewarm (Revelation). To be hot for the Lord we must enter the furnaces of trials and tribulations so that we may come out tempered and straight as the narrow way.
Suffering, persecutions, and loss are the hallmarks of being a Christian:
“And you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But the one who endures to the end will be save,” (Mark 13:13)
“The Beast will be given authority to crush the saints of God and to crush every tribe, every tongue and person,” (Revelation 13:7)
“Yes, and everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution,” (2 Timothy 3:12)
“Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin,” (1 Peter 4:1)
“Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you,” (Matthew 5:12)
“But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now,” (Galatians 4:29),
“And we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure;” (1 Corinthians 4:12)
“Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you,” (1 Peter 4:12-14)
“Consider Him (Jesus) who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted,” (Hebrews 12:3),
“More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.” (Romans 5:3-4)
“I Count all things lost but knowing Jesus, for whom I have discarded all things that I may gain Christ” (Philippians 3:8)
“As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord,” (James 5:10)
“Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body,” (Hebrews 13:3)
“Then he said to them all: "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me,” (Luke 9:23)
“Endure persecution patiently, keep faith in God and hold fast to the testimony of Jesus,” (Revelation 14:12)
“You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God,” (James 4:4)
“Who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life,” (Mark 10:30)
“If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.” (John 15:19)
“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world,” (John 16:33),
“They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God,” (John 16:2)
“and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him” (Romans 18:7)
“Strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God,” (Acts 14:22)
“that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,” (Philippians 3:10)
“If we endure, we will also reign with Him; If we deny Him, He also will deny us;” (2 Timothy 2:12)
“By your endurance you will gain your lives,” (Luke 21:19)
“choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin,” (Hebrews 11:12)
“For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God,” (1 Peter 2:20)
“but if anyone suffers as a Christian, he is not to be ashamed, but is to glorify God in this name,” (1 Peter 4:16)
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” (Matthew 5:10)
“"Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me,” (Matthew 5:11)
“You will be hated by all because of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved,” (Matthew 10:22)
“He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it,” (Matthew 10:39)
“Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man!,” (Luke 6:22)
“Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours,” (John 15:20),
“For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain,” (Philippians 1:21)
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? No, nothing can separate us from the love of God,” (Romans 8:35)
“And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness " Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong,” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)
“Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved,” (Matthew 24:9-13)
“And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name's sake, will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life,” (Matthew 19:29)
“For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh,” (2 Corinthians 4:11)
“Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing,” (James 1:2-5)
“For to you it has been granted for Christ's sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake,” (Phillipians 1:28)
“Join me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus,” (2 Timothy 2:3)
“Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them,” (Romans 12:14)
“We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you.” (2 Corinthians 4:8-12).
Christ our Lord and His apostles testify that we shall suffer persecution’s, tribulations, losses, afflictions, and trials. This prosperity Christianity that claims if you follow Christ you shall escape troubles and persecutions is a lie crafted by false teachers and false prophets! (Matthew 24:24, 2 Timothy 4:3, 2 Corinthians 11:2-14). There are many enemies of the cross of Christ (Philippians 3:18) and they want to convince you that being a Christian is a perpetual party on earth. The truth is that being a Christian is to carry inner joy, ecstasy and comfort, that is God in us (1 John 4:15, Colossians 1:27, 1 Corinthians 3:16) through faith in Jesus. Christ the Son of God and Lord God Incarnate (John 3:16, John 6:40, Romans 10:9-10). We carry God inside us and He comforts us in our trials and sufferings (2 Corinthians 1:1-11). We have eternal life and God The Trinity, the most precious gift and relationship of all. In addition we have persecution because the world hates us when we love God The Trinity and cannot be controlled by the world and its prince (Satan). The evil one and his legion of fallen angels and demons assails us, puppeteering people who are still sinners who do not trust in Jesus Christ for salvation. So in meantime we suffer, but when the Son of God comes on the clouds of heaven we shall be glorified or we shall repose and be glorified with Him in heaven. Amen.
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