The times are growing dark for the church. In Sri Lanka hundreds have been massacred, in Nigeria over seventy Christians are killed a day minimum. In North Korea it has been confirmed that there concentration camps of over 300,000 Christians. In China the houses of Christians are raided for all religious paraphernalia and Bibles cannot even be bought via eReaders or apps. The BBC recently announced that we are now at near genocidal levels of Christians being slaughtered (https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/amp/uk-48146305). This as the Roman Catholic Church plunges into more scandal and a recent shooting in the North America of a Pentecostal Church.
It is becoming dangerous to be a Christian. Suddenly those atrocious persecutions of the church under the Cesars Nero, Caligula, and Domitian do not seem so distant. And the words of our Lord and God Jesus Christ make sense:
“I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. they will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God.They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. But I have said these things to you, so that when their hour might have come, you may remember that I said them to you. Now I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you.” (John 16:1-4)
“Then they will deliver you over to be persecuted and killed, and you will be hated by all nations on account of My name. At that time many will fall away and will betray and hate one another, and many false prophets will arise and mislead many.Because of the multiplication of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold. But the one who perseveres to the end will be saved.” (Matthew 24:9-13)
“When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah’s day. In those days, the people enjoyed banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat and the flood came and destroyed them all.
“And the world will be as it was in the days of Lot. People went about their daily business—eating and drinking, buying and selling, farming and building— until the morning Lot left Sodom. Then fire and burning sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. Yes, it will be ‘business as usual’ right up to the day when the Son of Man is revealed. On that day a person out on the deck of a roof must not go down into the house to pack. A person out in the field must not return home. Remember what happened to Lot’s wife! If you cling to your life, you will lose it, and if you let your life go, you will save it. That night two people will be asleep in one bed; one will be taken, the other left. Two women will be grinding flour together at the mill; one will be taken, the other left.” (Luke 17:26-35)
Persecution was and is a mark of honor for us Christians. For Jesus said we would incur the enmity of this world on account of His Name. We are told even if persecution has not yet availed us as it has in Nigeria and Sri Lanka, that should you desire to live righteously you will be persecuted:
“In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” (2 Timothy 3:12)
The Early Church understood that persecution, not prosperity (doctrine) would be the norm. This world’s prince does not hold warmth for us who follow the Word of God, in fact the apostle tells us that anyone who is not one of us is filled with him, “Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world.a He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God” (Ephesians 2:1-2 NLT). Therefore, anyone who persecutes us does so from Satan’s behest, for he dwells in the hearts of all unbelievers, just as Jesus Christ dwells in the hearts of us believers (Colossians 1:27).
When the Beast of the Sea, the Man of Sin and Antichrist rises to power, there shall be a persecution and tribulation unlike ever before:
“And the beast was allowed to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And he was given authority to rule over every tribe and people and language and nation. And all the people who belong to this world worshiped the beast. They are the ones whose names were not written in the Book of Life that belongs to the Lamb who was slaughtered before the world was made. This means that God’s holy people must endure persecution patiently and remain faithful. He was then permitted to give life to this statue so that it could speak. Then the statue of the beast commanded that anyone refusing to worship it must die.” (Revelation 13:7-9, 15)
“This means that God's holy people must endure persecution patiently, obeying his commands and maintaining their faith in Jesus.” (Revelation 14:12)
The suffering and persecution we experience now is only a shadow of what is coming when the Man of Sin rises. For we are told it shall be a tribulation no one has seen:
“For at that time there will be great tribulation, unmatched from the beginning of the world until now, and never to be seen again.” (Matthew 24:21)
Christ even declares if he does not shorten the days there will be no survivors:
“And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.” (Matthew 24:22)
And He even asks if any saints will remain:
“tell you, he will grant justice to them quickly! But when the Son of Man returns, how many will he find on the earth who have faith?” (Luke 18:8)
The point our Lord is making is that the coming end times persecution will be so severe, not many will endure. What we are seeing now is only the skirmishes or forays or birth pains of the coming tribulation against the Church. If we struggle to stand firm now, what will we do when the statue of Satan demands death to Christians? (Revelation 13:). We should take these present persecutions as training or a taste to prepare us for what is coming next. I have shared I have faced persecution for my faith, even forbade to share my faith by an authority. I cannot compare my suffering with those in Sri Lanka; but it does motivate me to pray for them, “Remember those in prison, as if you were there yourself. Remember also those being mistreated, as if you felt their pain in your own bodies.” (Hebrews 13:3)
One might ask why does God allow the Beast to rise? What purpose does three and half years of the Great Tribulation serve? The Late Pastor Tim Lehaye, whom I disagree with much about, especially in his Left Behind series, did say he believed it was so the Jews would be so pressed in persecution as to finally call on Jesus. This is a possibility, but one I find a better answer is that the Lord God is going to allow mankind a sampling of two kingdoms, the Satanic kingdom of darkness under the Beast (Revelation 13:1-13), and the Messianic (Christus) Millennial Kingdom (Revelation 20:1-8). Another theory is to produce s love in us. You see in Eden, when Adam and Eve were tested, ot wasn’t a lab experiment. When they chose the fruit of knowledge of good and evil, they said to God, I won’t obey you, which means I don’t respect you, which in turn means I do not love you. The test of love is our response, hence why Jesus says, “Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them." (John 14:21). At the tree of the knowledge of good snd evil (Genesis 3) Adam and Eve said no to God’s love and tainted all creation with sin. At the tree of Calvary, the cross, Jesus Christ, Son of Adam, died for our sins and if we confess Him and believe in Him all the sin of Adam on us is gone; but again this hinges on obeying the call, to say to Jesus and His cross, I love you because you first loved me! Then we spend our lives as saved saints trying to obey the Holy Trinity of Father, Son (Jesus), and Holy Spirit. I believe the end times, persecutions, and the coming regime of the Beast is another tree, to test our obedience, our respect, and our love for Jesus, “” (Revelation 14:12). I do not believe Christ is letting us go through it like some experiment or cruel lab maze; but rather as a furnace to awaken in us a Jesus Freakery and passionate love for him that fears not death nor the arrows of evil, “They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.” (Revelation 12:11). Love is not love unless tested, unless shown and expressed. The Great Tribulation will test it in us and bring to the surface the truth: do we “count all things lost except knowing Christ,” (Philippians 3:8), or is there conditions on our love such as prosperity, comfort, and esteem in this life? The time has come for us to prepare our hearts, and become like Richard Wirmbrandt’s wife who said “love only Jesus [Love Jesus Alone].” Amen.
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