Don't Be Surpised By Persecution Of Your Faith

My Utmost For His Highest

““Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you…” (1 Peter 4:12). If we do think the things we encounter are strange, it is because we are fearful and cowardly. We pay such close attention to our own interests and desires that we stay out of the mire and say, “I won’t submit; I won’t bow or bend.” And you don’t have to— you can be saved by the “skin of your teeth” if you like. You can refuse to let God count you as one who is “separated to the gospel….” Or you can say, “I don’t care if I am treated like ‘the filth of the world’ as long as the gospel is proclaimed.” A true servant of Jesus Christ is one who is willing to experience martyrdom for the reality of the gospel of God. When a moral person is confronted with contempt, immorality, disloyalty, or dishonesty, he is so repulsed by the offense that he turns away and in despair closes his heart to the offender. But the miracle of the redemptive reality of God is that the worst and the vilest offender can never exhaust the depths of His love. Paul did not say that God separated him to show what a wonderful man He could make of him, but “to reveal His Son in me…” (Galatians 1:16).” CHAMBERS

There has been a significant shift in the culture in the U.S. in the attitude toward Christian values.  At one point in our country, Christians were highly regarded in our culture.  But not so much now.  It did not happen overnight, but I have watched day by day, year by year, as that regard has eroded until, today, some Christian beliefs are considered to be based on hate toward others.  That of course is not true, but many people think it is, which has the same result.

II Thessalonians 2:9-12 "The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness. "

Isaiah 5:20-21 “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight. "

You will be reviled by people who are convinced that they know the truth, when in fact, they are embracing a lie.  Don’t think it strange … Jesus said it would happen, it’s just that Christians in the U.S. never believed it would happen in the U.S.  You must be ready to stand in the face of persecution.  It may be that you have not felt its sting .. but the day is coming.  Here is an Elgin axiom for you … “the darker the night .. the brighter the light.”  What you believe is in sharp contrast to what the culture embraces.  So what should you do?  Read Ephesians 6:10-18   

Bondye Beni Ou (God Bless You)