What do godly Christians do that causes them to be persecuted?
What causes
the world to hate Christians so much? Much of the reason for persecution is
spiritual. The more a godly Christian aggravates the devil, the more the enemy
will torment him. How does one aggravate the enemy? It is done by tampering
with his kingdom, by winning people over from the kingdom of Satan to the
Kingdom of God, by revealing Satan's lies, through preaching the truth and by
simply adoring the Lord.
Another reason for persecution is
that people, in their sinful nature, cannot stand seeing these Christians
become everything that they themselves would have liked to be. In their
frustration, they give the Christians a hard time.
Regarding persecution by other
religions, including so-called Christian religions, persecution is again
motivated and instigated by Satan. Those other religions are actually his
creation intended to deceive those whom God loves so much and to draw them away
from Him.
What do Christians do to be
persecuted? They do what is hateful to Satan. They do God's bidding. They
affect Satan's kingdom negatively.
What is persecution and who does it?
The Greek word for persecution means
to drive away, to pursue (in a hostile manner), to harass, and to be maltreated
on account of something.
In Matthew 5:11, Jesus talks about
people insulting, persecuting, and falsely saying all kinds of evil against us.
The primary source behind persecution, the chief instigator, and the persecutor
is Satan. Why? Because Satan’s primary purpose in life is to prevent, in
whatever way possible, the growth of God’s kingdom. The methods and instruments
Satan uses for persecution are numerous. In countries or towns where he has a
stronghold, where most religions are not Christian, he uses open, physical
techniques to make life difficult for Christians. He discourages non-Christians
and causes them to fear becoming Christians.
Sometimes he uses repressive laws and
policies. For example, a Middle Eastern country continues to prohibit its
citizens from practicing any faith other than Sunni Islam. Foreign Christians have been arrested, imprisoned and finally
deported for being involved in private Christian activities.
In another Middle Eastern country,
fundamentalist intolerance has continued to destroy and devastate lives, as
murders, gang rapes, destruction of churches and property, and other attacks
have been meted out against minority religious groups.
I recently met with Chinese
Christians and heard terrible stories of persecution. However, they do not pray
for the system to change, because persecution keeps them on their toes and
creates witnessing opportunities that bring hope to the hopeless. Some
Christians are moved from prison to prison because they preach the gospel in prison. This is done in an attempt to stop the prisoners from
hearing the gospel, but in reality, it increases the number of prisoners who
hear it, for wherever they end up, they preach the gospel.
In other countries, God is
acknowledged but not necessarily served. There the stronghold belongs to God,
and Satan does not have so much freedom. Persecution therefore often becomes
circumstantial. In other words, Satan uses our daily circumstances to harass,
trouble, or mistreat us. Christians are experiencing a turning up of the heat
concerning general hardship. These problems are not necessarily brought on by
people, but by circumstances that make life less comfortable. Some Christians
lose their jobs as a result of false testimonies brought against them.
Jesus said in John 16:33, “‘I have
told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will
have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.’” Those who serve the
Lord with all their hearts might feel constant pressure in their circumstances.
Some may feel they never get on top financially, others seem regularly to have
problems with their children, and some are sick. Many lives are disrupted by
the malicious lies of human enemies of the cross or people who are not aware of
what they are doing. It is for these people that Jesus prayed in Luke 23:34,
“‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.’” Yet Jesus
said that, although we have to go through all these hardships, in Him we have
peace. To be continued.
For children and adults who are prepared to learn in a childlike way.
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