Zemirah Loc: Sojourner En Route...

Today, just as in the book of Acts, Christians are persecuted all over the world for following Jesus. While Christian persecution takes many forms, it is defined as any hostility experienced as a result of identification with Christ.

2 Timothy 3:12
"Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted."

Religious freedom is a rare commodity in many regions of the world, according to the U.S. State Department’s latest International Religious Freedom Report.

About 74 percent of the world’s population lives in countries “with serious restrictions on religious freedom,” according to the US Ambassador-at-large for International Religious Freedom, David Saperstein. This includes countries where people can be severely punished for blasphemy or apostasy and where the government can demolish worship spaces.

Trends show that countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East are intensifying persecution against Christians, and perhaps the most vulnerable are Christian women, who often face double persecution for faith and gender. North Korea was ranked #1 for the 17th consecutive year as the most dangerous country for Christians on the World Watch List.

These trends make sense for many American Christians. Persecution of their religion only happens in faraway countries, right?

Wrong.

Christian persecution is happening right here at home, on our own soil. Many here are being attacked for their faith too. While it is not at the level of beheadings, some burned down churches have occurred, and there have been some attacks by armed intruders.

It is a problem that is growing. Traditional Christians are facing increasing intolerance in this country through fines, lawsuits, jobs lost, and public disdain.

Here are some of the ways that you might be experiencing Christian persecution in America, without even realizing it.

Persecution in politics.

Many politicians in the United States are attacked for their religious beliefs. For example, Senator Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, and Kamala Harris, when senator from California, chose negative and angry questions in an interview with Brian Buescher, an Omaha-based lawyer nominated by President Trump to sit on the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska. Buescher, a Catholic, has very traditional values. Due to his beliefs, he was subjected to scrutiny by these two senators. They tried to cast doubt on his ability to serve in public office because of his Christianity.

Traditional values are continuously trying to be removed from America. In general, the beliefs of the right are being called closed minded, however they are beliefs that are found in the Bible and have been a part of this country since its founding.

Christian bakers are refusing to bake cakes for same-sex weddings, or those in public office are refusing to authorize same-sex wedding certificates. These Christians that have stood up for what they believe were given a huge amount of negative publicity, fined and threatened with dismissal from their employment.

There has been a consistent push to remove all traces of God from government for many years. Our Pledge of Allegiance, for example, has been repeatedly been brought up saying that “under God” needs to be taken from its text. Even American money has been brought into question, because it has “in God we trust” written on it.

Persecution on college campuses.

If you know any Christian millennial that goes to a liberal college, you might have heard that their beliefs are judged. At campuses throughout the country, outspoken Christians are regularly demeaned, debased and targeted for their beliefs. Many times these Christian college students will be told by others that their religion has only hateful, bigoted, and privileged believers.

Many Christian colleges themselves also have been in jeopardy lately. Recently, some have been asked to conform to secularist ideology or threatened they will lose their accreditation. Traditional evangelical schools like Gordon College in Massachusetts and Kings College in New York are having their accreditation questioned. Some secularists are arguing that Christian colleges should never deserve accreditation, period.

Persecution in public schools.

Like many campus colleges, public schools are getting hit as well. Student groups like InterVarsity have been kicked off campuses, and a teacher in New Jersey was suspended for giving a student a Bible. A football coach in Washington was placed on leave for saying a prayer on the field at the end of a game.

Prayer in school has been a topic fought for years. Students that do choose to pray, even when told to do so by their teachers, are typically looked at strangely by their peers. Teachers oftentimes do not step in during these situations, as they feel that they cannot touch on such subjects. Instead, they choose to censor all religion in the classroom, letting ignorance and bullying flourish.

How can you deal with persecution?

At times, defending the gospel against its enemies is not easy.

Persecution against Christians in the United States is not something that is avoidable. It is to be expected, and something with which Christians must understand and cope. The key to coping and dealing with the persecution of Christians and Christianity in the U.S. is our reaction to our persecution. The key to understanding and thriving through the persecution is in reacting as Jesus Christ did, as we follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus did not seek revenge upon His enemies but rather, He was called to focus on His mission, to turn the other cheek, and to continue to speak the truth in love. When Jesus Christ was on the cross, He prayed for forgiveness for those who put Him there.

We are, to the best of our ability, to follow His example. We must do the Lord’s work the Lord’s way.

Christians are different from others of the world, and those who are different tend to be negatively judged. The followers of Christ have been persecuted from the beginning, but we can grow and overcome the negativity.

Matthew 5:10-12
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

Stand up for what you know to be true, share Jesus with others, defend the gospel, and ignore those who attempt to stop you, or silence you.


the gospelcoalition.org
Megan Bailey, Beliefnet.

Canuckus Deploracus Loc: North of the wall

Amen to that last part🙏🙏🙏

Redangel62

Thanks for posting!

Rose42

Great article thank you.

Its also important that in this day and age of watering down Christ’s message that we don’t do the same and opt for sharing an easy believism message.

Michael Rich Loc: Lapine Oregon

""IF""Jesus was preordained to die on the stake, then he put himself on the crucifixion stake.

No man could have caused his death and no man could have prevented it.

But yet, the Jews have been paying for Jesus's preordained human sacrifice for over two thousand years now.

No people's have been subjected to the level of persecution greater than the House of Israel.

You tout yourself as a theological genius, so you should know who has persecuted the Jews the most.

Zemirah Loc: Sojourner En Route...

The majority of Jews ignored the very specific prophecies in their Holy Scriptures, some given them by their God thousands of years in advance, that enabled them to identify their divine Messiah.

Their abominations incurred the wrath of God so much that He sent the Babylonian army and Roman army to desolate them.

Of their own free will they rejected Jesus, as God foreknew (NOT foreordained) that they would, so the Lord caused the Roman army to desolate the temple and the city resulting in 1.1 million Jews lying dead around the city of Jerusalem.

God sent Isaiah to pronounce judgment upon the immoral and idolatrous Jews.

Isaiah 1:4 Alas, sinful nation, A people laden with iniquity, A brood of evildoers, Children who are corrupters! They have forsaken the LORD, They have provoked to anger The Holy One of Israel, They have turned away backward.

Isaiah 1:9 Unless the LORD of hosts Had left to us a very small remnant, We would have become like Sodom, We would have been made like Gomorrah.

Isaiah 1:15 When you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; Even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood.

Isaiah 1:21 How the faithful city has become a harlot! It was full of justice; Righteousness lodged in it, But now murderers.

Isaiah 2:8 Their land is also full of idols; They worship the work of their own hands, That which their own fingers have made.

Isaiah 3:9 The expression of their faces bears witness against them, And they display their sin like Sodom; They do not even conceal it. Woe to them ! For they have brought evil on themselves.

Isaiah 5:13-14 Therefore My people go into exile for their lack of knowledge; And their honorable men are famished, And their multitude is parched with thirst. Therefore Sheol has enlarged its throat and opened its mouth without measure; And Jerusalem ‘s splendor, her multitude, her din of revelry and the jubilant within her, descend into it.

Isaiah 5:25 On this account the anger of the Lord has burned against His people, And He has stretched out His hand against them and struck them down. And the mountains quaked, and their corpses lay like refuse in the middle of the streets. For all this His anger is not spent, But His hand is still stretched out.

Isaiah 28:14-15 Therefore, hear the word of the Lord, O scoffers, Who rule this people who are in Jerusalem, Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death, And with Sheol we have made a pact . The overwhelming scourge will not reach us when it passes by, For we have made falsehood our refuge and we have concealed ourselves with deception.”

With all the prophecies relating to the doom and gloom of a disobedient Israel it’s easy to come away with the feeling that all hope was lost for God’s chosen people (see the previous prophecies concerning Israel). For centuries on end Jerusalem was controlled by Gentile powers just as Jesus had predicted. Even those who typically scoff at the Bible have to think twice about the prophecies of Israel’s scattering, because recorded history proves that they were fulfilled exactly as stated. Only the power of an eternal God could control a dispersed people for so long and still maintain their national and religious identity. However, the Lord not only fulfilled their scattering into all lands exactly as predicted, He also prophesied of a future regathering of Israel, which would happen at the end of the age.

Even as Israel was in the clutches of the Lord’s wrath and experiencing persecution all over the world, year after year the Jews kept their hopes alive for an eventual return to Palestine as they gathered together on their holy days with the cry, “Next year in Jerusalem!” Somehow they seemed to know deep down that their plight would not last forever. They believed that someday they would regain the land that was promised to them and become a unified nation again. This hope was not just wishful thinking on the part of a persecuted people. They were certain that the regathering of Israel would eventually happen, because their holy scriptures predicted it. In fact, the very same prophets that predicted the scattering of Israel into all lands also went on to prophesy of a time when they would be regathered. In the book of Jeremiah these words can be found:

“For, lo, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will bring again the captivity of my people, Israel and Judah, saith the Lord; and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.”

Jeremiah 30:3

The words “bring again the captivity of” in the King James translation actually mean “cause the captivity to cease”. Some of the modern versions of the Bible translate “restore the fortunes of”, but in any case the meaning is quite clear. Sometime in the prophet Jeremiah’s future the Lord would allow the Jews to return to Israel and possess the same land which was originally given to Abraham.

It might be claimed that the primary purpose of this prophecy was to simply encourage Jeremiah’s listeners, since he prophesied of these things in the midst of the dark days of the Babylonian captivity. His words gave hope to those who still believed in the Lord by helping to confirm the fact that God would not forsake his people forever. However, the ultimate fulfillment of this prediction bespeaks a time in Jeremiah’s distant future. As we shall soon see, most of the prophecies dealing with the regathering of Israel have their focus firmly fixed on the end of the age and particularly at the time just before the return of Christ.

Isaiah had much to say about Israel’s future rebirth as a nation. In chapter 43 of his book the Lord says that no matter how far away his people may be scattered, he will still be able to bring them back.

“Fear not; for I am with thee. I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west.

“I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back; bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth, even every one that is called by my name…”

Isaiah 43:5-6

Ezekiel also prophesied of the day that Israel would return. He likened them to a wandering flock of sheep that had strayed away from their shepherd. This is what the true Shepherd says he will do:

“Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out.

“As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.

“And I will bring them out from the peoples, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land…”

Ezekiel 34:11-13

How can anything be stated more clearly? Some people like to label the Bible as a vague, symbolic book that is difficult to understand. However, if a person is willing to search through its pages for the prophetic writings concerning Israel, the prophecies can become as understandable and easy to comprehend as writings from any other book. The prophecies are indisputable in this area: Israel was scattered among the nations just as the Bible predicted; for centuries they were persecuted exactly as Moses described; and as we shall soon see, just as decidedly the Jews were predicted to be regathered.

Moses was actually the first prophet to predict Israel’s rebirth, and his words were written down even before the Jews had entered the Promised Land for the first time. Moses’ words add enough detail for us to begin to understand how and when this event will take place.

“And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, to which the Lord thy God hath driven thee,

“And shalt return unto the Lord thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul,

“That then the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations where the Lord thy God hath scattered thee.

“If any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven, from there will the Lord thy God gather thee, and from there will he fetch thee.”

Deuteronomy 30:1-4

Michael Rich Loc: Lapine Oregon

When the Jews ""Return"" to the Lord of Hosts it most definitely doesn't say in a new direction.

Returning is going back to a starting point.

The doctrines of Christianity are nowhere found in the Hebrew scriptures.

People try to force Christiandom into every book of the Hebrew bible.

If the two religion's were even close in doctrinal structure there wouldn't be a need for separate institutions of worship.

Zemirah Loc: Sojourner En Route...

You say.

God, however, has the last word, always.

Redangel62

Yes ma'am. He does! Always

Michael Rich Loc: Lapine Oregon

That's a fact. If we didn't have the hope that God will intervene in this mess we call society, what a sad note that would be.

Redangel62

For sure!!!

Zemirah Loc: Sojourner En Route...

He is, in every way, our blessed hope.