Understanding Persecution of Christians in Name Only

Commentary for the July 21, 2007 edition of Be Alert! Persecution of believers in Jesus the Messiah is clearly growing daily and globally, especially now in the Western nations that traditionally (because of the gospel) have seen very little of what the Communist, Islamic and third world pagan nations have long suffered (at least since the Protestant Reformation). My fear has long been that persecution would break out in the West before the return of Christ, as there is no statement in the Word of God that declares otherwise. Many have connected the tribulation period with persecution in the West but that is not necessarily so as the spread of the gospel in traditional places of persecution like China for example could actually result in an eventual lowering of persecution while the falling way in United States could bring about a sudden increase in a relatively short period of time if the Lord tarries. Please understand that this is just a hypothesis for an example and not a prophecy. If the church here in America is already incapable of standing against the insidious seductions of the serpent, how much more the outright attack of the dragon? That said, I would like to frame a few of the articles from a biblical worldview before you read on although as you will see many of the reports are already written from a Christian perspective coming from World Net Daily, a source that has become a powerful voice for the persecuted church. Christians as a whole along with the Jewish people are persecuted and discriminated against each an every day more so than any other group of people in the world, yet you would never find this just reading the regular press. This is the sad truth and as seekers of the truth we need to realize that whether the slant is left or right, it is almost always turned away from persecuted Christians unless it can be tied into some “other” cause like the sudden increase in articles concerning persecution of Mormons, persecution of the like that has not occurred for many years. You will notice a few common themes and without a doubt militant Islam, false religions such as Hinduism and Communist dictatorships still lead the way in the current trend of persecution. But what is sometimes most sickening is when commercialism becomes a reason to persecute as you will see in the two articles concerning China and the 2008 Olympics. I would not doubt that greed is also one of the motivating factors behind the proposed law against pharmacists in the U.S. Yes they hide behind the civil rights crusade and that definitely plays a big role, but money still rules at the end of the day. Under article number 9, Gaza --- There are true churches and false churches under attack. Concerning the false churches, there are two ways through which we must view persecution of “Christians” in name only in order to understand events biblically. To further complicate matters we know that there are some true believers within these churches that have false gospels. But I am convinced that if they are true believers, at some point they must “come out of her” as the Lord commands them or they will take part in receiving her judgments and tribulations. There are also those who like many of us (including yours truly) who used to belong to such a false church and whom the Lord is now calling to also come out. Hence, why our job is so important to continually preach the gospel, especially the true gospel of the kingdom, and proclaim the full council of God’s word (including the not so “positive” stuff), something that has been virtually missing from the majority of sermons for the last generation and even longer in many cases. This report is a perfect case in point that illustrates a number of complications that arises out of persecution of the church. In this case Gaza’s Roman Catholic community was attacked during the civil war between Hamas and Fatah last month. There are a number of points to consider: 1) Through the eyes of an unbeliever, someone who takes the name of Christ is a "Christian", so a “Christian” is a "Christian". Outside of a person who studies religions they mostly do not and definitely cannot tell the differences between different types of believers unless they see it lived out. So in this sense it is persecution because of Jesus name. 2) God uses can and does use persecution to refine his true church so this may cause those who really do love Him and are seeking truth to look harder and come to faith in the true gospel. 3) At the same time (and this is a hard one for many) God uses this sort of judgment on those who have fallen into the worship of false gods and idols. He did this many times with ancient Israel and now we see he has and enemy of God (the Moslems, whose religion fits the definition of anti-Christ to a “T”) destroying something that could very well be even more of an abomination in His sight – idols baring His name that break the 2nd commandment officially condoned by another religion whose leader wears the title “anti-Christ” (vicarious christos [Lat] antichristos [Gr]) across his chest. That said, I can guarantee you that any statues of Jesus, Mary of Joseph, or anyone else for that matter (including the Statue of Liberty here in the US) that are still standing after the tribulation period and the wrath of God is poured out will be promptly destroyed when Jesus sets up His millennial kingdom on earth. I apologize if that sounds to harsh but that is what the scripture declares and if that is a problem, then your problem is not with me but with God. Finally, we are seeing the rise of militant homosexual activism targeting Christians, but now it is the laws and legal authorities that are doing the bidding. I sadly can only see this as a result of a church that for the majority has been asleep. Most still don’t have a clue what is happening and one day they will go to do one of their “seeker friendly”, non-evasive gospel events and still wind up getting arrested for it. That is when the stones will come crumbling down. May those who have insight among the people be there to help shine lights in the darkness when that day comes. BE/\LERT! (Scott Brisk)