Preparing For Persecution III

 Even though things seemed to be going swimmingly, and they had favor with all the people, as far as the core group was concerned, they did not forget the words of Jesus, nor did they forget His warnings about the world hating them because they hated Him. We can know this based on their reaction to the persecution they had to endure once it commenced because they didn’t shrink back in fear, nor were they looking for ways out of the situation, but rather they welcomed it and reveled in it knowing that the words of Christ were coming to pass before their eyes.

It didn’t take long for the established religion and the forces of darkness to catch on to what was happening, and since the adage that my enemy’s enemy is my friend held true even in those days, they joined forces and aimed all of their considerable power at a now growing movement of people who didn’t play by the rules of avarice they were so accustomed to, who weren’t swayed by the promises of wealth or influence, because they’d already sold everything they had, divided up amongst the brethren, and ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart.

These upstarts, these people who didn’t have coffers or influence with the Roman overlords, these simple men and women were cutting into their bottom line, and that was something they could not abide. They needed an excuse to be rid of them; they needed something they could go before the high magistrates with, and the resurrection of the dead in Christ was what they landed on.

They were willy enough to intuit that people tend to fear what they don’t understand, and the resurrection of the dead was one of those things.

Acts 4:1-3, “Now as they spoke to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came upon them, being greatly disturbed that they taught the people and preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they laid hands on them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening.”

When you have the muscle and numbers on your side, it’s far easier to manhandle the opposition than to come up with a cogent argument against them. Having seen the character of the priests, Sadducees, and captain of the temple throughout the gospels, one could readily conclude that their teaching on the resurrection of the dead in Christ was the excuse they were looking for rather than something that genuinely disconcerted and disturbed them. These were the same people who offered Judas thirty pieces of silver to betray Jesus, the same salt of the earth folks who pulled the strings necessary for the people to pick Barabbas over Christ.

All the enemy ever needs to persecute the children of God is an excuse. It doesn’t need to be a good excuse, a viable excuse, or a genuine excuse, just a passable one for the time being.

When they began going after Christians during Communism, the excuse was that Christians were an impediment to the general good because their teachings confused people and caused them to become resistant to the system. It didn’t matter that they were generous, open-handed, or big-hearted; it didn’t matter that they kept to themselves, were non-political, and helped their neighbors; they were competition. They were another source of hope, independent of the system, and that just couldn’t be.

It wasn’t that the brutes who ran the Communist party back in the day hated Jesus as a person; they didn’t know Him, and most of them could barely spell their own names, but they understood that Jesus meant hope, and they couldn’t have the peasant class hope in anything else except for the motherland. Hope is a dangerous thing, especially to tyrants, especially to those who would rule with a fist of iron and allow for zero dissent.

We’re beginning to see the hate foment against Christianity here in the West, and it’s not because the masses suddenly decided Jesus wasn’t alright with them. It’s because Jesus stands in the way of their utopia, and the followers of Jesus refuse to go along with the hedonism that’s being foisted upon the masses with such glee. History might not always repeat, but it often rhymes, and whatever excuse will be used to persecute the church anew, be sure that it is being poll-tested even now.

The one dramatic difference between now and then is that the early church heeded Christ’s warnings and was prepared to endure persecution; the modern-day church seems to ignore His warnings altogether and only sees calm seas and soft winds for as far as the eye can see. Even if some are seeing troubled seas ahead, they soothe their worried conscience with the ever-present mantra that though the storm may be coming, they won’t be here to go through it.

I am already aware that this series of teachings will not be popular. I know that it will not garner me new friends, and I will likely lose some friends along the way, but I’m the one that will one day have to stand before my Maker, and I would gladly lose every friend to the last than stand before Him with blood on my hands.

I can only tell you what I see coming, how to prepare for what is coming, and not of my own machinations, but using the prototype of the early church, those men and women who stood even when it meant their lives.

Of all the people one could have a conversation with when they get to heaven, many choose Abraham, Paul, Joseph, or David, but few choose someone like Stephen, widely known as the first martyr of the early church, a man who was not known for being a king, someone who wrote a quarter of the New Testament, or a man of means, but one of seven appointed by the Apostles to care for elderly, the widows, and the orphans.

Greatness in God’s eyes is different than greatness in men’s eyes. May we aspire to be great in His eyes and indifferent to the opinions of men.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.