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When it comes to persecution, the church of Christ can truly claim: “been there, bore that, got the cross to prove it”.
Since its very inception, the world made it clear that it was at war with the church. It killed its very founder. So talk about a rough start. And it’s never let up.
There have been countless attempts to eradicate the world of Christianity and Emperor Diocletian earns himself a special place in the ranks of overachieving tyrants for his efforts to destroy all Christian scriptures around 303 AD. He came extremely close to achieving that goal, but for One not-so-slight oversight: God is real and He is in control. No amount of church and Bible burning, torture and murder of Christians or idol worship will change that. Yet this is a lesson that the world simply refuses to learn. And here we are today, in the year 2021, still witnessing church burnings (Canada, we see you), world-wide persecution and hatred of Christians.
Although the veracity with which Christians are persecuted ebbs and flows with seasons of fierce opposition and times of relative peace, recently we’ve seen the wind of social media and cancel culture fanning the flames of hatred against all things Christian. Yes, the world has been at war with the body of Christ since the get go. But now it has a new weapon in its arsenal of ill-conceived and doomed plans to rid the world of the One true God.
Social Media
This specific instance of social media madness is a little difficult to take seriously. But here goes. A Facebook Event has been scheduled where people from across the globe can unite to flip the bird to the sky to end Christianity and create more atheists.
How does this work, exactly? If you are an atheist (which clearly the creator of this event must be if she is hoping that this will somehow result in more atheists), who are you flipping off in heaven? And how do you think the act of waving a finger at the sky will help to end Christianity and create more atheists? This seems suspiciously like a type of prayer. But who or what do atheists pray to? Isn’t that sort of missing the point? Curious…
Cancel Culture
If it was up to W.C Harris, a professor at Shippensburg university in Pennsylvania, the only sensible way to move forward as a society is for religion (especially Christianity) to be done away with. But don’t worry, if you are in the market for a politically correct religion, he has come up with a fun new one called Gaytheism. His book called “Slouching Toward Gaytheism: Christianity and Queer Survival in America” is actively being promoted by American universities along with other gems like “White Christian Privilege: The Illusion of Religious Equality in America” by Khyati Y. Joshi. Good times.
For more in this, have a look at Episode 529 on Freedom Project.
Big Tech
With Facebook and other Big Tech increasingly being called out for censorship, their sudden interest in Christian churches does not bode well for anyone interested in the true, unfiltered Gospel.
Facebook has been meeting with Hillsong church and this could be the pilot project for taking us into the future of the church as envisioned by Facebook – a church that does not only use online services as an additional tool to reach more people / people not physically capable of joining services, but instead exists online in it’s entirety and replacing physical gatherings.
First off, God says in the Bible that it is important for His followers to gather together for worship. And secondly, would you trust Facebook to not interfere if they deemed a sermon or activity as going against their policies?
Mark Z is no saint. Perhaps he’ll go by Pastor Mark. But somehow I don’t think he’d be happy with any title less than god.
Fight Back
There is no need to feel worried or depressed by any of this. We know that the cycles of persecution will become increasingly severe and peak in the Great Tribulation. So make sure you don’t end up going through those 3.5 years of hell on earth, because God has not reserved this judgement for His children. We are, however, not promised that we’d never see persecution. In fact, almost all of the apostles were martyred because of their devotion to Jesus. God warns us about this in the Bible. But He also promises to give us all we need to endure. We don’t need to rely on our own strength. His endless strength will carry us through.
So the first thing you should do to fight back, is to bulk up your Bible study and prayer life. The Word is the sword of Truth. We get to know God through His word. Knowing Him allows us to pray in a manner that is pleasing to Him. And prayer is the most powerful tool at our disposal. Use it.
Although the media hardly ever reports on this, there are still millions of Christians worldwide facing severe persecution. There are still places where owning a Bible is illegal and converting to Christianity is punishable by death. Christians are not allowed to work or attend school due to their faith in some parts of the world. I would encourage you to find out where fellow Christians are being persecuted so that you can pray for them. Voice of the martyrs is a free app that provides daily updates on different areas of the world where Christians are experiencing persecution, so that fellow Christians can pray for them:
Difficult as it may be, please remember not to focus too much on the people who are doing these hateful things. God says our fight is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, and against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12). That does not mean that we should sit idly by and allow evil to flourish. God also said that we should occupy until His return. We should pursue what is right and expose the darkness. But we should never fear.
God bless you in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour.
Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Instead, fear the one who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Matthew 10:28
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Psalm 23:4
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
2 Timothy 1:7