Friday, February 16, 2024
Thus far in Western Christianity we’ve seen little to no real persecution for our religious faith and therefore cannot truly relate to real persecution, but the time is soon-coming when all that will change dramatically. Here in the West we’ve viewed persecution of Christians from afar, something that occurs in foreign lands, not really effecting us in America, except to pray for believers suffering real persecution. This is one reason we who truly believe the testimony of Jesus have been given a heads-up to prepare to endure to the end as Jesus taught, Matt. 24:13.
In the truest sense of the word we must first prepare spiritually and secondly, physically, to the best of our ability. God said two times, “A prudent man foresees evil and hides himself, but the simple pass on and are punished” (Prov. 22:3 and Prov. 27:12) a double warning! It’s important for God’s people to foresee evil, it’s called having a vision or revelation of things to come, and that by God’s word. Real persecution that negatively impacts our lives and ability to function in this world is not far off. Yes it’s coming right here to the US and sooner than we think. And any believer who foolishly thinks he will be raptured pre-trib before Antichrist’s persecutions come is truly deceived, having believed the testimony of men rather than God in Christ. When those days of great evil come, and they will, you will want to be seen publically as little as possible.
Real persecution is coming. Persecution of Christians is an inescapable God-promised truth, a subject that most Western evangelical pastors and Bible teachers ignore like the plague. If you belong to an organized church has your pastor prepared you to endure persecutions? If you’re like most you can’t remember such a preparatory teaching that markedly identifies Christians suffering persecutions for true faith in Christ. There’s a reason for that. In Western Christianity true faith is more often than not preached and taught as the easy road, the exact opposite of the difficult road of faith Christ taught at Matt. 7:13–14. Many professing Christians take the wide gate and broad road of the world in order to not suffer persecutions. They make of no effect the teachings of Christ at Matt. 7:13–14 in order to shield themselves from persecution or rejection.
In the 1st Century AD, Jesus’ apostles were brutalized, tortured and persecuted specifically for their faith in Christ, and that persecution did not surprise them because Jesus clearly taught that “A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also” (John 15:20). To Christ’s apostles, persecutions were the expected norm, but today, 2,000 years later, God’s word has become so watered down by tepid pastors with things that tickle people’s ears and traditions of men that persecutions are the last thing on the minds of most professing Christians even as we see the end-times drawing close. The god of this age deceived the hearts and minds of many. In soon-coming days we will see the God-promised “falling away” (2 Thess. 2:3) from the faith when Antichrist, “the man of sin … the son of perdition” is revealed, because he will quickly begin persecuting believers who have true faith in Christ. Have you prepared yourself and your loved ones to endure to the end?
Know this and prepare: all world governments, the UN, the WEF, the WHO, the ICOJ, the IMF, the CIA, the FBI, the DOJ and many other state and federal alphabet agencies are arrayed against all true followers of Christ. Not a single government ruler, none of the leaders of nations, not one of them has in mind the things of God and His Christ. They’re all against God who said “Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, ‘Let us break Their bonds in pieces and cast away Their cords from us’” (Psa. 2:1–3). That’s who presidents, kings, monarchs, queens, emperors, dictators, authoritarians, and every other form of national leaders are. They’re arrayed against the LORD and against His Anointed Christ and His saints.
True believers are vastly outnumbered. The Spirit said by Paul, though “being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it: being defamed, we entreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day” (1 Cor. 4:12–13 KJV). To this very day that Scripture passage is yet true and it takes a rare man committed to the “it is written” text of God’s word to “Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come [and even now is] when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves [false] teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables” (2 Tim. 4:2–4). It’s a sure sign of these deceptive end-times!
Understand that it’s of importance to note why true Christianity is the single faith being greatly attacked in these last days. Know first that there’s a false Christianity vs. a true Christianity. The former largely shields itself from persecution by preaching that Christians, Islam and Judaism all worship the same God; it preaches a demonic false unity; it calms antic-Christ religious fanatics while those abominations love company. But as for true Christianity, it rejoices in and glorifies the Son of God, Jesus Christ who said “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). That exclusivity creates rage in many today. Here is the exclusive Person of Christ which the unbelieving world and all its false religions cannot and will not tolerate. Hence, persecution of people who actually believe Jesus Christ is readily approved.
From the moment Antichrist is revealed persecution against true Christians, true Jews, Rom. 2:28–29, will go mainstream. In the first 3 1/2 years of the tribulation it will become difficult for true Christians to navigate life due to being cut off from buying and selling life sustaining needs. We saw those evils during COVID-19 when people who rejected untested killer vaccines lost the opportunity to function in public. True Christians must prepare now for the tribulation mid-point to find God’s safety and provision for the last 1,260 days (3 1/2 years) of the “great tribulation”.
Last week I contrasted the degradation of this present world with the God-promised inheritance of the believer, “the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God” (Heb. 11:10), the New Jerusalem, the city that’s like a splendid 12 story palace 1,500 miles cubed. Keep that vision, that revelation at all times, and know that that’s our eternal inheritance if we don’t give up and we faithfully endure to the end as Christ taught at Matt. 24:13. Persecutions on the near horizon are very real, but let’s decide even now that we will be faithful to Christ no matter what comes. We all want to hear “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matt. 25:23). My new book “ON EAGLES’ WINGS” reveals God’s love, grace and judgment, it also reveals that God’s true people have always suffered persecution; true prophets of ancient Israel and 1st Century apostles who suffered persecutions are Exhibit A. While many profess faith in God, they deny that Jesus Christ is the only way to God, and thus shield themselves from persecution. But true Christians stand by the “it is written” authority of God’s word regardless of threats or real persecution.
Marlin J. Yoder
