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             Being persecuted because of our belief in God is evidence that our faith in the Atonement of Christ is authentic.  After Stephen was martyred for his faith in Christ, Acts 8:1 “a great persecution arose against the church.”  Persecution is evidence of true Christianity and real faith in God.  Satan has most professing believers think that anyone is a Christian—if they just say they are; or if they are a member of a church, give to charity, and read the Bible.

    He has convinced the Christian world that as long as a person talks and looks religious, then they are righteous before God.  There is, however, a vast difference from just looking righteous, and actually being righteous by a believing and trusting faith in the Atonement Blood of Christ.

          Satan wants to lower the standard of Christianity, and then move us further and further away from the Word of God, until there is no real trust on God, and no genuine faith in Christ for anything.  If anyone thinks they can be God’s true child, but not walk in the light of His full Truth, and not obey His Word, the devil will quickly take them completely out of God’s will and plan of life.

    Satan will do anything to distort God’s Truth, which is why the apostle said 2 Corinthians 4:2 ”We practice no cunning tricks, nor do we adulterate [distort] God’s Message.  But by a full clear statement of the truth we strive to commend ourselves in the presence of God to every human conscience.”  The apostle gave the unaltered Truth of God’s Word, which is an uncompromising faith in God’s power.

    God wants us to give our life totally to Him, and to be separate from sin, self, and Satan.  2 Corinthians 6:17-18 "’Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord.  Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.’  ‘I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.’"  That says much about our commitment to God’s Truth, and keeping separate from those who do not trust God in faith for this life.

    True Christianity is absent in the lives of many professing believers.  The first mark of true discipleship is living in the will of God, by following what is written in the Bible.  Matthew 7:21 "Not every one who says to me, ‘Master, Master,’ will enter the Kingdom of the Heavens, but only those who are obedient to [does the will of] my Father who is in Heaven.”  There are many professing faith, but not living by faith in Christ.  1 John 2:4 ”He who says, ‘I know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”

    Bible Christianity includes obedience to the Word of God—not in our strength, but in God’s strength, through His Holy Spirit, after we have confessed and forsaken our sins.  True Christianity includes being healed and protected by the divine power of God, when a believing faith is placed on the Atonement Blood of His Son.

    Bible Christians will be tempted and persecuted, but God will deliver them.  Satan hides the fact that many Bible Christians received answers to prayer for healing and protection, and he wants us to ignore the warnings.  Matthew 7:13-14 ”Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”  That is why Matthew 22:14 ”Many are called, but few are chosen.”

          Those who truly believe and trust God in faith would be as scarce in this day, as those who entered the Ark in that day.  Jesus said Luke 17:26 "As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man.”  Only eight persons met the conditions of true trust on God—the rest of the world perished in the flood.

          There is another example when only three persons escaped with their souls.  Luke 17:28-29 "Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.”  Trusting God in true believing faith has always been the issue.  Luke 18:8 ”When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?"

          We all need a spiritual revival and awakening to God’s Truth.  The Holy Spirit inspired the words Ephesians 5:14 "Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, And Christ will give you light"-Isaiah 60:1.  A spiritual revitalization is desperately needed in our hearts and in the world.  Divine protection was so perfect in the Bible that Moses said, no terror, pestilence, or plague could touch us, and that a thousand could fall at our side or ten-thousand at our right hand, but we would not be harmed Psalm 91.

          The church fell to the level of the world in the third century, so there has been very little real persecution of the Christian church since then.  Any group, or individual, who believes and lives by the unadulterated Truth of God’s Word, will be persecuted—just as they were in the first two centuries.  Their lives were an offense to the world, so they were persecuted by tools of the devil.

          If our faith in God does not bring the direct attacks of Satan; and if our faith does not bring persecution, anger, hatred, and opposition from those who belong to the world, then we do not have the first-century brand of Truth.  When anyone follows the steps of Jesus and the disciples, they will encounter the same opposition from the devil.

          Persecution definition is; someone acting against us; but the power in back of everything is Satan.  When someone wants to live God’s Truth, Satan will begin to fight them.  It is a spiritual battle Ephesians 6:12 ”For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the [unseen] powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil.”

          If we are a friend of the world, we are an enemy of God.  If the world is friendly toward us and does not persecute us, we need to take inventory of our faith, because there is something missing—spiritually.  We have lost our salt—if we had any.  Matthew 5:13 "You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?”  If we have the real Truth of God, we will face real persecution from the enemy.

          A physical attack is not persecution, but it is an oppression from Satan—who wants to rob us of our Atonement right to health and healing.  We are promised deliverance from sickness, trouble, and affliction—because these are charter rights of the Atonement of Christ Isaiah 53:4-6, and they are promises from God.  There is no promise, however, to be exempted from persecution.

    The apostle said 2 Timothy 3:10-12 “You have carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering [patience], love, perseverance, persecutions, afflictions”—etc.  And out of them all the Lord delivered me.  Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.”  Satan tried to reach the apostle from people outside.

    The devil wants to bring fear and have us accept defeat, so he causes problems in the home, inspires unscriptural laws, or tries to rob our peace in some way.  Even though our persecution seems to be far less than what first-century Christians faced, the human heart is just as wicked, and Satan is just as evil today as he was then.

    2 Timothy 3:1-5 “Mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days.  People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self- control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—having a form of godliness but denying its power.  Have nothing to do with them.”

          Jesus said John 15:18-20"If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.  If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own.  As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.  That is why the world hates you.  If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.”  If they persecuted the Master of the house and nailed Him to the cross, how much more will they persecute those of His household!

          The apostle Paul wrote to the church, saying we 1 Thessalonians 2:13 “thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe.”

          Anyone who truly accepts, believes, and lives by the Word of God, will be persecuted by those who do not accept, do not believe, and do not live by that Truth.  1 Thessalonians 2:14-16 ”For you, brothers, became imitators of God’s churches in Judea, which are in Christ Jesus: You suffered from your own countrymen the same things those churches suffered from the Jews, who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and also [persecute us].  They displease God and are hostile to all men in their effort to keep us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved.  In this way they always heap up their sins to the limit.  The wrath of God has come upon them at last.”

          The most spiritual churches in the first century were the most persecuted.  The Laodicean church was not persecuted because it was not zealous for the Truth.  Jesus said to them Revelation 3:17 “You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’  But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.”