Preparing For Persecution in the Western Church

According to a Pew Research Centre Poll, Christians are the most persecuted religious group in the world:

The Centre’s report on religious harassment in 2016 found that Christians were harassed in 144 countries, up from 128 the year before.

The Centre reported that the number of countries with “high” or “very high” levels of government restrictions on religion also rose, from 25 per cent of countries in 2015 to 28 per cent in 2016: 55 of the 198 countries examined by the research.

The report says: “This is the largest percentage of countries to have high or very high levels of government restrictions since 2013, and falls just below the 10-year peak of 29% in 2012.

More data on the issue from Open Doors USA: 

 

There are very few isolated places in the West that people suffer for the sake of following Jesus Christ and that’s why the most preaching and personal prophetic words in Western churches focus mainly on achieving personal success so that we can enjoy comfort and security.

God wants you happy and blessed; there is a successful lifestyle waiting for you! There is nothing wrong with that. But if you conduct a study for yourself of the prophecies found in the New Testament and the epistles, you will find only a few that prophesy a good life. Most dealt with chains, tribulations, and death that awaited those who would bring glory to God which is quite different from the prophecies of today.

It is been relatively an easy thing to walk in the West as a follower of Jesus. But if persecution breaks out in the Western Church, I don’t think we are prepared or equipped for that day that might come upon us.

In response to being ready for this persecution in the West, Howard Green writes:

It’s worth noting that the spirit of Antichrist is already at work even now, and this growing Christian persecution is certainly an indicator of the nearness of the Lord’s return and may very well be setting the stage for end time persecution that’s certainly coming. What you are witnessing now in the increased hostility toward true Christians here in the West is but a sampling of the all-out persecution that will take place as history comes to a close.

Many other prophets have been warning that where we walk in peace and freedom of speech, there is yet coming a time when even to speak the name of Jesus will bring such persecution that many of the saints and leaders of the church will count the cost and will not endure.

We should be aware that the Western secular politicians who want to inaugurate their centralized Marxist/communist New World Order view the Christian values as a major obstacle from attaining their utopian Luciferian global vision, therefore, these politicians, who don’t have anything in common with the murderers are using an ancient strategy: The enemy of my enemy is my friend which suggests that two opposing parties should work together against a common enemy which is Christianity in all its forms.

In her article on the hypocrisy of some of these people, Laura Perrins was disgusted with their refusal to even use the term Christian when describing those that were murdered:

So when I saw Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama refer to murdered Sri Lankan Christians in their sympathy tweets as ‘Easter Worshippers’, I was disgusted. It sickened me. Who are you, I wondered, to be so disrespectful? They cannot even use the term Christian, such is their disdain for us as a group, because for the Left Christians are the ones that do all the persecuting and can never be the victims, even if they are being blown to bits during Mass. No decent person would refer to Muslims as Friday prayers attendees, or Jews as observers of Passover. It would be disgusting to diminish them in such a way.

You might say these are Catholics and they are worshipping Mary instead of Jesus Christ but Martin Niemoller reminds us that:

First, they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.  Then they came for the Catholics, and I did not speak out because I was not a Catholic. Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak out for me.

The question is: have pastors or other church leaders prepared the saints for persecution? The answer is only a small remnant has taught their congregations to suffer hardship for the sake of Christ. Most people have a lot of faith but no endurance or perseverance. They’ve been taught to prosper and build the finest buildings but this will not sustain us in the coming days.  Christians should expect some kind of trouble.

Jesus Christ was honest in telling His followers what to expect. Likewise when Paul and Barnabas had preached the good news (Gospel) to that town and made disciples of many of the people, they went back to Lystra and Iconium and Antioch, establishing and strengthening the souls and the hearts of the disciples, urging and warning and encouraging them to stand firm in the faith, and telling them that it is through many hardships and tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God (Acts 14:20-22).

Therefore preachers and evangelists should be honest in promising people who come to follow Jesus that there might suffer some kind of tribulation. But they can cheer up because Jesus will never leave us nor forsake us. We should acknowledge that persecution might happen and when something unexpected like an accident happens. You are most likely to be totally devastated if it comes.

For instance, if a pastor has been removed from the pulpit, this can easily stop the functioning of a church. In fact, a tactic of the communists when taking over a country has been to identify the pastor and all full-time workers and remove them from these areas.

If one’s pastor is suddenly thrown into jail, his spouse imprisoned for taking a stand against evil, or children removed from the home because God’s Word is taught, it is likely to shake the most grounded person. However, the mental shock will be much less to the individual who has acknowledged that this is likely to happen.

Most of us Christians in the western world today have a counterfeit faith which gives the Lord conditions that if He rewards us with wealth, health and heaven, then we will serve and obey Him. In other words, we want to serve Him but still retain much of our comforts.

We make demands of God and perform good deeds to earn His acceptance and blessing. The church has to a great extent forgotten that genuine surrender is where you have to offer your life unconditionally to God with humility and repentance regardless of whether it will cost you your life.

We can only count the cost and endure because of our love and intimacy with Him, and only enabled to do so by the inner power of the Holy Spirit.

As Christians Christ has formed in us the hope of glory, therefore we shall get the victory over every enemy.

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us…… Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:1-39 NKJV).

Image Description: The Colosseum in Rome is lit in red to draw attention to the persecution of Christians around the world. (CNS photo/Remo Casilli, Reuters)