He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose
so persecution is a word that people like to throw around.
Por ejemplo: "im being persecuted in my workplace. people give me crap because i go to church on sundays instead of partying with them all night on saturday"
or
"im being persecuted at home. my family doesnt accept my faith"
well i think maybe persecution is too big and eloquent of a word to mean "people bug me about being a jesus freak". (notice i said "I think". i can be wrong. *gasp*)
in 2 Kings 21 theres the story of Manasseh who was a real crappy guy. His dad, Hezekiah (might be more familiar) destroyed oll the pagan shrines and temples. Manasseh rebuilt them. He sacrificed his own son to them. he was all into sorcery and psychics and freaky deaky stuff. then God says to his prophets that he will "bring such disaster to Jerusalem and Judah that the ears of those who hear about it will tingle with horror." so Manasseh not only has led all those people into idolatry and evil things, he then jsut murders lots of innocent people. thats persecution. he freaking killed them. no one is trying to kill me. im not saying i would or wouldnt be strong enough to give my life for my faith. i sure hope that if the time came that i wouldnt apostatize and chicken out on God. but im not some strong holy roller, though id liek to think i could die for my God. at least return the favor if the time came.
I think we throw the word "persection" around to make us sound liek we are being great servants. Im not saying that your life or personal safety have to be in danger for it to called persecution. But we cant use that to look liek perfect Suzy Bible- "im such a good Christian that other people are working against me. its totally spiritual warfare" that sounds kewl. but usually isnt true liek we make it sound.
Lets talk about how the apostles died.
Matthew suffered martyrdom in Ethopia, killed by a sword wound.
Mark died in Alexandria, Egypt, dragged by horses through the streets until he was dead.
Luke was hanged in Greece as a result of his tremendous preaching to the lost.
John was boiled in a huge basin of boiling oil during a wave of persecution in Rome. However, he was miraculously delivered from death. John was then sentenced to the mines on the prison island of Patmos where he wrote his prophetic Book of Revelation. The Apostle John was later freed and returned to serve as a bishop in modern Turkey. He died an old man, the only Apostle to die peacefully.
Peter,was crucified upside down on an x-shaped cross, according to Church tradition, because he told his tormentors that he felt unworthy to die the same way that Jesus Christ had died.
James the Just, the leader of the Church in Jerusalem and brother of Jesus, was thrown down more than a hundred feet from the southeast pinnacle of the Temple when he refused to deny his faith in Christ. When they discovered that he survived the fall, his enemies beat James to death with a fuller's club. This was the same pinnacle where Satan had taken Jesus during the Temptation.
James the Greater, a son of Zebedee, was a fisherman by trade when Jesus called him to a lifetime of ministry. As a strong leader of the Church, James was ultimately beheaded at Jerusalem. The Roman soldier who guarded James watched amazed as James defended his faith at his trial. Later, the officer walked beside James to the place of execution. Overcome by conviction, he declared his new faith to the judge and knelt beside James to accept beheading as a Christian.
Bartholomew, also known as Nathanael, was a missionary to Asia. He witnessed about our Lord in present day Turkey. He was whipped to death for his preaching in Armenia.
Thomas was speared and died on one of his missionary trips to establish the Church in India. (He was killed by Indians. good job great great great grandpa Patel)
Jude, another brother of Jesus, was killed with arrows after refusing to deny his faith in Christ.
Matthias, the Apostle chosen to replace the traitor Judas Iscariot, was stoned and beheaded.
Barnabas, one of the group of seventy disciples, was stoned to death at Salonica.
Paul was tortured and then beheaded by the evil Emperor Nero at Rome in A.D. 67. Paul endured a lengthy imprisonment which allowed him to write his many epistles to the Churches he had formed throughout the Roman Empire.
They all died directly for their faith, save one. None of that stuff has happened to me. my "persecution" is a freakin cakewalk.
"Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, becuase great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you" --matthew 5:10-12
That verse gets pulled out alot. but i mean looking back i see that he was talking to the 12 disciples- the ones who were SEVERELY persecuted and threatened and killed. he didnt say "all of you who get made fun of should feel good about the fact that other poeple notice you are different." I kind of THINK (i used it again) that maybe since he knew what was coming for all of them, it was possible that he said it so that later, they'd have the comfprt of knowing their suffering and pain was not in vain. (rhymed)
I am not saying this to belittle the suffering that people endure for the Lord.(or that our smaller persecution is not blessed) And i did it for myself not as a reaction to somethign someone else did. People often ask me about my family, being brown and all, wondering if they are also believers. I tell them no and they say things like "Oh that must be hard." or "i bet its so hard witnessing to your own family" and i usually jsut take their pity and nod, and if im really wanting some affirmation for being a lazy Christian i look at them kind of sad. But really its only as hard as i make it. the difficutly is in my head. its not a difficult take to open the mouth and say the words. its not that hard to listen to someone. its not that hard to love them when they are not throwing rocks at you or trying to boil you in oil.
we should literally be rejoicing about those little things that happen to us. When we hear something against our faith or experience some type of action against us, it shoudl fuel us even more that we can even do the work of God. Its not a burden, it is a priviledge. If we (I) still cant handle it, somethign is severely wrong.
Por ejemplo: "im being persecuted in my workplace. people give me crap because i go to church on sundays instead of partying with them all night on saturday"
or
"im being persecuted at home. my family doesnt accept my faith"
well i think maybe persecution is too big and eloquent of a word to mean "people bug me about being a jesus freak". (notice i said "I think". i can be wrong. *gasp*)
in 2 Kings 21 theres the story of Manasseh who was a real crappy guy. His dad, Hezekiah (might be more familiar) destroyed oll the pagan shrines and temples. Manasseh rebuilt them. He sacrificed his own son to them. he was all into sorcery and psychics and freaky deaky stuff. then God says to his prophets that he will "bring such disaster to Jerusalem and Judah that the ears of those who hear about it will tingle with horror." so Manasseh not only has led all those people into idolatry and evil things, he then jsut murders lots of innocent people. thats persecution. he freaking killed them. no one is trying to kill me. im not saying i would or wouldnt be strong enough to give my life for my faith. i sure hope that if the time came that i wouldnt apostatize and chicken out on God. but im not some strong holy roller, though id liek to think i could die for my God. at least return the favor if the time came.
I think we throw the word "persection" around to make us sound liek we are being great servants. Im not saying that your life or personal safety have to be in danger for it to called persecution. But we cant use that to look liek perfect Suzy Bible- "im such a good Christian that other people are working against me. its totally spiritual warfare" that sounds kewl. but usually isnt true liek we make it sound.
Lets talk about how the apostles died.
Matthew suffered martyrdom in Ethopia, killed by a sword wound.
Mark died in Alexandria, Egypt, dragged by horses through the streets until he was dead.
Luke was hanged in Greece as a result of his tremendous preaching to the lost.
John was boiled in a huge basin of boiling oil during a wave of persecution in Rome. However, he was miraculously delivered from death. John was then sentenced to the mines on the prison island of Patmos where he wrote his prophetic Book of Revelation. The Apostle John was later freed and returned to serve as a bishop in modern Turkey. He died an old man, the only Apostle to die peacefully.
Peter,was crucified upside down on an x-shaped cross, according to Church tradition, because he told his tormentors that he felt unworthy to die the same way that Jesus Christ had died.
James the Just, the leader of the Church in Jerusalem and brother of Jesus, was thrown down more than a hundred feet from the southeast pinnacle of the Temple when he refused to deny his faith in Christ. When they discovered that he survived the fall, his enemies beat James to death with a fuller's club. This was the same pinnacle where Satan had taken Jesus during the Temptation.
James the Greater, a son of Zebedee, was a fisherman by trade when Jesus called him to a lifetime of ministry. As a strong leader of the Church, James was ultimately beheaded at Jerusalem. The Roman soldier who guarded James watched amazed as James defended his faith at his trial. Later, the officer walked beside James to the place of execution. Overcome by conviction, he declared his new faith to the judge and knelt beside James to accept beheading as a Christian.
Bartholomew, also known as Nathanael, was a missionary to Asia. He witnessed about our Lord in present day Turkey. He was whipped to death for his preaching in Armenia.
Thomas was speared and died on one of his missionary trips to establish the Church in India. (He was killed by Indians. good job great great great grandpa Patel)
Jude, another brother of Jesus, was killed with arrows after refusing to deny his faith in Christ.
Matthias, the Apostle chosen to replace the traitor Judas Iscariot, was stoned and beheaded.
Barnabas, one of the group of seventy disciples, was stoned to death at Salonica.
Paul was tortured and then beheaded by the evil Emperor Nero at Rome in A.D. 67. Paul endured a lengthy imprisonment which allowed him to write his many epistles to the Churches he had formed throughout the Roman Empire.
They all died directly for their faith, save one. None of that stuff has happened to me. my "persecution" is a freakin cakewalk.
"Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, becuase great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you" --matthew 5:10-12
That verse gets pulled out alot. but i mean looking back i see that he was talking to the 12 disciples- the ones who were SEVERELY persecuted and threatened and killed. he didnt say "all of you who get made fun of should feel good about the fact that other poeple notice you are different." I kind of THINK (i used it again) that maybe since he knew what was coming for all of them, it was possible that he said it so that later, they'd have the comfprt of knowing their suffering and pain was not in vain. (rhymed)
I am not saying this to belittle the suffering that people endure for the Lord.(or that our smaller persecution is not blessed) And i did it for myself not as a reaction to somethign someone else did. People often ask me about my family, being brown and all, wondering if they are also believers. I tell them no and they say things like "Oh that must be hard." or "i bet its so hard witnessing to your own family" and i usually jsut take their pity and nod, and if im really wanting some affirmation for being a lazy Christian i look at them kind of sad. But really its only as hard as i make it. the difficutly is in my head. its not a difficult take to open the mouth and say the words. its not that hard to listen to someone. its not that hard to love them when they are not throwing rocks at you or trying to boil you in oil.
we should literally be rejoicing about those little things that happen to us. When we hear something against our faith or experience some type of action against us, it shoudl fuel us even more that we can even do the work of God. Its not a burden, it is a priviledge. If we (I) still cant handle it, somethign is severely wrong.