All around the world, professing Christians are being persecuted. It is now happening with increasing frequency. The Telegraph recently reported, “Most Australians have no idea how many Christians were killed for their faith in the 20th century and are still being killed today. Todd Johnson, an expert with World Christian Database, has estimated that there were 100,000 new Christian martyrs each year between 2000 and 2010, many from the Sudan and Congo. An Italian sociologist has claimed that a Christian is killed every five minutes…. Today, the situation is not improving. Last week, in response to the military crackdown in Egypt, supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood targeted Coptic Christians, destroying at least 47 churches and attacking Coptic schools, hospitals, monasteries and businesses. Coptic families have been attacked and… Pope Tawadros II has been unable to leave his home or to celebrate Mass in his cathedral because of death threats. Perhaps 1,000 people have died” (August 24, 2013).
But are we in the true Church of God going to be protected from all of this? Brethren, even though God will protect the vast majority of zealous, “Philadelphian” Christians from the coming Great Tribulation, God nowhere indicates that none of us will be individually persecuted for our Christian faith. In fact, the Bible says quite the opposite! Speaking about His true followers at the end of this age—and after describing the coming world wars, famines, pestilences and earthquakes—Jesus said, “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many” (Matthew 24:9–11).
Jesus Christ Himself specifically predicted that His true followers would be persecuted. We who are zealous for God will be doing such a powerful Work in warning people of what is yet to come that we, my brethren, “will be hated by all nations.” As I have stated so many times, somewhere on this earth a true people of God will exist who will powerfully warn our peoples of what is ahead, and powerfully preach the message of God’s coming Kingdom, or Government, based on His laws. We must be very thankful to be among those people! Yet, we must alsobe willing to go through whatever trials and tests God permits. For it will draw us much closer to God and bring about a truly awesome eternal reward if God sees that we really do fully surrender to Him—even in giving our very lives for Him if necessary.
The Eternal God inspired the Apostle Peter to tell us, “Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified” (1 Peter 4:12–14). It is almost anathema in our “spoiled” society here in America, especially, to think about genuine suffering for the sake of Jesus Christ. We, my brethren, must begin to grow in the mind of Christ as revealed in the inspired word of God! We must be learning more about the concept of partaking of Christ’s sufferings so that we may be glorified when He comes back as King of kings!
For Peter tells us not to suffer because we have done wrong, or been a “busybody in other people’s matters.” But, Peter continues, “Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter. For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?” (vv. 16–17).
If we truly suffer “as a Christian,” we are to glorify God in this matter. We are to realize that “judgment” is beginning at the house of God and that God Himself is beginning to sort out those who are truly “with it” and those who are simply “going along for the ride.” For Peter continues, “Now ‘If the righteous one is scarcely saved, where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?’ Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator” (vv. 18–19).
Will YOU Pass the “Test”?
Dear brethren, I know that this is not “fun stuff” for you to read! But, as God’s human servant to lead this Work, I cannot fulfill my responsibility unless I sincerely and strongly warn you of what lies ahead! Persecution really is coming sometime in the next several years. Most of us in this age have never experienced the kind of persecution that literally hundreds of thousands of professing Christians have suffered all over this earth! Are we as Christians—who should have and be using God’s Holy Spirit—willing to go through these kinds of trials because we believe and understand the Truth?
Think! If Jesus Christ is in you and me, we really must “knuckle down” and be willing to suffer for Christ’s sake—if that is what our Father in heaven requires. We really do need to go through trials and tests to “toughen us” and prepare us for eternity in the very Kingdom of God. God needs to “test” us as He did Abraham. For, when God “tested” Abraham, He told him to be willing to sacrifice his only son as a burnt offering! Wow! Think about the reality of that day when Abraham rose up in the early morning, saddled his donkey and started toward that mountain knowing what lay just ahead (Genesis 22:3). But he was willing. He knew that God was real. As he bound Isaac and laid him on the altar of wood, and stretched forth his hand to slay his son—looking to God in faith to make it work for good, a voice came out of the sky, “Abraham, Abraham!” (v. 11). God told him, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me” (v. 12).
For, when Abraham passed this test, God was able to say to Him, “now I know that you fear God!” He was now fully convinced that Abraham had the tremendous reverence and awe of his Creator—the attitude of total love, trust and faith which God required in one who would become the “father of the faithful” (Romans 4:16).
Since we are not all called to be the “father of the faithful,” God will not put any of us through that exact same test. But we do have to be willing to “go all out” for our Creator. We do need to learn to meditate and think things through and quietly but firmly realize that we must show our Creator that we really “mean it” when we call ourselves His followers! Nearly all of us probably remember the biblical passage that is so vital when preparing for baptism: “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26–27).
We truly must learn to “love less” our own lives in comparison to the great God who gives us our life, our breath, all our talents, all the beautiful things around us and the people we love. For we must worship Him, adore Him and obey Him with all our hearts! As Jesus said to those who casually “professed” His name: “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
Do NOT Merely “Play Church”!
Each intelligent young man who joins the United States Marines “knows” that he is going to go through all kinds of trials and tests and “obstacle courses” before he is able to be a leader among his peers in the Marines! We in God’s Church who aspire to be literal kings and priests for all eternity in God’s Kingdom must realize that we are going to be “tested” in the process of becoming those eternal leaders. So we had better begin the process of really proving to ourselves that God is “real,” and learn to put our total trust in Him! I have written quite a number of articles and preached quite a number of sermons along the lines of genuine faith and trust in the Creator God. Some of you may need to reread those articles and beseech God to put that kind of trust in you!
For we are not here to “play church” and to have a nice “social club” where trials and tests do not exist. For they will exist in the life of any true Christian. Dear brethren, as I watch world events very carefully and see the clouds of violence, war and persecution building on the horizon, I know that trials and persecutions are certainly on the way before too many more months or years. May God help you to understand to “ready yourself” to go through those trials and emerge on the other side with flying colors. The Apostle Paul told Timothy, “You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier” (2 Timothy 2:3–4). Like the young evangelist Timothy, each of us must learn to “endure hardship”—for we also are to be good “soldiers” of Jesus Christ. And we must learn not to “entangle” ourselves too much with the affairs of this life, so that we are able to focus completely on the Kingdom of God as Christ commanded us to do.
In what to me is one of the most meaningful passages in the Bible, the Apostle Paul tells all of us, “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory” (Colossians 3:1–4).
You should truly “set your mind” on the things above where God is right now watching over you, guiding your life and “preparing” you through various situations, trials and tests to be His full sons. For Paul says that, if we do this, then when Christ “appears,” “you also will appear with Him in glory” (v. 4).
Dear brethren, we need to focus our minds so much on the reality of God—and the reality of that coming glory—so the trials and tests of this life do not seem as awesome or “scary” as they otherwise would. For we will be “walking with God.” We will be “crying out” for Christ to literally live His life in us through the Holy Spirit (Galatians 2:20). And so we will know that there is a supreme purpose in all the trials, tests and persecutions we will go through.
Brethren, always remember to meditate on Jesus’ inspiring statements: “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matthew 5:10–12).
As I have told you in my sermons in the past, many times in the early years of this Work, Raymond McNair, Herman Hoeh and I and others were often literally confronted with violence and with a loaded gun pointed right at us on the baptizing tours! We had to have faith that God would take care of us. For Mr. Armstrong often preached so powerfully that some of the people in the “Bible belt” were stirred to anger by what he said. When we appeared at their door—especially if it was only the wife requesting baptism—sometimes the man of the house would come forth with a gun, a stick or even a chair and yell, “Armstrong! You men get out of here. Take your Armstrongism away!” So we had to have faith back then that God would take care of us. He always did. He will always take care of us now and bring us into His everlasting Kingdom.
As Jesus said, “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows” (Matthew 10:28–31).
Later in this same passage, Jesus tells us, “He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it” (v. 39). So if we “find our life” by becoming part of this world, watering down God’s way of life and turning away from God, we will eventually lose the very life we are trying to save!
Though we did go through trials and tests of all kinds on those early baptizing tours—often losing sleep, missing meals, and putting ourselves in physical danger on many occasions, we did not even begin to go through the kind of trials and tests and sufferings which Jesus Christ did and which the Apostle Paul did. For the Apostle Paul reminds us in 2 Corinthians 11:24–28 of some of the “tests” he had to go through: “From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness—besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches.”
Are you, personally, willing to go all out for eternal life in the Kingdom of God? Now is the time to really think about it and “count the cost.” Brethren, it would be much “easier” for me to say that “all will be well” and that we will not have to go through these kinds of trials and tests and persecutions that are truly coming. But they are coming! And we have to be willing to look beyond them to the glory that God has in mind for us.
As the Apostle Paul was inspired to tell us, “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. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God” (Romans 8:18–19). When we really meditate and think through the whole matter of God reproducing Himself and the ultimate glory we will soon have as kings and priests in His Kingdom, it should all be worth it. For we are called to be full sons of God. Our Father in heaven must “know” where we stand, as He told Abraham, “Now I know” that you fear God (Genesis 22:12). So we must show God that we also are truly surrendered and will obey our Creator and walk with Him forever. May God help all of us to see the “Big Picture” of this whole matter and prepare now in our Bible study, our thoughts and our prayers to be willing to go through—in faith—whatever trials and tests it takes to become full sons of the great God who created the heavens and the earth!