Faith…Without it God is not pleased!

Faith…Without it God is not pleased!                           By Kelly Durant 10-29-25

Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

2. How many of you have been in a situation to need “faith”? There was a van load of nuns (or in our case, it could have been Cadets) that were on the side of the road obviously out of gas. The gas station was a block away so one of them said they would go get enough gas to get to the gas station but the only container in the van was a “bedpan” (a urinal used in hospital). Upon returning, one of them was pouring the liquid in the gas tank opening from the bedpan, and big truck of two guys were passing by. The one said to the other, “Look at that! I have never seen so much faith in all my life!”  

Faith does require believing in the impossible. God specializes in doing the impossible as it seems almost every Bible story, ever miracle, and every act done by God required faith. We often focus on God’s love, or on His creation, but when do we focus on having faith as He commanded?

We just read the verse in Hebrews 11 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. (Read all the chapter!) So, we must ask ourselves, are we pleasing God by having “faith” as God requires? We often want answers to our prayers but do we use our muscle of faith?

3. What did Jesus say about faith? Matthew 6:30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? The lack of faith is the curse of the people of the world! It leads to worry and sickness! Faithless people are always obsessed over having more money, more clothing and luxuries, and over gaining for themselves all their personal things when God wants us all to depend on Him for all our needs.

Matthew 17:20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, if ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, be removed hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. Jesus rebuked folks when they did not have enough faith. Jesus gets upset at those who doubt and lack faith. He even says that if your faith is the size of a mustard seed, like the size of a speck of pepper, you can do impressive impossible things! So basically, few have that kind of faith and it is not good. 

Jesus on the other hand praises those who have faith, like the woman that got her daughter healed.  Matthew 15:28 Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour. What was she healed of? Of being possessed by a demon! This proves that the answer to freeing young people taken over by demons, and doctrines of demons the world pushes on them, is faith in Jesus. And proves that Jesus honors and praises women (or men) of faith for believing.

4. So, what have we learned so far? That we need faith to please God, that we must believe that He is real and blesses those who practice faith in Him. It implies we must humble ourselves and believe in a greater power. Jesus made it clear that to have healing you need faith. 

Jesus made it clear that for life’s necessities you need faith. Even food, for example! Matthew 16:8 Which when Jesus perceived, he said unto them, O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread? Jesus did the miracle of multiplying the fish and the loaves of bread but his disciples did not even believe that would happen.

The very first sermon of Jesus on the Mount included having faith for your daily needs. Matthew 6:28-30 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

5. So how can you proclaim and practice your faith? For one, you need to ask the Lord in prayer for your needs, for enough to get the food and bills paid, and also for healing when you are sick. Too many people rush to the hospital when they have a little cold or some ache when God is expecting them to pray for their healing first and trust in Him.

What testimony is there when the doctors get the glory for healing you? God does use doctors but we must glorify God for using the doctors! Jeremiah 17:5 Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusts in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departs from the Lord. We cannot trust in our corrupt broken systems, nor trust in unrepentant sinners who happen to be professionals, God wants the glory for taking care of His children.

Apart from prayer we must act upon our faith. There have been times when people have prayed for rain but how many of those people brought with them an umbrella to church expecting there to be showers within a few hours after prayer? If you have faith, you will step out on the water like Peter did when Jesus invited Him to meet Him and walk on the water too.

6. There have been many times my wife and I have had to have faith in tough situations. More than a dozen times when we have moved, gotten into a new home (in South America) been in the situation to not be able to have the coming next month’s rent and we got desperate. Just arriving in a place implied I did not have English classes yet or supporters to get funds. But then out of the blue someone would pay me a full month of classes up front, or a person would donate to us as they honored missionaries. Even one time in the 70s, the mayor of Santa Cruz, Bolivia showed up to donate $200 which was the exact amount of our rent due!

Psalm 37:25 I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. God will take care of us but it implies we live in righteousness. James 5:16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

This verse, along with what Jesus taught, ‘Matthew 18:20 or where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them’ implies God wants us to pray together and have faith as a group together for each other. Faith is not a personal lonely endeavor, it is a reaching out, a connection with God and others believing God will do what you cannot.

7. In the Christian world we often speak of having faith to heal, faith to prophecy, faith to do miracles but faith cannot be something that happens when a preacher gets on television. False faith healers, apostles, and prophets have done Christianity a great disservice! I have seen healing faith work. One time a friend in Colombia was going to get surgery on both his knees but they did one more x-ray before the surgery and found that no surgery was needed! We (a dozen of us) had prayed for a miracle of healing, and that was one time I got to see one happen. The x-rays from the past compared to the present proved he had been healed by a miracle.

Faith happens when it is God’s will. Faith healers that want money for healing napkins or some talesman are an insult to our faith. God wants us to just believe and He does what we cannot do and does the unexplainable act. Some folks do have a gift of faith, but they are never proud, seeking remumeration, or boast that they will heal you because they have “the gift”. None of us can do anything without it being God’s will.

When a miracle happens, when someone becomes cancer free, when someone gets released from the hospital, it is God who gets the glory. Like the lame man who get healed, what did he do? Acts 3:8 And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God. We praise God when a miracle happens, right?

8. Sometimes we are put in dire circumstance when we need God for an answer, when He appears to be our only hope. That is often unsettling, but Jesus always told us often, “fear not”. Not fearing or worrying in hard situations takes practice, it goes against our nature, and it can only come by having a strong faith to override these feelings and impulses.

We can develop a strong faith by first asking God for it. John 5:15 And if we know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him. Faith hinges on believing in God’s active involvement in our lives. We must realize that we cannot even take in our next breath unless God is the one keeping us alive! 

We often sing, ‘Great is thy faithfulness’ and this is a reminder of God’s faithfulness to us, but what about or faithfulness to Him? It’s a love relationship, He first loved us, and must love Him back! He saved us by faith, Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

9. It took faith for Jesus to agree to dying on the cross. He had faith God would resurrect Him and give to Him the inheritance of the souls that love Him. Psalm 2:8 Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.

Isaiah 53: 11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. He is on the right side of God’s throne!

Millions of souls throughout all our earth’s history will go to heaven and be rewarded because of Jesus’ faithfulness to do His mission. We need faith as Jesus had to fulfill our mission as well to win souls for His kingdom. If it implies going through a trial and a test of our faith, so be it! We pray we can please God in all that we do, amen! Pray for faith, and then trust in Him!

 

 

 

God’s Laughter, & Ours

God’s Laughter, & Ours                by Kelly Durant   10-19-25

Psalm 126:2 “Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, The Lord hath done great things for them.”

2. A little boy opened the big and old family Bible with fascination, and looked at the old pages as he turned them. Suddenly, something fell out of the Bible, and he picked it up and looked at it closely. It was an old leaf from a tree that had been pressed in between the pages. "Momma, look what I found," the boy called out. "What have you got there, dear?" his mother asked. With astonishment in the young boy's voice, he answered: "I think it's Adam's suit!" 

How many of you like to laugh? We don’t usually think of the Bible as humorous but from all the different stories, we can conclude God often did some humorous things to get our attention! I think God must laugh at our feeble attempts to understand the mechanics of the universe!  

God made us to laugh and to want to enjoy life! What is the Christian conclusion of the purpose of mankind? “To enjoy God and love him forever!”

3. God seems to have made us with an appetite for laughter! Science cannot explain laughter, it is involuntary. Think about it, can you premeditate laughter? Ok, in 10 seconds I am going to laugh! Hum, it didn’t work! Ha! Maybe it is because we need our internal organs massaged a few times a day, right? Little kids and even teenagers laugh a lot more than us as adults. Sometimes the teens in back laugh during the sermons and I have no clue as to why! It is sad, that many stop laughing with age! Laughter is all about connections and the people we love.

Most laughter is not even sparked by a joke. For example, a Soldier may be telling me about where to buy some shampoo that makes the hair fluffy, and how everyone should use some of it, and I answer, ‘that’s, right that’s how it is’, and she tells me more and when I say it another time, ‘that’s how it is’, we both laugh out loud because we both know I say that when I really don’t know what to answer back on that subject, ‘Isn’t that how it is?’ When I am lost for words, I also love other sayings in Spanish (English too) like, “Oh, don’t tell me that!” Say that 3 times and that’s funny too, right? Well, you can see how what’s funny relates to the relationship you have with person! With some people, one can never be funny though! That’s scary!

So how funny is the Bible? Some parts have funny expressions; did any of you ever finish reading Song of Solomon?  However, other parts are very sobering with heavy lessons. We might actually conclude God matures us more in the sobering trying times than in the fun times in our lives, but the balance is found in Psalm 127:2 “It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep.” Laughter, seriousness, and sadness all have their time and place in our lives and we must pray to have discernment. 

4. There is a time for everything, and the Bible teaches us to be connected to our family of brothers and sisters as in one collective heart! James 5:13 “Is any among you afflicted? Let him pray. Is any merry? Let him sing psalms.” What we can conclude is we will laugh and sing when the mood is right, but if a brother is down or sick, we will be serious and pray for him or her.

There is nothing more irritating than some kid or adult laughing when everyone is trying to get everyone quiet for a serious message, right? And also when everyone is happy and singing “Happy Birthday” laughing that one of our teens is wishing for a new Porsche, how out of place it would be for someone to be hanging around with a bored ugly angry face, right?

Kids seem to help us laugh the most! This is why the Bible mentions children as a blessing!  Psalm 127:3  “Children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward”. Our kids do so many funny things! They even make TV shows on the funniest home videos with kids and people in funny situations. My mother told me that when I was little I was putting ice cream from my bowl into my pocket. When they asked me what are you doing I told the babysitter that I liked this stuff and that I wanted to take some home to eat it later, ha!

5. You can read the Bible and even laugh out loud at times. For example, do you recall Balaam’s ass that argued with him? To begin with, an ass or donkey is an ugly, funny, and temperamental creature. Balaam beat him 3 times to make him go straight but angels were in the way. Imagine, instead of Balaam passing out from fear when the ass spoke to complain about being beaten, Balaam argued back! Isn’t that funny? Many things are humorous in the Bible!

And speaking of funny, just think how silly Jesus looked riding on an ass through Jerusalem? The Romans would ride in chariots or on powerful stallions, and yet Jesus, the King of the universe is on this silly little colt! A big guy on a little animal!

Sometimes we laugh after we have been frightened to death, has that ever happened to you? You fall down playing basketball and everyone thinks you broke your back and is quite and serious but then you jump up and laugh to make the pain go away! Can you imagine the disciples laughing after Jesus calms the sea? They probably could have said, “We were like (terrified face) during the storm and then we were like (mellow face) afterwards!”

6. Certain false churches even included long sessions laughter in their services in the 1990s in the Neo-charismatic churches teaching that ‘holy laughter’ was a Third Wave of the Holy Spirit. It was funny for a few sermons but then the fad passed. Laughter is mentioned in the Bible, KJV, seven times and of those 7 most of the time laughter is put in the context as something not of much value. Ecclesiastes 7:3 Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better.

James 4:8-10 8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

The conclusion here is that God is not happy with people that entertain their selves with laughter while they ignore cleansing their selves from their own sins indifferent to recognize the suffering in the world and how each of us need God. Some people pay big money in big cities to go to big comedy clubs to hear some stand-up comedian tell foolish jokes, even offensive and vulgar jokes and why do they laugh? I can only stand to watch one of these over-rated comedians for about 1 minute when on a show on TV! I think most of the audience laughs because they are embarrassed for the stupidness of it. Is this really a good time? People seem to have to be drunk in order to laugh, how sad! Most all of the mocking is not funny but rather degrading. They laugh, then what? Nothing! Ecclesiastes 2:2 I said of laughter, It is mad: and of mirth, What doeth it?

7. There will come a day when we will be able to laugh as much as we want! For the moment, however, laughter helps us forget about how our earth’s basement is on fire and how at any moment of the day an earthquake, a war, or someone’s accident can provoke a sudden life of suffering! As compassionate sympathetic people we always will suffer after some news channel announces another disaster, another plane down with hundreds dead, or another 300 more school kids in Africa captured by extremists into slavery! How much evil, and how much more scandal can we take?  Lately most people are not laughing at what is happening in the world, they are angry at the injustice and apathy, at the lack of resistance to the violence and abuse, and at the fact that their privacy and legal rights are being mocked by officials. The Romans rulers had servants to follow them around and repeat in their ears, “You are a man and not a God”, we need hire a few thousand of these types of servants again to speak to our leaders as blatant disrespect for the law, and abuse has been at an all-time high in recent years!

People when in a crisis will cry in despair and that can haunt and depress you! No one with a heart like God’s heart likes to see any other person suffer. Most of us feel the urgency and the need to help those who are in pain! But many times we are on the other side of the world and we are helpless to act, all we can do is pray, and keep on praying, prayer does do great things! Locally you can do something though by investing your time, talent, and treasure.

So if I, or someone, were to laugh all day while living on this earth in this miserable life we would either be considered as vain and shallow, high on drugs, or out of our minds and mentally insane! The truth is laughter is a gift and a commodity that lasts only a few minutes of every day! We should appreciate it more! 

8. There will be a day when we will be able to laugh all day in heaven! But until then, let’s try to create more laughter! The world knows enough hell, let’s show them a little more heaven!

And finally I am reminded of what the Lord will laugh at. He will laugh at the evil people and fallen angels when they think they have conquered Him in the final battle. Listen to this prophetic Word and what the Lord answers to those who think they will usurp Him, Psalm 2:3-5 “Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. 4 He that sits in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. 5 Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.  God, who laughs last, will laugh best!

God will separate the evil ones from the good ones and put us under His protection where we will laugh and the evil doers will be punished! 

9. Listen to this prophetic word, Psalm 126:2 “Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, The Lord hath done great things for them.” 

In order to laugh, you have to have joy and Joy comes from obeying God's Word.  A person at peace with God will have a happy, free, and forgiven spirit and heart right with God as He brings joy, peace, and the conditions to permit laughter" John 13:17 If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them

Do you have Jesus in your life? Jesus can help you laugh with real joy because of the purity you will have in your heart by being in God’s will! Every one of us has to pass through a repentance, a breaking process, an uncomfortable unhappy time period, like going through an operation to extract the sickening infection of sin. But then, after the storm comes and goes the sunshine of happiness comes out and you suddenly feel elated, happy, and laughter will fill your voice! 

Persecution Then and Now: Are you ready to fight for the faith?

Persecution Then and Now: Are you ready to fight for the faith?    By Kelly Durant  

 

Acts 5:29 Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.

 

2. How many of you have ever been in a fight over your faith? Has someone every attacked you, insulted you, hit you, or tried to get you fired over your faith in Jesus Christ? If you have a real faith, it will happen! It has happened to me and it will happen to anyone who opens their mouth to proclaim Jesus as the Lord of Lords! I have even been arrested and put in jail a few hours a few times over passing out salvation tracts! I remember one time in Brazil the policeman detaining me was very upset because I was giving out evangelical tracts and not Catholic ones! He called me a blasphemer and that I should rot in jail but I was freed with no charges! There were no laws restricting evangelizing then there but today too many laws are in place everywhere! According to Jesus there will be a final great persecution. (Matthew 24)

 

When I was a young Christian and got to know my Bible there were verses that seemed disturbing such as, 2 Timothy 3:12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Another one is what Jesus said, John 15:20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. Mark 13:11 But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost. 12 Now the brother shall betray the brother to death, and the father the son; and children shall rise up against their parents, and shall cause them to be put to death. 13 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. 

 

My first reaction was, what have I gotten into, what now? You and I certainly will be hated by a few over professing Jesus and there is nothing we can do about! And I still am disturbed that even family may betray you to death! Historically people have proven to be loyal to Hitler, Stalin and to any Satanist murderer rather than to the loving harmless Christians! God sees all and each will reap what they sew!

 

3. Why am I bringing this subject of persecution up? Because as Christians we need strength and unity! Because all the news outlets are bringing it up! They point out that certain political positions in this land clash with our Biblical values, and already in the works is a plan to go on to the next steps of persecuting those of faith. Remember in the Salvation Army there have been martyrs and we should be proud of those who go in the streets to bring lost ones Jesus!

 

Certain activists already have announced they plan on suing churches in order to eliminate religious freedom altogether for those who oppose their political, religious, or atheistic worldviews. Suing Christians, or exuberantly fining them, is already a lucrative endeavor where corrupt judges prevail perverting the laws. In the works also are proposals to change the current laws to impose taxes on churches (currently exempt) in order to bankrupt them. Another thing some activists declare is they want the Bible categorized as a ‘hate speech’, a book that needs to be expunged from all the public sectors! Already certain U.S. schools children are taught to recite prayers to Alla and learn about the Satanist’s religion!? The separation of church and state is obviously being violated! This is an imposition by wicked people in high places that need to respect God’s view and innocent Christians.

 

Certain people rapidly brought about the expunging the confederate flag from the conservative southerners with rapid execution! Many contest that it is not a racist symbol but rather a historical reminder to not repeat the past. I observe that this flag was just a pretext to see how far the experiment would go, to see how much resistance, or not, a cultural symbol would endure attack. We must see it, things will get uglier as the Bible is being targeted! Rev. Graham Jr., and a few like him expose this, but it is not a popular message. Sadly, the bulk of Christianity has compromised into a complacent state as the Laodiceans in Revelation 4.

 

4. Haters seem to persuade the masses easily with half-truths and distorted information. We must recall that the majority of the people in the world do not have the love of Jesus, nor the discernment of the Holy Spirit! Sadly, when awakened, the evil side of human nature is passionate and aggressive to satisfy an appetite for destruction! The ones who hate something seem to live obsessed, dedicating 24/7 until they accomplish their dominion. But our hope is Jesus who gave us power to cast out demons and defend the kingdom of God. They can lie about us, defame us, make us illegal, imprison us, charge us huge fines, harass us, use psych ops on us, even torture and kill us but one thing I know is that they will not get rid of us as Jesus and Christians remain strong! Despite all current persecutions and despite all barbaric attacks in world history, His truth keeps marching on! Glory, glory, hallelujah! 

 

It is so evidently hypocritical in society that those that abide by certain religions, or fringe groups, endorsing hateful destructive acts, calling upon their members to attack with violence God’s true followers, are not reprimanded as haters and perpetrators by the bulk of society. People are already preconditioned by the media and government to fear so they do not oppose evil! But people with values and guts who hint a little they will go against the current trends of the world are instantly demonized as racist nazi haters and are defamed by the powerful evil propaganda systems! 

 

Who are those that persecute God’s children today? The same class of opulent, hedonistic despots as those that were ruling in the Romans times when the persecution began with the Early Church! Deceived people today are described well in these verses, 2 Timothy 3 :1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; 5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

 

5. Getting back to our verse of today in Acts, what was the situation? Peter and the apostles were filling the city with the gospel of Jesus, preaching daily in the temple and in every house and thousands were being converted until the murderous city fathers found out. People in power always seem to live tormented with paranoia, jealousy, and insecurity and are overcome with passionate convictions to crush anyone opposing their deceitful authority. In this case it was the Jews imprisoning them, as they only wanted control over the people by their ways and traditions not realizing that God had moved on abandoning them for their rejection of his Son, Jesus. They even stoned Steven to death, do you recall?

 

To encourage you as a Christian, recall that no one will ever do anything to anyone of us without a divine retribution punishing the offenders. Jesus forgave his crucifiers, but Christ rejecters still have to pay with eternal torment! Notice this fact, mockers and persecutors identifying with a group, tribe, people, religion, or geographical region cause them to be included when severe divine retribution comes down. This is why you and I must be very careful who we identify with and accept! Today you can identify with whoever you like but the consequences of supporting, endorsing, or being complacent to an evil group activity that is against God’s will… will provoke the Most High to anger!

 

Look in Acts 5. This is a persecution of the believers of Jesus in Jerusalem and what happened? God made his people to get out!  Acts 8:1 And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles.

 

6. This persecution from Saul and zealots actually provoked God’s people to leave Jerusalem for two motives. One was to get the new Christians out into the rest of the world preaching the gospel! It fulfilled the prophecy in Acts 1: 8 ‘But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth”.

 

And the second motive I see was to save the Christians from a dying a horrible death that was soon to come from the Romans invading Jerusalem in 70 AD. Jesus prophesied in Mark 13:2 And Jesus answering said unto him, “Seest thou these great buildings? there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” And this is exactly what happened, the city, and Herod’s glorious massively huge temple built for the Jews was totally torn down!

 

The Roman invasion of Jerusalem in 70 AD was horrific! You can read about it in the writings of Josephus, a Roman historian who recorded the event.  The city was surrounded for 2 years and when almost dead from starvation the Romans went in burning the city and crucifying almost every living thing. An entire forest was used to make the crosses and the stench was for miles! This was the way the Romans dealt with rebellion as they would not allow the Jews or anyone to defy them with independence. The Romans were experts in iron rule and to not submit to their authority was to invoke relentless rage. What a horrible fate for these Jews who rejected Jesus! That event provoked the great dispersion, ‘diaspora’ of the Jews causing them to have to hide their identity for a few thousand years in different countries all around the world. Only in 1947 were they able to reunite as a people again in Israel. 

 

7. But the Early Church, despite persecution, thrived meeting secretly and prospered in many cities and lands despite the general persecution over the next several hundred years. We are familiar that in Rome the Christians were tortured and killed for sport but we may forget to notice that many other Christians reached many people in faraway places for Christ anyway. During the persecutions under certain Cesars their numbers still increased and not everyone was taken with imprisonment and death. We need not fear persecution so much really because, ‘the body they may kill, but God’s truth abideth still’.

 

And in secular and church history we know that the ruler Constantine got converted to Christ and the persecution ended, at least government persecution ended for a while. But what happened to the church after a few more hundred years? The church became too big and powerful, corrupted, self-serving, rich and abusive, disobedient and indifferent to the poor and it was then the scourge of Islamic invasions ravaged Europe and Africa.  The cycle of the church seems to follow this pattern: 1. Persecution: destruction & suffering 2. Repentance, evangelism growth 3. Prosperity & righteousness 4. Pride and wickedness (complacency & apostasy)

 

Even Spain, being so Catholic today, was governed by the Moors from 711 to 1472, which is more than 760 years of Islam! Persecution has always been around and it is not going away! The final endtime persecution will be horrific but we know many will survive it because of 1 Thessalonians 4:17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

 

8. So how do we get ready for the persecution? Here are 3 suggestions of mine. For one, as Christians we must be exemplary and live holy, pure, honest, and loving lives so we will be filled with passion to stand up for the right when needed! When evil people want to accuse us of evil, let us be like Jesus, innocent of any crime, so they will not be able to pinpoint any evil on us! In Acts it says Steven had the face of an angel while they were stoning him to death! 

 

We all know that people of low intelligence tend to generalize, stereotype, and pick and choose the arguments that they select in order to justify their evil aggression against another. As Christians we must denounce the false representatives of the faith, the mainline churches that accept sin, the prosperous doctrine ones as on TV, so others know we are not in this same category to be judged according to their excessively rich lifestyle full of hypocrisy. Satan’s most damaging method is that of getting wolves in sheep’s clothing to subvert and embarrass the faith. Lately he has been too successful! Stay pure, expose evil within false Christianity!  

 

Second, we must be prepared with the scriptures (memorize!) in our hearts to answer people who attack us. Psalm 119:42 So shall I have wherewith to answer him that reproacheth me: for I trust in thy word. 2 Timothy 4:2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine.  We cannot deny what the scriptures say, and sadly people often want to kill us, the messagers, just for telling them the truth of God’s word!  But it is not our message, it is God’s! The word of God has undeniable power!

               

9. And the third suggestion, we must be active in society exposing evil for what it is or in our apathy we will shame our Lord! How often do you criticize Satan’s governing systems that are fomenting poverty, slavery, sex trafficking, drug addictions, and destructions? Forget being PC, (politically correct) being conformed to this world and rise up with the power of the Holy Spirit!  

 

One example of a man who with convictions that brought about an impacting change to this world by exposing falsehoods and evil is Justin Martyr (St. Justin). Justin was born to a pagan family and lived from 100 to 165 AD. He studied world philosophy but accepted Christ with an elderly Syrian Christian. He became an apologist for the faith and was known in many cities to challenge pagan priests, Christians following errant doctrines, and the pagan magistrates. His ‘First Apology’ (many more apologies and writings followed) was addressed to Antoninus Pius, his sons, and the Roman Senate. His dare was to attain an appeal to express, ‘It is unjust to condemn a Christian without first hearing his cause’. He fought for morality (or as we define it: holiness) challenging Romans, Jews, and false sects. Before martyrdom, he was ordered to sacrifice to the Roman gods but he replied, “No person in his right thinking mind moves from piety to impiety’. He convinced many that Christians were not atheists and flesh eaters.

 

Here is one quote of his: Philosophy is the full knowledge of reality and the clear perception of truth. Happiness is the reward of such knowledge and wisdom. He was foundational in establishing correct doctrinal interpretations of the Holy Scriptures. He was scourged and then beheaded. His death provoked an unexpected interest and respect for his writings which were conserved and studied by Christian scholars for 18 centuries. (Look up his works and read!) Haters and persecutors never take into account that their murderous victories are shallow and short lived. Where’s the pride and gods of Rome today? Gone! 

 

10. Up until this point of history in this country we have been given the right to worship as we choose, but now there are growing groups of Islamists, Atheists, Communists, and bitter haters of all kinds that are getting corrupted judges and politicians to eradicate this freedom! They actually want to kill us, the Christians, just as the demon possessed jealous religious leaders wanted to kill Jesus in his day! We never accept evil and must make waves and be heard so that we will do as the apostles did in Acts, and quote, “We ought to obey God rather than men!”

 

For victory, be reminded, we must fight first! Ephesians 6: 12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

 

If any of you, my brothers or sisters, were to get harmed in the near future it would really break my heart! I feel my blood pressure rise daily as I read articles, or see on TV something concerning the persecution killing or enslavement of men, women, and children who are Christians! But these murderers will reap the hell they are causing! Our hope is in the promise of eternal life in Jesus! His Kingdom is forever and it is coming soon! Obey God above men! You are an overcomer if you stay close to Jesus! John 16:33These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.