PERSECUTION OF THE SAINTS
18/03/24 13:41
I was sitting here, meditating on the "Sermon on the Mount" series I'm currently working on and I was thinking about what Messiah Y'shua was saying to His new disciples… they would be persecuted and lied about (Matthew 5:11-12). He referred to the prophets of old when talking to them about this.
The church is looking for the time when they will be persecuted but the fact is, this is likely not to happen. Let's look at this in its context.
The prophets were not persecuted by the world; they were persecuted by the religious, by those who professed to follow God. Messiah Y'shua tells His new disciples that they would be persecuted as the prophets of old which means who would persecute them? The religious, those who proclaim to follow God.
If we look at the life of Messiah Y'shua, who persecuted Him? The religious, those professing to follow God. While Rome was the one who put Him on the cross, they were the ones to say they found no fault and left that up to who? The religious, those who claimed to follow God.
When we look at Acts and the history of the Apostles, along with other martyrs, who persecuted them; the world or the religious? The religious, those who claimed to follow God.
Do you see the pattern?
The prophets of old, Y'shua, and the martyrs of Messiah were persecuted by those who claim to follow God. They were persecuted because they did not follow the traditions of the religious but rather followed and taught the Bible to the best of their ability. They followed and taught a teaching that was contrary to tradition and they were persecuted for it.
If you're not persecuted then you must ask, are you following Scripture? The fact is, if you follow Scripture in this country of America then you will be persecuted by the religious people.
My wife and I have had more religious people come against us than anyone in the world. It's because we follow the Bible for what it actually says and not for tradition. We don't condemn anyone for the way they follow Scripture but all we have to do is mention that we don't eat pork and we are called Jews and accused of judging those who eat pork. All we have to do is say we keep the seventh day Sabbath (not seventh day adventist) and we're accused of being legalistic and coming against those who keep Sunday.
Persecution, as told by history and the Bible, is going to come from within the church more than from without.