Preparing For Persecution XX

 Once the enemy has all his pieces in place and persecution commences, any presumption of innocence goes out the window. It has been a pattern since the early church, continuing into our modern day, and it will be so until the return of Christ.

Because of the freedoms we’ve enjoyed in America for as long as this nation has been a nation, we’re naturally inclined to believe that if we are innocent, then all this talk of persecution shouldn’t concern us because we will have recourse in a court of law whereby we will be shown to be innocent.

What were Peter and John’s crimes? They had committed none, yet the captain of the temple, along with the Sadducees, laid hands on them and put them in custody. They weren’t cordially invited, they weren’t asked to cooperate, and chances are that when hands were laid on them, it wasn’t gentle. The day will come, and in many instances, it’s already evident, wherein the law will be perverted to such a degree that those putting you to death will think they are doing something noble and virtuous.

They’ll be doing God’s work by golly, ridding the world of people who just won’t go along with, accept, and embrace the new paradigm. I mean, why won’t they trust the science? It’s science, after all; what do they know that scientists don’t? Well, obviously, that men can’t get pregnant, girls can’t be boys, and gender is fixed and absolute, but there I go, being a science denier all over again.

In their minds, you are already guilty. You have already committed the unpardonable sin of questioning their narrative or, worse still, their perceived authority. Even when they are proven to be wrong about a given thing they insisted was essential for human survival or about an existential crisis that would only be solved by face diapers and repeated chemical injections; they’ll never apologize or admit they were wrong. Rather, they’ll double down and dare you to imagine how bad it would have been had they not scared the world half to death and arrested mothers for the high crime of allowing their children to breathe fresh air and play on some monkey bars.

They know full well they have no way of proving it would have been worse, but that’s their story, and they’re sticking to it because the story is all they’ve got.

The devil doesn’t need proof or justification to persecute the children of God; he just needs an excuse. The devil is not interested in playing fair, above board, or being consistent about his accusations or whether they’re true or fabricated. You healed a lame man in the name of Jesus? How dare you? Unacceptable is what that is. You’d better stop it if you know what’s good for you.

They didn’t hurt Peter and John because they couldn’t, not because they didn’t want to. They feared the people’s reaction to the point of deciding to let them go because they’d been around long enough to know that people are fickle, opinions change, and today’s hero can become tomorrow’s villain with the right narrative and backstory. They chose to bide their time and began recruiting henchmen, muscle, and those who would go out and become the scourge of the followers of Christ for decades to come.

To their credit, Peter and John understood what was going on, so they didn’t sigh in relief and go off singing Hillsong for a few hours, thinking that it was a close one. They knew this was the shot across the bow, the moment everything changed, and they went in search of the brethren.

Once you know what’s coming, it is incumbent upon you to prepare for it. If you need boldness, strength, grace, faith, or know of any other thing you are lacking or short on, use the time of freedom you have left to pray for those things and do so consistently.

Acts 4:23-26, “And being let go, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. So when they heard that, they raised their voices to God with one accord and said, “Lord, You are God, who made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that is in them, who by the mouth of Your servant David have said: ‘Why did the nations rage, and the people plot vain things? The kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ.’”

When everything changes in an instant, it’s always good to have someone to run to, someone to share the burden with, someone to draw strength from, fellowship with, and lean on. Yes, God is ever present, always there to listen and comfort, but that does not mean we are called upon to be the lone wolves of Christendom, wandering the wilderness, absent of camaraderie and brotherhood. We will yearn tomorrow for the things we forsake today, and the assembling of ourselves together is one of those things.

Upon being let go, Peter and John went to their own companions. They didn’t go to the courthouse to file briefs or in search of a lawyer to sue the Sanhedrin for mistreating them. They understood that they would not find justice from men because corrupt systems do not produce just outcomes, and corrupt men do not lend their ears to the truth. It’s a hard lesson that some will learn shortly, and the injustice they will suffer at the hands of those supposedly doling out justice will be like an unexpected gut punch to the solar plexus.

If those making the laws despise God, hate Jesus, and detest His followers, what makes you think that their laws will be just? Great atrocities have been committed by those whose justification was either that they were just following orders or they were just following the law. Prepare your heart for a time when you will have no recourse and when you will suffer for doing good because it is coming.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Posted on 27 April 2024 | 10:52 am