Persecution

Persecution - is the mistreatment of an individual or group by another individual or group. The most common forms of persecution are religious and racism. Actions of persecution could include imprisonment, beating, torture, family abandonment or even execution.

Us as Christians are persecuted because our belief in Jesus Christ as our Savior by a godlessness sinful world. But us Christians that are still alive today have not faced the type of persecution as in times past. Some of the Christ followers have lost their lives for their stance. This is something is hard to fathom, people loosing their lives for standing up and defending what is right. Because at the end of the day, standing up for the True and living God is the right thing to do. I think about Stephen the 1st martyr in the Bible. He was actually evangelizing as he was being stoned to death. In Acts 7:54 59 we read 54 When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. 55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 "Look," he said, "I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." 57 At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, 58 dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." 60 Then he fell on his knees and cried out, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." When he had said this, he fell asleep.

But if we look back on why Stephen was being persecuted, the Sanhedrin were bringing up false accusations against Stephen

Has that happened to you? When some someone has worked up lies about you, because you are believer in Christ. The reason why we are persecuted, is BECAUSE we follow Christ. We all need to heed the words of the Apostle Paul in Romans 1:16 he declared "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek."

I'll segue into the persecution as relates to racism, I believe why the world hates & persecutes the Jewish nation, is because the Jewish people were and are God's chosen people. And we as Christians have been grafted into the Jewish nation.

Deuteronomy 14:2
For you are a people holy to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

It's wild to think that the world persecutes and hates certain people or put certain people of stature on a pedestal, but God does not as we read in:

Galatians 3:28
There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

And ultimate way that God showed NO partiality is found in John 3:16 "for God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him, shall not perish, but have eternal life."

So remember God does NOT persecute the world, but the world persecutes God & his followers.

BE BLESSED!!