The more I look at the western world today, the more I think about the words Jesus shared with His disciples the night before He was crucified, telling them, “These things I have spoken to you, that ye should not be offended (made to stumble). They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that He doeth God service. And these things they will do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor Me.” (John 16:1-3)
Jesus was just about to send His followers out into a world that He knew would hate them (the Jews) because they hated Him or would in the future do so because they did not understand Him or his religion (the Gentiles). Jesus words were as always, spot on, especially in the early days of Christianity. First, many Jews (including the Apostle Paul before his conversion) fought hard to discredit and destroy the early church and its teachings. A quick reading of the history of the early church in the Book of Acts is plenty sufficient to establish this fact. Also, in the first three centuries of the church many Christian Apologists (i.e.; Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian) wrote to the leaders of Rome (including the emperors) in a defense of the faith to explain the true teachings of the church, as mischaracterizations of who they were and what they believed abounded.
There were four main charges that the pagans leveled against the church in that day. First, they accused them of being atheists. This seems strange to us, but this charge was raised because Christians did not believe in ‘the gods’ and therefore could not be trusted. Second, they were accused of being cannibals, not understanding that the Eucharist was not a literal eating of the blood and body of Christ. Third, because they referred to all believers as brothers and sisters, they were charged with the crime of ‘incest’, even reporting that baptisms were performed in the nude. Finally, believers were considered criminals and enemies of the state because of their refusal to sacrifice to idols or to the emperors. It took consistent, godly living and a willingness to die for their faith to finally convince the Gentiles that theirs was a religion of peace and that their God had power to sustain, regardless of what the world would throw at them.
Fast forward to our day and we are beginning to see the same thing occurring. Because of the agenda of those that know not the Father nor His Son, Christians are once again being cast in a light that is equally misrepresented. They are being aided in their efforts by the many shysters that parade themselves as ministers of the gospel and rake in millions through their false teachings. These are doing much damage and, for many who don’t know or read the Bible, it may be easy to convince them that this is what Christianity is all about, and leading them to abhor it.
But there are also those that want to characterize ‘true Christians’ as unloving and therefore, unacceptable because we will not bend to accept certain lifestyles that God’s Word clearly declares to be sin that, unless repented of, will result in eternal destruction for those that practice them.
As the days move forward, unless God intervenes, I expect this pressure to conform to their views to intensify. Gone are the days when everyone had the right to express honest convictions. No longer is the Bible considered the authority for determining right and wrong in our society. Because of that, we are now living in (according to one leading minister in our nation) a pre-Christian time. Jesus warned his followers of this, so don’t be surprised if, in the coming days, we experience many of the same things the early church went through. But never forget, the same power that enabled them to stand for the truth amidst an unbelieving world, can empower us to do the same.
For God’s glory and His alone,
Pastor Terry.