A Christian Response to Persecution

A lot of Christians are afraid right now.  They feel that they are being targeted for persecution.  They see eerie similarities to the lead up to the Holocaust whereby the Jews were first marginalized, then dehumanized, then completely disenfranchised for the greater “good” of German society, then moved to concentration camps where most of them were ultimately executed.  This article is not about how close we are to that level of persecution.  Instead it is about how Christians should respond in the face of any level of persecution, be it the threat of social ostracization or death.
 
1.  Do not be afraid.  Our life in this world is a temporary existence until we enter the eternal kingdom of God.  Death is not something to be feared but rather welcomed as the ultimate homecoming.  However, there is a wide spectrum of persecution that comes short of death and I understand the fear of hardship, suffering, and torture.  It is in such circumstances that we must trust in God to strengthen us to endure our suffering, and in doing so, shine as lights in the darkness. 

2.  Do not place your hope in changing this world.  Our kingdom is not of this world.  We live in a fallen world that will one day be restored when Jesus returns to set up his earthly kingdom.  This world is a sinking ship.   It hit an iceberg when Adam and Eve rebelled in the Garden of Eden and has been taking on water ever since.  There are some Christians who feel that it is their duty to bail water and repair the ship.  That is not our duty.  Our duty is to guide people to the lifeboats (the Gospel message of salvation through Jesus) that will carry them to a new perfect ship (Heaven). 

However, this does not mean that we refrain from engaging in the mechanisms of civil society to protect our rights to live out our beliefs.  Indeed, we should be active in protecting our rights.  But we should never confuse protecting our right to live out our beliefs with imposing our beliefs on others.  Imposition leads to resistance and resentment.  Ours is the path of persuasion which leads to sincere conversion and salvation.
 
3.  You must stand for what you believe, no matter the cost.  A long line of Christians who have compromised their beliefs have led us to this place and I am as guilty as anyone when it comes to making compromises.  Laziness, indifference, misplaced priorities, and a love of entertainment that exceeded our value of truth have enriched and empowered the institutions that now seek to exert their power to silence and de-person us. 
​
We are now in a place where you must be willing to lose your job, social standing, friendships, and possibly even some family relationships to stand for what you believe in.  Some of you might say you have children to support and cannot afford to take a stand that would lead to a loss of income.  I would refer you back to point number one – do not be afraid. 
 
Because my parent’s generation refused to stand during a time when it just meant giving up some free time to more closely follow politics to make better voting decisions, attend school board meetings or give up some forms of entertainment or preferred products to send a message to stem the erosion of Christian values, people of my generation are now faced with the loss of careers and income to support their families if they dare to stand.  And if this generation refuses to stand it is not a stretch to think that our children could be faced with imprisonment or death for standing for their beliefs.
 
It is important to understand what standing is and is not.  Standing is not storming the US Capitol.  It is not lashing out in Twitter tirades or talking about civil war.  Standing is less about what you will do and more about what you will not do.  Standing is saying that you will not give in to a lie, no matter how many people want to pretend that it is true.  Standing is refusing to hide your beliefs.  Standing is refusing to modify your behavior for unjust reasons.
 
As Christians we should look to the examples Jesus provided.  Jesus confounded the expectations of his followers because they expected the Messiah to overthrow Rome and establish his kingdom by force.  Instead Jesus offered himself as a sacrifice to create a path for salvation.  He was mostly silent as he stood before his unjust accusers.  He refused to let them put their words in his mouth – their attempt to make him what they wanted him to be so as to ease their consciences as they destroyed him.  His silence enraged them further because they knew they were in the wrong and he was giving them no avenue to justify their actions.  Rather than becoming what they accused him of being, he was revealing them for what they were – liars, tyrants, and hypocrites.
 
When the Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building, they gave all the liars, tyrants, and hypocrites the “out” they had been longing for.  The Trump supporters became what up until then they had been unjustly accused of being.  In doing so, they have enabled a sense of moral justification among those who would suppress certain points of view.
 
The Christian model of standing is not about crossing lines to defend a way of life.  It is about drawing a line and saying, “no further”.  It is about saying I have love for homosexuals, but I will not change the God-ordained definition of marriage.  It is about saying I have love for people struggling with gender identity, but I will not change the definition of male and female or accept the notion of more than two genders.  It is about saying I have empathy for women confronted with an unplanned pregnancy and am willing to help find solutions for them, but I will never condone the killing of an unborn life.  It is about saying that our government has the authority to take reasonable steps to fight the spread of a dangerous disease but it does not have the right to destroy the livelihoods of its citizens, their right to freely assemble, or the right to freely worship. 
 
And when the day comes when you are told you must accept these things or suffer certain consequences, standing means enduring the consequences.  And as a Christian, it means loving those who inflict the consequences upon you, as difficult as that might be.  For you see, our purpose on this earth is not to win political debates or social battles.  It is to glorify God in the living our lives and in doing so to help lead others to Him.
 
When you shine through your suffering, your oppressors are denied the darkness they require to cloak their unjust deeds.  When you stand it raises the question in the minds of others “what is this belief that is worth losing so much over”?  And when you gracefully endure suffering it raises the question “who is this God that inspires such grace”?  These questions and their answers have the potential to save souls.  This is why we must stand and why we must be willing to suffer with grace.