One Way To Know You’re Being Persecuted
If we experience hardship at the hands of men—suffering, trials, injustices—and find our hearts rejoicing rather than embittered, thankful rather than spiteful, satisfied rather than grumbly, we may well take this as evidence that we are suffering persecution and being filled with God’s Spirit to endure it well, to endure it for his glory.
One of the most intimidating things Jesus taught was that, as his followers, we should expect to be persecuted. And one of the most surprising things he taught was that, when we encounter such persecution, we should face it with joy. “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matthew 5:12). In Dustin Benge’s book The Loveliest Place, I read a brief explanation of what Jesus means by these words, and in that explanation an interesting application: True persecution will lead to true rejoicing.
Benge says, “There is a paradoxical mystery within the words ‘Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.’ Rejoice while suffering? Be glad amid ridicule? How can this be? This mystery is unveiled in the depth of our unyielding assurance that being with Jesus in glory will far more than reward us for any suffering we have faced in this life.” This was what Paul meant to communicate to the church in Corinth when he wrote his famous words of assurance: “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:17–18).
It is our faith that sustains us in these times of persecution and our faith that gives us joy.
Our rejoicing and gladness proceed from faith in the unseen realm of eternity. The same faith that accepts Jesus Christ as Lord. The same faith that transforms us from one degree of glory to another. The same faith that stares our persecutors in the face and prays, “Father, forgive them; they do not know what they are doing.” These persecutions are “preparing for us” or “bringing about” an “eternal weight of glory.”
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It Is A Faithful Saying
The first one lays the foundation of our eternal salvation in the free grace of God, as shown to us in the mission of the great Redeemer. The next affirms the double blessedness which we obtain through this salvation—the blessings of the upper and nether springs—of time and of eternity. The third shows one of the duties to which the chosen people are called; we are ordained to suffer for Christ with the promise that “if we suffer, we shall also reign with Him.” The last sets forth the active form of Christian service, bidding us diligently to maintain good works.
11 It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him: 12 If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us: 13 If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself. 2 Timothy 2:11-13 (KJV)
It is a blessed thing to mediate on the reality of being in Christ. The enormity of that fact should strike us hard because those who are truly in Christ are those who also know they don’t deserve to be. The miracle of our salvation is incredible and the cost our Savior paid to save us is beyond our understanding. Spurgeon understood this and wrote about it in today’s devotion from his Morning by Morning.C. H. Spurgeon
“It is a faithful saying.”—2 Timothy 2:11.
Paul has four of these “faithful sayings.” The first occurs in 1 Timothy 1:15, “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” The next is in 1 Timothy 4:6, “Godliness is profitable unto all things, having the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation.”
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The Re-Imagined World of John Lennon
I could not help but notice that the song is replete with the word “no”. No heaven…no hell…no countries…no religion…and no possessions. According to the lyrics, somehow or in some way, the “no” of these things is supposed to bring about “a brotherhood of man” where all share the world, and we live as one.
Efforts toward global unity have been arising since the Tower of Babel when humanity spoke a single common language and attempted to reach the heavens. With this in mind, a question needs to be asked: Does God care more about unity than diversity? It is obvious that He did not allow mankind to keep the unity of one tongue but separated the population by language for His purpose of diversification.
God’s actions in changing mankind from one tongue to many at Babel hint at the nature of truth. By nature, truth tends to separate and clarify rather than unify. It separates itself from non-truth and vice versa.
Yes, this theme of uniting humanity has been here a long time. In our day we are bombarded with socialistic propaganda that looks suspiciously like Marxism, and supposedly all for the sake of unity. Take for example John Lennon’s song “Imagine,” that was sung at this year’s Olympic opening ceremonies in Tokyo this summer. It was also sung at the opening of the 2012 Olympics. Evidently, it is a favorite of some though not all. One New York Post article referred to it as a “totalitarian anthem” ( nypost.com/2021/07/25/imagine-blared-at-the-olympics-is-a-totalitarians-anthem/). One reason for this label is that a totalitarian worldview rules out any Creator/creature distinction. So, it is atheistic with no need for such a distinction or for that matter, any distinctions.
With a little discernment, one picks up on this from the beginning of Lennon’s lyrics:
“Imagine there’s no heaven; it’s easy if you try; no hell below us; Above us only sky; Imagine all the people Living for today…Aha-ah…; Imagine there’s no countries; It isn’t hard to do; Nothing to kill or die for; and no religion, too; Imagine all the people Living life in peace… You…; You might say I’m a dreamer; But I’m not the only one; I hope someday you’ll join us; And the world will be as one; Imagine no possessions; I wonder if you can; No need for greed or hunger; A brotherhood of man; Imagine all the people sharing all the world… You…; You might say I’m a dreamer; But I’m not the only one; I hope someday you’ll join us; and the world will live as one”.
I could not help but notice that the song is replete with the word “no”. No heaven…no hell…no countries…no religion…and no possessions. According to the lyrics, somehow or in some way, the “no” of these things is supposed to bring about “a brotherhood of man” where all share the world, and we live as one.
There are worldview implications from such a “no” lens view. First, there’s the idea of no moral absolutes. If there is no heaven or hell, then all things are relative and permissible because nothing will matter and it is left to the individual to decide what is good or evil, reward or punishment. The “no” takes care of it.
Second, no countries certainly sounds like the promotion of the global community. It is a vote for open borders.
Third, no possessions sounds like there is no such thing as private property. Instead, as Lennon says, the brotherhood of man will share all the world. In light of humanity’s sin nature, please don’t hold your breath on that one.
The negation of the very things that are real or the denial of distinctions is not a biblical worldview and certainly not one that is Creator/creature distinctive. Instead, it is monistic (all is one/one is all) as expressed in Lennon’s words expressing hope that the world “will live as one,”
Not only do the Olympic ceremonies appear to promote this humanistic monism, but it also seems to be a common theme of the Olympics. Back in 1996, when they were held in Atlanta, after watching the mixing and mingling of people representing the colors of the Olympic flag, sports commentator, Dick Enberg, said “As you can see, now, the people of the world are becoming a mixture of one family as they create a mountain of humanity. All the tribes are losing their identity and for this occasion, this Olympics, they become one!”(https://arcapologetics.org/olympics-homosexuality-and-the-pagan-worldview/). One can see the parallel in antiquity, where the people of the world, all one language and one mindset, sought to secure their own future by their own efforts on their own mountain, the tower of Babel.
The truth is Lennon’s “Imagine” is more about “Re-Imagining” truth and reality, which is so prevalent today in the burgeoning woke and cancel cultures that want to redefine everything. In essence, it is an attempt to return to the tower of Babel… trying to build a world without God. Like Lennon, many of us may wish for a utopian society. But, like Lennon, we too would be dreaming, and to wish for such is a vain imagination that denies the nature of God-given truth and the very nature of God Himself.
The real God created the universe and man, and these are distinct from God. Our destiny, our noblest aspirations, and our fulfillment of them will only be complete in worship of the one true God.
Clete Hux is Director of the Apologetics Resource Center. -
God Personally Cares for Children in the Womb and Prescribes Punishment for Aborting Them, Rewards for Protecting Them
May we beware of such an abhorrent affront to God’s own personal handiwork upon each child in vivo by our nation (too often amidst a complacent and thus compliant church) and pray not only for no federal mandate of its toleration, but even more, for a national law enforced against it and upon every state of the union.
Commenting on Exodus 21 and capital offenses, Umberto Cassuto notes that “The Torah wishes to affirm and establish the principle, in the name of Divine law, that human life is sacred, and whoever assails this sanctity forfeits his own life – measure for measure.”[1]
The civil right of human liberty was emphasized first in this chapter, and is followed by upholding the value of human life. We must respect and protect all lives;[2] and according to Exodus 21:22-23, this includes the defenseless infant maturing in mother’s womb.
If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman’s husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life,
Those who wrongly induced risky premature labor were to cover the consequential costs—what’s more, perpetrators who caused a miscarriage had to be executed![3] This should not surprise us, for God Himself is mysteriously there in utero, personally forming the baby from his or her earliest existence.
Psalm 139:14 reads: I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.[4] Verse 13 qualifies this making as God’s intimate molding, For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb. And verses 15-16 elaborate: My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.
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