Scripture: 2 Timothy 3 v 12 - 15: "Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
13 But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.
14 But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them;
15 And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus."
As we get nearer to the coming of Jesus, the persecution of Christians and Jews will increase dramatically. The enemy sees us as a major stumbling block to his ambitions. He is in denial of his own fate of eternal fire.
"In 2022, advocacy group Open Doors said that at least 360 million Christians experienced “high levels of persecution & discrimination.” This was 20 million higher than 2021...estimate that the no. of Christians killed for their faith rose to 5,898 in 2022, up from 4,761 in 2021."
- John Sears @johnsears2077
We are the pawns on the great chessboard of life. We have advanced to a place where we can become a major player on the board. That makes us a threat. The Jews are a threat because they survived the Holocaust and became the nation of Israel again. They are a force to be reckoned with if only by the Devil and his cohorts Hamas, Hezbollah, Houtis and Iran Republican Guard.
Over forty years ago I received a prophecy from the Lord that He had called me to unite the Body of Christ and bring direction to the Church. This was while I was still a junior member of His Body. What I experienced from that time onwards was a great deal of persecution. From the pastor who uttered it, from my husband, from many members of that particular church.
It was a horrible experience and I pleaded with our Father to release me from that congregation. He bade me to stay until He would remove me. It took a forty day fast eventually to stop this nightmare. But I learned a lot in those four years, being taught by the Holy Spirit. I learned to trust only the Lord and those He added to me.
This was the beginning of learning about unity in the Body of Christ. I had to unlearn that the Body and the Bride were the same. The broken body of Jesus must be united to be ready for the Rapture. This takes place somewhere in the middle of the Book of Revelation. The Bride is revealed in Revelation 21 v 9 - 12. And in Revelation 22 she at last says "Come Lord Jesus".
When the Body of Christ joins the Head, the Bridegroom is whole and complete. This is the importance of the Rapture. The Bride is Israel who was given her own land. Covenants were made with her. The Law was given to her. Deliverers like Moses, Judges, Kings, Prophets were sent to chastise, teach, guide, warn Israel the runaway, adulterous Bride. She was bewitched by Satan to utterly reject Jesus.
John 1 v 9 -11: "That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not."
Not only did Israel not receive Him, she eventually commanded that He be put to death. She declared the bloodgultiness of Israel forever. His Blood be upon us and upon our children. Total rejection of Jesus by the Jews. Jesus was the Ransom for her after Lucifer took her as his bride and kidnapped her in Heaven.
Everything that has happened from that moment to this was to win her back and restore her memories of her true Bridegroom. That's what we find in Revelation 22. Come Lord Jesus. Christians are fragments of His broken body, not broken on the Cross but before the foundation of the world. Revelation 13 v 8 - 9: "And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
9 If any man have an ear, let him hear."
If you are not a born again Christian baptised in water after salvation, and baptized in the Holy Spirit by the placing on of hands then your name is not in the Lamb's Book of Life. If you are not then you will end up worshipping The Beast, part of the Antichrist.
Colossians 1 v 18: "And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the pre-eminence."
On these revelations that took place over a period of 5 years I have seen the big picture of how Lucifer interrupted the marriage feast of the Son of God for his own selfish ambition of taking ownership of the Universe from its Creator.
Isaiah 14 v 12 - 14: "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High."
When the marriage feast was interrupted war broke out in Heaven as described in Revelation 12. This was is ongoing till this day and we must play our part in it.
Antisemitism is only of value as a spiritual destruction of Israel. Break them down and trample upon them. But what the enemy fails to realise is that persecution makes both Christians and Jews stronger in spirit. Persecution brings unity among those who are suffering it. Wokeness is the new strategy to undermine our values and persecute those who object.
I recently saw a rerun of the movie "Independence Day" where the whole planet was under attack from alien beings. The threatened humans found a way to remove the alien's power force that protected them from counterattack. Morse code messages were sent to all the armies of the world who united to conquer this enemy. Can this blog be your Morse code message to realise that everyone is needed to unite and fight for Jesus?
Christians are seen as weak, poor, helpless people needing a crutch. They are submissive people and therefore easy to intimidate. But Christ in us the hope of glory never lets us down. The world can slander us, mock and scoff at us, but we know where our strength lies. We know the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and He says He will have the last laugh!
The day will come when the world, the heathens, will truly regret mistreating God's people. The tables will be turned when Jesus returns in power and great glory. The Bible says they will run to hide in caves and under rocks to vanish from the sight of Him who they have mocked.
On the Day of judgment Jesus will tell them that He never knew them and they belong to Satan in Hell. They all had the opportunity to hear the gospel and turn their lives around but chose a life of sin and riotous living instead. Many say all paths lead to God and its true! On the Day of Judgment all will stand before God but only those with a personal relationship with Jesus Christ will remain in Heaven.
God loves the world but He cannot override their own free will. We have the task to take the message of grace, mercy and forgiveness to them, but if it is rejected we must to those who are willing to listen. Jesus did not keep going back to those who rejected His offer to follow Him. He moved on immediately and never looked back. We need to get past trying to win stubborn hearts when there are many others crying for salvation.
Naturally the persecution will be increased as those who reject the Holy Spirit become more violent and angry. However, we will overcome their evil words and deeds to secure and nurture the new believers.
We know Jesus loves us and has saved us, let us discover what we can individually or collectively do to witness of His love to others who have been misinformed. Find out if your neighbours know Jesus, start praying for them, for your whole street to come to know Jesus. Get the newly saved praying for your suburb. Don't just invite them to church, the disciples of old went out to win souls then brought the born again Christians into the church. These are the first steps to bringing unity to the Body of Christ.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, we are still standing even though we are persecuted and mocked. We will not waver nor compromise with the wicked, but will stand firm on our great Rock, and love those sinners until they surrender to Your Son. In Jesus' name. Amen.