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DAILY DEVOTIONAL SUNDAY NOVEMBER 12, 2006
( Philippians 3:20, Hebrews 11:13-16, 25, Acts 5:41, 1 Peter 5:10 )
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***IN THE AFTERMATH OF THE RECENT ELECTIONS, AND BASED ON THE REALITY OF
THOSE WHO WILL BE LEADING THIS NATION IN THE FORESEEABLE FUTURE, THE
PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS IS GOING TO BE ON THE INCREASE AND A NEW REALITY
FOR MANY BELIEVERS. PLEASE BE IN PRAYER AS YOU READ THESE SOBERING WORDS
TODAY, MEANT TO PREPARE YOU FOR WHAT IS AHEAD.
The coming persecution of Christians....IN THE UNITED STATES! Several
months ago, I read about three 15-year-old high school girls in Indonesia
who were beheaded simply for being Christians. Indonesia is the world's
most populous Muslim nation and killing Christians simply for being a
follower of Christ is a common practice in many parts of that country. The
reality is, in November of 2006 there are MANY places on this planet where
it
costs to be a Christian, and that cost is often a person's life! I submit
to you today that there is coming a day when Christians will be persecuted
for their faith, even unto death, right here in the United States of
America!!!
For those of us who have lived our lives in the United States, we have
enjoyed tremendous freedoms to live and share our faith in virtual peace.
The fact is we have never even begun to experience and can't even
comprehend
what many of our brothers and sisters in Christ in other parts of the
world
have to endure to simply be a follower of Jesus Christ. Actually, we
should
be ashamed of ourselves. We can go out and start a church and nobody is
going to bother us. We can go out and preach the Gospel and nobody is
going
to bother us. We can set up Internet sites, create TV and radio programs,
write books, make movies, produce music, all to share our faith in Christ
and for the most part nobody is going to bother us. In fact, there is very
little we can't do in November of 2006 here in the United States to live
out
and share our faith in Jesus Christ.
In a way, all of this freedom has made us "soft Christians." I firmly
believe after 16 years of evangelistic ministry that all of the peace and
freedom we have as Christians in this nation make us not really appreciate
our faith in Christ. Instead of our faith being the most im****tant thing
in
our life, it is simply just part of our life like belonging to a country
club, or having a hobby we enjoy. The main reason is that we pay no price
of any kind to get saved since Jesus already paid that price. But it costs
us nothing after we are saved to be a Believer in Christ here in the
United
States. Most who come to know Christ have that "born again" experience and
grow very little in their faith because they put virtually nothing into
their relation****p with Christ. Even the basics like praying and reading
the Word each day, going to church, are too great a sacrifice for most who
call themselves Christians in this nation!
I wonder if a group of men armed with automatic weapons came into your
church on Sunday, told the congregation they had 5 minutes to denounce
Christ and leave the sanctuary or proclaim Christ as their Savior by
staying
with the understanding that those who stayed would be killed, how many
would
be left in the pews? I wonder if you were with 20 people who were taken at
gunpoint by a man who said he would kill anyone who claimed to be a
Christian, and then started asking each person one by one if they were a
follower of Christ, when he got to you what YOUR answer would be? The sad
truth is, most Christians are afraid to share their faith in Christ with
others simply out of the fear of being laughed at, mocked, and verbally
challenged!!!
These may sound like unrealistic scenarios but they actually happen all
the
time in countries around this world. People are beaten and tortured for
their faith in Christ. People are put into prison for years, for decades,
for being a follower of Jesus. Many people every day are martyred, killed
for proclaiming that Jesus Christ is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords!
We are too busy to pray, yet brothers and sisters in Christ in some places
today are risking their lives to pray. We are too busy to read the Bible,
yet brothers and sisters in Christ in some places are beaten and put into
prison just for having a copy of God's Word. We have no use for Christ's
church, yet brothers and sisters in the Lord in some places are killed for
having a church service. My friend, we have it so easy here in the U.S.,
we
take our faith for granted and instead of it defining who we are, it is
shuffled far down our list of priorities and simply part of our life like
the Tuesday night bowling league we belong to.
Please, I am so tired of hearing Christians whining about being persecuted
in this country. Because we can't pray in public schools we are being
persecuted? Because the town hall won't put up a manger scene we are being
persecuted? Because a department store like Wal-Mart won't say "Merry
Christmas" we are being persecuted? That is not persecution, that is
simply
part of living in a society that has chosen to live in rebellion to the
God
of the Bible and reject His Truth and Son Jesus Christ! Should we speak up
about these issues? Sure, but please don't say we are being persecuted.
Being persecuted is when someone takes a machete and chops off your head
for
no other reason than you have identified yourself as a follower of
Christ!!!
However, there is coming a day, sooner than any of us think when we will
endure that type of persecution right here in the United States!
Impossible
you say? NO, very possible. We have taken our faith for granted, taken the
great freedoms we enjoy for granted, and there will come a day when we
won't
have those freedoms any longer and we will have to decide how im****tant
our
faith is to us. At that time, it will COST to be a Christian. It will COST
to pray. It will COST to read the Word. It will COST to go to church. It
won't cost money but the potential of being beaten, tortured, thrown in
jail, and even killed. On that day, I wonder how many will be left willing
to pay the cost? Will you?
I love you and care about you so much. I pray today that this word will
cause you to think, cause you to evaluate your faith. It is easy to say I
would die for Jesus, but would you really? Let me challenge you today. If
you would die for Jesus, will you live for Jesus? If we really love the
Lord as we claim, then He should be the top priority in our life. Christ
should be such a burning passion in our heart that we should be actively
involved in trying to help everyone we know come to the saving knowledge
of
Jesus Christ.
When you accepted Jesus into your heart and life by faith, you gave Him
your
life. Not just for an hour on Sunday morning, but ALL of your life! The
Bible says it is no longer your life, that it belongs to Him. If you
really
believed that your life is no longer your own, you would live like it was
no
longer your own. You would be fully and completely surrendered to Christ
every moment of every day. It would not be about you, it would be about
Him. It would not be your desires, it would be His desires. It would not
be you that lived, but yea, the Christ that lives within you!!!
Sadly, it is going to take real persecution in this nation for God's
people
to be One. When persecution comes, we won't be divided any longer by
Methodist, Baptist, Catholic, or Pentecostal, we won't be worried any
longer
if this person speaks in tongues or that person chooses to wor****p
quietly,
it won't matter if the color of your skin is black, white, yellow, or red,
only if you know Jesus. All of the ways we have found to divide ourselves
will be gone and we will be bound simply by the blood of our Lord, one in
Him. Those God raises up to lead His people in these days of persecution
will be true servants, since there will be no money in serving the Lord,
only sacrifice. Those who want to lead in these days of persecution won't
have people paying to hear them speak, only people coming to lead them to
their death.
But be of good cheer. The Bible proclaims that our citizen****p is NOT of
this world We are citizens of a different world and are simply passing
through this one. Those who know Christ as their Savior understand that
this life is but for a brief season and that we have the assurance of
spending all eternity with Him. They don't live in fear of death, since
death has no hold on the Believer. Our purpose in this life is to serve
and
glorify God with our lives and that will be the only goal of those who
follow Jesus.
In closing, let me leave you with this thought and challenge. Every day,
somewhere on this planet a brother or sister in Christ is literally giving
their life for their faith. These are courageous men and women of God who
in spite of death have chosen to follow Jesus. I pray that their lives
will
encourage YOU today, challenge YOU today. God has blessed us in this
nation
to have a season with great freedoms to live our faith and share our
faith.
Instead of taking those freedoms for granted, causing us to take our faith
for granted, let us use those freedoms to proclaim to this lost and dying
world that Jesus Christ is "the way, the truth, and the life," and that
nobody comes to the Father except thru Him.
In His love and service,
Your friend and brother in Christ,
Bill Keller
***If I can help you in any way you can contact me through my personal
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