Short Take #5: Will Persecution Increase?

Here is another short take from The Christian Worldview with David Wheaton and David Wheaton.

Just how dangerous this particular virus is and how many people it's actually affected. And they went into actually the individual liberty aspect of this and saying, this is way, way overblown. And it wasn't just opinions.

They were using, you know, health department statistics and everything else. So I'm going to try to get a chance to just read some of that, but listeners can read the entire statement. I mean, this church is on it. It wasn't purely like, this is just what my conscience says, which would be good enough for a pastor.

But there was more to it than that. I just want to close, Eric, with one more question about persecution. Paul writes to Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter three, starting in verse 10. He says to his younger man in the faith, he says, Now you, Timothy, followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra. And Paul was constantly getting in trouble from authorities for his missionary work, preaching the gospel. What persecutions I endured, and out of them all, the Lord rescued me! And says in verse 12, Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

Last verse. But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. Now, I'm not sure I'm interpreting this right. You're the pastor, so you correct me if I'm wrong, but evil men and impostors. Evil men seems to be perhaps non-believers. You would never call a Christian an evil man, so maybe non-believers. And impostors has to do with someone who's kind of faking being a believer.

Correct me if I'm wrong in that interpretation there. They'll proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. So can I extrapolate from that, that there's going to be governmental leaders who are just evil and hate the kingdom of God, who are going to proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. And there's also going to be impostors inside the church, professing to be Christians, well-known Christian leaders, and they're going to be deceiving and being deceived as well. And so the question is, do you think persecution is going to increase for Christians, pastors, and churches here in America? I think you make a great observation from 2 Timothy 3 there.

It certainly would include governmental leaders. And look, there's two kingdoms. There's the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness, right? And Satan is not tired.

He's on a long leash, but he is not tired, and he's doing his thing. And on the basis of the authority of the scripture you just read, as well as others, I do believe we have reason to conclude that persecution will increase the way things are going. And as far as inside and outside the church, you made a great point that there will be impostors. Jesus said in his parable of the wheat and the tares that there's going to be tares, that the evil one will sow tares in the church that will fall away, that will deceive and be deceived. Governmental authorities and even professing Christians who are not will come, and they will, under the guise of love, under the cloak of compassion, falsely cloaking their deeds in care and in unity, will do evil things.

And it's not love, because love is how God has defined love, and it has to line up with all the scriptural definitions and qualifications. And so that's happening now, probably. I'm not a prophet, but probably it will increase. But for the Christian, we can take Peter's advice in the first Peter 4-12, where he says, Beloved, don't be surprised. And you know, he's speaking in the first century when the Neronian persecution was cranking up with the Colosseum and doing terrible, terrible things to Christians. He says, don't be surprised. And that applies to our day, too, at these fiery ordeals which come upon you for your testing, as though some strange or bizarre things were happening to you.

So if and when it does increase, it probably will. God is for us. Hallelujah, that the Creator of the universe is for us. All they can do, Jesus says in Luke 12, they can just kill the body. They can't do anything more than that. So fear Him who has the authority over body and soul.

It will, and it probably will get more difficult. But what a great God we have. And in eternity, we'll look back on these things and praise and bless God for all of it. This has been a short take from the Christian worldview with David Wheaton.

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