The Apostle Paul lived in times when at least two governments were persecuting and even executing people who professed to be Christians. Rome and Jewish authorities particularly in Jerusalem persecuted and executed Christians. In both cases the law demanded Christians renounce Jesus or be persecuted or executed.
Of course Paul himself was rigorously persecuted wherever he went until he was eventually executed in Rome. Compared with those losses of freedom, Christians in America have it easy. We have been abundantly blessed, well beyond anything we could have ever imagined.
Paul wrote 13 of the 27 letters in the New Testament, in which he taught believers about the nature and being of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. He also instructed believers how to live by faith, following the Spirit, as well as how to deal with everyday living and relationships.
Paul’s readers were subject to the same threats of persecution and execution as he was, so he encouraged them to live in ways that would honor and glorify Jesus Christ as Lord. Needless to say, the threats themselves tended to strengthen believers’ faith to the extent that the more the church was persecuted the more it grew numerically.
America has seen declining church membership for the past few decades particularly among younger generations. On the other hand the number of Christians has been growing where persecutions and executions of Christians are common. Why? The cause of the decline of the number of Christians in America and the rise of the number of Christians in heavily persecuted areas are one and the same.
Christians who live in heavily persecuted areas know they need God every moment of every day. Christians who live in America don’t face the same kinds of threats and don’t feel the pressure of having to trust God every moment of every day.
Is the God of the Bible real? Is Jesus the Creator of all of creation as the Bible teaches? For millennia billions of believers have said yes, and many have suffered severe persecution and tortuous executions for maintaining their professions.
The world appears to be moving through crisis after crisis. With instantaneous communication, we easily see crises all over the world. This was not the case as few as 100 years ago when both communication and transportation were limited and antiquated. No one knew what was going on in all nations around the world. Today we can know, and we can see how events in one nation affect many if not all nations.
According to the Bible, God has stepped into human history throughout millennia. God never sleeps nor has He ever stopped caring for His world. Nevertheless, at times God has made biblical pronouncements and events. From creation to the flood, to the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of His Son Jesus Christ, God has revealed Himself.
In light of these revelations, we might rightly expect God to step into history again, probably sooner than we think. This Thanksgiving let’s remember Paul’s words to believers in the church at Philippi: “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Happy Thanksgiving! Amen!
Daniel L. Gardner is a syndicated columnist who lives in Starkville, MS. You may contact him at PJandMe2@gmail.com.
9 comments:
You know, you sound like the racist forefathers and slave masters who “offered” the Bible yet provided “oppression.”
Well, we can read now MASSA.
We can comprehend now MASSA.
We can think for ourselves now MASSA.
“If the only thing keeping a person decent is the expectation of divine reward, then brother that person is a piece of shit; and I'd like to get as many of them out in the open as possible.”
Launching a new career Daniel? This journalism thing is a dead end so maybe you do need a congregation of believers who will buy into your crap without a critical thought of their own.
Boy, nothing brings out the truly hateful blog readers like a DL Gardner column. the previous 2 responses are awful and several other unprintable things.
Amazing grace, indeed. this guy finally figured out something that's wrong in the world, but did not blame it on liberals. He may have actually started reading that Bible he spouts off about while missing the real message. Of course, he is still wrong. Want to know why church attendance is declining? Look in the mirror for the log in your own eye.
"Of this band of dupes and impostors, Paul was the great Coryphaeus, and first corrupter of the doctrines of Jesus."
Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to William Short, April 13, 1820
This is the kind of thing that happens when your secular heroes clash with your religious ones...and you really don't know much about either of them.
So, 2:45...the reward for learning to read is being able to think? Bullshit.
"In both cases the law demanded Christians renounce Jesus or be persecuted or executed."
Hello - Welcome to 2021!
6:36 am If you are a Christian and think you are being persecuted,you may be experiencing paranoid ideations.
No one is jailing you for your religious beliefs. No one is preventing you from worship.
Any problems you experience are directly related to you trying to impose your religious beliefs in your workplace or in your community at large on those who do not share your evangelism and selective opinions on Biblical quotes ( often out of context ) that are often not shared or supported by mainstream Protestant religions.
Some of us find it hard to pray at our table in a restaurant when you are praying loudly at yours,for example and think you seek attention ...not God's, ours.
Those of us who have chosen a church, don't like you assuming we are heathens and can't decide how to pray or behave without your help and narrow minded focus.
We like to wish our friends who are Jewish, Happy Holidays, without your accusing us of being less holy or assuming we are liberals or Democrats.
Post a Comment