“All
violence consists in some people forcing others, under threat of suffering or
death, to do what they do not want to do.” Leo Tolstoy
Did you hear the recent news report that
as many as 15,000 Americans are on various “kill lists” the Islamic State
(ISIS) terrorist organization has put out, with many of them not knowing they’ve
been marked for death?
Writing
for Charisma News, Michael
Synder, says some of those on the kill lists have been notified by the FBI.
However, many haven’t received FBI notification and are unaware they’ve been
marked for death by ISIS. Since the lists aren’t publicly available, Americans
wouldn’t know whether their names are on the kill lists. He went on to report he
was contacted by someone who told him the FBI had informed him that he and his
wife were on the ISIS kill lists. Even more alarming was their discovery that
other members of their church, including their pastor, are also on kill lists.
Islamic terrorists aren’t afraid to target
and kill innocent people in Western Europe and the United States, as proven by
their attacks in Orlando, Dallas, Nice and Baton Rouge. Recently, it was
reported a 21-year-old Islamic radical purchased a gun and admitted to police
he planned to go into a Detroit megachurch and start shooting people inside on
a Sunday morning. After he was arrested and subsequently charged in court, the
suspect told authorities since he couldn’t do his jihad in the Middle East, he
intended to “do my jihad over here.”
Though our brothers and sisters in many parts
of the world think often of it, we in America have forgotten Jesus’ words in
Matthew 5. Jesus said, “Blessed are those
who are persecuted” (5:10). Then, in verse 11, He said, “Blessed are you…” to those already
suffering persecution. In saying these things, Jesus serves notice to His
disciples that those who follow Him faithfully should expect to experience a
measure of rejection. It’s critical to notice Jesus doesn't say, “Blessed are you if people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds
of evil against you.” Instead, Jesus says, “Blessed are you when people
insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you.” Persecution,
death threats are inevitable for those who faithfully follow Christ.
Because of religious freedom in Western
Civilization, Christians have become accustomed to persecution free lives. Yet,
it’s not the experience of most Christians in the rest of the world. It’s not
been the experience of most Christians throughout history.
We
take for granted religious liberty in America. But, even here, in those early
days in America, it wasn’t the case. As late as 1774, James Madison wrote to a
friend in Pennsylvania about troubling developments in Virginia.
While
today we hear much about oppressive British taxes, it wasn’t Madison’s primary
concern in this letter. The “worst” news he had to deliver was that the “diabolical Hell conceived principle of
persecution” was raging in the colony. “There
are at this [time]…not less than 5 or 6 well meaning men in [jail] for
publishing their religious sentiments…Pray for liberty of conscience to revive
among us.” Today we think of early America as a bastion of religious
liberty, in Colonial America it wasn’t the case. Baptists, Quakers and other
nonconformists suffered discrimination and abuse in America believers today in
places like China or Nigeria would find strangely familiar.
For
example, in 1651, a man named Obadiah Holmes, accused of proselytizing for the
Baptists, was taken from his cell at Boston’s prison to receive a punishment of
thirty lashes with a three-corded whip. Holmes had been alone in prison for
weeks, struggling to come to terms with the impending travail. But the day of
his whipping, an unusual calm came over him. Although his captors tried to keep
him from speaking, he would not be silent. “I
am now come to be baptized in afflictions by your hands,” Holmes said, “that so I may have further fellowship with
my Lord, and am not ashamed of His sufferings, for by His stripes am I healed.”
Holmes
was tied to a post. The officer tasked with meting out Holmes’s sentence spit
on his hands, took up a whip, and began flailing him with all his might. Still,
Holmes felt the presence of God as at no other time in his life. The pain of
the scourging lifted away. When they untied him, Holmes stood up and smiled. “You have struck me as with roses,” he
chided them.
Long
before political correctness, multi-culturalism and secularism took hold in
America, persecution was part of the American story. Where religious freedoms
failed Bible-believers, they endured oppression for their theological convictions.
Every generation of Christians must be prepared for it. “A servant is not greater than his master,” said Jesus. “If they persecuted me, they will also
persecute you” (John 15:20).
To
be sure, some Christians believe they’re suffering persecution for their faith,
when instead because they’re obnoxious or annoying, they’ve brought attacks
upon themselves. If you goof off at work, if you’re rude or surly in sharing
your faith – you’re not being persecuted for your faith. You’re suffering
natural consequences of bad behavior.
As
believers, even when we’re mistreated, harassed or persecuted – we are
commanded to demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit to the very ones who abuse us.
We’re to be the most loving, joyful, peaceful and gentle of people. If they
persecute us, our Christlikeness should be our strongest rebuke for their
abuse, just as it was in the early church.
This may sound strange, in many ways it would be an honor to be on an
ISIS hit list. It would be a commendation to be so faithfully serving Jesus the
Enemy is threatened by you and plots to take you out! That Satan would be so
threatened, he’d urge his followers to silence you.
It’s what it truly means to be a Spirit-filled Christian. The Lord Jesus
is so in control of your life, the minions of Hell are threatened by your faith.
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