INTENSE PERSECUTION AND THE FALLING AWAY

Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake. And then shall many be offended (fall away), and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another – Matthew 24:9-10

The Lord Jesus Christ prophesied about the days we’re living in. By the Spirit we know that intense persecution is coming soon, in fact, we’re already beginning to see glimpses of it. The world hates Christians because it first hated Christ the One and Only. If they persecuted Him, which they did, they most certainly will persecute us. Intense persecution is the kind of violent persecution we read about in the book of Acts. It’s beatings, imprisonment and killings.

We keep warning the church, it’s coming to our generation, very soon. Those who’re not rooted in the Doctrine of Christ, those who have not built their house on the rock of the Words of the Lord Jesus Christ but on the sand of the doctrines of demons and the doctrines of men, will not stand. Modern theology encourages Christians to love the world and the things of this world. They’re encouraged to love money and serve mammon. They’re taught to love themselves and to preserve their lives, that’s why when persecution comes, they’ll deny the Lord Jesus Christ. They’re simply not ready for it.

When the four gospels and the epistles were written, Christians were persecuted by both the Roman empire and the Jews. The entire New Testament was written under intense persecution. To cherry pick verses from the New Testament and make them sound motivational is to deceive oneself. The only motivation we’re given is not to love our lives even unto the death. It’s to deny ourselves, take up our cross daily and follow the example of the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s to hate our lives. If we keep our lives in this age, we’ll lose them in the next, but if we lose them in this age, we’ll preserve them for eternal life. If this is not your brand of Christianity, you’ll fall away. That’s the Doctrine of Christ.

PRAYER

Father in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, help me not to love my life, even unto death. When persecution comes, may I not deny the Lord Jesus Christ, but may I lose my life in this age so that I may preserve it for eternal life. Amen.