Category: persecution

Biblical Stigmata

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

“From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus” (Galatians 6:17 KJV).

The Apostle Paul wrote in today’s Scripture that no one could deny his apostleship was of Jesus Christ, for he bore “in his body the marks of the Lord Jesus.” What were these “marks?”

Interestingly, the Greek word here translated “marks” is stigmata, which in English means “signs of disgrace or shame.” Understand that these stigmata which Paul suffered were Scriptural, and they involved shame and hatred, not awe and pride like the “stigmata” of religious tradition (wounds on one’s hands and feet superstitiously believed to be Christ’s scars, which leads to nothing more than pagan idolatry).

Notice what an apostle endured in Bible times: “For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised. Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwellingplace; and labour, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it: being defamed, we intreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day” (1 Corinthians 4:9-13).

How many of today’s (self-proclaimed) “apostles” could write what Paul did in the above verses? Today, Christendom uses the title “apostle,” not to refer to those who have been directly commissioned and sent by Jesus Christ to travel abroad preaching the Gospel (which is the Biblical definition), but to those who have deceived themselves into believing they have a special “anointing” of God. In Paul’s day, “apostle” was a term of scorn and hatred; today, it is one of great fame and wealth.

Read 2 Corinthians 11:22-30, and notice the beatings, stonings, imprisonments, 195 (!) lashes, and other pains Paul suffered for the Gospel’s sake. How many are willing to endure that stigmata for Christ?

Work Not Forgotten

Saturday, August 10, 2013

“For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister” (Hebrews 6:10 KJV).

Our forgotten Christian service is not at all forgotten of God.

Have you ever done something nice for somebody who was unappreciative? Maybe that person even forgot your kindness. You spent much time and energy, and yet it seems like it was “all for naught.” Perhaps you have cooked for the sick, visited the lonely, helped the disabled, or prayed for the hurting, but that was so many years ago that neither you nor they remember it.

Today’s Scripture addresses Israel’s believing remnant enduring intense persecution during the seven-year Tribulation. These Jewish kingdom believers (Hebrews 6:9) have labored to help other suffering Messianic Jews, and the author of the book of Hebrews cheers up these weary souls by reminding them that Jesus Christ is not unfair: He will reward them when He returns to earth at His Second Coming, just as He will punish the unbelievers in His righteous wrath (Luke 12:31-44; Luke 19:12-27; Hebrews 6:4-8; Hebrews 6:9-12).

Proverbs 15:3 says, “The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.” God is witness to all good works and all evil deeds—every place, every time, every one.

When the Lord Jesus will come to take us, the Church which is His Body, He will bring us Christians into heaven (the “rapture”). We Christians will then be rewarded for our Christian service—how much sound Bible doctrine we believed and allowed to transform our souls and lives (1 Corinthians 3:9-15; 1 Corinthians 4:4,5; 2 Corinthians 5:9,10) and how much we suffered for Jesus Christ (2 Timothy 2:12). This level of maturity will then determine what position of government we will occupy in the heavenly places, so we can practice that doctrine there for all eternity to the glory of Jesus Christ! 🙂

“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:58).

Wave Not the White Flag

Saturday, June 15, 2013

“Save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:23,24 KJV).

In today’s Scripture, our Apostle Paul was certainly not hopeless….

Today, the average Christian looks at the world, throws up his or her hands in despair, and sighs, “I give up! This world is hopeless!” Beloved, indeed, it is so much easier to just sit back, close the Good Book, and “go with the flow.” After all, “everybody else is doing it!”

The Christian soldier is never called to surrender. Yea, it is senseless to capitulate when “God be for us” (Romans 8:31). As someone who has trusted in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ as the sufficient payment for your sins, it really makes no difference who your enemy is!! In fact, your enemy is the devil himself, and yet, even he will eventually be subdued and bound in an everlasting lake of fire (Revelation 20:10).

A spiritually mature Bible-believing Christian—that is, one who is firmly grounded in the dispensational layout and study of Scripture—understands that God is not restoring earth today unto Himself (He will do that with His earthly people, Israel, as Exodus 19:3-6 declares, once our dispensation closes). We are not called to change the whole world system. As members of the Body of Christ, we are simply here to “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine” (2 Timothy 4:2). We share scriptural truths with those who want to hear them; we waste not our time with those who do not want to hear.

Regardless of the situations Paul faced, and did he suffer for the Gospel’s sake (2 Corinthians 11:23-27), it did not “move” (trouble, disturb) him. He ran the Christian race and undertook the Christian ministry, ending them with joy, undistracted by the evil world system. Let us follow our Apostle in that regard. 🙂

The End of Job, Israel, and the LORD #4

Saturday, April 27, 2013

“So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses” (Job 42:12 KJV).

During the Tribulation period, the nation Israel will gain valuable insight from today’s Scripture….

When one trusts the Lord Jesus Christ alone as personal Saviour, the Holy Spirit takes this individual and baptizes him or her into the Church the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13). He or she is no longer in Adam, but “in Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:17): this is the new nature, the new identity, the new position the Christian has before God. Lost people even sense a change in the person, and thus, family and “friends” are no longer comfortable around the person. Every Christian has felt that division—(lost) family and “friends” now avoid them.

There is neither fame nor fortune in being a King James Bible-believing Pauline dispensationalist. If one takes a stand for Jesus Christ, and especially for His sound doctrine, family and “friends” will scatter and “depart far hence.” Yes, dear Christian brethren, we have lost the world and its approval, but we have gained much, much more valuable things. We are “known of God” (Galatians 4:9), we are “blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3), and we are “complete in [Christ]” (Colossians 2:10). We have the Lord’s unconditional love, His grace, His forgiveness, His life—possessions that will last forever!

Just as believing Israel will suffer great loss for Jesus Christ’s sake during the Tribulation (as Job did), they will be restored even more in Christ’s earthly kingdom (as Job was; today’s Scripture). Likewise, we members of the Body of Christ, will lose family, “friends,” fame, and fortune for being Christians zealous of sound Bible doctrine, but we too will be rewarded one day—we will inherit the government of the heavenly places (Romans 8:17; Ephesians 2:6,7; 2 Timothy 2:10-12), just as believing Israel will inherit the government of the earth (Matthew 19:27-30; Revelation 3:20,21).

Beloved, like Job, let us patiently wait for “the end of the Lord….”  🙂

The End of Job, Israel, and the LORD #3

Friday, April 26, 2013

“So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses” (Job 42:12 KJV).

During the Tribulation period, the nation Israel will gain valuable insight from today’s Scripture….

Job, a type of believing Israel, suffering intense calamity due to Satan, a type of the Tribulation, and Job’s restoration, a type of Christ’s earthly kingdom, is an historical narrative that will provide great comfort to God’s people who are yet future from our day. Satan targeted Job because he was a man of faith in the God of the Bible (Job 1:1,5,8,20-22; Job 2:3,10). Likewise, Satan will persecute Israel’s believing remnant for Jesus Christ’s sake during the Tribulation (Matthew 10:22; Mark 13:13; 1 Peter 4:12-19; 1 Peter 5:8,9).

As the Apostle James comforts them in James 5:10,11, these believing Jews should be patient: JEHOVAH, albeit seemingly quiet and unresponsive to their situation (as He was with Job), is aware of their sufferings (as He was of Job’s), and He will restore them in manifold ways in due time (as He did with Job; today’s Scripture). They need not grow weary or discouraged, for though they have lost their possessions for being Christians (and some will lose their very lives), when Jesus Christ returns at His Second Coming, they will be ushered into that glorious kingdom and receive “an hundredfold” what they lost during the Tribulation (Matthew 19:29,30)!

Although these Scriptures are not to or about us (members of the Church the Body of Christ in the Dispensation of Grace), we too suffer for the name of Jesus Christ. Like believing Israel, let us allow the Holy Spirit to teach us to look at the broader picture, the overall view, and not be sidetracked by the current state of affairs. We may lose our material possessions, our family and “friends,” and our lives, but like believing Israel, we have gained things that are of far greater importance and value, possessions that we have right now in Jesus Christ that will never pass away….

A Doxology of Doctrine During Distressing Days #7

Sunday, April 7, 2013

“For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;” (2 Corinthians 4:17 KJV).

A brief, light annoyance—an everlasting, much heavier weight of praise and worship….

While difficult circumstances are not enjoyable, they can be learning opportunities. Even the Apostle Paul needed spiritual growth. He finally learned how to change his outlook on suffering: “Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:11-13).

The “treasure in earthen vessels” of 2 Corinthians 4:7, the “power of Christ” of 2 Corinthians 12:9, and the “inward man being renewed day by day” of 2 Corinthians 4:16, are summarized in Philippians 4:13—“Christ which strengtheneth me.” Hence, Paul wrote, “for when I am weak, then am I strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10).

God’s abundant grace (2 Corinthians 12:9) enabled Paul and Timothy to endure suffering in order to minister to these Corinthian believers: “For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God” (2 Corinthians 4:15). God strengthened them, which caused other believers to be thankful to God for giving Paul and Timothy provisions in Christ that got them through their difficult circumstances.

The spiritual fortitude and spiritual growth that resulted in these believers helped them to better understand how to deal with their own troubles, and it stored in their inner man the capacity to eternally function one day in the heavenly places for God’s glory. Therefore, this doxology—this praise to God—is not only here and now, but literally “a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (today’s Scripture).

Remember, the issue is not the vessels—our frail, perishing physical bodies—but rather the treasure—the life of Jesus Christ—they contain. A doxology indeed! 🙂

The End of Job, Israel, and the LORD #2

Thursday, April 25, 2013

“So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses” (Job 42:12 KJV).

During the Tribulation period, the nation Israel will gain valuable insight from today’s Scripture….

Before Job lost it all, the Bible says he had, “Seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses” (Job 1:3). Compare this with today’s Scripture. As Job 42:10 says, “And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.” In addition, Job’s deceased seven sons and three daughters (1:2) were replaced with seven new sons and three new daughters (42:13).

The Apostle James, writing to believing Jews experiencing the seven-year Tribulation (see James 1:1-12), draws a parallel between them and Job of old. Both are saints of God experiencing satanic affliction, both are under intense persecution, both are weary, and both have lost family, friends, and/or material possessions. Still, James takes them back to the Scriptures that teach Job’s outcome, the LORD’s mercy and pity on him, and the LORD restoring him twofold. James 5:11 says, “Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.”

Near the midpoint of the Tribulation, Israel’s “little flock” (Luke 12:32), her believing remnant, will flee for their lives and abandon their homes and material possessions in Jerusalem (Matthew 24:15-21; Mark 13:14-20). But, God will take care of them for the remainder of the Tribulation (42 months; Revelation 12:5,6,13-17). Furthermore, at Jesus Christ’s Second Coming (and His subsequent earthly kingdom), He will restore their possessions “an hundredfold” (Matthew 19:27-30). They will receive 100 times what they gave up earlier—this is much, much more than Job’s restoration!

Although this is Israel’s doctrine, we can remind ourselves that our losses for Jesus Christ are well worth the losing….

The End of Job, Israel, and the LORD #1

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

“So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses” (Job 42:12 KJV).

During the Tribulation period, the nation Israel will gain valuable insight from today’s Scripture….

Job is one of the most well-known Bible books. Satan afflicts its protagonist, a believing Jew who lived before Israel’s deliverance from Egypt, via a series of calamities. Job loses his material possessions (1:14-17), then his seven sons and three daughters (1:18-19), and finally his health (2:7-8). He becomes increasingly depressed, especially upon the visitation of his three “friends,” whom he called “miserable comforters” (16:1). For 35 chapters, God is silent as Job and his friends engage in philosophical twaddle. The book draws to a close with God’s response, and Job’s restoration (today’s Scripture). Why is this historical narrative even in the Bible?

The Apostle James, writing to believing Israel enduring the testing of Satan during the Tribulation, explains in his epistle: “Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience. Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy” (James 5:10,11).

James reminds these believing Jews that, while they, like Job, have lost their material possessions because of Satan’s evil world system, the LORD restored Job. Like Job, they need to patiently wait for the LORD’s deliverance. The Lord Jesus Christ amplifies this in Matthew 19:29,30: “And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life. But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.”

While Israel’s believing remnant will lose their possessions, family, “friends,” and some will lose their lives during the Tribulation, they will gain so much more when Jesus Christ returns….

Good Riddance! #9

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

“Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you” (1 John 3:13 KJV).

God’s people have never been welcome here in “this present evil world” (Galatians 1:4) because He has never been welcome here. In short, if lost people could utter two words to us Christians after we have been raptured out, it would be, “Good riddance!”

Let us leap into the future and observe the world’s moral conditions during the Tribulation period: “And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: neither repented they of their murders, not of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts” (Revelation 9:20,21). Even as God’s wrath is being poured out on earth, mankind just defiantly and unapologetically continues its murdering, its stealing, its idolatry, its sexually-perverted activities, and its devil worship! (This will be the result of today’s “progress,” and believing Israel will confront such a depraved society during the Tribulation.)

As Jesus Christ Himself affirmed, the first person to die for having faith in the God of the Bible was Abel (Luke 11:50,51). Abel adamantly stood for the principles of the God of heaven and earth, and he died because of it. God commanded the blood sacrifice, and his brother Cain willfully ignored that instruction and brought his “alternate” belief and sacrifice. Even after Abel and he talked, Cain was still convinced that his religion was “just as good” as Abel’s, and that he would be right with God without doing it God’s way (sounds just like today’s “everyone will make it to heaven eventually” argument, huh?).

Cain hated God’s testimony that his brother the prophet Abel uttered. Just as lost people execute Christians and silence God’s messengers today (and they will do it in the Tribulation), it all goes back to the first brother of the human race who got rid of his godly sibling who stood up for God’s Word….

Good Riddance! #8

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

“Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you” (1 John 3:13 KJV).

God’s people have never been welcome here in “this present evil world” (Galatians 1:4) because He has never been welcome here. In short, if lost people could utter two words to us Christians after we have been raptured out, it would be, “Good riddance!”

While today’s Scripture is not written directly to us members of the Church the Body of Christ in the Dispensation of Grace, what John wrote is just as applicable to us as it is to his audience, Israel’s believing remnant during the seven-year Tribulation (which is still future). Regardless of the dispensation, lost people always hate God’s people.

Just as Abel withstood Cain’s unbelief by rejecting his “form of worship,” Israel’s believing remnant will refuse the antichrist’s “form of worship” (the religion in which apostate Israel will participate in the Tribulation). Both Abel and Israel’s little flock are persecuted for obeying God’s Word, and both are executed for believing God’s Word.

Moreover, this has been true for many members of the Church the Body of Christ. Currently, Jesus Christ is sitting at the Father’s in heaven’s glory (Colossians 3:1); nevertheless, Jesus Christ is here on earth in the form of us Christians. Just as Jesus Christ resurrected and ascended back into heaven as a hated exile, the lost world also wants to get rid of us! They cannot harm Him, but they can (and do) attack His people, the Church the Body of Christ.

Ever since Adam and mankind’s fall in Genesis chapter 3, man has become dumber and dumber spiritually: “when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened” (Romans 1:21). The result? Read verses 22-32, which mention, among other things, homosexuality, fornication, envy, murder, deceit, haters of God, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, those without natural affection [abortion, for instance!], unmerciful, “[who] not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them” (verse 32). We just outlined the social “progress” in “progress” today, and like Abel and believing Israel, we receive flak for opposing it….