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Written by: Rex M. Rogers

Published: 14 February 2023

Sometimes things occur that are too gut-wrenching to contemplate.  Yet we must, and we wonder why God allowed such tragedy. Is God unaware of human trials? Does he not care? If God is good, why is there evil and suffering?

Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #68 of Discerning What Is Best, a podcast applying unchanging biblical principles in a rapidly changing world, and a Christian worldview to current issues and everyday life.

Gunmen surprise worshippers and seize a Baghdad church during an evening Sunday service. Before it is over more than 60 people, including the priest, are killed when government security forces storm the church to free the more than 100 Iraqi Catholics who’d been captured. Eventually, the eight assailants involved are also killed. 

Sept. 11, 2001, jets were intentionally guided into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. and the World Trade Center Twin Towers in Manhattan, causing both 110-story skyscrapers to collapse. Another attacking jet was stopped by brave passengers and the jet never reaches its target, crashing in a Stonycreek Township, Pennsylvania cornfield, killing all on board, villains, innocents, and heroes alike. In the 9/11 attack, all told, 2,977 innocent non-hijackers die.

Feb. 6, 2023, two massive earthquakes registering 7.8 on the Richter Scale, followed by as many as 50 aftershocks of considerable force, erupt in southeastern Türkiye and across the border in northwestern Syria. At this writing, more than 36,000 are dead with authorities estimating this figure could double before the recovery is concluded. 

Crises happen periodically in a fallen world. They often occur quickly and without warning, and they are times of danger, confusion, suffering, harm, destruction, and death. 

Crises can be personal—injury, illness, disease, loss of loved ones, environmental—hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, storms, tornadoes, social—unrest, violence, pandemics, famine, impoverishment, displacement, religious—moral failure of leaders, division, political—conflicts, wars.

In times of crises, human beings ask existential questions: Does God exist? Is God there? Is he angry, punishing or judging us? Does he know me? Does he care? If he is a good God, why does he allow this crisis?  

Even Christians ask these questions, so imagine what non-Christians or non-religious people ask with no faith to back-stop them? 

So, as Christians, how should we understand these events and how should we respond to them?

One way is to think about them in terms tragedy and theodicy.

Tragedy is a conversational word that means disaster, sadness, or unexpected developments that victimize human happiness, wellbeing, and even lives.  

Theodicy means a vindication of divine justice in allowing evil, suffering, or tragedies to exist. 

Theodicy, the idea that God has a reason for tragedies, the idea that God allows or, even more discomforting, directs tragedies is not always easy to understand.

Yet if we believe in the God of the Bible we must acknowledge his sovereignty, omniscience, and omnipotence. He is in control. He knows all things. Nothing is a surprise or an accident to him. He is all-powerful, so nothing happens outside of his will or influence. Not 9/11, not senseless brutality against innocent churchgoers, not our illness or disease.

In the wake of earthquakes or tsunamis taking the lives of tens of thousands, including children, the idea that God could have thwarted these so-called “natural” disasters is a difficult theological pill to swallow. In the face of wars that decimate entire populations of people, the idea that God could have stopped the carnage seems to beg the question of God’s purported love and compassion for people. 

In the aftershock of senseless violence and unnecessary death, the thought that God could have prevented the tragedy tests our faith.  

In the face of such events, some people question God’s existence, some his goodness. Some, like Job’s wife, simply want to curse God and die. 

Yet in the Book of Job, the oldest scriptural writings, God does not answer all of Job’s questions. God reminds Job, and us, that he, God, is great. That he is good.  That he is just.  That he is love. God is big—bigger than our circumstances, bigger than suicide bombers, terrorists, or disease, bigger even than death.

Theodicy, in the end, requires faith—faith in God whose goal is to reconcile us with him, even through tragedies. This, in turn, requires a right understanding of theology. To interpret the world and its volatile events we must know who God is, what comprises his character, and what he wills for the world in which we live. 

Tragedy is abrupt and often life altering. Theodicy can meet our rational need to know why and our emotional need for comfort. Theology provides us with understanding of a God who is not mean, not petty or vindictive, not arbitrary, or not clueless, but a God who is love, righteous, and peace.

I don’t know why those Iraqi worshippers were made victims of this tragedy. But I don’t believe in bad luck, the fates, or false pagan deities or ideologies. I believe in the God of the Bible who will bring all things to account.

We should pray for the Iraqi families devasted by evil. We should pray for family and friends who lost loved ones in 9/11 and who yet today feel that grief. We should pray for the people of Türkiye and Syria who face not only feelings of desolation in the loss of tens of thousands of their own but years of emotional and spiritual trauma and a long-term need for healing.

Like Job, not all our questions will be answered, even in a well-developed theodicy of how God works through suffering. 

But the most important questions have already been answered – let me say that again – the most important questions have already been answered – in the book of Psalms or 1 Peter or other Scriptures proclaiming the good, great, and glorious character, works, and promises of an omniscient, omnipotent, loving Heavenly Father who knows the number of hairs on our heads.

We may not always know Why, but we know the God who knows Why.

Well, we’ll see you again soon. This podcast is about Discerning What Is Best. If you find this thought-provoking and helpful, follow us on your favorite podcast platform. Download an episode for your friends. For more Christian commentary, check my website, r-e-x-m as in Martin, that’s rexmrogers.com. 

And remember, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm.

© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2023    

*This podcast blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact me or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com/, or connect with me at www.linkedin.com/in/rexmrogers.  

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Written by: Rex M. Rogers

Published: 07 February 2023

Have you ever been afraid?  How should Christians respond in the face of fear?

Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #67 of Discerning What Is Best, a podcast applying unchanging biblical principles in a rapidly changing world, and a Christian worldview to current issues and everyday life. 

If you have never been afraid, you probably have not yet lived long enough. 

Being afraid is not necessarily weakness or inability to take action. It is an emotion God built into us to help protect us, like responding with Fear, Fight, or Flight.

While not all of us have felt afraid due to outside influences, like riots, wars, hurricanes, or famine, if we’re old enough, we’ve probably felt concern morphed into fear at the announcement of a loved one’s serious illness or disease.

The reason we experience threats to our well-being that elicits fear is that we live in a fallen world. Since the Garden of Eden, the perfect Creation has labored under the impact of human sin and degradation and what’s called the Fall and the Curse. When Adam and Eve sinned, the fell from grace. They no longer were perfect as God had created them, but they became dead in their sins, and every human being since has been born in sin, is dead in our sin, and remains so until we accept Christ’s sacrificial death, burial, and resurrection – we are forgiven and redeemed. This is the Good News of the Gospel.  

Yet still we live in a sin-cursed fallen world wherein the consequences of sin remain. These consequences include so-called “acts of God,” those weather events like tsunamis and volcanoes and earthquakes over which humanity has no control, and also the frailty of our bodies. Because of the curse, it is required of all human beings that once they die (Heb 9:27). So, living in a fallen world, our bodies age, decline, are subject to injury, contract illnesses or life-threatening disease. In the face of all this and more, we can be afraid.

But the Psalmist reminded us, “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise—in God I trust and am not afraid" (Ps. 56:3-4). 

“I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears” (Ps 34:4).

In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul said, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:6-7).

Can you even imagine what that phrase, “transcends all understanding,” even means? No, we cannot, because that’s the point, the peace God offers us in the face of anxiety is beyond our comprehension.

Back to the Psalmist David. I sometimes think David would fit right into the social media age in which we live because he understood how to express his feelings and was not bashful about letting it all hang out when he was afraid, or whatever other emotion that plagued him. He told God everything.

But then David did not stay there. He did not seek to “know himself” or “trust his feelings” or “follow his heart” because he knew they were already an anxiety-filled mess. No, he looked outside himself.David looked to the Sovereign Lord of the Universe. After David had listed his fears, and talked about the “agony in his bones” or “drowning,” “crying in his bed,” then David rehearsed God’s character and promises:

God “delivered from fear,” he said. If I am downcast, God is my hope. When David’s heart was faint, he said God is his rock, his fortress, never shaken.

I don’t think this recipe for deliverance from fear or anxiety is a one-time pill, good for what ails you forevermore. No, rehearsing God’s character, his past works, his promises, this we must do over and over again, each time fear threatens to overwhelm us.

We pray, we talk to God. He promises to hear and answer our prayers. 

David said of the Lord: “Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures through all generations.The Lord is trustworthy in all he promises and faithful in all he does” (Ps 145:13).

I’ve been afraid a few times in my life. As I grow older, I’ve experienced other fears, sometimes for those I love, not for me. If God allows me to live, I anticipate I will experience fears again.

But praise be to God, he will never leave me or forsake me.

The lyrics of the hymn, “Because He Lives,” captures the biblical truth:

“Because He lives, I can face tomorrow,
Because He lives, all fear is gone;
Because I know He holds the future,
And life is worth the living just because He lives.”

It is a great comfort to know that our Heavenly Father is always there watching over us. 

“The Lord will keep you from all harm—he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore” (Ps 121:7-8).

Well, we’ll see you again soon. This podcast is about Discerning What Is Best. If you find this thought-provoking and helpful, follow us on your favorite podcast platform. Download an episode for your friends. For more Christian commentary, check my website, r-e-x-m as in Martin, that’s rexmrogers.com. 

And remember, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm.

© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2023   

*This podcast blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact me or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com/, or connect with me at www.linkedin.com/in/rexmrogers.  

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Written by: Rex M. Rogers

Published: 07 December 2022

Have you ever experienced anxiety when you received bad news, weathered trials, or faced the uncertainties of illness? 

Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #57 of Discerning What Is Best, a podcast applying unchanging biblical principles in a rapidly changing world, and a Christian worldview to current issues and everyday life.

Since we live in a fallen world influenced by the sin, we know that sooner or later we will face trials and tribulations, troubles and problems, difficulties, illness and disease, or loss.

If you have not experienced any of these challenges, you simply haven’t lived long enough. Hang around awhile and you, too, will run out of steam, reach the end of your rope, hit the wall, walk through a valley, or feel like you’re on your last legs.

Our emotional reactions to such trials are many:  concern, nervousness, angst, apprehension, dread, discouragement, despair, anguish, fear, desperation. And, of course, worry, which someone defined as trying to solve problems without God, and anxiety, defined as worry that’s below the surface.

We can experience anxiety about social or societal developments – the macro level negative developments we hear about daily on news channels. I remember people, Christians, in the early days of COVID in 2020, who were clearly struggling with anxiety and maybe fear about this threatening and for many, deadly, virus.  

Or we can experience anxiety about personal, or for want of a better term, emotional developments – the micro level negative circumstances that occur in our own or our loved ones or friends’ lives. 

It is at this point, when we’ve hit the wall dealing with – or rather we’ve come to a point where we realize we cannot deal with our problems, especially personal ones – that we have choices to make. We can yield to overwhelming, crushing anxiety and perhaps end up in depression. 

Millions of Americans, we’re told, turn to opioids or some other form of medical treatment, sadly, even though these addictive, expensive, dangerous solutions are no solutions at all. They may deaden emotional pain and anxiety, but they do not make them go away, or provide a long-term source of healing and peace.

Some people never get out of this cycle, living out their lives in perpetual addiction or a few ending their lives in suicide.

Or, we can do as the Lord instructed us in his word:

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus,” (Phil. 4:6-7).

We instructed not to be anxious, which of course is difficult to do in many circumstances. Yet the Lord says in every situation. And if we do this with thanksgiving, the Lord will grant us peace that passes understanding. This is a phenomenal and powerful promise.

In the Psalms, the shepherd king David loudly and poetically laments his trials, troubles, and fears. He tells God about everything he’s confronting and feeling, and as a poet, he does so with creative imagery and memorable phrasing.

But David does not stay in his feelings and fears. He does not, like modern psychology says to do, “look inside himself” or “trust himself” to make changes. He knows he cannot handle the trials and tribulations that overwhelm him.

David does not stay wallowing in himself but looks outside himself to the Sovereign God. Time and again, when David’s anxiety is supreme and his fears threaten to drown him, he turns to the Lord.

David says this: ^“We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. May your unfailing love be with us, Lord, even as we put our hope in you,” (Psalm 33:20-22).

David looks to the Lord for refuge, for deliverance, for peace.

David remembers:

• the Person of God, meaning God’s character, who he is.
• the Providence of God, what God has done in the past,
• the Promises of God, what God says he will do for us in the future,
• the Presence of God, how God never leaves us nor forsakes us, even in the Valley of the Shadow of Death,
• and the Peace of God, what God grants to those who place their faith in him.

David celebrated God’s person, providence, promises, presence, and peace, all of which delivered David from his anxiety and fear.  

David said, 

“Since my youth, God, you have taught me, and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds. Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, my God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your mighty acts to all who are to come,” (Ps. 71:17-18).

In the Christmas song, “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” the lyrics reminds us: “the hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.” “And peace to men on earth.”

Jesus’ advent in the manger, and his later life and finished work on the cross and in the resurrection, sealed God’s promise to those who believe. Our hopes and fears are met in him, and he provides peace.

One last reminder and encouragement from the shepherd King David:  “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever,” (Ps. 73:26).

Well, we’ll see you again soon. This podcast is about Discerning What Is Best. If you find this thought-provoking and helpful, follow us on your favorite podcast platform. Download an episode for your friends. For more Christian commentary, check my website, r-e-x-m as in Martin, that’s rexmrogers.com. 

And remember, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm.

© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2022   

*This podcast blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact me or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com/, or connect with me at www.linkedin.com/in/rexmrogers.  

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Written by: Rex M. Rogers

Published: 12 September 2022

We live today in what might be called a time of “layered crises,” one on top of the other our lives are stressed by trials and threats, big and small, national and personal, so the question becomes, how should we then live/

Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #45 of Discerning What Is Best, a podcast applying unchanging biblical principles in a rapidly changing world, and a Christian worldview to current issues and everyday life.

Life happens, and since we live in a fallen world tainted by the curse of sin and the sin of our own hearts, this means crises happen – trials, emergencies, tragedies, suffering – both national and personal.

It could be called a time of “layered crises,” one on top of the other. While the 20^th Century saw world wars and the Great Depression, the 21^St Century has brought us: 9-11, Katrina, a global pandemic, an increase in refugees and immigration that’s produced humanitarian challenges in countries throughout the Middle East and the West. 

In large part due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we now have something called “food insecurity,” an inability to get sufficient quantities of grain that in turn yields hunger and possibly starvation, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa. Human trafficking and slavery. Wars in Yemen and Syria, raging inflation, “Acts of God” as the insurance industry calls them, earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, more, violence, ad infinitum.  

On a personal level, we face sudden illness or difficult prognoses re diseases like cancer, accidents and tragedies including loss of loved ones, job loss, financial duress, divorce and broken families, loss of hope, fear, paralyzing depression, and what’s now being called a “public mental health crisis,” especially among youth.

Meanwhile, the Scripture is replete with verses providing us with the promise of protection, stability, and hope:

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” Phil. 4:4-7

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Rom. 8:28

“In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Rom 8: 37-39

“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way.” Psalm 45:8

A crisis is an emergency that is “unexpected, disruptive, a single event or multiple occurrences, and could lead to either positive or negative results.” It can be attributed to humans or nature, and it is an external uncontrolled force, unpredictable. 

So, during our lives we will live through national/international crises that may or may not affect us directly, and we most certainly will live through our own personal trials or crises. If you haven’t yet experienced a crisis in your life, you just haven’t yet lived long enough.

God is aware of our trials and sufferings. God is there to help us, even to walking through the valley of the shadow of death (Ps. 23).

I remember a time when I faced the most serious crisis that had yet come my way. 

For some reason, my wife was gone over a weekend during which I wrestled with this, and I remember being so stressed that my stomach hurt, and I literally bent double under the strain.

At that point, I began reading the book of Psalms. I confess that up to that point in my life I had wondered about the shepherd king David, author of the Psalms, like “What’s wrong with this guy? He always seems to be whining, sort of crying out to the Lord, not able to deal with his problems.”

Well, now that I had hit the wall, I understood. For the first time in my life, I felt like David. I could not handle my own problems, and I knew it.

So back to the Psalms. I read, and I read, and I read some more. Ultimately, I read the entire book through three times in about a month. I found phrases repeated over and over, like God’s “unfailing love.” I later learned that in the NIV, the phrase God’s “unfailing love” is cited 32 times in Psalms.This phrase said to me that God knew exactly what I was experiencing, and guess what, I was still amid his “unfailing love.”

Another repetitive phrase in the Psalms was various versions of “God’s strong right arm” or “God’s right hand.” This conveyed to me God’s ability to deal with my problems and, frankly, to deal with me. 

Finally, I found various expressions of the phrase, “Let your face shine upon me.”

David wanted God’s favor, and he asked God to give this to him in the wonderfully poetic words of “make your face to shine upon me.”

What I learned facing that crisis is this,

• God was entirely aware of my concerns,
• The Lord was still there and capable of administering the crisis according to his will and my good,
• And that I could not work through the problem in my own strength.

I learned to pray, “Lord I can’t handle this. I give it all to you and trust you to work through me as you wish.” I learned this is a wonderful prayer of release. It is personally liberating and professionally energizing. I was still responsible to work as unto the Lord, but the results, the outcome belonged to him.

I have prayed this prayer a few times since, and I recommend it to you. It is not weakness, no more than David was “weak.” It is realistic, wise, and healing.

Today, as America experiences daily crises, brought to us 24/7 on media and social media, older adults are saying they don’t recognize their own country, and many are turning to alcohol and opioids. Meanwhile, young people are suffering from rash anxiety and a skyrocketing mental health crisis.

Sadly, most of the adults and nearly all the youth do not know the Word of God, do not understand theology, do not comprehend God’s promises or his sovereignty, so they have nothing to fall back on. They have no failsafe, no backstop, no lifeline. Thus, their circumstances, life itself, overwhelms them and we get addictions, suicides, emotional PTSD.

How should Christians, then, speak into this cultural moment? How can we be a witness to peace and hope?

Several things we can do:

• We can demonstrate that how we respond to crises is a choice. 
• By how we live our lives, trusting God, we can demonstrate that circumstances do notdetermine our character or our faith, even if they often reveal them. 
• We can illustrate that one’s response to any crisis is an opportunity.
• Via the capital C Church, the Body of Christ, we can show a caring God.

Crises are challenging, perhaps threatening, but God can use them to bring people together.

What then should we do amid crises?

• Pray, seek God’s face.
• Read the Psalms.
• Choose Resilience, Optimism.
• Remember, every crisis ends – “This too shall pass.” 
• Trust the Sovereign God.

Well, we’ll see you again soon. This podcast is about Discerning What Is Best. If you find this thought-provoking and helpful, follow us on your favorite podcast platform. Download an episode for your friends. For more Christian commentary, check my website, r-e-x-m as in Martin, that’s rexmrogers.com. 

And remember, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm.

© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2022   

*This podcast blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact me or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com/, or connect with me at www.linkedin.com/in/rexmrogers.  

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Written by: Rex M. Rogers

Published: 29 March 2022

Have you ever been persecuted for your faith?  I haven’t, though I’ve been ridiculed, but this is nothing.  I’ve met people, though, who experienced real persecution, and their faith is resilient.

Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #16 of Discerning What Is Best, a podcast applying unchanging biblical principles in a rapidly changing world, and a Christian worldview to current issues and everyday life.

Throughout the history of Christianity, persecution of individual Christians and the Church has been constant.

And today, persecution against Christians is increasing around the world. 

The ministry Open Doors, sponsors a “World Watch List,” that recounts the top 50 countries in which, in their words ,“it’s most difficult to follow Jesus.” 

According to The Watch List, more than 360 million Christians live in places around the world where they experience high levels of persecution. That’s more than the population of the United States. In 2021, some 4,761 Christians were killed for their faith, 4,888 churches and other Christian buildings were attacked, and 4,277 believers were detained without trial, arrested, sentenced, or imprisoned for their faith.

For 17 consecutive years, North Korea has been ranked #1 as the most dangerous country for Christians, only recently displaced in 2021 by Afghanistan. Add countries like China, Laos, Somalia, Libya, Nigeria, Iran, Syria, and other Middle Eastern or North African countries where persecution of minority religions, especially Christianity, is an ongoing experience. 

Persecution intersects with discussions of freedom of religion and belief, and it can be considered in at least two ways: persecution of others – how we should respond to it, and personal persecution – how we should prepare for and respond to it.

Persecution is defined by Merriam-Webster as: “to harass or punish in a manner designed to injure, grieve, or afflict,” or “specifically: to cause to suffer because of belief.” The word is typically used in association with religious violence.

Periodically, I hear someone claim the American Church or Christians are experiencing “persecution.” But I don’t use “persecution” to refer to incidents in the US. Frankly, while churches in the US have been harassed by government or other entities, and while genuine persecution will likely someday come to this country, it’s not now. 

Meanwhile, persecution of the Church, Christians, Muslims, Jews, or several religious minorities is rampant elsewhere in the world. Indeed, restrictions on religious freedom is now a global crisis, in autocratic and religiously dominated regimes but also in democratic countries.

In my view, and I believe it is a biblical perspective, Christians should defend and promote religious freedom, the “first freedom,” for all human beings, whatever their religion or no religion at all. It’s part God creating us thinking, reasoning, choosing human beings made in his image, and it is part of Love your neighbor as yourself.

In the US, rather than persecution, we can talk about opposition, harassment, discrimination, even hostility, for example:

• Eroding freedoms and a cultural tide that is more secular or pagan.
• Increasing intolerance of Christian activity, evident in fines, lawsuits, jobs lost, and public disdain.
• Increasing harassment and anti-religious or specifically anti-Christian bias in education at all levels.
• Big Tech censorship of religious or Christian viewpoints.

Yet what we experience in the US, worrisome and negatively trending though it may be, is still different from the painful struggles elsewhere in the world that Christians are enduring because of their faith. 

Christians in the US still enjoy freedoms and protections rooted in the First Amendment that make profession of faith relatively easy or unthreatened compared to Christians living where owning a Bible could cost life and limb. 

This does not mean that persecution will never come to the US, nor that we should ignore anti-religious trends in government and culture. In fact, we should learn what God says about persecution, discover how we can assist isolated believers globally, and learn how we should prepare if God allows persecution to come to our doorstep.

Let’s think about what the Scripture says.

First, persecution is predictable.

1. In John 15:30, Jesus said, “Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.”
2. The Apostle Paul said, “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.” 2 Tim. 3:10-15. 

Second, the Scripture indicates persecution occurs within the will of God.  

3. God uses persecution to purify the church. Persecution has always made the church stronger. “Yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.”  13:21, Mark 4:17
4. And persecution has been instrumental in generating the Diaspora, spreading the truth worldwide: “Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews. But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists also, preaching the Lord Jesus.And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord.” Acts 11:19-21

Third, the Early Church suffered persecution.    

5. The first martyr, Stephen, was arrested and stoned Acts 6:8-15, 7:1-60.
6. The Apostles were arrested and imprisoned, and all but John were eventually martyred. Tertullian, one of the 2^ndC, Church Fathers said, “the blood of martyrs is the seed of the church.”
7. The great Apostle Paul said, “Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers;in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure,” 2 Cor. 11:24-28.
8. And Scripture pays tribute to faithful followers of Christ, saying in Heb. 11:36-38, “Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated. of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.”

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Scripture also tells us what our attitude should be toward persecution and persecutors:

1. “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, fortheirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” Matt. 5:10-12
2. “Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.”  5:44
3. “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.”  12:14

How then should we regard persecution?

1. Expect persecution. 
2. Be informed and pray for those who are persecuted: International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church – first Sunday in Nov. See also Voice of the Martyrs, or read Foxe’s Book of Martyrs (1563), William Tyndale – translator of Bible to English, burned at stake.
3. Stand with persecuted Christians. “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it,” 1 Corinthians 12:26.
4. Provide practical help, as possible, for persecuted Christians, including immigrants.
5. Be ready to give an answer, 1 Pet. 3:15-16.
6. Trust God for the results– Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego walked out of the fiery furnace, yet Stephen was stoned unto death. God said, “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life,”  2:10.
7. And we’re provided perspective: “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” Eph. 6:12.

In the providence of God, real persecution may indeed come to the United States. I do not know what God will ask of us. I do know he will build his church “and the gates of hell will not prevail against it,” Matt. 16:18.

Well, we’ll see you again soon. For more Christian commentary, be sure to subscribe to this podcast, Discerning What Is Best, or check my website, r-e-x-m as in Martin, that’s rexmrogers.com. And remember, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm.

© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2022   

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