Thoughts on Christian Persecution (Part 3)

Click here to read Part One.
Click here to read Part Two.

No Compromise

Persecution—and the context for seeing great works of God—are the result of no compromise. One of my favorite examples is Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego from the book of Daniel. 

Quick recap: These were Hebrew captives in Babylon when the Babylonian king decreed that everyone in the kingdom must bow to a giant idol when the music played. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego stood when others bowed, and were thrown alive into a furnace. The astonished king beheld not three men, but four, walking in the midst of the fire, and when he called the men to come out of the furnace, the three Hebrews came, without so much as the smell of smoke upon their garments. (The fourth man--an angel? the Lord Himself?--disappeared.)

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Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego could have rationalized that they weren't really bowing to the idol in their hearts, just with their bodies, and that the Lord really knew that they loved Him more than anything else. They could have decided that it was important to live because they might be able to influence their Persian captors for the Lord; who would do it if they didn't? But they didn't rationalize. They just said: "NO! We won't do anything that even looks like we're not giving God full glory!" And they made their witness. 

Standing in the Present Time

From Tortured For Christ by Richard Wurmbrand

Once the communists came to power, they skillfully used the means of seduction toward the Church... The communists convened a congress of all Christian bodies in our parliament building. There were four thousand priests, pastors, and ministers of all denominations. These four thousand priests and pastors chose Joseph Stalin as honorary president of this congress. At the same time he was president of the World Movement of the Godless and a mass murderer of Christians. One after another, bishops and pastors arose in our parliament building and declared that communism and Christianity are fundamentally the same and could coexist. One minister after another said worse of praise toward communism and assured the new government of the loyalty of the Church.

My wife and I were present at the congress. My wife sat near me and told me: “Richard, stand up and wash away this shame from the face of Christ! They are spitting in His face.” I said to my wife, “If I do so, you lose your husband.” She said, “I don’t wish to have a coward as a husband.”

He could have rationalized that there were bigger fish to fry, that God would want him to take care of his family instead, that God would give him another chance to speak for Christ, but instead of considering the possibilities of a future situation, he took the present situation and dealt with it. Wurmbrand rose and spoke, telling the congregation that loyalty must be given to Christ alone. The result: Years of physical, emotional, and spiritual pain for himself and his family. But he made his witness.

A Battle for Ordinary Christians

Suffering isn’t a result of deliberately putting ourselves in the line of fire; it’s a natural result of doing what it takes to stand up for Christ.

When we see how we might rationalize and compromise in our daily lives, it becomes a totally new perspective--and we realize that there have been times when we've stepped away from the battle because we're afraid to lose something. 

This isn't a spiritual battle just for super Christians in extraordinary circumstances; this is the battle of every Christian in every circumstance. We have to be willing to suffer. 

From Tortured For Christ by Richard Wurmbrand
A man really believes not what he recites in his creed, but only the things he is ready to die for.