A Persecution Primer

Well, heaven forbid that I be the one to say it, but it's painfully clear at this point. As I wrote to one of my readers recently, as far as the 2020 election is concerned, it looks as if all the conspiracy theories and half-baked prophecies were just that: conspiracy theories and half-baked prophecies.

For nearly two months, a cauldron of theories bubbled and boiled about how Trump was going to find a way to expose the undeniable voter fraud to the nation, have the election results overturned and righted in his favor, and claim his legitimate, hard-earned win in the election by January 20, 2021. And one bold, self-proclaimed prophet after another boldly proclaimed that God told them Trump would begin his second term on January 20, 2021.

And on January 20, 2021, it all evaporated.

In spite of tons of evidence of voter fraud on an unprecedented scale and the tireless efforts of a group of courageous people to bring it to light, Joe Biden has officially been installed in the White House, and Donald Trump has moved south, to his private resort at Mar-a-Lago in the Sunshine State.

But the conspiracy theories haven't abated to any noticeable degree. Such as the one where Trump will really be inaugurated on March 4, after using his control over the U.S. military (?) to pull the plug on the Deep State's efforts to undermine our democracy.

Or the one where Trump runs for the Senate in 2022 in Florida (where he is arguably popular enough to win), quickly becomes the Senate Majority Leader after the Republicans pick up one or two more Senate seats, and ends up in a position to lead the impeachment of both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. And it's sweet revenge! WOO! WOO! WOO!

Sigh...sigh...sigh. And the hits just keep on coming—and my response to them hasn't changed one bit:

Cool...but I'll believe it when I see it.

There is one very real aspect to all of this, however, that is no conspiracy theory. Far from it. There is one deeply troubling undercurrent developing that should concern every politically conservative American—and more to the point, every Christian, regardless of denomination or affiliation.

Broadly speaking, Bible-believing, church-going people in America tend to lean more toward the conservative end of the political spectrum than to the liberal end—and it is certainly true that Trump enjoyed strong support from the Evangelical community (in some cases, perhaps a wee bit too strong). As a result, Christians as a group have been painted with the "Trump supporter" or "Trump loyalist" brush—and with a tip of the hat to the mainstream media, these are not exactly terms of endearment.

After at least one bus load of Antifa goons (it could have been more, but one is positively confirmed)—some wearing MAGA hats or patriotic-themed T-shirts or carrying American flags—were literally escorted into the Capitol and given a virtual guided tour by Capitol "security," they stormed the proceedings at the prearranged moment and proceeded to create typical Antifa-style mayhem which resulted in several deaths.

Right on cue, the mainstream media began pushing the narrative that these degenerate thugs were all unhinged Trump supporters, who had been maliciously spurred on to such wanton violence by their seditious leader, one President Donald J. Trump.

Meme of memes: There is something odd about the MSM's knee-jerk blaming of Trump for inciting his supporters to violence at the Capitol. President Trump made a speech to a huge crowd of supporters shortly before the proceedings in the Capitol got going, and after the riot the MSM immediately began pushing the narrative that Trump had "incited" his loyal supporters to go to the Capitol and storm the building. That's what they're trying to impeach him for: inciting his supporters to insurrection. Now, I have read the full text of Trump's speech online, and I can't find anything in it that could be construed as inciting anyone to violence. And I am far from alone in that assessment.

Well, the MSM says he did, and many people believe them. So, did he incite his supporters to violence or did he not?

Consider: If there was one single word or phrase in Trump's speech that could even be yanked out of context and spun to sound as if he were inciting his supporters to engage in violence, what do you think the MSM would have done with it?

Think. Really. Hard.

That's right! Give that camper a set of steak knives. They would have turned it into the sound bite of the century. CNN and Fox News would be playing that sound bite over and over and over again until we were sick of hearing it. You'd be hearing it at the top of every hour, in the intro to every news segment. It would have become a national earworm within 24 hours. It would have become the meme of memes for every Trump-hater in the country.

So...why on earth didn't they do that? How could the MSM have possibly passed up such a golden opportunity to make Trump look as guilty as sin—using his own words?! Yeah, baby! Impeachment 2.0 here we come!

Think. Really. Hard.

Ever since January 6, the narrative blasting from the mainstream media and flooding the nation is that Trump supporters or Trump loyalists are all dangerous criminals—beer-guzzling, brainwashed rednecks who persist in gullibly believing Trump's baseless allegations of election fraud and who are easily stoked to violence, destruction, and murder by their blind devotion to Donald Trump. As a result, they obviously need to be rooted out and punished for the security of the nation.

And according to some, rounded up and placed in re-education camps.

And so it begins. Any overt display of support for Trump is increasingly likely to be attacked. Any mention on social media of the fraud that stole the election from him is increasingly likely to be censored. A long and growing list of patriots who won't stand for what is being done to our country have been banned from Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, you name it.

Ironically, about a week after the election, Joe Biden (speaking in reference to the coronavirus) warned America of a "very dark winter."

"Dark winter"? If you're a Trump supporter, you ain't seen nothin' yet.

A few hardcore left-wingers have been a bit more honest and forthright in regard to their real intentions, openly admitting that they don't want "unity" with Trump supporters—they want to destroy them.

Yeah...tell us something else we don't know.

The bottom line is that in the coming days, weeks, and months, there is a disturbingly real possibility that Christians throughout the country are going to see an alarming surge in something the Church in America has been largely shielded from: persecution. Since our country's founding, real persecution has virtually been an alien concept for the vast majority of believers in America. It's been something that only happens in other parts of the world, such as mainland China or the Middle East.

From the way the political winds are blowing, however, I fear that Christians in America are about to be rudely introduced to it.

For that reason, I felt led to engage in a review of sorts—a "persecution primer" if you will, just to help you reconnect with some of what the Bible has to say about persecution. To that end, I have put together a brief list of 10 points concerning persecution, because I think this might be a good time to touch base with what the Bible teaches about this topic.

Plus I have a sneaking suspicion that believers haven't been hearing a whole lot about it from America's pulpits in recent years.

1. The pattern of persecution began when Cain slew Abel.

The archetype for the persecution of the righteous was established in the book of Genesis, shortly after Adam and Eve were evicted from the Garden of Eden:

Cain offered the LORD the produce from his fields—the work of his hands, whereas Abel obediently offered a blood sacrifice of the firstborn of his flock, just as God had instructed Adam and Eve to do, and just as Adam and Eve had instructed their sons to do. But when Abel gained God's favor and Cain did not, Cain began to resent his brother, and then killed him.

Crime of passion? Note that when Cain killed Abel, he didn't suddenly fly into a blind rage and throttle him. Verse 8 says Cain spoke with his brother, but only later did he kill him at a time and place of his choosing. He had time to stew over it and plan his actions. In other words, it was premeditated. It was cold-blooded murder, conceived and carried out by a man with a heart filled with hate and resentment.

And the reason for his hate for and resentment?

There's the pattern:

The reason the unrighteous hate and persecute
the righteous is because down deep they know
their works are evil and our works are good.

Pretty basic. That was the pattern back in the days of Cain and Abel, and that's the pattern today in the days of Trump and Biden.

2. Persecution is an expected element of Christian living.

The apostle Paul tells us straight out that we can expect to suffer persecution for living godly lives. He also tells us that those who persecute us for living those godly lives will just keep getting worse and worse:

And after witnessing the insanity that has erupted from American politics this year, few could doubt the truth of verse 13. It's clear that many of the people lulled into a blind stupor by the mainstream media and chanting about how to eliminate Trump loyalists are doing some serious waxing.

3. Believers are destined for persecution.

Not only is persecution an expected part of the life of a believer, we are in fact destined to suffer persecution:

God knew from before the foundation of the world that we would suffer persecution for the sake of righteousness. Paul told the congregation at Thessalonica that's what would happen to them, and indeed it did. That's one reason for the following:

4. Persecution and the suffering that comes with it are the norm, not the exception for believers.

That's why we shouldn't think persecution is something strange or unusual, or that it should never happen to us because God is on our side, by golly.

Think it not strange... We shouldn't be shocked or surprised when we are persecuted for the sake of righteousness—for standing up for the cross of Christ and for biblical principles. This is exactly what we should expect because as we saw in #3, it's what we were destined for.

Note that Paul touches on another key principle in verse 13, and this principle is amplified in the next point:

When we are persecuted for righteousness' sake,
we are "partakers of Christ's sufferings," and will be
filled with "exceeding joy" when His glory is revealed.

And this leads us to one of the fundamental reasons why God sovereignly allows us to suffer persecution as believers:

5. God allows us to suffer persecution so that we may share in His Son's glory.

After Christ suffered the ultimate form of persecution on the cross, God glorified His Son by giving Him victory over the grave, and then returning Him to the position of power and glory in heaven that He temporarily divested Himself of so He could come to earth to accomplish His work of atonement on our behalf. Ever since then, He has been sitting at the right hand of the Father, interceding for His Church on earth.

Sitting no more: That reminds me of a little gem I noticed several years ago and discussed in a previous article, but it's worth a quick rehash.

Ever since His ascension to heaven, Jesus has been sitting at the right hand of the Father in order to intercede for us (Mark 16:19; Heb. 7:25; Col. 3:1), because a portion of His Church has always been on earth, saddled with a sin nature. But what do we see Jesus doing in Revelation 5:6–7, as He is taking the scroll from His Father and preparing to launch the opening salvo of judgments of the Tribulation in Revelation 6?

He is sitting no more—now He is standing. That tells us He has clearly left off with His priestly duties that He is currently performing for members of the Church who are still on earth. He is now getting ready to assume His kingly duties on earth in His kingdom. But if the Church is still on earth at this time—as He is preparing to launch the judgments of the Tribulation—how can He also be sitting at the right hand of the Father, interceding for us? What did He do, delegate that priestly intercession thing to a group of Intercessory Angels or something? Is Jesus doing a little celestial multitasking?

(By the way, if it is clear that Jesus has hung up His intercessory shoes before the Tribulation even begins, then who, pray tell, is interceding for the Tribulation saints—believers who are suffering great persecution during the Tribulation? Read what I linked to above to find out.)

Never forget that the Holy Spirit is a very careful writer, and that every word is there or not there for a reason. There is only one way to explain the fact that Jesus is standing and unleashing judgments in Revelation 5.

When Jesus stands at the throne to take the scroll from His Father to launch the seal judgments, we are no longer sinful men on earth (who require intercession)—we are all perfected men in heaven. And that can only mean one thing: The Rapture has already occurred prior to the launching of the Tribulation, and we are home and dry. QED.

In a parallel manner, after we suffer whatever persecution our loving Heavenly Father allows us to experience, we in turn will be glorified and will rule and reign with Christ in the Millennial Kingdom.

That's one reason God allows us to suffer persecution—He wants to glorify His adopted children, much in the same way He glorified His only Son.

6. The world will persecute us because the world hated Him, and so it hates us as well.

We can get a small taste of how the world is inclined to treat us when we consider how it treated Him:

The world hates us and persecutes us because we are not of the world. We have the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit to convict us of sin and gradually conform us to the image of Christ. And that's the point: Christ. The world hated, mocked, spat on, scourged, treated unjustly, and crucified Christ long before it ever did anything to us.

In other words:

The world will always hate and persecute born-again
believers for one thunderingly simple, obvious reason:
The world hated Christ, and the world sees Christ in us.

Which begs a question that every single one of us should tape to our bathroom mirrors, and I'm first in that line:

How much of Christ
does the world see in me?

7. God's grace is sufficient to see us through whatever trials and persecution He allows to endure.

Of course, the promise to share Christ's glory some fine day in heaven or in the Millennial Kingdom is one thing—but what about now, down here in this filthy cesspool of sin and evil that is our temporary home?

Paul tells us (and if anyone would know, it would certainly be Paul) that the power of Christ rests on us when we suffer persecution—when we are weak, He is strong and we are strong through Him. His strength is made perfect in our weakness (v. 9).

Note also that when Paul wrote the Lord's words "My grace is sufficient for you," the verb in Greek (a form of arkeo—to suffice) is rendered in what is called the present indicative active, which serves to emphasize the ever-present availability of that grace.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible has a wonderful comment on this verse that I felt compelled to share with you:

I certainly can't improve on that. Anyway, this is the first of three "pumper-upper" verses I wanted to include. Here's the second:

8. Persecution cannot separate us from the love of Christ.

Paul reminds us that nothing can ever separate us from Christ's love:

When many believers face some type of trial or persecution these days, the first thing many of them do is start squalling and bawling:

"Waaaa!! Why did God let this to happen to me?! (sniff)"

We need to remind ourselves that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ(and that goes double for the petty little problems we whine about). We should also remind ourselves of what Paul wrote just a few verses earlier:

The problem is that we so quickly forget that "all things" includes, well, all things, including trials and persecution. And why does God do this?

Because He foreknew us, predestinated us to be conformed to Christ's image, called us out of the world, and justified us—all so He could glorify us. And what should our response to this be? Whining? Grousing? Complaints?

Uh, read the next verse:

That's more like it.

9. If you suffer persecution for Him, you are blessed and should rejoice, for you will receive a great reward.

And here's the last pumper-upper:

When we are persecuted for righteousness' sake, we are blessed and should rejoice and be glad, for we have a great reward waiting for us in heaven.

That's in the future, of course, but still. It is awfully nice to read those words coming from Jesus Himself.

Now, I think it's safe to say that precious few of us will ever know a tiny fraction of the persecution people like the apostle Paul endured. But we are bound to suffer at least some manner of persecution in this life if we are born of the Spirit and seek to live a godly life, and we are promised a role in the kingdom for that. Of course, the level of persecution we actually suffer may depend on several things, such as our circumstances, the culture we live in, how hard we strive to honor God in every aspect of our lives, or any number of other things.

But it's also safe to say that we will never live out our entire Christian lives in this satanically controlled world without at least getting the taste of blood in our mouths on occasion.

So when you take a punch, think on these things.

10. Love, bless, treat well, and pray for those who persecute you.

I didn't save the best for last—I saved the hardest for last. This is where the spiritual rubber meets the fleshly road:

I can empathize with people who get a nosebleed when they hear a verse like this, and are like...

"Ooowwwch!! Make it stop!!"

And that's the entire point. We are utterly incapable of doing this in the flesh. It is only through total submission to the leading and guidance of the Holy Spirit that dwells within us that we can even begin to do this—there ain't no other way, folks.

But there it is. And it's not a suggestion—it's a command. Of Christ.

(Pause for awkward silence...)

Hey, relax. With a snarky streak as wide as Tornado Alley, I've got my name written all over this one.

The fifth seal?

Whenever the subject of widespread persecution of believers comes up, many biblically knowledgeable people mentally flip to the book of Revelation, where we see great numbers Tribulation saints being killed for their testimony:

This is the fifth seal judgment, and many commentators believe (and I am inclined to agree) that these judgments occur during the first half of the Tribulation, as the leader who will be formally revealed as the Antichrist at the midpoint of the Tribulation rises to power and goes forth "conquering, and to conquer" (Rev. 6:2).

So, let's quickly dispense with the $64,000 question that may be haunting a few individuals:

Q. Is whatever persecution Christians in America may experience in the coming days, weeks, and months due to the repercussions of the 2020 election the same persecution mentioned in Revelation 6?

A. No...but hold that thought.

Throughout Scripture, God has a tendency to foreshadow what He is going to do. And why shouldn't He? God's not trying to surprise or trick people. He's not trying to pull one over on us. God wants nothing more than for sinners to repent and avail themselves of His grace and mercy. Beyond that, He ultimately wants to display the full extent of His holy, just, loving nature to His most precious creation—which is us, and which He will.

The persecution that characterizes the fifth seal judgment that sees countless numbers of believers martyred for their faithful testimony certainly isn't about Trump and Biden.

Trump supporters may be banned from Facebook, but beheaded?

Uhm...I'm thinking no (but if you think the left is going to let us off easy, check out this slippery little snake of a bill that just slithered its way into Congress). What occurs during the first half of the Tribulation that leads to massive waves of executions of believers is far more profound and widespread than the partisan bickering and back-stabbing that characterizes American politics. I discussed much of the following in a previous article, but here's a quick recap:

As soon as the Rapture occurs, the Holy Spirit will stand down from His current ministry of restraining evil. That means Satan will be unrestrained in ways we cannot currently imagine, and he will leap into action. When we go up in the Rapture, the curtain comes up for Satan.

One of the first items on Satan's post-Rapture to-do list is explaining away the Rapture, which he will do in a way that leads people away from the truth and serves his own purposes. This is where the current New Age narrative will come into play, which is fully developed and waiting in the wings. And it goes a long way in explaining why we see just enough news items about UFOs in the media to keep the awareness of the UFO/alien narrative percolating in the minds of the public.

Mother Earth (Gaia) is about to go through some traumatic changes to "cleanse" herself, and the time has finally come for mankind to evolve spiritually. The millions that were removed in the Rapture were actually evacuated by a benevolent alien race in what New Agers call The Event, and they are perfectly safe and being patiently retrained in order to rid them of the dark, negative energy and low-vibrational thought patterns that caused them to cling to archaic superstitions (like biblical Christianity). These people were simply not prepared to ascend spiritually, unlike those fortunate enough to be left behind to ascend and attain the Christ consciousness. (And please tell me you notice how Satan always has everything upside down and backwards.)

So, as the seal judgments unfold, the people of the world will be reassured that everything will be fine if they just get with the program and strive to ascend spiritually, probably with the help of gaggles of phony, deluded "anointed ones" (i.e. the "christs" of Matt. 24:8) or possibly demonic beings posing as benevolent aliens here to assist us.

No? Remember the key word: unrestrained.

At the same time, however, another group will be growing by leaps and bounds that refuses to buy into it. These are the Tribulation saints—millions of people who are led to a saving faith in Christ by the preaching of the 144,000 Jewish evangelists. The Tribulation saints will be painted as those who, instead of ascending, are descending back into the same low-vibrational ways of thinking that characterized those who were originally evacuated in The Event. And they must be eliminated, because they are responsible for holding the people of the world back from their destiny of enlightenment and spiritual evolution. The fate of the world and all of mankind will be at stake, and these cretinous throwbacks will be viewed as threatening to ruin it for all mankind.

So as the seal judgments ravage the earth, it will be manifestly clear to the world that these ignorant, deluded, low-vibrational people pose a grave danger to the future of mankind, and must be identified and eliminated as expeditiously as possible.

And that brings us to the fifth seal judgment:

Enter the worst persecution of believers the world will ever witness.

They will be betrayed by family and friends, hunted down, rounded up, and sent to their deaths by the millions.

But they won't die for choosing to support
one presidential candidate over another.

They won't die for choosing to believe that
an election was stolen through voter fraud.

They will die for choosing Christ in the face of
the most virulent opposition Satan can muster.

And that choice will be seen as a betrayal of and a dire threat to mankind, and will be dealt with accordingly.

Clearly we're not there yet. But as I said, God tends to foreshadow what He is going to do, and having half the country seeking to viciously persecute and silence the other half (the half that just happens to contain the bulk of the Church) certainly foreshadows and conditions us for what is coming in the next few years.

Of course, we won't be here for the waves of executions of believers that will occur during the first half of the Tribulation. But that certainly doesn't mean the body of Christ isn't going experience persecution in the last days. We are destined for, promised, and should expect persecution in this world for living lives that honor God so that we may share in Christ's glory and be greatly blessed and rewarded by our Heavenly Father. So just be aware:

From the looks of things, that persecution—in whatever forms it may take—is about to get ramped up.

Finally, through the power of the Holy Spirit, let us strive to love, bless, treat well, and pray for those who persecute us. And nobody needs more of the Holy Spirit for that than yours truly, I guarantee you.

Now, as far as conspiracy theories go, if it actually turns out that Trump is inaugurated on March 4 in the winter White House in Mar-a-Lago with the help of the U.S. military, I have a feeling a lot of believers are going to feel like they really are in the throes of the fifth seal judgment.

Greg Lauer — JAN '21

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