Articles
"On Fire" for the Lord - Literally
Eli Jefferson is a young Indian brother who has been attending with us only on Sunday evenings (due to work scheduling). Last week Eli told me of a preacher in India, Penumalla Gangi Reddy, who along with a friend was attacked by Hindu activists and set on fire in response to his preaching of the gospel. The friend was killed (I’ll spare you the graphic pictures), and Gangi Reddy was burned over 80% of his body.
Persecution has affected God’s people in every age. While the degree of persecution varies due to the social/political climate in which God’s people live, darkness always hates the light (Jn 3:19). The light of truth exposes the darkness of false religion, intellectual dishonesty, carnal gratification, arrogant pride and an array of others evils. It does so without malice, seeking only the best for those misguided by Satan’s lies. But the benevolent intent of light-bearers is seldom appreciated, and wickedness screams bloody murder when it is called out for what it really is.
This is not a Christian phenomenon. The residents of Sodom hated Lot because he “came in to sojourn, and he keeps acting as a judge; now we will deal worse with you than with them” (Gn 19:9). The Israelites were hated and feared by the Egyptians and subjected to brutal slavery and attempted genocide (Ex 1:8-22). Worse, faithful Hebrew prophets were so often rejected and persecuted by their own brethren that Jesus characterized Jerusalem as “the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her …” (Mt 23:37).
Though Jesus came to bring peace between men and God, and though He made possible a complete spiritual rebirth and makeover, and though some progress has been made in the two millennia since He came, the words of Jesus remain true: “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 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. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me … He who hates Me hates My Father also …” (Jn 15:18-21, 23). Jesus spoke these words to the apostles, but the truth of His words extends to all who take a stand for Him.
Most of us have lived in a culture where severe religious persecution does not exist. This was one of the main tenets of our Constitution as its architects had experienced the evil of royal control of religion. This is a double-edged sword, for while we enjoy peace and safety on the one hand, on the other we may lose sight of how antagonistic our faith can be to unbelievers and how treacherous they can be. But this is gradually changing, and more open hostility is being shown toward faith and its unyielding stand on moral issues. Are we ready for this? Are we prepared to lose a job, be sued by customers, be charged by the government for child abuse because we refuse gender-transition treatments for our children?
The Thessalonians were ready: “When you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe. For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God which are in Judea in Christ Jesus. For you also suffered the same things from your own countrymen, just as they did from the Jews, who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they do not please God and are contrary to all men …” (1 Th 2:13-15). This passage refutes the false “health and wealth” notion that the lost need to be fed, praised and entertained before they will listen to truth. The truth is that those who truly understand their need for Jesus will come to Him in spite of hardship and mistreatment. “Converting” the lost with crafts, concerts and cookouts in the hope of sneaking in some religion along the way results in social club, not a body of Christ full of conviction, conscience and commitment.
The initial persecution of the church was fueled by Jews who saw Jesus as a heretical teacher. But the attack gradually transitioned from predominantly Jewish to Roman authorities, eventually resulting in the full weight of the Roman state – which wrongly understood Christianity as a threat to their native polytheism and culture – bearing down upon the saints.
What is needed in the fight against such unprincipled, misguided enemies? Consider these thoughts from 1 Peter:
Maintain honorable conduct. “Abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation” (2:11-12).
Obey man’s laws. “Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men” (2:15).
Endure with patience. “For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer for it, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God” (2:19-20).
Do not insult persecutors. “For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow His steps: ‘Who committed no sin, nor was guile found in His mouth’; who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously” (2:21-23).
For Ganji Reddy, these verses are not theoretical. If he survives his horrendous burns, he will then face the heat of bitterness toward his enemies. Satan will use our enemies to sow the seeds of hatred, bitterness and retaliation in our minds. Let us “not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Rom 12:21).
