It happened to a friend, but reflects what is surely coming!
There have been a lot of stories floating around, so I talked directly to two of the men involved. For the last 8 years a friend and two other men have dedicate one Sunday a month to join in the assemblies for believing inmates in an area prison. On this day one other man had joined them. About sixty inmates had gathered for the assembly. A dozen other inmates asked if they could join this time of worship and encouragement.
As one of the believing inmates started reading the opening scripture, one of the special dozen asked if questions could be asked. Immediately, it was clear the special dozen were not there to listen and learn…and the animated, rude, crude disruption started.
One of the four men kindly reminded the special dozen that this was a period of worship and encouragement, and not a time for challenge and debate. When the lone guard heard the yelling, she stepped in and calmed the special dozen…temporarily. Later, my friend had to remind the special dozen again. Even one of the inmate believers talked to the disruptors.
As the communion was being passed, the leader of the special dozen grabbed the plate of bread, dumped it in his lap and said “Eat this!” Then other members of the special dozen confronted the four men calling them Satan worshipers, white pigs and evil. The special dozen vowed to stop the preaching about Jesus.
If you have already guessed…you may have been wrong. The Prison administration said they were not Muslims, but the inmates said they were. Either way we have a problem.
The reaction of the four men involved was not fear or anger, but joy that they were honored to be persecuted for the sake of the gospel…and compassion for their persecutors.
This happened in a controlled prison environment and my friend said he never thought they were in real danger. Another of the four expressed the idea that if the guard had not been there, the special dozen could have harmed or killed them before back-up could arrive.
In this case, hatred and anger were tempered by the reality that violence would have left the special dozen in serious trouble. But, to zealots, hatred and anger have been known to trump reason!
There are three reasons for relating this story:
1. We are in a real, deadly war. Our enemy is represented by Islam which is in attack mode, but there are other dangerous threats.
2. The Spirit gave us the serious commission to take the Gospel to our world, and the world…knowing it would be a difficult, demanding, dangerous assignment. But, he does not leave us defenseless, helpless and clueless.
3. The third reason was stated by one of the men involved in the story above…”Any faith that is not deeply rooted in Jesus will not survive the future when the attacks come.” Thankfully we have all we need to win this war. ”The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (II Cor.10:4,5).
Persecution/Discipline misunderstandings
Persecution mean to pursue, put to flight or drive away. To further explain, the Greek word pursue means to chase with the purpose of bringing something to an end. In Acts 11:18 persecution is translated tribulation. Persecution comes from an outside source…intent on destruction.
This is important because many of us have the idea that any trouble we have, including God’s discipline, is persecution. God does not persecute his people! Discipline is temporarily painful, but produces a harvest of righteousness and peace. Through discipline God patiently calls us back to self-control and a sound mind.
Is the reason we are not being persecuted…because we are no threat?
When we compare our lives with the world…can the world see a difference? Many folk live decent, moral lives. When we speak, does the world hear a different language based on the hope found in the Gospel?