I see the wheat and chaff already clearly separated. I see no middle ground anymore.The Church is not a religion or an Institution as some might believe. The Church is the body of Jesus Christ throughout the world. Persecution of Christians is on the rise. Soon Matthew 24 will be at our own doorstep.
Brother Dumitru Duduman chose extreme torture by the Communist police instead of giving information that would have led to the suffering of his Christian brethren. How does one prepare for that level of persecution?
There is only one way. You must be sold out to Jesus Christ. As Christians we must live a life of complete obedience to Jesus Christ. Repentance, holiness, prayer, fasting, reading the Word of God and hiding it in our hearts is not an option. There can be no compromise with the world. To be holy is to be separated. If you are a true Christian Pastor or Evangelist, your name is the one that will be left out of every important discussion pertaining to world religion. The worldly and religious both hate true Christianity because it exposes them for what they are. Hypocrites.
When the news media advertises a man as the most famous evangelist in America and prints not one word of criticism about him, you can be sure that man does not represent Jesus Christ. He is a counterfeit.
When the world comes to a stand still over a religious figure whose speeches are political and whose doctrine cannot be found in the King James Bible you can be sure that man does not represent Jesus Christ. He comes in his own name.
When a televangelist is repeatedly making the top of the New York Times best sellers list, it is a sign the world loves him. Jesus said the world would hate you. Why are some men loved by the world? They are of the world and the world loves its own.
These are the Words of Jesus Christ:
If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.
John 15:18-20
The persecuted church does not have the popularity of the false church. The world may not recognize them but hell knows their name. These are the laborers in the vineyard. The laborers are few. When Christianity becomes criminalized in America and Christians are taken away, will anyone even notice?
William Gurnall wrote,
Who among us has not learned that it takes another spirit than the world can give to follow Christ fully? Let this exhort you, Christian, to petition God for the holy determination and bravery you must have to follow Christ. Without it, you cannot be what you profess. The fearful are those who march for hell (Revelation 21:8), the valiant are they who take heaven by force (Matthew 11:12). Cowards never won heaven. Do not claim that you are begotten of God and have His royal blood running through your veins unless you can prove your lineage by this heroic spirit: to dare to be holy in spite of men and devils.
Many profess Christ but few are Christians. Persecution of the church will separate the wheat from the chaff.
