(This is heavy.\u00a0 This is serious.\u00a0 This is real.\u00a0 Brace yourself.\u00a0 Take heed.)<\/p>\n
Wow, is that title an attention-getter—or true?<\/p>\n
Now, who in their right mind would not try to avoid persecution?<\/p>\n
So, how do you avoid persecution?<\/p>\n
And, who is in their right mind—now, and when persecution does come?<\/p>\n
But, we live in America, with guaranteed religious freedom?<\/p>\n
Answers:<\/p>\n
First question – – – I hope the title got someone\u2019s attention, because it is true. \u00a0I am talking about real suffering for following Jesus Christ as your only Savior from sin—the only Truth and the only Way to heaven—because the Bible said so.\u00a0 It has to be that clear, and it will be the precise dividing line to determine who gets persecuted.\u00a0 Don\u2019t miss Jesus, and you won\u2019t miss persecution.<\/p>\n
Second question – – – In my right mind I do not want persecution.\u00a0 It hurts.\u00a0 It\u2019s not fun or funny.\u00a0 You suffer.\u00a0 You may be tortured.\u00a0 Many die.\u00a0 But not wanting persecution does not mean trying to avoid it. \u00a0I might make provisions to survive during the coming persecution.\u00a0 I may hide for safety, or help others hide (The Hiding Place<\/span> story of Corrie Ten Boom in Germany).\u00a0 But when the time comes, I pray that I will not deny following Jesus—and that time starts now—potential persecution starts now.<\/p>\n Third question – – – Here is how to avoid persecution.\u00a0 You do have a choice.\u00a0 You can choose not to follow Jesus, and deny that you are a Christian.\u00a0 But that may or may not work, if you have acted like a Christian before.\u00a0 So, who do you want to be true to?\u00a0\u00a0 Persecutors hate Christians and phonies.<\/p>\n Fourth question – – – Right mind may not be what you think.\u00a0 Better stake your life on something more stable than what you think.\u00a0 There is a lot of mental gymnastics going on already, with most people creating a mindset of safety and security—basically designing their own god to suit themselves and stay out of trouble.\u00a0 PC Christianity sounds smart, but it is stupid and makes God throw up, literally—He said so.\u00a0 Lukewarm Christianity won\u2019t cut it with God, and it won\u2019t comfort with persecution.<\/p>\n Fifth question – – – The mainstream, downstream, government Department of Media may not have informed you that our Constitution, our First Amendment, is being trashed now.\u00a0 And Christians are specifically singled out for religious persecution, while others get a pass.\u00a0 A lot of new wording in the U.S. and the U.N. means freedom for everything except Christianity.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This article was prompted by something I heard a few minutes ago on American Family Radio, encouraging us to educate our children about the imminent persecution of Christians in America.\u00a0 I have four children, a son-in-law, two daughters-in-law, and two grandchildren so far.\u00a0 So I wrote this for those nine reasons.\u00a0 (I prayed for each of you by name just now, as I often do.\u00a0 \u201cBe There\u201d—I hope you remember what that means.)<\/p>\n The best way I know to be truthfully informed and realistically ready:<\/p>\n —–Read Your Bible<\/p>\n —–Listen To AFR Talk<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" (This is heavy.\u00a0 This is serious.\u00a0 This is real.\u00a0 Brace yourself.\u00a0 Take heed.) Wow, is that title an attention-getter—or true? Now, who in their right mind would not try to avoid persecution? So, how do you avoid persecution? And, who is in their right mind—now, and when persecution does come? But, we live in America, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,2,3,7,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","category-faith_based","category-family","category-inspire_lifter","category-political-cultural"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1732"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1732"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1732\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1889,"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1732\/revisions\/1889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}