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(I corrected several path problems on August 29, August 30, and September 1, including these selections: Which  Version?, Christmas, Images, Body of Christ Discovered, Hymn Midis, KJV Bible, and Spiritual Warfare.  Sorry for any problems; please let know if you find others. - Gary)

Blessed in Persecution

Matthew 5:10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.)

John 15:18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. 20 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.

For the past 100 years and more, the Gideons have carried out a ministry of placing God's Word in the places where people pass through and congregate. We put Bibles and Testaments in hotels, motels, hospitals, schools, colleges, and jails. Our wives, the Gideons Auxiliary, do the same kind of ministry with nurses, hospital support staff, and doctors' offices. At one time, we had free access to every public facility in this country. This is no longer the case. Many school systems have barred us altogether, under the so-called "separation of church and state" doctrine. In one state (Utah), at least for a while, no Bibles could be placed in hotels and motels.

Though there are many signs that our country is going in that direction, we still have not reached the point where Christians are imprisoned or executed for their faith. In other countries, Christians are arrested or killed as a matter of course. In the African nation of Sudan, a civil war has raged for years between the Muslim government, in the north of the country, and the Christian south. Hundreds of thousands of Christians have been butchered. In Indonesia, Muslim gangs have wiped out entire towns and villages of Christians. Most of us are aware of the kind of persecution that Christians must endure in China.

The ironic thing is that many of the countries that once made the most concerted effort to stamp out Christianity are now wide open to it. Every year since 1989 the Gideons have placed millions of Scriptures in the countries once controlled by old Soviet Union, a total of about fifty million altogether. We are welcome in schools, prisons, colleges, and military bases, as well as hotels and motels. If we had the money to purchase them, we could send in millions more every year. There is a hunger for the Word in those areas like we haven't seen in this country in over a century. Now, some of the countries where we sent missionaries in the past want to send missionaries to us.

We, too, face persecution for our faith, though in less overt and life-threatening ways than some of our brethren in other countries. Polls show that fundamentalist Christians are among the most feared mistrusted groups in America. When we insist that there are moral absolutes, and that some kinds of behavior are wrong now and have always been wrong, we are called narrow and bigoted. Most of our mass media espouse and support a standard of morality that is antithetical to what the Bible teaches, and many "liberal" denominations actually take a similar stance. Though teaching secular humanism, or even Satanism, is perfectly acceptable in the classroom, teaching anything at all about the Bible, even in a historical context, is not. Attempting to pray aloud in some public places can get you put in jail or at least cost you your job. There have been some well-publicized instances of children being kicked out of school for attempting to share the Gospel with their classmates.

The ultimate goal of persecuting Christians is to eliminate Christianity, or at least to render it impotent. When coworkers, or employers, ridicule or harass you because of what you believe and stand for, you're in the best of company. Christ tells us to expect that kind of treatment, and worse, if we're serving him. Just as the world persecuted him, and hated him, it will do the same with us. It's hard to feel blessed when those around us are cursing us, or treating us spitefully, because of our faith, but in God's eyes we are. That may not make it hurt any less, but it will make it easier to endure.

One of the hardest situations to handle is being a Christian teacher in a public school. That's particularly true of biology teachers, history teachers or others who have to teach from materials that not only leave God out but insist that the Biblical view of the world is fatally flawed. It's true as well, though, for teachers in any subject area, or with any age group, who know there is only one solution for the problems their students face but can't share it. One of my nieces is a Head Start teacher, and she frequently sees children from abusive homes, children already full of anger and hatred at only three or four years of age. She can love them, yes, and she does, but she has to be extremely careful about what she says and does as a Christian.

If we don't face persecution from the world, as Christians, perhaps it's because we're not doing anything that causes Satan any concern. I can tell you, truthfully, that, with some few exceptions, I have seldom had attacks directed at me because I was a Christian. I have been content for too long to play it safe, to live inside my comfort zone and not trouble the waters. That should change as the Lord leads me further into the ministry he has prepared for me. I don't look forward to the prospect, but at that point at least I'll know I'm being obedient to my calling. Is your Christian life all smooth sailing right now? If it is, maybe you're headed for the wrong port. If you're enduring attacks because of your faith, the Word says you should rejoice! That doesn't mean you have to like it, but it does mean you're trying to please God, not the world around you.

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