Blessed are the Persecuted
by Gene Easley
"Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you" (Matthew 5:11-12).
Are we members of the persecuted church? Or are we a part of a group that seeks acceptance from all at any cost? Do we yield to the popular teaching that there are many ways to get to heaven and we are all going to the same place, just taking different routes? In order to avoid persecution, do we refuse to proclaim that only through Christ there is eternal salvation?
"Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus" (1 Timothy 2:5). Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me" (John 14:6).
There is a price one pays for proclaiming that only through Christ can anyone have eternal salvation and that without Jesus Christ and the work He accomplished on Calvary’s cross no soul could be saved. From the time the church began, men and women have given their lives for preaching that message. And the Scripture indicates that the hatred for those who proclaim salvation through Christ will only intensify in the last days.
Men will revile us, they will persecute us, and they will say all manner of evil falsely against us because we preach Jesus and Him crucified. What are we to do when persecution arises for His sake? Are we to become distressed and disturbed and angry because of the injustice? No. Jesus said, "Rejoice, and be exceeding glad" (Matthew 5:12).
I don’t want people to think they can worship Buddha and still make it to heaven. I don’t want them to believe they can pray to Allah and reject Jesus Christ as the Son of God and Savior of the world and still enter Heaven’s eternal gates. It won’t happen, and people need to hear that only Jesus saves and gives eternal life. If it brings persecution (and it will), then still we must proclaim it.
Will we allow pride or the fear of being rejected or the fear of mistreatment by others stop us from declaring the glorious truth of Christ’s salvation? I hope not. I hope we will be encouraged anew to proclaim it from the housetops! Jesus said that those of us who are persecuted today for Jesus’ sake will join in with a group of prophets who have gone on before us. These were prophets who received great rewards for their stand for the truth. I want to be a part of that group. I want to stand up for Jesus. I want to be able to say I stood with those who dared suffer persecution for Jesus’ sake.
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