THOUGHTS, January 17, 2021

I Thessalonians 2:2, 14-16 "...but after we had already suffered and been mistreated in Philippi, as you know, we had the boldness in our God to speak to you the gospel of God amid much opposition...For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, for you also endured the same sufferings at the hands of your own countrymen, even as they did from the Jews, who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out.  They are not pleasing to God, but hostile to all men, hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved; with the result that they always fill up the measure of their sins.  But wrath has come upon them to the utmost."

In the turmoil that has gripped our nation with all the hatred, it is the beginning of greater persecution of Christians as powers that be try to silence the truth of God's word.  As we see in these verses, persecution is nothing new.  Persecution of Christians worldwide some say now is at its worst in all of history.  There is a movement to silence any opposition of how one thinks and speaks.  

The evil of man is revealed and can't be covered up in the pages of history.  One of the first sons of Adam and Eve killed his brother.   God is the judge, and there are consequences for sin from Adam and Eve in the Garden up until today.

If you know me, you know I love history and now enjoy seeing it through the lens of ancestry family trees. 

I watched a piece on the History Channel which described the horrors of the Roman rulers during and following the time Jesus lived.   Just like Herod killed all the male babies two and under in his attempt to kill the Christ Child, it was unimaginable the evils, the unrestrained perversion in the lifestyle of rulers: murders and even tortures of leaders in the Senate.  One even took sons of men in the Senate and tortured and killed them as entertainment at a banquet in order to keep the Senate members in line by fear.  He then set himself up as an idol to be worshipped like Nebuchadnezzar.   

Jerusalem fell to the Romans not that many years after Jesus was crucified, and the church was dispersed all over the known world under great persecution.  Centuries later, there were battles against the Islamic armies which were taking over Europe, through Spain and Italy and reaching where Germany is now.  In a miraculous though bloody battle, the Islamic army of overwhelming strength and number of warriors were beaten back by "the Hammer," keeping Europe Christian.  

The Holy Crusades were advanced against the believers in Islam afterwards.   Constantinople in Turkey, 330 named for the Christian Roman Emperor Constantine the Great. His mother made it her crusade to save the birthplace in Bethlehem as a shrine.   In one of the first religious gatherings, the Council of Nicene, he backed those who upheld that Jesus was fully God and fully man. In fact, St. Nicolas (Santa Claus) was there and got in a fisticuff with someone who was against it.  There were many sieges by the Arabs until it fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1453.

Rome controlled much of Christendom which pitted Protestants and Catholics against each other.   In France, when Catholics ruled, they killed whole cities which were Protestants.  The surviving Huguenots, some who were my kin, fled for their lives leaving their homes and livelihoods.  They immigrated to Norway and Holland.  Eventually some found refuge in the New World in Jamestown where a church was built for them to worship in.  

The history of England was written in the blood and persecution which included burning Protestants at the stake, even my own kin, especially in the time of Catholic Bloody Queen Mary.  Likewise, when Protestants ruled, the priests were imprisoned, even terribly tortured and killed as the threat of overthrowing the Protestant government was feared.  The strangle hold on Ireland was a part of this.  When Henry the VIII sought a divorce, he was spurned by the Pope, so he set up the Church of England with himself as ruler.  Thus, persecution began against the Dissenters and Puritans by the Church of England.  They fled to Holland and Norway, then to America.   Some were imprisoned in England, including some of my kin.  Their lands were taken away as they were fined for non-attendance and for not paying tithes to the Church of England.  The Sheriffs were given great leeway in the handling of such matters with no recourse for those who were persecuted and even killed.   This is why many of my kinfolk came to America to find religious freedom.

Yet fines and imprisonment by the Puritans were given to some of my kin for even assisting Quakers in need.  My kinfolk from Ireland and Scotland immigrated here to escape religious persecution and for just plain survival in the times of the Potato Famine in Ireland and the elimination of tenants on great estates in Scotland as they went to raising sheep instead of crops causing great poverty of the displaced. In America battles were constantly fought against Indians with atrocities done by whites as well as Indians.  My own kin were massacred; and my three times great grandfather was scalped at the age of three, yet lived. The evil of slavery quickly followed as practiced in England.  However, most of the northern states outlawed it early on such as Massachusetts abolishment in the mid 1600's.  Eventually it left one in every four men dead in the South, not counting the wounded, and more than six hundred thousand died as Americans fought Americans both sides claiming God's will.  

All this to say, there hasn't been a decade of peace in our country or in the world.   Though dark days are ahead for our nation, God is still on the throne. and we are called to shine like stars in the sky: the darker the sky, the brighter the stars.  Jesus came to give us peace that passes understanding, but political peace is not promised.  I hope it will not come down to violence against Christians like in Africa by Islamists, like Thessalonica, even though our nation was founded upon Christian principles.   We may not be exempt from persecution, but our kingdom is not of this world.

Just like God did not intercede when Adam and Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they suffered the consequences.  He did not intercede when Cain killed Able, but there was judgement.  So goes history.  Mankind has freewill, but the wages of sin is death and an eternity separated from God.  Haters will hate.  May we as Christians love, yes love even our enemies.   However, may we not be silent, but proclaim the truth of God's Word regardless of the consequence as did Paul and Silas and the new Christians in Thessalonica.