This year is probably the most important one in my lifetime. There has been pandemic level sickness, riot in the streets of some of our major cities and an upcoming election that is of monumental importance for the whole country.
This picture asks a question that you may be forced to consider in the upcoming year; Will I follow Jesus if it becomes illegal to be a Christian? The answer “YES” is easy to say now, but what if the government seized your bank accounts, evicted you from your home, took away your children (because Christians do not have the right to teach them anything other than what the STATE says is correct). What if it becomes illegal for you to own a firearm and a mob is about to kill you, burn down your home or destroy your property? What if you are shunned by your “friends” and neighbors and openly ridiculed because of Jesus- WHAT THEN?
Think any part (or all) of the above is just not possible? Think again! Who would have ever thought that even the mere mention of God would no longer be allowed in schools and be banned from public places or in the government (the Democrats have done this in many of their committees). It has become almost commonplace for our children to be indoctrinated into atheism, socialism and radicalism. The Democrats have even booed the very name of God publicly in their 2016 convention.
So, WILL YOU or WILL YOU NOT follow Jesus? I can not answer that question for you – that is a decision only YOU CAN MAKE! What I do know is that suffering is not uncommon for those who do follow Jesus. Just look at the middle east region of our world and remember how many times within the past 7 years you have heard of Christians being beheaded and whole families murdered and their churches burned to the ground.
However, amid all the turmoil in the world and here in the U.S.A., there is HOPE, for the Bible says...
1 Peter 4 ( World English Bible )
1 Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind; for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin;
2 that you no longer should live the rest of your time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.
3 For we have spent enough of our past time doing the desire of the Gentiles, and having walked in lewdness, lusts, drunken binges, orgies, carousings, and abominable idolatries.
4 They think it is strange that you don’t run with them into the same excess of riot, blaspheming:
5 who will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.
6 For to this end the Good News was preached even to the dead, that they might be judged indeed as men in the flesh, but live as to God in the spirit.
7 But the end of all things is near. Therefore be of sound mind, self- controlled, and sober in prayer.
8 And above all things be earnest in your love among yourselves, for love covers a multitude of sins.
9 Be hospitable to one another without grumbling.
10 As each has received a gift, employ it in serving one another, as good managers of the grace of God in its various forms.
11 If anyone speaks, let it be as it were the very words of God. If anyone serves, let it be as of the strength which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
12 Beloved, don’t be astonished at the fiery trial which has come upon you, to test you, as though a strange thing happened to you.
13 But because you are partakers of Christ’s sufferings, rejoice; that at the revelation of his glory you also may rejoice with exceeding joy.
14 If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed; because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. On their part he is blasphemed, but on your part he is glorified.
15 For let none of you suffer as a murderer, or a thief, or an evil doer, or a meddler in other men’s matters.
16 But if one of you suffers for being a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God in this matter.
17 For the time has come for judgment to begin with the household of God. If it begins first with us, what will happen to those who don’t obey the Good News of God?
18 “If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will happen to the ungodly and the sinner?”
19 Therefore let them also who suffer according to the will of God in doing good entrust their souls to him, as to a faithful Creator.
Jesus suffered and Christians in the U.S.A. may soon have to suffer as well. Be true to your calling as a Christian and endure whatever the future may hold for you.
REMEMBER
all human beings in this world will die,
but a faithful Christian will live forever with God in heaven!