Friday, May 10, 2013:
The Lord instructed us to beware of those who wear long robes and love greetings in the market (Luke 20:46). Beware, because they honour the Lord with their lips, but their hearts are far from him; because in vain they worship Him and teach for doctrines the commandments of men; because they reject the commandments of God to keep their traditions (Mark 7:7).
How would you react to a man in a long, black robe instructing people that the freely distributed word of God was heresy and then commanding little children to kiss his hand in a sickening show of power and pride? Well, we did as the Lord instructed and preached Jesus Christ crucified, buried and risen again for the salvation of men’s souls! The man in the long, black robe hates this message, he hates Jesus, the Bible and he hates the men who preach it and the women who hand it out (Jn. 15). So, as any good church-run state would do, the man in the long, black robe makes a phone call and the Christians get hauled off to the police station…again, to have our passports checked…again, in order to stop the preaching and distribution of God’s word. While these events are light afflictions compared to persecutions of past Christians, not to mention our Lord and Saviour, they are nonetheless annoying and disrupting…and illegal :). We were not officially “under arrest”, but were forced to ride in the back of police cars to the station and locked in a holding area with common criminals…while our passports were “checked”, of course. After about 45 minutes, we were released. Four Americans, a Brit and an Aussie all guilty of giving out the gospel…Praise the Lord!
The lesson is simple, anyone willing to obey the Lord and “go into all the world” will suffer persecution (2 Tim. 3:12)! Howbeit, the incorruptible seed went forth to hundreds and we ask that all continue to pray the seed will find good ground.
As we make our way around the city, it is inspiring to see the historic ruins and to imagine oneself present when Paul and Silas were reasoning with them out of the scriptures and to see the agora where is it quite plausible Jason was brought and falsely accused by envious religious leaders (sounds familiar, Acts 17). One thing is for certain, the warfare then was spiritual and the same is true today! Just as they, we are wrestling against principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this world and spiritual wickedness in high places (Eph. 6:12). But praise the Lord, we have the victory through Jesus Christ, who has spoiled those principalities (Col. 2:15) and hath made us more than conquerors, promising us that “neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom. 8:37-39) Amen!
