Hard Times

When I was growing up in the 50s my parents would talk about the hard times that they had gone through in the 30s. They had seen the world crash financially and then soon after came World War 2. Those were definitely hard times for millions. One crazed fool in Germany and another in Japan caused death to millions around the world. That not to mention (though I am mentioning) the crazed fool in Russia. 

These days it seems that more crazed fools are taking over good guy ville, the good old USA. Current bills in congress threaten the "normal" fabric of family, and religious freedom. We're seeing perversion of all sorts permeate everyday news. Even in small town América things that reek of Sodom and Gamora are being promulgated as though they were normal and right. 

These are times where we as God's children need to heed scripture. Peter spoke about how we should treat such climates and historic twists. He tells us in 1 Peter 1:7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

Trials that come, come with a purpose. They come to prove our faith. When gold or silver is put into fire and brought to the boiling point and beyond, there is a purpose. Heat cleanses. Heat separates impurities from the real thing. When refined in fire the impurities come to the surface and can be skimmed off and discarded. 

In these days, we Christians, we Christ followers, we sons of God, must not just lay down and surrender. We, however, must not rebel against God's path for us. It is time to understand that what we've always been told about coming persecution, may indeed be here. 

Sometimes persecution comes rather slowly. You've heard about the frog in the frying pan full of water right? How that if heat is raised slowly enough the frog will boil to death. Why? Because the velocity of the heat comes so slow that the frog doesn't know that it is being boiled. 

Until last year things, though often turbulent, were a part of our "normal". Of course for many, normal meant some pretty bad things. In the US it seemed and has seemed, that we were shielded from the real world bad news. Of course we had our own version of bad news. However, with the arrival of COVID 19, things changed. The real disease was exploited to manipulate the world. All of a sudden, there was this unimaginable "threat to humanity" that had to be controlled by the governing authorities. 

A crack in the door was left open for future troubles. A "sure win" for the then current administration became a narrow loss and a new administration came to power. 

When have we used that term in the United States of América? A new administration came to power. The current governing powers are bent on bringing the once United States to a disarray not seen since the Civil War. 

During that war Abraham Lincoln was the steadying force that eventually saw victory and a reunification of the war torn nation. Ironically, though many believe that the War between the States was fought to defeat slavery, others believe that "states rights" were the real reason for the four year struggle. The irony is that now, the federal government is the problem. It's creeping tentacles of control have come to strangle individual states governing rights. 

The so-called "Blue states" love the new normal while the "Red states" suffer. Texas is an example. There Blue counties received government aid during and after the snow disaster while Red counties received none. 

What does this have to do with Christians and persecution? Everything! Things have shifted from being united to being divided. The great state of Texas has been divided. The world is divided. Yet the governing authorities are united in bringing radicalism to power. Radical world views have no place for Christ or his followers. In the United States we've lived in a bubble our whole lives. That bubble is about to burst. When it does, don't lose sight of the true purpose for persecution. Like Peter said, "These (will) come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed."