Persecution
In the book of Acts, believers who moved the
word faced opposition from the churches of the day. Here is an example.
Acts 17:5-8
But the Jews [Judeans] which believed not, moved with envy, took unto
them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and
set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and
sought to bring them out to the people.
And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also;
Whom Jason hath received: and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus.
And they troubled the people and the rulers of the city, when they heard these things.
Here, we see a series of events. First, lewd fellows of the baser sort, or low lifes in our language, were paid to start riots. If you've read Walking by the Spirit, you will know this is orchestrated behind the scenes in the sewers of freemasonry.
When these believers in Acts were dragged before
the legal representatives of that day, the accusation was that they had
turned the world upside down. To give their riots a faҫade of legality
before the Romans, they claimed the believers were breaking
Caesar's laws.
What exactly had the believers been doing to
deserve this? Let's read the context to find out.
Acts 17:1-8
Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to
Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews [Judeans]:
And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them,
and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures,
Opening and alleging, that Christ must needs
have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom
I preach unto you, is Christ.
And some of them believed, and consorted with
Paul and Silas; and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the
chief women not a few.
But the Jews [Judeans] which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.
And when they found them not, they drew Jason
and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that
have turned the world upside down are come hither also;
Whom Jason hath received: and these all do
contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king,
one Jesus.
And they troubled the people and the rulers of
the city, when they heard these things.
The believers were teaching the word, and people
were being born again and were manifesting the gift of holy spirit. The
word was moving, which doesn't please the god of this world.
Envy was the spiritual lever used to move this
evil, but what exactly were those religious Judeans envious of? The love
of money is the root of all evil, so we can safely assume that incomes
were under threat. As people were leaving the synagogues to attend home
churches, they were taking their money with them. That was the lever the
god of this world used to stir those dark emotions within the hearts of
the religious leaders. This is a pattern you can track all through the
book of Acts. Amazing, and we're all conditioned to think churches are filled with nice men
who are doing good.
For anyone with eyes to see, nothing else needs
to be said, but we will explore this further. Let's look at a few
instances of how Jesus Christ was treated by the religious leaders, and
even by his friends and family when he was moving the word.
Luke 11:14,15
And he was casting out a devil, and it was dumb. And it came to pass,
when the devil was gone out, the dumb spake; and the people wondered.
But some of them said, He casteth out devils
through Beelzebub the chief of the devils.
But the Pharisees
said, He casteth out devils through the prince of the devils.
Was Jesus Christ possessed with devil spirits?
Was it devil spirit power he energised to cast out devil spirits? No, of
course not, but that's what the church leaders claimed, that's what they
said about him, that's what they preached. If those church leaders
worshipped God, they would have welcomed Jesus Christ, right? Of course
that's right, but they didn't, so they obviously worshipped and served a
different god then, didn't they? Church leaders in our day and time
don't teach the bible either, they are serpents and scorpions, graves filled
with dead men's bones, just as they were in Christ's day, and that's
because they worship and serve Lucifer, the god of death.
By sheer logic, if the God of life does not dwell in temples
made with hands, then it isn't God they worship and serve in their
shithole churches then, is it? If you go to church, any church or
religion or ministry built by men, you will not be worshipping the true God there
because he does not attend any of those places. Jesus
Christ was hated by the religious people of his day. Paul had the same problems during his ministry.
Acts 20:28
Acts 20:29,30
Also of your own selves shall men arise,
speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.
2 Timothy 1:14,15
This thou knowest, that all they which are in
Asia be turned away from me; of whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes.
This next section of teaching is now going to be addressed to
leadership who walk away from the word. If you're a new believer, or
someone just figuring this walking by the spirit stuff out, you can read
this and learn from it, but don't take it to heart. I'm going to be
saying a few things to those men and women out there who claim to know
the word, take it on themselves to lead God's people, and yet reject the
truth.
Men of God become evil and turn away from the
word because they love money. They draw people away after them so they
can get their greedy little fingers on their tithe money. Greedy men
hate the word, and I don't give a fuck how much bible they think they
know. Once men start loving money, evil makes itself at home in them.
Money and the stuff it buys becomes more important to them than the word
and caring for God's people. It was the same in the Old Testament and
God sent Jeremiah to confront his people and his prophets and priests
for being greedy. There is nothing new under the sun. To those who think
they know the word, yet would prevent God's people from hearing
the word I teach, read these words of Jeremiah's and consider them
deeply, for if this thing be of men it shall come to nought, but if it
be of God you cannot overthrow it lest haply you find yourself even to
fight against God. I'm glad Jeremiah said this stuff so I don't have to
say it again. You men and women who know the word, you have a duty to
teach and be examples, so wake up and start teaching God's
people the truth again.
Jeremiah 2:8
Jeremiah 6:13
Jeremiah 6:19
Jeremiah 10:20,21
For the pastors are become brutish, and have not
sought the LORD: therefore they shall not prosper, and all their flocks
shall be scattered.
To all you lazy, greedy, selfish, arrogant,
conceited men out there who think you're really something with a bible,
wrap your heads around these verses. Your job is to teach God's people
and stand against the darkness of this world, not spend your days
lusting after money and the things of the world.
When Jeremiah was attacked by the pastors, the prophets, the priests and the other so called men of God in his day, this next verse is what he prayed.
Jeremiah 17:18
Jeremiah 23:1,2
Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel
against the pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and
driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon
you the evil of your doings, saith the LORD.
Jeremiah 23:14-16
Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts
concerning the prophets; Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and
make them drink the water of gall: for from the prophets of Jerusalem is
profaneness gone forth into all the land.
Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto
the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain:
they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the
LORD.
And I'm telling you now, if anyone attacks me and my ministry, they have not been sent by God, they speak vanity of their own hearts and not by the mouth of God, they do not walk by the spirit, but speak out of their own bellies.
Right, that's my take on God's so called ministers in this day and time. Get humble, get back in fellowship, start walking by the spirit again, and teach God's people how to walk by the spirit for themselves. Disentangle yourselves from the world and start doing your job again, never mind attacking me. You stand there and try to hinder God's people from hearing the word I teach because you don't like my language? Well, I don't give a fuck what you like.
Have a read through this record in John and note how Jesus Christ was attacked by the churches. He wasn't attacked by the Romans, or by people going about their everyday business, he was attacked by the church.
John 8:31-41
Then said Jesus to those Jews [Judeans] which believed on him, If ye
continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall
make you free.
They answered him, We be
Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou,
Ye shall be made free?
Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto
you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.
And the servant abideth not in the house for
ever: but the Son abideth ever.
If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye
shall be free indeed.
I know that ye are
Abraham's seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in
you.
I speak that which I have seen with my Father:
and ye do that which ye have seen with your father.
They answered and said unto
him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's
children, ye would do the works of Abraham.
But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told
you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham.
Ye do the deeds of your
father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have
one Father, even God.
The church leaders said this because they
considered Jesus Christ to be illegitimate, a bastard. His mother was
found to be pregnant before she and Joseph had come together, so
everyone thought Jesus Christ was a bastard. That's why he went through
Bar Mitzvah when he was 12, rather than when he was 13. Bastard Judean
children went through Bar Mitzvah a year earlier than the others. The
church attacked and slandered him at every opportunity, and
things are no different today.
John 8:42-45,59
Why do ye not understand my speech? even because
ye cannot hear my word.
Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts
of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and
abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he
speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father
of it.
And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me
not.
Then took they up stones to cast at him: but
Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst
of them, and so passed by.
If the church treated Jesus Christ like
this, do you think they're going to love us when we teach the truth?
Yeah right. It's much more fun to be more than
a conqueror. What do you think being a conqueror means anyway? Taking
all the shit from the world and putting up with it? The world hates us,
get used to it and learn to deal with it. Look at what Jesus
Christ taught his disciples.
John 15:17-19
If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me
before it hated you.
If ye were of the world, the world would love
his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out
of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
What about the people in his home town of Nazareth? Did they think he was a man of God? Jesus Christ was in Nazareth one day and taught in the local synagogue.
Luke 4:16-22
And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his
custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up
for to read.
And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.
And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.
And all bare him witness, and wondered at the
gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not
this Joseph's son?
Interesting reaction here. This is Jesus Christ
we're talking about, and he had just taught the word in the synagogue.
The people's response? Disdain and contempt. Jesus Christ's response?
Well, he didn't just sit there and smile inanely at them, he confronted
them to their faces in public for their unbelief.
Luke 4:23-27
And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb,
Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do
also here in thy country.
And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country.
But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land;
But unto none of them was Elias [Elijah] sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow.
And many lepers were in Israel in the time of
Eliseus [Elisha] the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving
Naaman the Syrian.
Jesus told them that there had been many Judean
widow women during Elijah's time, but God didn't send him to any of
them, he sent him to a Gentile woman. He told them there were many
Judean lepers in Israel during Elisha's life, but none of them were
cleansed except Naaman the Syrian, another Gentile.
From where do we get the idea that Jesus Christ
was a nice guy? He wasn't nice at all, he annoyed religious people
everywhere he went all
the time. He pissed off these religious pricks in his home town of
Nazareth so much they dragged him to a cliff and tried to chuck him off
the top.
Luke 4:28-30
And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled
with wrath,
And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and
led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that
they might cast him down headlong.
But he passing through the midst of them went
his way,
The world
is conditioned to think that churches are full of nice men who only want
to do good. Well, they're not, they're infested with weedy homosexual
cunts
who worship Lucifer and whose only passion in life is to get rich while
having your young boys suck their cocks.
What about Jesus Christ's friends, those his own
age he'd grown up with? What did they think of him?
Mark 3:20,21
And the multitude cometh together again, so that they could not so much
as eat bread.
And when his friends heard of it, they went out
to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself.
Being beside yourself is madness. His friends
thought he was mad, they thought he was a lunatic, a nutter. They tried
to physically restrain him and drag him away.
John 6:59-61,65,66
Many therefore of his disciples, when they had
heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it?
When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples
murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you?
And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no
man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.
From that time many of his disciples went back,
and walked no more with him.
What about his own family? We know he had 4
brothers and at least 3 sisters.
Matthew 13:55,56
And his sisters, are they not all with us?
Whence then hath this man all these things?
Four brothers and at least three sisters, makes
a family of eight, minimum. Mary really wasn't much of a virgin then,
was she? Aw, am I making folks mad? Do they want to stone me
because I'm teaching the truth about that pagan whore goddess Mary? If
you're a Catholic and you love God, get out of that shithole cult and
quit being an idolater who worships pagan gods. Mary is dead and will
remain so until the return.
John 7:3-5
For there is no man that doeth any thing in
secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou do these
things, shew thyself to the world.
For neither did his brethren believe in him.
All the men of God throughout the bible had to
endure public ridicule and persecution. Joseph was almost murdered by
his own brothers, and was then sold as a slave in Egypt. His own
brothers did that to him, the men who gave birth to the tribes of
Israel.
Jeremiah was chucked in the public dungeon.
Those dungeons were simply holes in the ground covered by a trapdoor.
They were never cleaned out and so were full of human excrement, and
filth washed in from the streets. That's what the people in Jeremiah's
day thought of God and his man. When Jeremiah was lowered into the
dungeon, he sank up to his armpits in shit.
Jeremiah 38:6
The word tells us that the world hates us, and
that we will have to endure persecution. This isn't something God keeps
hidden from us.
2 Timothy 3:12
Persecution, translated from the Greek word
diōkō, simply means to earnestly pursue. It is neither positive nor
negative in itself, it simply means to earnestly pursue. According to
Corinthians, we are to earnestly pursue, to diōkō, the love of God.
1 Corinthians 14:1
Persecution simply means to pursue. It does not
mean to harm. Jesus Christ was persecuted throughout his entire
ministry, but he never suffered any harm until he allowed it. Don't be
afraid of persecution, because in all things we are more than conquerors
though him that loved us.
Romans 8:36,37
Nay, in all these things we are more than
conquerors through him that loved us.
Paul was persecuted all through his ministry as
well. Look at this record of him being more than a conqueror despite
persecution.
Acts 18:9-17
For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee
to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city.
And he continued there a year and six months,
teaching the word of God among them.
And when Gallio was the deputy of Achaia, the
Jews [Judeans] made insurrection with one accord against Paul, and
brought him to the judgment seat,
Saying, This fellow persuadeth men to worship
God contrary to the law.
And when Paul was now about to open his mouth,
Gallio said unto the Jews [Judeans], If it were a matter of wrong or
wicked lewdness, O ye Jews, reason would that I should bear
with you:
But if it be a question of words and names, and
of your law, look ye to it; for I will be no judge of such
matters.
And he drave them from the judgment seat.
Then all the Greeks took Sosthenes, the chief
ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the judgment seat. And
Gallio cared for none of those things.
Sure, Paul did get beaten a few times, but whose
fault was it that he went to Jerusalem in Acts 21? God tried to stop him
from going, didn't he? So don't automatically just assume that
persecution means pain and physical beatings, it does not. It simply
means to be pursued. If we keep our minds in the word and walk by the
spirit we will be more than conquerors in every situation, despite any
persecution.
Why does the world persecute us? Well, who is
the god of this world? He doesn't like the word being taught. He enjoys
his worship from men and hates believers being born again and
manifesting the power of God.
John 15:18
1 John 3:11-13
Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and
slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were
evil, and his brother's righteous.
Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.
Why does the world hate us so much? Well, how
would you feel right now if you had sold your soul to the world and you
were born of the seed of the serpent, and there you were, sitting in
your chateau, an Aston Martin parked outside, knowing your life was
drawing to a close, and that you had nothing to look forward to but
death? How would you feel knowing you had chosen to serve Lucifer the
god of death for nothing
more than a fistful of bribes, while God's children had eternal life
coming to them and that they would one day watch you die in the lake of
fire?
It really is no wonder that the world hates us, but I can live with that. They made their choices. They chose to serve Lucifer because they loved money, and that's all they have. Never mind their hatreds and persecutions, be more than a conqueror and move the word. Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. Keep your eyes on the hope. Don't be discouraged. Men have their day now, but our time is coming and our time will be forever.
1 John 4:4,5
They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.
1 John 3:1
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