Do Christians still suffer persecution today? When last were you attacked for being a Christian? And I’m not just talking about being “attacked” online for holding to your beliefs. Rather, I’m asking whether you’ve experienced face-to-face attacks on your Christian beliefs or character.

If you have, remember what Jesus told his disciples: “You will be hated by all for my name’s sake” (Matthew 10:22). In other words, if you are clinging fast to Jesus and his teachings, you will inevitably experience an attack.

Such attacks can vary in severity, from verbal arguments that seem to cut to the core of your identity to actual physical attacks that harm your body.

This is persecution, and it has been going on since the dawn of Christianity.

In The Global War on Christians, John Allen calls the worldwide persecution of Christians “the most dramatic religion story of the early twenty-first century, yet one that most people in the West have little idea is even happening.” The respected journalist describes this persecution as “the most compelling Christian narrative of the early twenty-first century.” According to him, “Christians today indisputably are the most persecuted religious body on the planet.”

While 30 percent of the world’s population identifies as Christian, 80 percent of all acts of religious discrimination around the world are directed at Christians. One scholar estimates that 90 percent of all people killed based on their religious beliefs are Christians.

Now, a majority of Christians in the US do not face such devastating persecution. Few of us are interrogated, arrested, tortured, or killed for our faith. And for the millions of believers in America who know nothing about such persecution, we ought to pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ across the globe who must endure these horrific acts against our faith.

However, as Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary defines persecute, we may be harassed or punished “in a manner designed to injure, grieve, or afflict specifically . . . because of belief.”

When you were attacked for being a Christian, did you acquiesce to cultural pressure?

Or did you stand on the promises of God?

If the former, know that you are forgiven, and know that the biblical story I’m about to relate will encourage your faith.

If the latter, I applaud your efforts to be a culture-changing Christian in your sphere of influence.

But I also know—from personal experience—that none of us always makes the right choice when it comes to following God.

And when someone attacks your beliefs, it can be very challenging indeed to respond well and respond biblically.

An epic battleground

Mount Carmel is a mountain range in northern Israel. Today, Israel’s third-largest city, Haifa, is located on its northern slope. To the range’s east and southeast sits the Valley of Megiddo, which you may know as the place called Armageddon in the book of Revelation. Between the range and the valley sits a spring of water that was the likely setting for one of the most impressive displays of God’s work and one lone prophet’s immense faith.

By the time of this epic battle, the pagan religion of Baal worship had swept the nation of Israel. “Baal” was the Canaanite word for “master” or “lord.” The name described one of the chief male deities of Canaanite religion. He was seen as lord of the weather and storms, so that his voice was heard in the thunder, his spear was the lightning bolt, and his steed the storms.

The Canaanites worshiped Baal in a variety of ways, usually on hilltops called “high places” (so they could be as close to him as possible). They sacrificed animals (and sometimes children) and performed sexual dances on his behalf.

The wife of Baal was Ashtoreth. She was seen as the evening star and the goddess of war and fertility. She was worshiped through temple prostitution (involving both men and women). Sacred pillars (perhaps phallic symbols) were placed near the temples of Baal as altars to her. The Greeks worshiped her as Aphrodite, the Romans as Venus.

These deities were enticing to the Israelites as they entered the land of Canaan, and they remained enticing to them for centuries.

But one would have to imagine that, had the ancient Israelites had access to the kind of immediate news we do today, they would have turned to God after having witnessed what he did for the prophet Elijah in 853 BC at Mount Carmel.

“Lord, answer me”

The full story of Elijah versus the prophets of Baal and Ashtoreth is told in 1 Kings 18:20–40. I recommend reading it, but the condensed version is that Elijah requests 450 of Baal’s prophets and 400 of Ashtoreth’s prophets to meet him at Mount Carmel. Once there, he challenges the prophets to have their god set fire to a sacrificed bull on an altar.

From morning until noon, the prophets cry, limp, and even cut themselves so that their god will hear them. Nothing happens—aside from Elijah mocking their “sleeping” god in verse 27. Then Elijah, full of confidence that God will show his power, douses the bull with water—three times! Realize that, if God doesn’t come through, Elijah’s career as a prophet is over, and his life might be too. In fact, the future of the nation of Israel may have even been in jeopardy at this moment.

Yet Elijah chooses to believe God against 850 other religious zealots.

The conclusion of the story is worth reading in full:

And at the time of the offering of the oblation, Elijah the prophet came near and said, “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.” Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, “The Lord, he is God; the Lord, he is God.” (1 Kings 18:36–39).

Is God truly your king?

So, what does Elijah’s inspiring story tell us about living for Christ today?

If you say and believe that God is your king, then you must trust him whether you want to or not, whether it’s popular or not, whether it’s easy or not, whether you’re persecuted or not. The next time you face persecution for being a Christian, ask yourself these simple questions:

• Who comes first: Jesus or me?
• Do my actions truly reveal what I say I believe?
• Remembering the price he paid for me, do I love Jesus enough to pay this price for him?

You will know if God is actually the king of your life by the degree to which you obey him even when—and maybe especially when—you must make a sacrifice to follow his leading.

The millionaire’s sacrifice

When I consider the word sacrifice, I recall the inspiring story of William Borden.

In late nineteenth-century Chicago, Borden was heir to an immense family fortune his father had accrued from mining silver. Upon William’s graduation from boarding school at age sixteen, his parents gifted him a chaperoned trip around the globe. While in London, Borden surrendered his life to Christian service as a missionary.

After graduating from Yale and Princeton Theological Seminary, Borden planned to become a missionary in China so as to reach the Muslims there. However, he contracted meningitis while studying in Egypt and never recovered. Borden died at the age of twenty-five.

According to an Our Daily Bread devotional from 1988, Borden wrote two words in the back of his Bible after having accepted his call to be a missionary: “No Reserves.”

After turning down lucrative job offers after graduating from Yale, he wrote two more words: “No Retreats.”

Prior to his impending death, he added two final words: “No Regrets.”

When that story was made public, thousands of people reportedly gave themselves to foreign mission work. The end of Borden’s earthly story became the beginning for thousands of spiritual stories—maybe even millions.

Out of gratitude for the grace of God, your opportunity today, in the face of any and all attacks, is to say the same as Borden did: No reserves. No retreats. No regrets.

This article originally appeared in Biblical Insight to Tough Questions Vol. 4, currently available in the Denison Forum store.

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Last July, the Trump administration announced plans to construct the White House State Ballroom, explaining that President Trump and other “patriot donors” would supply the $200 million needed to build the structure. On Wednesday, Mr. Trump raised the estimated cost to $300 million. Demolition of the East Wing was finished yesterday to make way for the new ballroom.

As always seems to be the case with political stories these days, what you thought before you heard the news likely governs what you think of it now. You can applaud Mr. Trump for funding this addition entirely with private donors, or you can claim that the money is coming from “companies chasing favors.” You can agree with an administration spokesman’s prediction that Mr. Trump’s “long-needed upgrades will benefit future generations of future presidents,” or you can  complain that the White House is “not his house.”

In a recent poll, 92 percent of Democrats said the US is going in the wrong direction, but only 24 percent of Republicans agreed. This sixty-eight-point partisan gap is the widest recorded in the history of such polling. Unsurprisingly, two-thirds of Americans believe our political system is too politically divided to solve our nation’s problems.

Here’s a solution you may not have considered: reading.

 “Print changed how people thought”

Cultural commentator James Marriott reports that by the beginning of the eighteenth century, the expansion of education and an explosion of cheap books sparked what became known as the “reading revolution.” Reading was described as a “fever,” an “epidemic,” or a “craze,” resulting in what Marriott calls “an unprecedented democratization of information; the greatest transfer of knowledge into the hands of ordinary men and women in history.”

People read newspapers, journals, history, philosophy, science, theology, and literature. Books, periodicals, and pamphlets abounded. And, as Marriott notes, “print changed how people thought.” He explains:

The world of print is orderly, logical, and rational. In books, knowledge is classified, comprehended, connected, and put in its place. Books make arguments, propose theses, develop ideas. “To engage with the written word,” the media theorist Neil Postman wrote, “means to follow a line of thought, which requires considerable powers of classifying, inference-making, and reasoning.”

Historians have linked this explosion of literacy to the Enlightenment, the birth of human rights, the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution, and, notably, the arrival of democracy.

For example, Thomas Jefferson was convinced that only educated citizens could make the American experiment in self-government succeed. This is why he proposed a system of broad, free, public education that was radical for the day and founded the University of Virginia.

For citizens to elect leaders effectively, they must understand the issues of the day, assess potential leaders appropriately, and hold them accountable upon election. Leaders must concurrently understand the times and be able to lead and communicate with clarity and reason.

“Politics in the age of short-form video”

Today, however, reading is in free-fall.

Marriott notes that reading for pleasure has fallen by 40 percent in the last twenty years. In the UK, more than a third of adults say they have given up reading altogether. Literacy levels are declining or stagnating in most developed countries.

What happened was the smartphone, which delivers content you hear and/or see but seldom read. This content appeals to our emotions much more than to our minds.

Historians have observed that pre-literate “oral” societies are mystical, emotional, and antagonistic in their communications. Our post-literate society is returning to the same; according to Marriott, “our discourse is collapsing into panic, hatred, and tribal warfare.”

As a result, he writes, “Politics in the age of short form video favors heightened emotion, ignorance, and unevidenced assertions.” He warns that “the rational, dispassionate print-based liberal democratic order may not survive this revolution.”

“The chief authority on which our faith is built”

We have focused this week on the urgency and power of seeking a daily, transforming relationship with the living Lord Jesus. As we seek him in prayer, accept and share his passionate love for us, and reject the private sin that impoverishes our souls, the Spirit restores us to the “image” of the Creator in which we were made (Genesis 1:27). In this way, our Father molds us to “become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters” (Romans 8:29 NLT).

A key factor in this process is the word of God, which is “living and active” (Hebrews 4:12) and thus “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16–17).

Tragically, the decline in literacy that is afflicting our culture is afflicting our churches as well. Biblical literacy has been declining for years. A recent American Bible Society report found that only 39 percent of Americans read the Bible even three or four times a year.

Wheaton College New Testament professor Gary M. Burge warns:

To disregard this resource—to neglect the Bible—is to remove the chief authority on which our faith is built. We are left vulnerable, unable to check the teachings of those who invite us to follow, incapable of charting a true course past siren voices calling from treacherous islands such as TV programs, popular books, and enchanting prophecies displayed on colorful Web sites.

“Did not our hearts burn within us”

So, here’s a simple invitation: seek to meet Jesus in his word every day. Not just to read the Bible, but to hear the voice of its Author as he speaks to your soul. Not just to have a “quiet time,” but to be changed by the Spirit.

We are not finished reading the Bible until we read ourselves in its light and align in a new way with its truth.

Jesus wants to teach his word to our minds and use it to change our hearts. When he encountered two people on the road to Emmaus, he “interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:27). They said later, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?” (v. 32).

When last did your heart “burn” within you?

Quote for the day:

“My conscience is captive to the Word of God.” —Martin Luther

Our latest website resources:

• Rare earth minerals, Louvre jewelry heist, “No Kings” protests & a World Series preview!
• What is cultural apologetics and why is it critical for today’s culture?
• Hostages come home, Super Bowl halftime debate, Nobel Peace Prize, MLB playoffs & NBA and NHL are back!
• Understanding the AI Bible, assisted suicide, congressional term limits & free speech
• Ask Jim: Should Christians celebrate Halloween? What happens when we die? Does demon possession still happen today?

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A group of new children’s storybook Bibles is being published to reflect a progressive focus on diversity, inclusion, and social justice. One is The Just Love Story Bible, a “justice-oriented” storybook for children ages four to ten. Authored by Rev. Jacqui Lewis and Rev. Shannon Daley-Harris, it features fifty-two Bible stories and illustrations portraying characters in black, brown, and tan skin tones.

The authors said they hope to prompt children to ask questions and challenge traditional beliefs about God, Jesus, and the biblical narrative. For example, Lewis describes her storybook’s presentation of Jesus’ resurrection: “Did that happen? For me, it matters more that children know that love never dies, so that’s where I landed.”

Rev. Lewis’s bio on her church’s website describes her congregation as “a Christian universalist, multicultural, multiethnic rainbow coalition” that “understands what Jacqui preaches: Love liberates. Love. Period.”

This focus is not new, of course. Rob Bell generated controversy with his book a few years ago, Love Wins, in which he argues for a universalist theology that rejects the existence of hell. When people debate same-sex relationships and marriage, an LGBTQ advocate will inevitably proclaim the mantra “love is love,” as though this wins the argument and ends the discussion.

But does it?

Love is a verb

Yesterday we focused on the power of love to change the world. But not just any love from any source expressed in any way: God’s love manifested by God’s Spirit when we make God’s Son our Lord.

Let’s think about this for a moment.

A philosopher would say that love has no ontological status, meaning that it has no independent existence. We say that we “feel love” for someone, but we do not feel love unless it is for someone. Try this yourself: attempt to “feel love” right now in the abstract, apart from a particular object of that love.

Similarly, we say we “act in love,” but we cannot do so unless our action is directed at someone. Try to “act in love” right now in the abstract, apart from a particular object.

As Stephen Covey observed, love is a verb rather than a noun. So if someone says that “love liberates” or “love wins” or “love is love,” we need to know more. Who is the one loving? Who is the one being loved? What is the nature of this love?

Consider:

• David’s love affair with Bathsheba led to deceit and murder (2 Samuel 11).
• Solomon’s love for “many foreign women” turned him to idolatry and led to the division of his kingdom (1 Kings 11).
• German boys and girls who joined the Hitler Youth swore “always to do my duty with love and loyalty, for the Führer and our flag” (my emphasis)

• The ACLU is backing a drive to challenge bigamy laws, part of a larger move to normalize and legalize polyamorous and polygamous “love.”
• Wikipedia lists a large number of pedophile groups advocating for sexual “love” between adults and children.

“The gospel is bad news before it is good news”

Our problem with love is its source: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick” (Jeremiah 17:9). Jesus described our “heart condition” this way: “from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness” (Mark 7:21–22).

As a result, we need a spiritual heart transplant. We need the “new heart” only God can give us (Ezekiel 36:26) when we are “born again” as his children through faith in his Son (John 1:12; 3:3). Frederick Buechner said of this reality:

The gospel is bad news before it is good news. It is the news that man is a sinner, to use the old word, that he is evil in the imagination of his heart, that when he looks in the mirror all in a lather what he sees is at least eight parts chicken, phony, slob. That is the tragedy. But it is also the news that he is loved anyway, cherished, forgiven, bleeding to be sure, but also bled for. That is the comedy.

According to Tim Keller, “The gospel is this: we are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.”

Here’s the catch: We must experience the risen Lord Jesus personally to experience the transformation he can make in our lives. He alone can forgive our sins, save our souls, transform our character, and manifest himself in and through us.

“Love wins” when it is his love.

God’s word assures us: “The Lᴏʀᴅ your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs” (Zephaniah 3:17 NLT). Commenting on this promise, First15, our devotional ministry, quotes Brennan Manning:

“My deepest awareness of myself is that I am deeply loved by Jesus Christ and I have done nothing to earn it or deserve it.”

Will you make his “awareness” yours today?

Quote for the day:

“We should be astonished at the goodness of God, stunned that he should bother to call us by name, our mouths wide open at his love, bewildered that at this very moment we are standing on holy ground.” —Brennan Manning

Our latest website resources:

• What is cultural apologetics and why is it critical for today’s culture?
• Hostages come home, Super Bowl halftime debate, Nobel Peace Prize, MLB playoffs & NBA and NHL are back!
• Understanding the AI Bible, assisted suicide, congressional term limits & free speech
• Ask Jim: Should Christians celebrate Halloween? What happens when we die? Does demon possession still happen today?
• What does the Bible say about pornography? Can you break free from sexual temptation?

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