It could also be sensible now to ask, what exactly is Christian persecution? The short answer is someone who’s given hostile treatment or suffers resulting from their faith in Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, mistreatment could be done in a wide range of ways, including not only physical abuse but mental and emotional torture as well. The point of persecution is to inflict pain as a way to intimidate, silence, punish, and even cause death upon someone who’s professing or living out their faith.Â
These horrendous acts of harassment and oppression began with the origin of sin (Genesis 3, Psalm 51:5). As sin was spread around the globe, essentially, so was hatred. We see this unfold from the very starting as each the Old Testament and New Testament have reports of physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual persecution of God’s people.Â
Exodus 1-3 shows the Israelites’ fate under Egyptian pharaohs’ rule. Then, in Daniel 3, we see the persecution of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego for his or her refusal to worship the king, remaining faithful to the one and true God. Then there have been the prophets Amos, Jeremiah, Zechariah, and Uriah, who were cruelly persecuted and met with resistance for his or her efforts to spread God’s will.
The New Testament holds the identical theme, as faithful followers of Jesus endured brutal and crippling oppression and torment. John the Baptist was rebuked, imprisoned, and even beheaded for following what the religious rulers believed to be a false messiah (Matthew 11:9, Luke 3:19-20, and John 3:6-12). Paul, the faithful missionary, also got here up against great objection upon sharing the gospel (Acts 20-28). Then, in fact, there was Jesus Himself, who was persecuted. The Son of Man who led an ideal life, preaching of God’s grace and judgment while making a ministry that prolonged love and peace, offering healing with real hope, was mocked, tormented, arrested, and crucified by a twisted group of leaders (Matthew 26:3-5).
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