A Pastor’s Perspective

“Persecution Complex” by Mike Hill, pastor of Calvary Chapel Aberdeen        

Listen to CALVARY RADIO 90.3 FM  (mjhill@ida.net)                                    

      I was higher than I ever was on drugs.  My joy and peace exceeded what my whiskey sours and beer could supply.  When I received Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior twenty years ago, God’s transforming work immediately began within me.  I knew my sins were forgiven.  I became aware of the fact that my name was written on God’s reservation list in heaven: the Book of Life.  I experienced freedom from sin and guilt because of what Jesus had done for me.  Why wouldn’t I want to tell others about Him?  He’s been so good to me!  Besides, Jesus said,  “Whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven but whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 10:32-33).  I told everyone about Jesus.  I even left gospel tracts in the bathroom stalls where I worked.  However, this got me into trouble with my boss.  Initially, I thought, “I’m being persecuted because of my faith.”  Yet, when we met together to talk about the gospel tracts, he said, “Mike, I respect your beliefs and I am not asking you to give up your faith.  It’s just that the tracts are causing a disruption among the employees.”  Obviously, I wasn’t being persecuted.  My manager was actually doing me a favor.  I was on company time and they deserved hard work from me to fulfill my responsibility (cf. Ephesians 6:5-8).  So, I opted to stop leaving tracts while on the clock and to wait until the appropriate time to share my faith. 

     What then is persecution?  I believe a prime example of persecution is the treatment that the Jews have received past and present.  According to the federal crime statistics, “68% of all hate crimes committed in the United States in 2007 were against Jewish people, even though they constitute only 1.7 percent of the population” (U.S. Rep. Chris Smith—R-NJ).  This same source had indicated that “anti-Semitism is ‘back with a vengeance’ and this time in history [is] ‘the worst’ since the Holocaust.”  When you survey the Bible, you begin to wonder, “Why in the world are the descendents of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob treated so badly?”  Consider the 400 years of slavery in Egypt when they were forced to kill their newborn sons (Exodus 1); the attempted annihilation of the Jewish people in the days of Esther; Herod’s edict to murder all the children under two years old (Matthew 2:16); and the future persecution of Israel (Revelation 12:13-15).  The Bible presents Satan as the origin of anti-Semitism (Revelation 12:13).  The devil attempted to wipe out the Jews in the biblical past to prevent the Messiah from coming in the world.  Now he wants to destroy the Jews in order to prevent them from having their eyes opened to receive Jesus as their Messiah and from fulfilling Bible prophecy that describes the Lord’s return (cf. Zechariah 12:10).  However, in each biblical story God always turned the tables on the enemy and delivered His people.  God fulfilled His promises in the past and, rest assured, He will fulfill His promises in the future. 

     Have you ever felt persecuted?  Pray for God’s comfort, boldness, and for His Word to reach even more people (2Corinthians 1:3-7; Acts 4:29-30).  And, pray for God to bless the Jewish people (Genesis 12:3a).