Becoming Christian
Becoming Christian
By J.L. Robb
Sometimes when I’m soul-searching, I wonder if I would have become a Christian in Jesus’ day. Would I have had the courage? Maybe it is easier today to become a Christian than it was in Jesus’ day, before Christianity was a word. Think about it.
A large group of Jewish followers watched Jesus, day-after-day, perform great wonders and preach in a manner no one had ever done before. He healed the blind, the lame, the deaf, the mute and brought the dead to life. The Jews in that day had not seen wonders like this since the plagues of Egypt, 1,500 years earlier. They watched as Jesus berated the egotistical Pharisees and their constant condemnation.
Did the Rabbis of that day really want to find a Messiah? They would have had to share their importance and prestige. This question is similar to the one asked nearly 2,000 years after Jesus: Should Christ and the Father in Heaven be removed from the public education system?
If we recall history, Christianity once was an important study in the school system and Bible stories were shown in the school auditoriums. It had been a serious subject in the schools since the Founders of 1776. Do we remember that the movement to remove God was led by preachers and rabbis, as well as Madalyn Murray O’Hair and her band of atheists? Why share the glory with the schools? The children should go to church or the temple to learn about God. Job security.
If you were a Jew in Jesus’ day and a follower of Jesus as the Messiah, what would you have thought about the crucifixion? What would you have thought about the brutal whipping of Jesus and other tortures that followed? Would you remember Jesus saying this?
“You will be hated by everyone on account of My name, but the one who perseveres to the end will be saved.” Matthew 10:22 (Berean Study Bible)
Or this?
“Then they will hand you over to be persecuted and killed, and you will be hated by all nations on account of My name.” Matthew 24:9 (Berean Study Bible)
When Jesus made these predictions to the Apostles, they really had no clue what was being said. They still did not understand that Jesus would be tortured and killed, because they did not understand the prophecies.
Once Jesus was tortured and killed, all but one Apostle scattered like the wind, terrified at what had happened. The man who could bring the dead back to life, was dead; and Jesus’ journey to death had been formidable. The one who didn’t scatter was John, the only Apostle who attended the crucifixion. John was also the only Apostle not murdered, and the last to die. John was the Apostle who received the vision of the end times from Jesus in Revelation.
“All these are the beginning of birth pains. Then they will hand you over to be persecuted and killed, and you will be hated by all nations on account of My name. At that time many will fall away and will betray and hate one another,…” Matthew 24:8-10 (Berean Study Bible)
Jesus’ resurrection convinced the Apostles that Jesus was worth dying for, and being persecuted for and all the torture that came their way. They did not know that 30 years later in Rome, Nero would hammer Christians to stakes and set them on fire to light his gardens at night. They did not know that Christians would be thrown in the arena to be ravaged by lions and other wild beasts. They did not know a malevolent, so-called religion would raise its beastly head in the land of Ishmael 600 years later, a beast that would thrive on the torture and murder of Christians and Jews. The beast is still at it today.
May, 2017- Manchester, England: 22 dead
May, 2017- Libya: ISIS terrorists stop a bus full of Coptic Christians in the desert, and open fire. 26 dead.
May, 2017- Philippines: ISIS connected Islamists tie 9 Christians together and shoot them to death.
May, 2017- Baghdad, Iraq: ISIS murderers bomb ice cream shop and kill 10; ISIS bombs the elderly lined up to get pensions and kill 12.
May, 2017- Kabul, Afghanistan: Islamist bomb kills 80+
May was a busy month for persecution and murder at the hands of the beast; and this beast is not particular who he kills. Persecution of Christians is not only happening at the hands of Islamists. In India, Hindus violently attack Christians every 40 hours.
According to World Net Daily:
A 2015 study, for instance, published by the American Enterprise Institute and the Institute for Family Studies, showed that states with higher percentages of children living with their biological parents in a traditional family have the highest median incomes, the fastest income growth, the lowest rates of child poverty and the greatest upward mobility.
We can bring to bear all the beauty and power of the Christian faith and the data and research showing that following these truths lead, in the long run, to healthier and wealthier lives. But we can’t make anyone follow the faith. That’s what freedom is about. Letting people choose.
But what we’re experiencing now is growing religious persecution in our country. Those with anti-Christian values have considerable power through the media and are using it to eradicate traditional Christian values and presence.
When the Apostles decided to pick up their crosses and follow Jesus, they followed more closely than we do today. Like Jesus, they followed The Law. If we, as Christians, were commanded to follow the Law that Jesus followed, there would be a lot less Christians. We do however follow some of the Law of Moses. We follow the Ten Commandments, sort of, with a dash of homosexuality here and porn, there. We did add a few more rules than just the Ten Commandments, but I am still unsure of how those decisions were made.
Regardless of the Law, for Christians, merely believing in our hearts that Jesus was and is who he claimed to be, the Messiah, will get us a pass of sorts. That is why Jesus said when we pray to God, pray in the name of Jesus. That indicates to God that we really do believe that Jesus is the Savior who was predicted to come?
Persecution?
I think we’ve seen nothing compared to what’s coming. What happened to the Yazidis in Iraq and the Coptics in Libya is headed to the Americas. I, for one, hope and pray not to be here.
Maranatha!