Easy to say, when it’s not your body that was beaten. Or, when you are not bound up as a prisoner for Christ. Relieve, support, and give; but, by all means pray, like prayer is more effective than anything we can possibly do. “Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body” (Hebrews 13:3 KJV). Prayer is not like a consolation prize we get for participating in a game. It is more effective than money, because Christ mingles His “intercession for them” (7:25) with all our prayers to accomplish all the good possible for the Kingdom of God. Allow the emotion of what comes over us for the suffering we see in our brothers and sisters to cause us to pray. LORD, we know You are watching over Your children, especially those being persecuted. Preserve them. Grant them courage. Bless them with confidence in You. Even give them joy for knowing they have been accounted worthy to suffer shame for Your name. Allow persecution to remind us, we do not simply wrestle with flesh and blood, but spiritual wickedness in high places. Return quickly, Lord Jesus, and deliver all Your children. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Persecution
Persecution Grows the Church (Revelation 7:9)
Saul of Tarsus (the future Apostle Paul) was the berserker, who wreaked havoc on the Early Church, but the churches “were multiplied” (Acts 9:31 KJV); nonetheless, because persecution grew the Church. Likewise, a “great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues” (Revelation 7:9 KJV) will respond to the Gospel witnessed by the 144,000. That multitude will be those martyred by antichrist. “These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (7:14). A seeming paradox is the blood of Christian martyrs grows the Church. Tertullian (155-240 AD) defended the Christian faith before the governors of the Roman Empire. He said, “The oftener we are mown down by you, the more in number we grow; the blood of Christians is seed” (The Apology, 50.13). Though the Vanity Fair approach has been enormously successful in limiting Spiritual Christianity, even such measures will become unnecessary during the final end game of the Tribulation Week. LORD, grant unto Your children the patience of faith of Christ, Stephen, Antipas, and Your Two Witnesses that we may, too, witness a good confession for You, even unto death. In Jesus’ name, we ask it. Amen.
Canary in the Coal Mine
Just as canaries warned of dangerous levels of carbon monoxide gas in coal mines, antisemitism on American college campuses in support of Hamas and condemning Israel in the wake of the 2023 attacks against Israel from Gaza predict a future hatred for Christianity. Jews were initially targeted in Nazi Germany, but next Christians such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer were silenced, too. “And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 12:3 KJV).
We Need A Miracle 