Martyrdom
Got a concern about teaching end-time safety from a good friend today. I thought it might help more people, so I am sharing it here:
Concern: We see godly people killed in the Bible and through history because they did the will of God. Like Stephen was stoned to death. God showed mercy and made him go to sleep so he didn't suffer, but harm was still done. And most of the Apostles were killed for doing the will of God.
And Jesus himself said "if they persecuted me they will persecute you also."
I am just concerned because if we aren't protected for harm in the end times, but only provided for like I suspect right now then teaching protection is a dangerous thing because it could lead to offense and falling away of people when harm comes.
____________________________
My Answer: Everyone loyal to Jesus getting harmed/martyrd is simply not the case. Out of the thousands in the Bible that were saved in the book of Acts, only a couple are mentioned as martyrs. The Book of Acts isnt the Book of Martyrs....its the acts of the church growing under persecution.
*The Bible says to teach the RESPONSE of sanctification, or being set apart, primarily in REPENTANCE...response results in protection otherwise, there is really no point in response. This is what Jesus is praying for in John 17.
Read Psalm 91:
Psalms 91:7-15 A thousand may fall at your side, And ten thousand at your right hand; But it shall not come near you. (8) Only with your eyes shall you look, And see the reward of the wicked. (9) Because you have made the LORD, who is my refuge, Even the Most High, your dwelling place, (10) No evil shall befall you, Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling; (11) For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways. (12) In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone. (13) You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra, The young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot. (14) "Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name. (15) He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him.
Read Psalm 27:
Psalms 27:3-6 Though an army may encamp against me, My heart shall not fear; Though war may rise against me, In this I will be confident. (4) One thing I have desired of the LORD, That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD All the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the LORD, And to inquire in His temple. (5) For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; In the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me high upon a rock. (6) And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me; Therefore I will offer sacrifices of joy in His tabernacle; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the LORD.
(Psalm 27 is the core idea behind of Davids Tabernacle, or night and day prayer, which is the PLACE of protection)
Read Haggai:
Haggai 2:7-9 and I will shake all nations, and they shall come to the Desire of All Nations, and I will fill this temple with glory,' says the LORD of hosts. (8) 'The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine,' says the LORD of hosts. (9) 'The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former,' says the LORD of hosts. 'And in this place I will give peace,' says the LORD of hosts."
*In the temple there is peace
Read Revelation:
Revelation 7:1-3 After these things I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, on the sea, or on any tree. (2) Then I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God. And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, (3) saying, "Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads."
*The sealed are protected THROUGHOUT the rest of the book:
Revelation 9:4 They were commanded not to harm the grass of the earth, or any green thing, or any tree, but only those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.
*This protection is promised only to Philadelphia:
Revelation 3:10 Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.
*The are kept "from" something...not just watched
***You want to be very careful about prescribing "misfortune"...Instead, you want to prescribe response that in hope, leads to protection.*** God desires NONE should perish.
That is different than saying "peace" when there is no peace. The false prophecying of peace is designed to cancel a response. The true peace (Jesus IS, in fact, the Prince of Peace) PRODUCES a response of repentance. Yes, great trouble is coming. Yes, a few will be martyred. But, that is a great honor for those that lead others to safety!!! You don't need to get ready to die. You need to get ready to have a vision of living and being kept through a very scary time:
Isaiah 10:1-4 "Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, Who write misfortune, Which they have prescribed (2) To rob the needy of justice, And to take what is right from the poor of My people, That widows may be their prey, And that they may rob the fatherless. (3) What will you do in the day of punishment, And in the desolation which will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help? And where will you leave your glory? (4) Without Me they shall bow down among the prisoners, And they shall fall among the slain." For all this His anger is not turned away, But His hand is stretched out still.
Do you see God is saying "if you don't have hope, then you'll leave yourself no place to flee for help!"
***Right now, there is a doubt being spread about teaching people how to be safe. The doubt is something along the lines that "if you believe God will protect you, then you won't be ready to be martyred." You don't need to get ready to be martyred. You need to get ready to feed other people hope in a time of darkness. People that are martyrs feed other sheep the right food at the right time.
Peter took the approach you are describing...he said to Jesus "I am not listening to your warning about having faith, I'm getting ready to die". This is arrogance, not sobriety. Jesus was warning Peter to get a vision of overcoming...
Really, in this next passage, Peter was in pride claiming to be like Jesus, ready to die in glorious obedience...without doing the simple obedience of listening to Jesus.
Luke 22:31-34 And the Lord said, "Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. (32) But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren." (33) But he said to Him, "Lord, I am ready to go with You, both to prison and to death." (34) Then He said, "I tell you, Peter, the rooster shall not crow this day before you will deny three times that you know Me."
Peter thought he was supposed to be ready to die, but Jesus wanted Him to have FAITH. When Jesus restored Peter, he gave him the command to "feed His sheep"
This was Peter, describing hope of safety in persecution:
1 Peter 3:12-17 FOR THE EYES OF THE LORD ARE ON THE RIGHTEOUS, AND HIS EARS ARE OPEN TO THEIR PRAYERS; BUT THE FACE OF THE LORD IS AGAINST THOSE WHO DO EVIL." (13) And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good? (14) But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you are blessed. "AND DO NOT BE AFRAID OF THEIR THREATS, NOR BE TROUBLED." (15) But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; (16) having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. (17) For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.
Peter, after He was restored, never told anyone to get ready to die. You don't need to get ready to die. Someone else will do that for you if that is God's will. You need to get ready to have hope...no one will do that for you.
Concern: We see godly people killed in the Bible and through history because they did the will of God. Like Stephen was stoned to death. God showed mercy and made him go to sleep so he didn't suffer, but harm was still done. And most of the Apostles were killed for doing the will of God.
And Jesus himself said "if they persecuted me they will persecute you also."
I am just concerned because if we aren't protected for harm in the end times, but only provided for like I suspect right now then teaching protection is a dangerous thing because it could lead to offense and falling away of people when harm comes.
____________________________
My Answer: Everyone loyal to Jesus getting harmed/martyrd is simply not the case. Out of the thousands in the Bible that were saved in the book of Acts, only a couple are mentioned as martyrs. The Book of Acts isnt the Book of Martyrs....its the acts of the church growing under persecution.
*The Bible says to teach the RESPONSE of sanctification, or being set apart, primarily in REPENTANCE...response results in protection otherwise, there is really no point in response. This is what Jesus is praying for in John 17.
Read Psalm 91:
Psalms 91:7-15 A thousand may fall at your side, And ten thousand at your right hand; But it shall not come near you. (8) Only with your eyes shall you look, And see the reward of the wicked. (9) Because you have made the LORD, who is my refuge, Even the Most High, your dwelling place, (10) No evil shall befall you, Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling; (11) For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways. (12) In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone. (13) You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra, The young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot. (14) "Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name. (15) He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him.
Read Psalm 27:
Psalms 27:3-6 Though an army may encamp against me, My heart shall not fear; Though war may rise against me, In this I will be confident. (4) One thing I have desired of the LORD, That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD All the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the LORD, And to inquire in His temple. (5) For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; In the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me high upon a rock. (6) And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me; Therefore I will offer sacrifices of joy in His tabernacle; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the LORD.
(Psalm 27 is the core idea behind of Davids Tabernacle, or night and day prayer, which is the PLACE of protection)
Read Haggai:
Haggai 2:7-9 and I will shake all nations, and they shall come to the Desire of All Nations, and I will fill this temple with glory,' says the LORD of hosts. (8) 'The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine,' says the LORD of hosts. (9) 'The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former,' says the LORD of hosts. 'And in this place I will give peace,' says the LORD of hosts."
*In the temple there is peace
Read Revelation:
Revelation 7:1-3 After these things I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, on the sea, or on any tree. (2) Then I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God. And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, (3) saying, "Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads."
*The sealed are protected THROUGHOUT the rest of the book:
Revelation 9:4 They were commanded not to harm the grass of the earth, or any green thing, or any tree, but only those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.
*This protection is promised only to Philadelphia:
Revelation 3:10 Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.
*The are kept "from" something...not just watched
***You want to be very careful about prescribing "misfortune"...Instead, you want to prescribe response that in hope, leads to protection.*** God desires NONE should perish.
That is different than saying "peace" when there is no peace. The false prophecying of peace is designed to cancel a response. The true peace (Jesus IS, in fact, the Prince of Peace) PRODUCES a response of repentance. Yes, great trouble is coming. Yes, a few will be martyred. But, that is a great honor for those that lead others to safety!!! You don't need to get ready to die. You need to get ready to have a vision of living and being kept through a very scary time:
Isaiah 10:1-4 "Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, Who write misfortune, Which they have prescribed (2) To rob the needy of justice, And to take what is right from the poor of My people, That widows may be their prey, And that they may rob the fatherless. (3) What will you do in the day of punishment, And in the desolation which will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help? And where will you leave your glory? (4) Without Me they shall bow down among the prisoners, And they shall fall among the slain." For all this His anger is not turned away, But His hand is stretched out still.
Do you see God is saying "if you don't have hope, then you'll leave yourself no place to flee for help!"
***Right now, there is a doubt being spread about teaching people how to be safe. The doubt is something along the lines that "if you believe God will protect you, then you won't be ready to be martyred." You don't need to get ready to be martyred. You need to get ready to feed other people hope in a time of darkness. People that are martyrs feed other sheep the right food at the right time.
Peter took the approach you are describing...he said to Jesus "I am not listening to your warning about having faith, I'm getting ready to die". This is arrogance, not sobriety. Jesus was warning Peter to get a vision of overcoming...
Really, in this next passage, Peter was in pride claiming to be like Jesus, ready to die in glorious obedience...without doing the simple obedience of listening to Jesus.
Luke 22:31-34 And the Lord said, "Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. (32) But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren." (33) But he said to Him, "Lord, I am ready to go with You, both to prison and to death." (34) Then He said, "I tell you, Peter, the rooster shall not crow this day before you will deny three times that you know Me."
Peter thought he was supposed to be ready to die, but Jesus wanted Him to have FAITH. When Jesus restored Peter, he gave him the command to "feed His sheep"
This was Peter, describing hope of safety in persecution:
1 Peter 3:12-17 FOR THE EYES OF THE LORD ARE ON THE RIGHTEOUS, AND HIS EARS ARE OPEN TO THEIR PRAYERS; BUT THE FACE OF THE LORD IS AGAINST THOSE WHO DO EVIL." (13) And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good? (14) But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you are blessed. "AND DO NOT BE AFRAID OF THEIR THREATS, NOR BE TROUBLED." (15) But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; (16) having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. (17) For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.
Peter, after He was restored, never told anyone to get ready to die. You don't need to get ready to die. Someone else will do that for you if that is God's will. You need to get ready to have hope...no one will do that for you.
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