Eternal allegiance to Christ Jesus, the Mighty Victor over sin and death

There are several questions I would like to ask when I get to heaven someday. One of them is: How many of the Jews who stoned Stephen to death eventually repented of their evil ways and received Jesus Christ as their Saviour, and how many of them later became victims of Christ-haters and were martyred and killed themselves? As a reminder that nothing has changed since the beginning of time, I would like to quote to you some verses from Genesis 4 and Acts 7.

Genesis 4:3-10

3 And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD.
4  And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering:
5  But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.
6 And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?
7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.
8 And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.
9 And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother’s keeper?
10 And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground.

Acts 7: 51-60

51 Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.
52 Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers:
53  Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it.
54 When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth.
55  But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,
56  And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.
57  Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord,
58  And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul.
59 And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
60  And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

Please, if you will, take note of the passages I have emphasized and bolded when you read the following excerpts from a report by Robert McCurry in The Wake-Up Herald of 10 August 2009. While reading this shocking news we need to ask ourselves whether we as the Bride of Christ are really and truly obeying our Lord who commanded us to love our enemies and to pray for them (Matthew 5:44). I earnestly ask you to keep in mind when you read this that our warfare is not against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places (Ephesians 6;12). Also keep in mind that Satan and his demons have already been conquered by Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary and that he is merely doing what he has been doing since the beginning (John 8:44). Therefore the children of God can rejoice in the knowledge that we ought to have no fear of those who can kill the body and not the soul but rather that we should fear Him who is able to destroy both body and soul in hell (Matthew 10:28). We should fear God and no man.

Will Christianity become a crime in America?

by Robert McCurry

Are you willing to go to prison for your Christian faith? This would be a bizarre question to ask of any average American who considers themselves to be a Christian, but not so for those living somewhere other than the United States. In a world that cries for tolerance and equality, Christianity is becoming the new minority worldwide. And while we sit comfortably in our easy chair nestled in the safety of a perceived freedom, it is folly to be so naive to think that Christianity can not become a crime in America.

All over the world, Christians are finding themselves face to face with the choice of either their lives or their faith. A 33-year-old mother was executed in North Korea for distributing Bibles. Her husband, children and parents were sent to a political prison the day after her June 16 execution. In Dong Hoi, the capital city of Quang Binh province in Vietnam, nearly 150 worshipers were in their regular church service when police and security officials attacked them with teargas, batons, sticks, and stun guns. What about the recent public displaying of the Bible in a British art gallery? On lookers took the opportunity to deface the Bible by scrawling foul, obscene, and explicative narration across the pages. . . .

The United States?

While addressing leaders of the Middle East, President Obama made his now famous declaration that “America is no longer a Christian nation” while trying to assure the world that America would be tolerant of all faiths. However, he seems to be correct as more and more Americans are saying that they hold no religious affiliation. . . .

Is America becoming intolerant of its Christian heritage? Already legislation has been passed expanding current Hate-Crime Law. Proponents of the bill argue that its expansion is for the inclusion of sexual preference, but opponents see an opportunity for it to be used to silence Christian faith at its very heart, the pulpit.

Meanwhile schools, airports, courts rooms, and any other building accessible to the public are finding that Christian insignias are being removed and banned. With every court battle and every threatened lawsuit, the secular left moves forward driving Christianity out of the public eye. Christianity has become the target and whipping post of most media venues. One important question remains for every American. If Christianity becomes a crime in the United States, what will my response be?

What should our response be?

Should the Bride of Christ be alarmed, dismayed, and bewildered by the worldwide escalation of persecution, killings and martyrdoms many Christians are experiencing? What does the Bible teach us:

1 Peter 4:12-14

12 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
13 But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.
14 If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.

Philippians 1:27-29

27 Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;
28 And in nothing terrified by your adversaries: which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God.
29 For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;

Robert McCurry continues his report as follows:

A Headline in the August 3, 3009, World Net Daily:

Muslims torch Christians for alleged ‘blasphemy’ of Quran. More than 100 houses ablaze as women, children face slaughter by mob.

On Saturday, a frenzied mob of three thousand Muslims stormed the tiny Pakistani Christian village of Gojra. Enflamed by (unconfirmed) charges that a Christian had burned pages of the Qur’an, the mob burned down fifty homes, burned eight Christians alive, and wounded twenty others. The death toll included women, children and other burnt victims who were unable to reach hospitals for proper medical care. Thousands of Christians fled the area.

Last Thursday, enraged by the same report of blasphemy, another Muslim mob torched seventy-five Christian homes, along with two churches, in Koriyan, a village near Gojra.

Daily Sun – Thursday, August 6, 2009 –

Three pastors beheaded for refusing to accept Islam.

One of the victims of last week’s attack by the Yusufiya sect in Borno State has given a shocking account of how the Islamic extremists killed three pastors who were captured along with other victims on the second day of the insurgence. The victim was among those held hostage in Yusuf’s enclave.

Speaking exclusively to Daily Sun in Maiduguri, the eye witness who preferred anonymity disclosed that the three pastors were beheaded on the instruction of the sect leader, Mohammed Yusuf shortly after bringing them out of his inner chamber.

“The pastors alongside one Ibo man were asked to change their faith to Islam like they did to other people taken as hostages. I think there was an argument by one of the pastors which gave the others some level of confidence to also resist accepting Islam.”

Corroborating the account of the killing, a Senior pastor with Good News Church, Wulari Maiduguri Rev. Baba Gata Ibrahim told Daily Sun in an interview that a pastor in his church, Pastor George Orjih was beheaded on the instruction of the Boko Haram leader because the clergy man refused to accept Islam.

“An eye witness who was also captured by the Islamic militants gave us details of how the pastor was killed. He told us they were persuading him to accept Islam and he said over his dead body. He was even said to have preached Christ to Mohammed Yusuf and that reportedly angered the sect leader who then as he ordered that the pastor and others be killed immediately,” he disclosed.

Muslims are not persecuting Christians only in Pakistan. On July 18, Muslims in Alexandria, Egypt kidnapped a sixteen-year-old Christian girl, Amira Markos, while she was on her way to work. Shortly thereafter her mother received a phone call: “At 10 o’clock of the same morning someone called me and asked if I was Amira’s mother. He introduced himself as Sheikh Mohammed, and said that my daughter is fine and will convert to Islam. When I cried and begged him to let me have my daughter back, he said he would let me see her again after her conversion to Islam, and ended the call.”

With each instance, the practice of abuse towards Christianity has become normal, if not expected. So much so that the average person in America has become desensitized to the violence.

Like Stephen’s murderers who gnashed their teeth and stopped their ears from hearing his preaching, these Muslims also closed their ears to Pastor George Orjih’s preaching and brutally murdered him. What should our response be? Hatred? A Spirit-filled child of God cannot but feel pity and love for the murderers while they rejoice in the fact that the three beheaded pastors remained faithful to God to the very end of their lives and are now (this very moment) seeing the indescribably beautiful face of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. They, like so many others before them who had been martyred and killed for the sake of Jesus Christ and his Gospel, are going to receive the martyrs crown of victory at the Bema judgement seat of Christ, immediately after the Rapture which is closer than we think. My concern is for those Muslims who think they have done God a favour when they killed the three pastors. They desperately need Jesus Christ to save them because it is not His will that any should perish but that all should come to the knowledge of His salvation (2 Peter 3:9).

I sincerely hope and pray that the beheaded and martyred pastors as well as I will someday meet up with some of Stephen’s and the three pastors’ martyrs and murderers in heaven. Is that at all possible? Well, Saul of Tarsus who left the dirty work of stoning Stephen to the Jewish rabble and consented to his death is now in heaven with our Lord Jesus Christ. If God was able to save a murderer like Saul who later became Paul, He is capable of saving the worst of murderers.

To close my comment I would like to remind you that the persecution Christians are experiencing even in Western countries these days is not against the Christian per se, but against Jesus Christ Himself. Listen to His words in Acts 9:4 when He confronted Saul who was on his way to persecute the Christians in Damascus?

Acts 9:4 And he [Saul] fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?

Killing Christians is not going to get rid of God because you CANNOT kill Him. Jesus ever lives after He had been killed and risen from the dead and He is eventually going to return to judge the nations and every individual who wilfully and rebelliously refuse to repent of their evil ways and receive Him as their Saviour.

Revelation 22:20

He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.