Christian Have Always Been Persecuted
Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. (Matt 24:9, NIV)
This verse from one of the three Olivet Discourses isn’t probably one of your favorites and certainly isn’t a best seller from Home Interior plaques or pictures to hang in your home. I don’t recall seeing bumper stickers with it on it nor have I seen a lot of pretty Facebook memes posted on the walls of Christians. And that may actually be part of the problem for many believers, because if all we do is post only the “blessed” verses and avoid the whole of prophetic verses, we may be doing a great disservice for other Christians and definitely sugar-coating the life of a believer to those who are not Christians. This verse is one of many that tell us that persecution will be on the rise just before Jesus returns. We should be preparing for it because Jesus warned us about it more than once, but particularly for those in the Body of Christ living now.