TRIAL OF PERSECUTION
Beloved, do not be surprised that a trial by fire is occurring among you, as if something strange were happening to you. But rejoice to the extent that you share in the sufferings of Christ, so that when his glory is revealed you may also rejoice exultantly. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. But let no one among you be made to suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as an intriguer. But whoever is made to suffer as a Christian should not be ashamed but glorify God because of the name. For it is time for the judgment to begin with the household of God; if it begins with us, how will it end for those who fail to obey the gospel of God? “And if the righteous one is barely saved, where will the godless and the sinner appear?” As a result, those who suffer in accord with God's will, hand their soul over to a faithful Creator as they do good. 1Peter 4: 12-19
SAYINGS ABOUT THE HOLY SPIRIT
“Everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the holy Spirit will not be forgiven. When they take you before synagogues and before rulers and authorities, do not worry about how or what your defense will be or about what you are to say. For the holy Spirit will teach you at that moment what you should say.”
SAYING AGAINST GREED
Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me.” Jesus replied to him, “Friend, who appointed me as your judge and arbitrator?” Then Jesus said to the crowd, “Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one's life does not consist of possessions.”
PARABLE OF THE RICH FOOL
Then Jesus told them a parable. “There was a rich man whose land produced a bountiful harvest. He asked himself, “What shall I do, for I do not have space to store my harvest?” And he said, “This is what I shall do: I shall tear down my barns and build larger ones. There I shall store all my grain and other goods and I shall say to myself, “Now as for you, you have so many good things stored up for many years, rest, eat, drink, be merry!” But God said to him, “You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?” Thus will it be for the one who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich in what matters to God.”
DEPENDENCE ON GOD
Jesus said to [his] disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life and what you will eat, or about your body and what you will wear. For life is more than food and the body more than clothing. “Notice the ravens: they do not sow or reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, yet God feeds them. How much more important are you than birds! Can any of you by worrying add a moment to your life-span? If even the smallest things are beyond your control, why are you anxious about the rest? Notice how the flowers grow. They do not toil or spin. But I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of them. If God so clothes the grass in the field that grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow, will He not much more provide for you, O you of little faith? As for you, do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not worry anymore. All the nations of the world seek for these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek God's kingdom, and these other things will be given you besides. Do not be afraid any longer, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your belongings and give alms. Provide money bags for yourselves that do not wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven that no thief can reach nor moth destroy. For where your treasure is, there also will you heart be.
VIGILANT AND FAITHFUL SERVANTS
“Gird your loins and light your lamps and be like servants who await their master's return from a wedding, ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival. Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself, have them recline at table, and proceed to wait on them. And should he come in the second or third watch and find them prepared in this way, blessed are those servants. Be sure of this; if the master of the house had known the hour when the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into. You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.” Then Peter said, “Lord, is this parable meant for us or for everyone?” And Jesus replied, “Who, then is the faithful and charge of his servants to distribute [the] food allowance at the proper time? Blessed is that servant who his master on arrival finds doing so. Truly, I say to you, he will put him in charge of all his property. But if that servant says to himself, “my master is delayed in coming, and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants, to eat and drink and get drunk, then that servant's master will come on an unexpected day and at an unknown hour and will punish him severely and assign him a place with the unfaithful. That servant who knew his master's will but acted in a way deserving of a severe beating shall be beaten only lightly. Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.
JESUS: A CAUSE OF DIVISION
“I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing! There is a baptism with which I must be baptized, and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished! Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. From now on a household of five will be divided, three against two and two against three; a father will be divided against his son and a son against his father, a mother against her daughter and a daughter against her mother, a mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”
SIGNS OF THE TIMES
Jesus also said to the crowds, “When you see [a] cloud rising in the west you say immediately that it is going to rain—and so it does; and when you notice that the wind is blowing from the south you say that it is going to be hot—and so it is. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky; why do you not know how to interpret the present time?”
SETTLEMENT WITH AN OPPONENT
“Why do you not judge for yourselves what is right? If you are to go with your opponent before a magistrate, make an effort to settle the matter on the way; otherwise your opponent will turn you over to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the constable, and the constable throw you into prison. I say to you, you will not be released until you have paid the last penny.”
A CALL TO REPENTANCE
At that time some who were present there told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with the blood of their sacrifices. Jesus said to them in reply, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were greater sinners than all other Galileans? By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did! Of those eighteen people who were killed when the tower at Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem? By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!” Luke 12:10-59; 13:1.
EXHORTATION TO PREPAREDNESS
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a mighty roar and the elements will be dissolved by fire, and the earth and everything done on it will be found out.
Since everything is to be dissolved in this way, what sort of persons ought [you] to be, conducting yourselves in holiness and devotion, the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved in flames and the elements melted by fire. But according to his promise we await new heavens and a new earth to which righteousness dwells.
Therefore, since you await these things, be eager to be found without spot or blemish before Him, at peace. And consider the patience of our Lord as salvation, as our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, also wrote to you, speaking of these things as he does in all his letters. In them there are some things hard to understand that the ignorant and unstable distort to their own destruction, just as they do the other scriptures.
Therefore, since you are forewarned, be on your guard not to be led into the error of the unprincipled and to fall from your own stability. But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory now and to the day of eternity.
The above paragraphs from Luke in the Bible are very important because they explain the causes of persecution and how persecution relates to the end of time and how people will in the last of days fill their hearts with hatred and rage against God's people. Even though these same people fully understand their actions and choose to act on this destructive behavior, they are unaware of the full scope of destruction that is part and parcel with this behavior. In these last days, according to the Bible, we as a people will see all the destructive signs, but choose instead to continue our destructive path even though Jesus warned us against this very same thing. Consider the thought that if God's chosen people can suffer persecution and all kinds of mistreatment, insomuch the non-believer, when God executes his wrath upon the world. We must begin to humble ourselves before the Throne of God and be fully aware of God's greatness in the creation of the world, from the beginning of time, until now and serve Him in a way that is pleasing to Him. A humbleness that guarantees us a place in the Kingdom of God, New Jerusalem. Do not concern yourselves with the realities or cares of the world and do not get caught up in the material “things” of the world, mistakenly believing that this is the way God wants us to be. Move closer to God in the way you conduct your life and have a belief system that is unshakable by however you may find yourself.
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