92. PERSECUTION
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Yea, and all that will live Godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution (2Tim.3:12).
1. You can't tell the truth without making some enemies. You can't believe in love without facing some people who believe in hate. You can't believe in freedom without meeting some people who don't think you should be so free!
2. If your enemies can't prove the bad, they try to disprove the good.--Rasputin.
3. The Bible is a dangerous book and Jesus is a dangerous man! To have His Name on your lips can be dangerous for you!
4. It is better to be hated for what you are, then loved for what you are not.
5. The tyrant dies and his rule ends, the martyr dies and his rule begins.
6. We have stirred up worse than a hornet's nest, we have stirred up all the demons of Hell against us because we have done such an effective and thorough job of getting the message to the whole World!
7. It's very important to do PR even in a prison, until the recognise that you're good people and they don't understand why you've been put in jail.
8. The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the true Church, and the more they kill, the more will take their place!
9. Bad publicity brings good publicity, because everybody comes to see how bad you are and finds you're not so bad after all!
10. If they didn't attack us we wouldn't be news! You have to be able to take the attacks in order to get the publicity!
11. Good always has enemies, good is always fought by evil.
12. Time is too short for us to fight in areas where they resist us and don't want us and make it too difficult to witness.
13. God can cost our enemies a whole lot more than they get paid for persecuting us.
14. They can never stop us, but there is coming a day when we will stop them!
15. Maybe persecution is what you need to wake you up!
16. One of the smartest things you can do is to make your enemy think he's won, so he'll stop fighting.
17. Don't give up the ship prematurely! Don't jump before it's sunk. Don't stop fighting too soon! Don't go into hiding unless you have to! Stay above ground until they drive you under! Don't quit till they hit! Don't leave till they throw you out!
18. Don't give up the battlefield and surrender to the Devil just because he says, "Boo!" Keep on fighting and you cant' help but win, for God will bless you for it and give you a glorious victory!
19. When you can't lick'm or join'm, flee!
20. A lot of Christians would not have had to suffer it they had had enough sense to flee or not openly defy the laws.
21. Even physical persecution is not as dangerous as getting into the same bad habits and the same rut and the same spiritual lethargy and the same churchianity hypnotism of the church people.
22. When you're really saturated an area with the Gospel, and as many souls as possible have received and been reaped, then the Lord allows the Devil to stir up the rejecters and the enemies who stir up persecution against you to drive you on.
23. God allows the storms of this life to blow off the weak limbs and the weak parts, and only the strong survive.
24. Sometimes God has to get you out of the way so He can destroy them to whom you have been witnessing but who have hardened their hearts.
25. When it's time to go--GO!--Don't way for the worst!
26. If you have to go and die for your country, well, fine, but it's better to get out there and live for your country and conquer the World!
27. There's no use being a martyr and dying for your country, the Kingdom of God, if you can go somewhere else and be a martyr and live for it.
28. You can't be prophets of God without persecution!
29. Sometimes you need sifting and testings and trials and divisions to get rid of people who otherwise are just a burden and a problem and slow you down.
30. If you do it the right way, the Devil will fight you. If you never get any objections, you must not be doing the job.
31. Persecution makes the weak weaker, but the strong stronger!
32. The Lord never let me get kicked out of anything but what He got me kicked into something better!
33. Few people seem to be able to take any of the 3 P's without being corrupted by them: Power, prosperity and popularity...This seems to be why God always has to bring us the other three: Persecution, poverty and pain, to humble us and counteract the poisons of the other three!
34. Persecution is one of the surest signs that your work is finished in an area.
35. When they touch you, the Lord's anointed, His prophets, they're touching the most sensitive part of God's body, His eyes!
36. God allows persecution for our purification.
37. The wind itself is not that dangerous--it's what it blows that's dangerous.
38. By the time a storm is over, only the strongest are left standing.
39. Don't try to stop the storm, just let it blow!
40. You won't be hurt if you face the storm unafraid and ride the wind and wave.
41. We can even enjoy the storm and laugh right in their faces as we challenge their raging fury with the faith of God, knowing they cannot win and we will conquer them in the end!
42. Don't be afraid to open the doors and the windows and let the winds of their fury blow through. It'll just help clean out the house of anything or anyone that's not strong enough to take it.
43. Ride the wind and the waves with delight at the challenge, with the exhilarating thrill of the challenger who knows he'll win and knows they can't stop him no matter what they do!
44. Our envious enemies have been telling many atrocious lies about us! This is a sign we're hitting the mark, because it's the hit dogs that howl!
45. It's just as dangerous today to be the kind of Christian you are, as it was for the Early Church.
46. No enemy can come so near that God is not nearer.
47. They cannot win, they cannot stop you! It is impossible, for God is with you!
48. The Devil is the god of this World and he hates anybody who worships anybody but him and he will crack down on them if he can.
49. Even enemies are needed to keep us on the wall, so that we don't come down from doing a great work.
50. I don't care what they call us as long as the Lord calls us and as long as we obey His call, that's all that matters.
51. A saint is a man of convictions who has been dead a hundred years, canonized now but cannonaded while living.
52. You don't have to worry about the forces of the Devil and the Antichrist and our present and future enemies!--God's a much greater Enemy to them than they are to us!
53. The more they try to suppress the Truth and crush its followers, the more we grow and the faster we follow!
54. The worse the persecution and the harder the trials and the more difficult the conditions to spread the Gospel, the more supernatural miraculous help you're gonna get to do it!
55. It is the cause, not the death, which makes the martyr.
56. When you come out in the open against the Devil, you can just expect that he will then come out in the open against you.
57. What did Jesus do to expose the religious leaders of His day that made them hate him so?--All He did was preach the Truth they weren't preaching and show the love that they weren't showing. He did everything He could to avoid saying things against them, but just the fact that He was showing more love than they were, exposed them.
58. Who was it that caused Jesus the most trouble?--The Scribes and the Pharisees, the leaders of religion, His better enemies!
59. Christians have been classed as enemies of the state for centuries and they've been martyred and slaughtered by the thousands before, so it's nothing new. Now they're just trying to dress it up in a legal form, but it's really self-righteous and hypocritical persecution of real Christians by the false church.
60. No wonder God's got to send the Tribulation--to purge and purify and make the Church white and get rid of their foolishness!
61. When your enemies begin to fight you, they have to come out in the open and expose who they are. Your enemies have to expose themselves in order to fight you.
62. The death of the martyrs inspired other Christians to be willing to live and die for their faith. Help us, Lord, to set a good example and not to show fear but to show faith, not to be afraid to suffer persecution or even to die for our convictions.
63. The Devil really is pretty stupid because every attack he's ever made on the Church of God throughout all history has just done the Church good and publicized the Message more.
64. Jesus Himself fled several times from persecution and several times refused to go to Jerusalem even for feasts because it was dangerous for Him there, the Jews were lying in wait for Him.
65. Once our peak of popularity is reached, the Enemy comes out and exposes us and publicises our name and acts as our advertising agent as to who it is, so that we get either the credit or the blame for it. And this brings about the dividing of the sheep from the goats, the separation of the good grain from the tares or weeds, which is then tested with persecution, and only the best survive.
66. Persecution is good for you. It's persecution with a purpose!--1. To purge, purify and make you white. 2. To purge the ranks of those that don't mean business and who are not devoted, loyal and true. 3. To show who your enemies are and what to expect from them. 4. To show who you are, the true prophets of God and that your message is the truth. 5. To show you've done a good job, delivered your soul, warned the wicked and finished the job. 6. To make it possible for God to bring His judgements on those who rejected your message and then rejected you. 7. To let you continue on God's way giving some other city or land their choice!
67. God is interested in saving us and vindicating us so that He might be glorified, because we are His mouthpiece to the World. He tries to spare His prophets if He can, but persecution is God's last stand.
68. Suffering and persecution are universal, but martyrs are usually exceptions.
69. The Devil is always threatening and breathing out slaughter and trying to bluff you out or merely persuade you to surrender because he cannot actually lick you.
70. Not all persecution is the Enemy's fault, some of it is your own fault, for your own stupid mistakes, your own lack of prayer, your own lack of dependence on God and His wisdom.
71. Every martyr the Romans cooked at the stake or threw to the lions only inspired faith in many more believers. Every martyr who has been slain for his cause has only inspired many more to rise up and take his place.
72. In spite of all the wrath of bestial atrocious man against the children of God during the coming worldwide dictatorship of the Antichrist regime, which will war on God's saints throughout 3-1/2 years of the reign of terror called in the Bible the Great Tribulation, the forces of evil will never be able to completely destroy God's true children, and multitudes of them will still be here to joyously welcome Christ's triumphal re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere to destroy God's enemies with great vengeance for the great and terrible slaughter!
73. If you are not willing to die daily right now in order to get the job done, you'll never be able to die some day as a martyr.
74. It's always the established religion which persecutes the Truth Church and the True faith and the true religion.
75. Thank God for the Devil and our enemies! If He can't get us to get the job done any other way, He sends along the Ol' Boy and his buddies to give us an extra boost!
76. Even if your enemies kill you, it's the Lord's way of putting you out of your misery. The Lord engineers everything, your worries, your troubles, your frights, your fears, your enemies, even your death, then you wake up with the Lord.
77. Just because you get a little persecution and endure a little suffering or get a few little boos and scares from the Devil, doesn't necessarily mean you're to run right away, as long as you can keep on witnessing and litnessing and preaching the Gospel.
78. God tries to give you enough warning to save your life, because your life is very precious to Him. You're His employee, His worker, and your service is very valuable and He wants you to continue in it and to be profitable to Him as your master, to go elsewhere and continue to preach the Gospel.
79. Lord, bless and keep them the and encourage them and inspire them and lead and guide them. Strengthen them and give them great faith instead of fear--great love, Lord, even for their enemies, instead of hate, and the realization that many of them are just deceived and know not what they do and we must forgive them because they are stirred up by others who do know what they're doing.
80. If there hadn't been an opponent, an opposing side, God's people would never had been tested and tried and given any opposition to have any kind of a battle to have to call on God to help them, and it's in this that God gets the glory. He allows Satan to lead the opposition and to try and test and persecute His people, but then they call on God and God always gets the victory and always defeats the Devil and always destroys the Enemy's kingdom and his power and his empire and his capital and his kings, every single time!
81. You can't invade the Devil's territory without making him mad--he's had the place to himself for a long time.
82. It is more blessed to be mobbed and jailed and crucified when you know you're from the mountain and you have the Truth and you know you're right, than it is to live a lie in the valley in leisure and security.
83. You are persecuted because you are right and they cannot stand the right. The valley people have been in darkness so long the light blinds them, and they cannot stand to find out you are right and they have been wrong. They don't wont to be exposed.
84. Nearly every great religious leader, reformist and revolutionist suffered imprisonment and death, too often at the hands of the very people he was trying to save.
85. God won't let'm kill you unless you've finished your job and can give a better witness that way for the grand finale.
86. God wants you to live for Him as long as possible and as happily as possible, a good happy sample of the joy of the Lord, before some day you may have to die for Him.
87. It's a compliment when they start persecuting you; it shows you have accomplished the job!
88. According to World history, the Prophets did a lot of damage to the System and they saved a lot of souls and they woke up a lot of people and they preserved at least some truth and some Gospel and some Salvation, and that's why you're here, because they fought the System and somebody fought for the Truth.--All the way from the prophets of old to guys like Savanorola and Martin Luther, John Knox, Tyndale and some of the rest of those boys that gave their lives so you could have the Truth! Every last one of them fought the System of their day, the false religious system, and nearly every last one of them got it in the neck for it! But as a result, you're here today hearing the Truth of God and this Book has been preserved.--And because we are willing to live and die for the Truth of God, somebody is going to hear about it and believe it and receive it and carry it on after we're gone!
89. The people who aren't free don't even understand freedom and they don't want to understand it. They want to stay in their rut and shut their eyes and even convince themselves that they're happy and free, and they especially don't like anyone else to come along and tell them they're not. In fact, they're so afraid of the truth, that they're willing to kill you to squelch you.
90. If your ministry is finished and it's time for you to go, well then be a martyr. If your ministry isn't finish, don't be a martyr, be a mover! It's better to be a mover than a martyr. (Mat.10:23)
91. The only way we can stay free is to keep on the move and not stay any place too long. And how long is too long?--Till they persecute you to the point that it makes it almost impossible for you to carry on your work for the Lord or your witness or to survive, or whatever it may be. This is why we have to keep moving.
92. If you're not suffering any persecution or having any trouble you must not be doing anything.
93. Apparently Jesus stood up to receive the glorious martyr, Stephen! What an honour! Why do you suppose the Lord let Stephen catch a vision of God and Jesus in Heaven even as they began to stone him?--To give him the courage to be able to face it! After one sight of glory nothing mattered, he was ready to go. Who knows, maybe he didn't feel the stones at all. Maybe the first one socked him in the head and put him out like a light. They say that some of the martyrs testified as they were burning that they didn't even feel a thing as they sang and preached and testified their way straight into Heaven! (See Acts 7:54-60)
94. God will judge and take vengeance on our enemies better than anybody can. He said, "Stand back and see Me fight; vengeance is Mine, I will repay. It is not your battle but Mine!" And when they fall into the hands of an angry God, they're in worse hands than they'd ever be in the hands of the law or any system! They are in more powerful hands that can really wreak vengeance on them and hit them where it hurts, even wipe them out when necessary!
95. As long as the Lord is still supplying your needs and still giving you freedom to witness and you're still bearing fruit, then stay as long as they don't make it impossible for you to earn a living or witness or bear fruit.
96. You'll always be getting a little persecution of some kind, but when it gets to the point you can no longer do your job and no longer support yourself, then it's time to go, or when the hassle and harassment gets so tough you can't take it any more, then you have to leave.
97. You never get kicked out until you have done a good job. The Devil doesn't get that mad until you have been really effective.
98. Being a Christian is dangerous if you're a real Christian.
99. "All things work together for good to them that love the Lord", and nothing will happen to you but what God ordains and designs. You just have to make sure you cooperate with the Lord so you don't make any mistakes foolishly of your own that cause you trouble.
100. Sometimes it's better not to fight it nor join it, but flee it! We've got to be sure we've got our signals straight from the Lord and we don't zig when we ought to zag and zag when we ought to zig.
101. The Devil will gladly destroy his own if in the process he can destroy God's Own. He does it all the time, wipes out whole cities in wars and whole populations in pestilences and all kinds of things. He wouldn't care if he wiped out 1,000 to 1 if he could just get one that belongs to the Lord.
102. Persecution and bad publicity divide the sheep from the goats. It definitely makes your friends stand up for you and it exposes your enemies, which is exactly what God wants to do--divide the wheat from the tares to show who's for you and who's against you.
103. No matter how bad a thing is and no matter how bad it seems and though you can't understand it at the time, it always works out for something good in the long run.
104. "They have touched Thine anointed and done They servants harm. For they do fight against Thee, O God, and do lift up evil hands against Thyself and Thy Holy Child Jesus!" (It's Jesus they're persecuting! It's like they're trying to reach up for the Lord Himself, and get ahold of Him, and destroy Him!)
105. "They think to quench the flame, to put out the fire, but they can no more stop the mouth of David than they can stop the mouth of the breast of her that nourisheth the infant."
106. Popularity is dangerous! Popularity precedes publicity and publicity is followed by persecution!
107. No matter how much people go to church or claim to be Christians, if they're fighting us, they're fighting the Lord and serving the Devil!
108. These 10:36 parents that have caused us so much trouble and caused their children so much trouble are hinderers and hindering spirits serving the Devil, not God, and their work and spirits against us are curses of Satan with which they're trying to curse us!
109. That was really the kind of love that finally won the hard-hearted Romans, when they saw how much love those Christians had for their God that they would gladly, willingly, walk out to the stake or to face the lions singing, smiling, happy, praising God, loving God, still witnessing to the crowd, still a testimony to the very ones who were killing them, still trying to win them and still trying to be their last witness.
110. If you've been able to spread the Word, that's a victory. When the time comes that you're exposed and driven off and driven out through persecution, then your job is done and for us that's a victory. For our enemies it seems to be victory for them and defeat for us, but it's proof to us that we have won the victory, finished the job we came to do, and God's ready to have us move on. So He says, "When they persecute you in one city, flee to another." (Mt.10:23)
111. When you got on television and in the newspaper and radio and shove it down their throat and they just can't get away from it or away from you anywhere, then this is more than our enemies can usually bear and they rise up and oppose and expose and drive you either out or undercover and you're finished as far as open freedom and easy ministries go.
112. In every country where we've had tremendous open public ministry in every way and been highly publicized and had high-exposure media ministries, it has always riled the opposition and aroused their antagonism and soon resulted in such severe persecution we could no longer operate there in any kind of ministry.
113. It seems like people's faith survives better under persecution and suppression than under freedom and prosperity!
114. Christians seem to do better when they're being persecuted and suppressed because then they really seek the Lord and really live close to the Lord.
115. The Devil is not asleep, he hasn't quite, he hasn't given up, he and his people are still after us, they still hate us, they still want to stop us because we are exposing them to the whole World. So they are furious like they were at Daniel, at Moses, at Jesus, at the early Apostles, like they were at the Reformers. It's a miracle of God that any of those people ever survived. But some of them did and carried on and they got God's purpose accomplished.
116. We've done nothing wrong in the sight of God nor violated His laws nor His Law of Love, but we have done everything wrong in the sight of the System, infuriating them and violating virtually all their laws and, stirred up by they Devil and our enemies, they endeavour to trap us and find us and fight us and do all they can against us.
117. You could hardly have found a more hopeless situation than Daniel's or Jesus' or the Early Apostles' when all the governments were out to kill'm and slaughter'm and get rid of'm, including the whole great power of Rome! Instead, the more the Devil tried to crush'm, the more they multiplied because of their faithful witness and testimony. And that's what will happen to us. We'll keep on going and we'll keep on winning and prospering and propagating and multiplying until Jesus comes, because that's His purpose.
(See also No.D, 12, 122, 125, 182, 219, 317B, 318, 331, 334, 367, 379, 380, 381, 542, 544, 551, 576, 577, 578, 579, 580, 585, 585R, 586, 589, 590, 591, 593, 597, 598, 602, 605, 611, 612, 633, 707, 747, 748, 749, 750, 759, 765, 766, 767, 770, 771, 783, 797, 800, 803, 865, 890, 953, 1054, 1072, 1141, 1183, 1184, 1186, 1425, 1537.)
118. PSA 2:1-3 Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against His anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.
119. PSA 27:12 Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies: for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty.
120. PSA 31:18 Let the lying lips be put to silence; which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous.
121. PSA 44:22 Yea, for Thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.
122. PSA 76:10a Surely the wrath of man shall praise Thee.
123. PSA 109:4a For my love they are my adversaries.
124. PSA 119:157 Many are my persecutors and mine enemies; yet do I not decline from Thy testimonies.
125. PRO 22:3 A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished.
126. ISA 26:20 Come, My people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.
127. ISA 50:8-9 He is near that justifieth me; who will contend with me? let us stand together: who is mine adversary? let him come near to me. Behold, the Lord God will help me; who is he that shall condemn me? lo, they all shall wax old as a garment; the moth shall eat them up.
128. ISA 51:7 Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings.
129. ISA 53:7 He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth: He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth.
130. DAN 3:17 (If it be so,) our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.
131. DAN 11:35 And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end: because it is yet for a time appointed.
132. DAN 12:10 Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.
133. ZEC 2:8b For he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of His eye.
134. MAT 10:17-23 But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues; And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for My sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you. And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for My Name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved. But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come.
135. MAT 10:25b If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?
136. MAT 10:28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
137. MAT 24:8-10 All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for My Name's sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
138. MAR 4:16,17 And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness; And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the Word's sake, immediately they are offended.
139. MAR 6:4 But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house.
140. MAR 13:9 But take heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten: and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for My sake, for a testimony against them.
141. MAR 13:13 And ye shall be hated of all men for My name's sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
142. LUK 6:22,23 Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake. Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in Heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets.
143. LUK 6:26 Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets.
144. LUK 21:12-18 But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for My Name's sake. And it shall turn to you for a testimony. Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall answer: For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist. And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake. But there shall not an hair of your head perish.
145. JOH 15:20,21 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept My saying, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you for My Name's sake, because they know not him that sent Me.
146. JOH 16:2,3 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me.
147. JOH 16:33b In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
148. JOH 17:14 I have given them Thy Word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
149. ACT 5:41 And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His Name.
150. ACT 9:4-6 And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.
151. ACT 9:15,16 But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto Me, to bear My Name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for My Name's sake.
152. ROM 8:31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
153. ROM 12:14 Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not.
154. 1CO 4:11-13 Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwellingplace; And labour, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it: Being defamed, we intreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day.
155. 2CO 4:8,9 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;
156. GAL 4:29 But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.
157. PHI 1:29 For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake;
158. 1TH 3:4 For verily, when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation; even as it came to pass, and ye know.
159. 2TH 1:4,5 So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure: Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer:
160. 2TI 2:9 Wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil doer, even unto bonds; but the word of God is not bound.
161. 2TI 3:12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
162. HEB 11:33-38 Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.
163. HEB 13:12,13 Wherefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered without the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing His reproach.
164. JAM 5:10 Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.
165. 1PE 3:14,16,17 But and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled; Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ. For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing.
166. 1PE 4:14 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.
167. 1PE 4:16 Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.
168. REV 2:10 Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.
169. REV 6:9-11 And when He had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost Thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.
170. REV 7:13-17 And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in his temple: and He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.
(See also DEU 4:30-37; PSA 35:1-7; ACT 7:54-60.)
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