“Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.
At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.” Matthew 24:9-14

The persecution of believers since the time of Christ is a real issue. Make no mistake, everyone who believes in the Lord and who is godly will be persecuted because he is in the light and his deeds pierce the superficial veil of people hiding in the dark. Persecution does not only happen to those who are working as missionaries and pastors in the field but to everyone who calls on His name, whether young or old, they have experienced persecution in some form. My family and friends looked at me with a weird eye before, “so, how is the Jesus man doing today?” Or they cast a glance at me with a look saying, “he losed his mind with that Jesus, “don’t go very far.” “What has happened to him, he is going too fast  and too deep, keep him to stay with us so that he will not lose his mind further”. While others would rather have nothing to do with us because we believe in Him and we pray. They think it abnormal life to live a life of prayer and to demonstrate before them the life of Christ.

Nevertheless, persecutions have been permitted by the Lord mainly to use it as a refiner’s fire so that our head beliefs will be transformed into heart faith and theology. Christians who never experienced persecution even once should examine themselves whether they are still in the faith. If our witness is truly effective, then we are shining as a bright light. Jesus declared that we are to be the light of the world, a city that is set on a hill that cannot be hidden (Matthew 5:14). That means our witness before this world should be succinct and clear, the world recognizes that we are the sons of light and not of darkness. We are admonished therefore to keep this light standing for all to see instead of putting it under a bowl or under a bushel. We must “let our light shine before men, that they may see our good deeds and praise our Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).

Effective witness

How can one be a living witness? This is one of the most urgent questions and probably the most answered question by those who have gone through a Christian witnessing course. But is witnessing the whole point of being a living witness? Jesus called Himself the Faithful witness (Revelation 1:5) and the Faithful and True witness (Revelation 3:14) while He also called Antipas as His faithful and true witness who was martyred for His name in the city of Pergamum (Revelation 2:13). The word witness comes from the Greek word marturus from which we derived the word martyr or one who bears witness through his death. The verb of martur, martureo denotes “to bear witness to” or “to testify.”

But to understand the Christian witness as simply testifying by his death is a shallow understanding of what is a true witness. Every witness who goes to the court of law brings with them their own message. They have to stand and boldly declare their “testimony” or “witness” once they are asked by the judge to speak up. In the same manner, Christianity is a bold witness to the powers of hell that we are standing for Jesus Christ, a living witness of the life that He too lived on earth. In order to understand what a witness means in this sense, it is necessary that we understand and look at the life of Jesus Christ and those who have been most like Him. The greatest witness is the life of obedience founded on love. Love is the highest form of wisdom because love gives and love does not desire hate, nor does it desire self. Above all things, love is the foundation of true Christian ministry or witnessing. Therefore Paul having realized in his own ministry that the works of the flesh or the carnal strength of man cannot accomplish the works of God spoke and said, “…but the greatest of this is love” (I Corinthians 13: 13).

Passion is built on love

The greatest messengers of all ages are those who have founded their lives and ministries built on one thing, loving God and loving our fellow men. Until the recent years, many have thought that to do ministry, one has to have his brains operated on the table and let his masters insert different doctrines into each holes. This type of works produced shallow men and women whose mentality is confused as to what ministry is. Therefore when the trials of life suddenly came and struck many of these ministries, they withered away.

Ministry to men is good, but above all things, there is one foundation upon which everything in the Scriptures is summed up---“Love the Lord thy God” for in the beginning was God. There is nothing in the beginning but God, there is no storm, there is no darkness, there is no evil but only God. Not even human beings but out of His great desire to have a companion and a fellow for whom He would consider as His friends and children, the triune God decided to bring make man, and He did not make man in the image of the beast, nor did He made man in the image of angel. He made us according to His own image, a reflection of His beauty, behavior and character. This is why the greatest calling of the “New Creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17), which you are, is to be conformed into His image and do His works.

The impact of the world into the church

One primary way we can measure the success of the light that we radiate is by measuring how much evil has been deflected, or overcome in our lives and in the lives of our neighbors and then our community. Light is measured by its brilliance and every stars that shine above has their own measure of “celestial glory or brightness.” In the same way, every child of God has a measure of light that he reflects and brings into this world. Because the Lord ordained that everything will come through a seed, everyone has started as a tiny seed, with a measure of faith that grows from faith to faith and from strength to strength. Paul reminds us, “For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith” (Romans 1:17). This was the sole truth that liberated the greatest darkness that enveloped the world during the Middle Ages and brought the reformation into full scale. True to this every revelation of truth that we receive is given level by level, or as Paul calls, faith to faith. In the same way, the devil tries to copy the methods of God so that he brings them as an “angel of light” and he also does this bit by bit until the church knew it too late that satan is already sitting at the throne of God in the hearts of every believers. This is the conflict between light and darkness, the epic battle in the last days, the heart of every man on earth!

Who shall prevail in the end? Think about the social re-engineering that is occurring at every levels of the society, the secular schools that promote evolution and bring the religion of humanism into the minds of every person that goes through the public school system. Think about the advertisements today where women are scantily clad as if only wearing fig leaves as Eve did. Can we recognize the church as set apart from the world during these times? Or is there a church that is impacting the world in so much that the inroad of darkness have culminated into a clash and brought the powers of hell to its knees? How can we bring more light into the church so that her witness into this world is a life set apart for the Lord, a chaste Bride waiting for Her Bridegroom. One way we can do this is through a life of intercession and obedience that Abraham portrayed when he walked the earth.
The witness of the Church

The church was never called to be conformed into the contours of the earth. Just as the two seeds of Adam and Eve prophesy of the carnal and the spiritual church, those who have given themselves into the Lord are not bound by time nor are bound by the earth. It is pathetic to see churches trying to gain political influence so that she can do her work. When we compromise using the political spirit, we also fall from where we are seated with the Lord, because no one can serve two masters; there can only be one source of power for the Church to do all that she is called to do and to accomplish all that She is called to finish.

The Apostle Paul tells of the power that is exceedingly great towards us, who believe, “I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.

 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.” (Ephesians 1:18-23).

What Paul is saying here is “Oh how I wish you all know, understand and see how much power there is in every one of you who believes in Jesus Christ. I hope your eyes will see this, how much glory, power there is that He has given us through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. For whom the Father has raise back to life and is now seated in His seat of power, “far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.” And He has put everything subject under His feet, and Head to His Church, which is His body so that all fullness belongs to Him.” What power? What glory? Is there weakness in the plan of God?

Or is there a weakness of God? This is the reason why we can command sicknesses to flee, we can have miracles inside the churches, we can raise the dead back to life, we can preach the gospel and send missionaries, and we can command nature to obey the Word of God because we are His Body, and if Body, God uses us to trample all things under His control. As you have observed here, the Body does not direct the head or the things done, but the Head who is Christ directs the Body so that there is order and we work according to this framework of order then the Lord brings His fullness or glory just as He filled the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem. Is there a provision that Jesus cannot answer?

Are there problems, bondages, troubles or natural events that could be greater than the power and authority of Jesus Christ? Is your sin bigger than His power? Paul writes again, “My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power” (I Corinthians 2:4-5). Therefore if Christ is the answer what is the problem?