I believe God is yanking the devil’s chain. Something is going on! The deranged comments we now hear from the Left on a daily basis prove that Satan is grossly overplaying his hand.
It absolutely makes no sense. Take CNN for an example. I truly believe they have lost their minds. They no longer care about ratings. They no longer care about accuracy, and have thrown all caution to the wind. They fanatically appeal to their dwindling base. They are given over to the need to rant and rave, and to run their own network into the ground.
Take California for another example. The over-the-top effort to exile Christians is rapidly becoming offensive to the general population. The anti-Christian and anti-Semitic rhetoric is turning people off.
Even Bill Maher has been screaming: warning the Left that they are losing support.
Bill is patently liberal, but regularly warns liberals that the radical Progressives are destroying Liberalism and alienating America.
Way back, when I first detected this spike in persecution, I began praying against it. I experienced colliding emotions of dread and excitement. I knew then that things were going to get really bad, but that they would then get really good.
Persecution would thin the herd and marginal believers would be offended and leave the church. But, God also made it clear that this would touch off a towering flow of miracles and healings.
Something is shifting. The people on street used to sit back and just let the attacks on Christians happen…but now something has shifted. I believe God is appealing to the innate sense of fairness in most Americans.
They see the censorship. They see the violence. They see how we are labeled as ‘violent,’ while the real religion of violence is given a pass. The smoke screen is beginning to dissipate.
The general public is beginning to see that the very people who claim they are fighting hatred, injustice, bigotry, and racism—the so called ‘secular progressives,’ and ‘social justice warriors’—are actually the ones who are fomenting all of these things.
Their voices have become shrill and annoying. Their boycotts and rants are tedious and boring, and there is nothing compelling or noble about them.
On the other hand, God has been lovingly warning the American Church. He has repeatedly ordered the church to stand as one, against immorality. And, well, you know how that went…she has flatly refused. God has now begun to use persecution to wake up the church and spare the nation.
This is happening right now!
There is much good news, but only for a certain group. The core of Christians who refuse to side with the compromised church, and who are seeking Jesus, will be protected and used mightily. Persecution will backfire!
The boomerang effect is seen in ancient Israel. Exodus 1:12 says, “But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites.”
A moment similar to the persecution we are seeing is recorded in the Book of Acts:
1 “Now about that time Herod the king stretched out his hand to harass some from the church. 2 Then he killed James the brother of John with the sword. 3 And because he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to seize Peter also.” – Acts 12:1-3
Just as is happening now, Herod was deranged by the devil to increase the attack on the church. However, after Herod arrested Peter, an angel appeared and brought him out of prison. This miracle ignited the church. I am telling you what the Holy Spirit has told me: Every vessel that seeks God right now, will receive greater power and greater miracles.
Call it imagination, call me crazy, but I know that this wave of persecution is backfiring. We can turn it all around. We can regain lost ground. Those who disobey God cannot escape this misery, and those who obey God will be granted special grace and increased supernatural power.
Paul wrote to a worried Philippian church to tell them about the shocking outcome of his imprisonment. It serves as a promise to us of what is about to happen as a result of persecution in America.
Philippians 1:12 “And I want you to know this, dear brothers: Everything that has happened to me here has been a great boost in getting out the Good News concerning Christ. 13 For everyone around here, including all the soldiers over at the barracks, knows that I am in chains simply because I am a Christian. 14 And because of my imprisonment, many of the Christians here seem to have lost their fear of chains! Somehow my patience has encouraged them, and they have become more and more bold in telling others about Christ.”
Writing about the Church described in the book of Acts, Matthew Henry said this: “The persecution that was designed to extirpate the church was, by the overruling providence of God, made an occasion of the enlargement of it. Christ had said, “I am come to send fire on the earth;” and they thought, by scattering those who were kindled with that fire, to have put it out, but instead of this they did but help to spread it.” Your choice is clear: persecution can silence you or launch you to untold boldness to spread the Word of God.