Is Persecution an Essential Requirement for Christian Growth?
The Christian Church by and large lauds, prays for, and financially support those who are being persecuted in the Name of Christ. Countless web sites, ministries, books, and articles are produced, and rightly so, to draw attention to their plight. Steve Green’s song, “The Faithful,” eloquently if not eerily describes their condition:
In dark, filthy places, forsaken, forgotten
Our brothers and sisters are paying a price
They will not deny Him to purchase their freedom
For these are the faithful, the martyrs for Christ.
Twisted and broken, abandoned and beaten
Their bodies confined an unseen sacrifice
But deep in their spirits, they know perfect freedom
For they are the ones who’ve been set free by Christ
CHORUS
From under the altar the voices are crying,
“How long Lord, till you come judge the earth?”
But He’ll wrap and redeem them in robes of pure white
For the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.
For the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.
The deafening silence–their faithful refusal
To doubt or deny in the presence of men
They live by His promise before His own Father
That in His Kingdom, He’ll not deny them
The line in the chorus, “For the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church,” come from Tertullian in 107 A.D. called Apologeticus or Apologeticum ”The Apology.” In that book Tertullian writes to the Roman governor who was trying to stamp out Christianity by making false accusations against its Christian citizens and persecuting (killing) them for it.
The Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 3:12 that “everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” Paul did not see the suffering he and others endured as exceptional, but rather typical for anyone who wants to live a godly life.
With all of the above in mind, I have one multi-part question:
If persecution is a necessary component of any Christian life, then shouldn’t we be praying for and embracing it? Should we seek it out? Should we be thanking for God for it when it comes? Should we be trying to avoid it?
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