Losing your freedom
Welcome. Today we are continuing our series entitled “Bold for Christ.” We have already talked about
Being bold for Christ while losing a job.
Being bold for Christ while losing loved ones.
Being bold for Christ while losing property.
Today we will discuss being bold for Christ while losing your freedom. Is this far-fetched? Look what Yeshua, translated as Jesus, warns us about.
"Behold, I am sending you out as sheep amid wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles.” Matthew 10:16-18
This is not really happening today in America, but it is starting. Remember, during COVID-19 in the year 2020, they tried to outlaw Church gatherings in the name of health and safety. It did not work for long; many real churches came back strong or never complied. Some feel this was a test of our government's authority and power.
Look at Canada. We already talked about all the places where it is extremely dangerous to be a child of God and where even owning a Bible can get you arrested and or murdered.
1. North Korea
2. Afghanistan
3. Somalia
4. Libya
5. Pakistan
6. Eritrea
7. Yemen
8. Iran
9. Nigeria
10. India
Some of these make sense. However, what about Canada? Yes, our neighbors to the north are starting to go down this same road. “A judge in Canada ruled Monday that the religious freedoms of Alberta Pastor James Coates — who was in jail for more than a month after holding in-person worship services at his church despite COVID restrictions — were not violated.
Coates, who leads GraceLife Church in Edmonton, recently submitted a Charter challenge, claiming pandemic-related health orders in Alberta violated his religious liberties.” {By Tré Goins-Phillips, Editor of Faithwire, June 7, 2021}
Look at this from Canada Imprisons Christians – Are We Next? Posted on Friday, July 21, 2023|
by AMAC, Robert B. Charles
“Is Pierre Trudeau – by the terms of established international criminal law and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights – behaving like a criminal? He has decided to imprison Christians for exercising freedoms of speech, worship, and peaceful protest. If he can be imprisoned for resisting anti-freedom COVID restrictions and “transgender” harm to girls – is America far behind?”
Nope. Listen to this.
“Incidents of explicit, indefensible targeting, then persecution, intimidation, arrest, humiliation, and imprisonment in Canada are so numerous they would fill a small book. The expansion of government overreach and these incidents of textbook persecution come from the top.”
Don’t think anti-God, power-hungry leaders in our country are not watching and longing to do the same here.
“But now we see a harsher turn. We are beginning to see imprisonment and even alleged mistreatment of innocent religious protestors by Canada’s political police. Americans need to wake up and understand that oppression of rights, if not stopped, gets infectious. We need to take religious persecution across Canada seriously if we do not want more of it here.”
It goes on. The point is, that persecution of “Christians” is happening all over the world. People are being labeled all sorts of things and the Word of God is starting to be called “hate speech” in some incidents. Calling out sin. Homosexuality and Transgenderism, ETC. Do you know who no one arrests and no one complains about? Muslims. Those who come from a country that tortures and kills people for no other reason than they are gay or transgender. Nope, they get a pass. Muslims? Buddhist? Hindus, even false Christianity that has embraced sin and confusion, are left alone. However, if you are a Bible-believing, Bible-based, Yeshua-centered TRUE church, they are coming for you. That should tell you all you need to know.
Turn to James 5. Start at verse 7
“Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.”
He is coming back.
“Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door.”
Who is the judge? Yes. Yeshua is the judge. But if you still fear suffering, look at what James said here.
“As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.” James 5:7-11
They persecuted them. Arrested them. Even put some of them to death. Look at Yeshua, or Jesus as translated. They arrested Him and put Him to death. Look at the Apostles. They arrested them and put them to death. What makes you think we will fare better than they? Remember what Jesus told us.
"A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household.” Matthew 10:24-25
And here
“Remember the word that I said to you: 'A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they keep my word, they will also keep yours. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name because they do not know who sent me.” John 15:20-21
Remember, this will happen. It is pretty much a guarantee that it will happen.
“Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,”2 Timothy 3:12
Look at Paul.
“Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.” 2 Corinthians 11:24-28
What happens if you do get arrested? What if you do, for no other reason than preaching the Word of God or just talking to someone about God? If you are arrested for your faith. He answers that as well.
“When they deliver you over, do not be anxious about how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.”
This is not just about strangers. There may come a time when someone in your own family turns you in.
“Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, and you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes. "A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household.” Matthew 10:19-25
You must have genuine faith in God and Yeshua. You have to lay yourself a solid foundation with this. {Holding up the Bible} and not just simply religion or what others tell you. Read it for yourself. See the warnings. Get ready. It is coming.
Are you ready to go to jail? I read that a whole family, including kids, got like 20 years of hard labor. Why? They just happened to be Christian and own a Bible in China. This could very well happen here. They are trying. Talk about Homosexuality, Transgenderism, or any other religion, or offend someone in any way, “HATE SPEECH!” they scream. They are only open-minded and all-inclusive as long as you are not a child of God.
Are you ready? The storm is coming. The hate is here. The persecution is already here. Jail may not very well be all that far away. Are you ready? Will you be bold for Christ in the back of a police car heading to jail?
Say this Prayer. Right now. Wherever you may be. Say it in your own words, and do not doubt in your heart. God will hear you. He will send the Spirit of Life to you. Let us Pray.
"Oh heavenly Father, Lord God. I am a sinner. I know this. I know there is nothing I can do to change that. But I know you can. I accept Yeshua's sacrifice for me. I believed He rose from the dead. I repent my sins. Please send the Spirit of Adoption into my life. Help me to get to know the real you. Save me. Please. In the name of Yeshua, Amen!"That's it. It is that simple. Now go tell someone what you have just done.
"That if you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Yeshua, and shalt believe in your heart that God hath raised him from the dead, You shall be saved." Romans 10:9. You need to find a Church that God leads you to and be Baptized the way Jesus said to be. You are now a Child of God. A New Creature. You
"have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him."Colossians 3:10The email, if you wish to contact me, is
truthbygod1@gmail.comMay the comfort of the Holy Ghost, and the peace of our Lord Yeshua, be with you all. May God bless and be with you, always.
Until next time, be blessed, be a blessing, and Yeshua is Lord!
