I’m trying to imagine the apostle Paul spending his time on social media bemoaning the fact that the culture is turning on Christians and that they are in imminent danger of persecution.

Yet, I see it all day long: “Christians, get ready, hard times are coming, evil days are ahead, you are about to lose your religious liberty” as every kind of conspiracy is embraced under the sun, and as if all the bad choices of the government are all specifically aimed at us.

Do we stop and think about how our behavior may be a contributing factor? Do we think about what we are communicating to the population when we do this right after a lost election, as if, everything now is lost? Jesus is still on the throne, we have no other savior.

Are we being used as tools of the culture war? Might we be wiser in the way we conduct ourselves before the world?

Actually, Peter says we can suffer persecution for simply be obnoxious meddlers and gossips in affairs that aren’t ours to solve (1 Per. 4).

If the church is to suffer persecution, let it be because we are faithful with the offense of the cross, loved with earnest our enemies, and did good to them. Then we put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.

But what if it really gets to the point of persecution in a now post-Christian America? Then we should recognize its divine appointment while we gather and pray that God would uphold the reason he left us in the earth, namely: to be Jesus’ witnesses.

And who really knows what might happen in our most feared moment. Maybe, in the face of great opposition,our foremost persecutor who is dragging us all off to die, might be thrown down to the ground and converted by Jesus himself. Then he may be sent to preach the gospel to Nero!

This, I think, has something to do with the ground shaking when the church gathered together to pray to ask for the Lord’s help (see Acts 4). What we need right now is a much more positive presentation of the Lord’s purposes in the Great Commission.

Jesus has already won the battle. We should diffuse our great confidence in his victory.