Friday: Further Thought - Suffering for Christ

Sunday’s study talked about the persecution Christians faced. Here is a fuller excerpt from the letter written to the emperor about what Christians suffered in those early centuries: “… the method I have observed towards those who have been denounced to me as Christians is this:

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I interrogated them whether they were Christians; if they confessed it I repeated the question twice again, adding the threat of capital punishment; if they still persevered, I ordered them to be executed. For whatever the nature of their creed might be, I could at least feel no doubt that contumacy and inflexible obstinacy deserved chastisement.

“Those who denied they were, or had ever been, Christians, who repeated after me an invocation to the Gods, and offered adoration, with wine and frankincense, to your image, which I had ordered to be brought for that purpose, together with those of the Gods, and who finally cursed Christ-none of which acts, it is said, those who are really Christians can be forced into performing-these I thought it proper to discharge. Others who were named by that informer at first confessed themselves Christians, and then denied it; true, they had been of that persuasion but they had quitted it, some three years, other many years, and a few as much as twenty-five years ago. They all worshipped your statue and the images of the Gods, and cursed Christ.”-Pliny Letters (London: William Heinemann, 1915), book 10:96 (vol. 2, pp. 401-403).

Discussion Questions:

What was the main issue that Christians faced, as revealed in the Pliny letter quoted above? What parallels can we see here with what will come in the last days, as revealed in the third angel’s message of Revelation 14:9-12? What does this tell us about some of the underlying issues in the great controversy itself?
“Those who honor the law of God have been accused of bringing judgments upon the world, and they will be regarded as the cause of the fearful convulsions of nature and the strife and bloodshed among men that are filling the earth with woe. The power attending the last warning has enraged the wicked; their anger is kindled against all who have received the message, and Satan will excite to still greater intensity the spirit of hatred and persecution.” – Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, pp. 614, 615. Though we don’t know when all this will happen, how can we always be ready to face opposition for our faith, in whatever form that opposition comes? What is the key to be prepared?

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Comments

Friday: Further Thought – Suffering for Christ — 6 Comments

Sharon foster on May 5, 2017 at 2:59 am said:

Key to being prepared is to know why you believe and do what you do! Because you love, and experienced Jesus, or because others you know do? Staying faithful is because of MY experience with God/Jesus/Holy Spirit!

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Annette Gill on May 5, 2017 at 4:52 am said:

It is my understanding that when the "time of trouble" comes, we would have already been sealed. So I'm not worried. I just want to be found among those who have kept the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. And so, I am busy trying to consume to word of God through daily study and spending more time with Him in prayer. As I spend more and more time with Him, my faith grows, my love for Him grows stronger, and the things of this world slowly loose their value to me. Day by day, I am more convicted that I am His child.

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Jim Sibert on May 5, 2017 at 6:19 am said:

The key to be prepared is,
to remain in, by getting into the Word of The LORD GOD, and asking HIS HOLY SPIRIT TO Illuminate, convict and establish in us.

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Jim Sibert on May 5, 2017 at 6:20 am said:

And to Give THANKS for it.

To The Most HIGH!
Always!

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Nancy Pierre on May 5, 2017 at 11:11 am said:

Pliny letter informed us the difference between real Christians and so called Christians. The negative Christians denied God, they corporated with the gods status to worship them..... a little to much explanation. I tried my best to shrink it, I wanted to say more.... in this paragraph.

Key preparation for Christ:

The key to be prepared when controversy happens between God and satan, regarding the mark of the beast in a way that to worship the beast Wich is satan.

Our key preparation is that we are indeed need to stay in connection with God in all seasons, in bad time and good time. "Keeping ourselves in the love of God." Obey God's Law and His Ordinance, deny ourselves from the worldly stuffs that will keep us away from our loving infinite father God. Keep on loving Jesus Christ with perseverance in good time and bad time. Humble ourselves in the Lord to ask for the Holy Spirit lives in us every day. This way we will have wisdom and strength to defeat the enemy in everything.

Amen alleluia and Happy early sabbath to everyone, Christians or none Christians. The Lord bless all, humanity with His infinite love.

Love Nancy in Jesus Christ-with love.

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Sieg Hoppe on May 5, 2017 at 10:05 pm said:

I fear there are many pre-crucifixion Peters among us (Matthew 26:33; Luke 22:33).

I believe that total surrender now and continuously is the only way we will stand for God when faced with the threat of death for our faith.

Anything short of complete and constant surrender to Christ will leave us, like Peter, in a state of "conviction in the flesh" and that will not suffice when facing the Pliny's of our time.

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