It should be well known that Christians are the most peaceful of all people. We do not wield literal swords and guns to fight for our spiritual cause. Many Christians over the years have submitted meekly and humbly to sometimes horrific deaths because they refused to renounce the name of Jesus. They followed Jesus. As a lamb led to the slaughter, so they opened not their mouths.
Our Scriptures tell us our battle is not with blade or bullet. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal—but they are mighty! Our weapons have divine power to destroy strongholds of Satan, obliterate arguments against the truth of the gospel, and subjugate every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of our great God (2 Corinthians 10.3–5).
If we do not fight according to the flesh, we do not present an existential threat to anyone around us. In fact, we are the first to help our neighbors in times of need. We are the first to give of our time, money, and talents. Why should we be hated?
The simple answer is this: we are hated because we refuse to bow to the gods of men.
Modern people like to think our advanced society has removed itself from religion and the worship of gods, but humanity will always and forever be a worshiping creature. We cannot help but worship something because we are designed that way. However, if man does not bow to the true Creator, he bows to impotent images, false faces, helpless hoaxes. Christians are hated because we point this out—men’s gods are useless.
Powerful people desire control. They want to lord it over the population, and their most useful tool is fear, and it has been since the beginning of time. This happens in the smallest of spheres—the family, the neighborhood, the small town. And this happens on a country-wide scale—the national political scene. In bygone ages, the king and his faithful high priest manipulated the populace in times of scarcity and want by claiming the gods were upset and needed a sacrifice. They whipped their people into a fearful frenzy sometimes even to the point of human sacrifice, declaring the god of the river needed to be appeased before he would allow the crops to grow again. In times of peace and plenty, they claimed the gods were happy and encouraged the people to keep up their submissive work. How could one argue against this air-tight logic?
You think we have progressed far from those superstitious times? What are our nation’s leaders telling us now as we prepare to vote in a few months? “The economy is failing, but our government can fix it. Jobs are scarce, but if we just appease the transgender and abortion gods, we will have peace and unity. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion are the marks of the faithful.” The gods of men have merely changed their clothes.
We Christians accuse the abortionist of slaughtering innocents. Transparent euphemisms like “my body, my choice” and “reproductive rights” help put a finger on the real issue—it’s a radical and perverse selfishness which chooses the woman’s choice and the woman’s desire for a responsibility-free life over the literal life of a baby. Our society worships gods of self-love, self-gratification, and self-government.
The god of autonomy thrives, giving license to all manner of evil actions. The word police defend the wicked by labelling dissenting language as “hate speech.” You are not supposed to point out that killing a baby is evil, that obesity is bad, that a man becoming a woman is impossible and ridiculous. You are not supposed to point out that sex outside of marriage is sinful and marriage can only be between one man and one woman. You are not supposed to push back against books and media which teach children about aberrant sexual behaviors. Have you noticed the god of autonomy has invested heavily in sexual perversion?
When Christians speak against the gods of the age, the gods would have us silenced and removed from society because we stand in the way of their agendas. As long as Christians live, the world cannot unify in the name of their gods because our God still speaks through us, and we preach One True God, Creator of all men, who has one law for all. The world hates that. Their gods hate that.
If the Bible is true, if Jesus is who He says He is (the Son of God), and if we have only one Way which leads to eternal life, we Christians cannot quit preaching the gospel of judgment and salvation. We do not force anyone; we simply state God’s truth.
Peter preached to the Jews who had crucified Christ, “This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised Him up, losing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for Him to be held by it” (Acts 2.23–24). “Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified!” (Acts 2.36). And they were “cut to the heart” (Acts 2.37), repented, were baptized into Christ Jesus, and became His disciples (Acts 2.38–47).
Stephen preached a similar message to a panel of Jewish leaders, “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have not betrayed and murdered, you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it” (Acts 7.51–53). Their reaction was much different than those who heard Peter. These “were enraged, and they ground their teeth” at Stephen. They “cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him,” and they stoned him to death (Acts 7.54–60).
We can expect the same reactions today. Some will hear the gospel and repent; others will hear the gospel and rush at us enraged, teeth grinding, stones in their hands. Some want to join us in Christ; others want to rid the earth of us. Remember Jesus’ words, “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on My account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven” (Matthew 5.11–12).
May God grant us courage to keep on preaching the Gospel of His kingdom!