Courageous Teens by Michael Catt

Author:Michael Catt
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Christian Life
ISBN: 9781433679070
Publisher: B&H Publishing Group
Published: 2012-03-14T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 7

The Courage to Face Persecution

“They were stoning Stephen as he called out: ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!’ Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lord, do not charge them with this sin!’ And saying this, he fell asleep.”

Acts 7:59–60

“I’m accepting the fact that I need to learn to do the hard things.”

—Adam Mitchell, Courageous

Persecution. I’m guessing it’s not a subject that you and your friends discuss frequently over the lunch table—or even in youth group. It’s just not an issue that many teenagers, or many Americans for that matter, seem to face.

But I have to wonder: is that because we’re not bold enough to be persecuted?

In a land where P.C. is king (or queen, to be politically correct), we’ve been worn down to tolerate just about anything. We’ve been scared into silence, lest we be ostracized by our peers. But is that the mark of true Christianity? The Bible warns of persecution. Jesus Himself was the very epitome of persecution. So, if we are to speak boldly for Christ, if we are to refuse the ideals of this world, it stands to reason that we just may face a little persecution along the way.

Have you ever heard the name Richard Wurmbrand (1909–2001)? He was a Jew who converted to Christianity in 1938 after studying Marxism in Moscow. In 1944, when the Communists began to establish themselves in Romania, Wurmbrand began a ministry that eventually went underground. He was arrested on February 29, 1948, while on his way to church. Over the next two decades he would be placed in numerous penal facilities where he was tortured, spent three years in solitary confinement, and was put to hard labor. After eight and a half years in prison, Wurmbrand was released in 1956 and immediately went right back to his work in the underground church. Not long after, he was arrested and sentenced to twenty-five years, and he was again beaten and tortured severely.

Finally a release was negotiated, and Wurmbrand left the country. In 1966 he appeared before a Senate committee and took off his shirt in front of television cameras to reveal the scars of his torture. The following year he formed what would become The Voice of the Martyrs, an “inter-denominational Christian organization dedicated to assisting the persecuted church worldwide.”

Some have said the persecuted church is the growing church. It seems to be true. While the church is exploding in Third World countries, the church is declining in America and Europe. Benjamin E. Fernando said, “Crushing the church is like smashing the atom: divine energy of high quality is released in enormous quantity with miraculous effects.”

Billy Graham said, “It is unnatural for Christianity to be popular.”1 Maybe that’s why the American church has become so insipid and apathetic. We cannot and should not expect better treatment than our Lord (see Matt. 10:17–20; John 15:18–19).

You can’t read the book of Acts without coming face-to-face with the reality of persecution. Rather than causing the early church to crumble, it was the spark that ignited it.

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