Why is Persecution Allowed?

     While we’re on the topic, let’s answer this question in case it’s rattling around in the back of your mind. It’s right up there with the question as to why God allows suffering and evil. If you’ve been following these blogs, you know that God did not create evil. Evil came about as a consequence of choices made by angels and mankind. All spiritual beings, whether or not they have a flesh and blood body, were created with a will because love and service require a choice.
       You may also remember that when God created Adam and Eve to be His ruling representatives on the earth, He gave them delegated authority to make decisions based on God’s ways. Unfortunately, they decided to believe a serpent who talked them into questioning God’s Word and His love for them. From that life-changing decision, life on earth changed.
       Why didn’t God intervene and stop Satan, especially since He knew the horrible havoc the Devil would wreak on the earth? You may not like the answer. It is because He is just. To take back the authority over the earth would go against His Word, and God will not do that. The reason for this is given in Psalm 115:16. The earth belongs to God—He has ownership—but He has given it to mankind. He will not violate His Word. He is a God of His Word.
        This is why Psalm 78:41 says that our words and actions are what limit Him. Yes, He is the supreme God, yet in His sovereignty He has chosen to give delegated authority to mankind. Following the Genesis pattern of Creation, we are still in the six great Days allotted to mankind. This is why Jesus had to come as the perfect man in order to redeem mankind.
       This truth may shock some people who believe in a redefined sovereignty of God in which God controls everything that happens on the earth. According to the biblical definition of the word, God is the supreme ruler, the Most High God. He is the righteous and just ruler who will not violate His Word. Hebrews 6:18 says it is impossible for God to lie. Psalm 89:34 says He will not break His covenant or His Word despite our actions. That is why the New Covenant is a better covenant because it was made between the perfect and supreme God the Father and the perfect and sinless Son of God—Jesus Christ.
       Since our salvation, forgiveness, and righteousness are based on this blood covenant, we don’t want God to go against His Word. Our hope of glory depends on it! However, because God is just, He has appointed a time when this evil will be dealt with for all eternity. Just as the benefits of this earth, such as the rain and the sun that make growth possible, fall on both the wicked and the righteous, so do the negative consequences of the choices of mankind.
        Is this fair? Yes, when we acknowledge that we are all responsible for the choices we make. It’s called accountability. Since mankind has rejected God and yielded to Satan, he is now the god of this age. If mankind wants to blame someone other than themselves, they need to blame Satan.
      Remember that God has provided a safeguard, as we saw in Psalm 91, through Jesus Christ. But the very people who reject God for causing evil and suffering, are more than happy to live apart from Him. They bewail Christianity for being exclusive when we say that Jesus is the only way. In doing so, they automatically submit to the Devil’s evil ways and give the evil one full sway on the earth. And then they have the audacity to complain to God about it! 
        The Chronos Times: The bottom line is this: justice will be served when the transgressors have reached their fullness. God must allow the lawlessness that results from choosing evil over God to run its full course. Otherwise, those who preach a utopian paradise by the power and enlightenment of mankind will call “fowl” if God intervenes before they’ve had a chance to prove their superiority—or more accurately, their lack of it. We have the assurance that God will intervene before the forces of evil—both spiritual and human—destroy this earth. It is God’s after all!
       I’d like to bring up a side note here that hopefully will shed some light on another reason why God allows persecution. Constantine the Great was the emperor of the Western Roman Empire from AD 306 to 337. In the midst of one of his conquests to secure the empire, it was recorded that he saw a vision of Christ and converted to Christianity. The vision and the conversion were suspect to many. Still, one of his first acts was to proclaim the official end of the persecution of Christians called the Edict of Milan. It granted Christianity equal status with all the other religions that enjoyed freedom under Rome’s rule.
       Of course this reprieve came as a huge relief to the Christians. But over time it led to further problems. It politicized the faith in the years that followed, as it became the preferred religion. The state and the Catholic Church merged into the Holy Roman Empire. Many people “converted” in order to gain status and power. Whether their decision was for real, only God knows. But the fruit that resulted definitely did not reflect God’s Kingdom ways. True faith always stands the test of time, as seen in the innumerable martyrs who have chosen to lose their life instead of denouncing their Christian faith.
     Whenever the Gospel is watered down to make it more acceptable, we run the risk of making pseudo followers. Like the so-called “friends” on social media, these followers have very little personal interaction with the Lord they “follow.”  Persecution has a way of exposing those who do not fully hold to the truths in God’s Word. They value their livelihood and social status more than their relationship with Christ. That is why we see so many departing the faith when the going gets tough.
         If nothing else in this time of persecution and division, it’s time to do a heart-check so that we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we are Christ’s. Its time do a walk-check to see where we are in our journey with Christ-likeness—for our sake and the sake of those with whom we share the Gospel.