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You may well think that this is a very strange topic to place just after increased reliance upon the Holy Spirit, as a necessity for the transformation of the church.

But, reality is, the church thrives and grows through persecution. Jesus was/is a revolutionary. He calls us to get out of the comfort zone of acceptance, both personal and of society, to revolutionise the world for Him.

Jesus was rejected by His generation;

And Stephen, the first martyr of the church.

For the way of Jesus is not the way of the world nor of our natural human nature.

And also, reality is, whether we like it or not, it takes persecution to sort out the wheat from the chaff, to get those who truly believe to take a life transforming stand for Jesus.

This applied both to the early church, taking persecution in Jerusalem to spread the people and the Word to the then known world, and today, as seen in the huge growth of the church in China.

All the 12 (11 plus Paul) apostles were martyred for their faith, with the exception of John, who tradition says was boiled in oil and, of course, he ended up on the prison island of Patmos.

'Walking with Jesus' is not easy! I repeat. Truly walking with Jesus is not easy!

It is not meant to be! For Jesus called His followers to a way of life diametrically opposite to the world's ways. The world cannot understand a message, and behavior, that puts God and others, ahead of oneself.

''SelfISHness' was born of the fruit, disobediently eaten in the Garden of Eden. It remains the world's way today. The 'selfLESSness' of Jesus therefore, is a message the world does not want to hear.

So what does this have to do with persecution?

Everything!

For if we were truly preaching and living 'THE WAY' of Jesus, the world would become polarised towards the church. More would believe, while others would become increasingly antagonistic towards it. Persecution would inevitably increase.

Persecution reflects the reality of our faith. When our faith is 'wishy-washy', the world simply sees us as irrelevant, an anachronism of days past. However, when confronted and challenged by the transforming power of the true Gospel, people have to make a choice. Embrace it or hate it! There is no middle ground.

When we water down the Gospel, preaching universal love, ignoring the consequences of sin and judgment in order to become socially acceptable, we are alienating both God, and ironically, those we are seeking to attract.

The very last words of Jesus were not spoken at the time of His ascension, but later, in the book of Revelation, through the Apostle John.

His message to the seventh church of Laodicea, generally recognised as being a picture of today's church, was right to the point.

Yes, these final words of Jesus warned us of the calamitous cost of compromise, of having one foot in God and the other in the world. Rejection from His kingdom!

Let us now stand up for Jesus! Show ourselves to be different to the world! Teach and live the full Gospel of Jesus!

Yes, we will be persecuted. But, on the other hand, we won't be spat out of His mouth! The cost of compromise is eternal!

Persecution makes or breaks our faith.

Remember, Jesus was a revolutionary, and we are called to follow Him. If we truly do so, we will be loved by some and despised by others.

That is the way of the Lord!

Yad Vashem - Valley of Destroyed Communities

The Valley of the Destroyed Communities is the latest addition (1993) to the Yad Vashem complex, Israel's central memorial to the six million Jews killed in the Holocaust of World War II. It consists of a maze of courtyards (each representing a country or geographical region), on whose walls are inscribed the names of cities and towns where Jewish communities flourished before the advent of the Nazi regime in Germany. Viewed from the air, the structure approximates the shape of the map of Europe. The national institution for research and documentation of the Holocaust, Yad Vashem includes a museum, the Hall of the Names, and the Avenue of Righteous Gentiles. It is dedicated to perpetuating the memory of the Jews who perished in the Nazi Holocaust (1939-1945).