Persecution to Be Expected--But why should anyone be persecuted just because he wants to study God’s Word, the Bible, and be a Christian? Jesus answered the question this way: “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were part of the world, the world would be fond of what is its own. Now because you are no part of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, on this account the world hates you. Bear in mind the word I said to you, A slave is not greater than his master. If they have persecuted me, they will persecute you also; if they have observed my word, they will observe yours also. But they will do all these things against you on account of my name, because they do not know him that sent me.†(John 15:18-21) As the apostle Paul pointed out in his second inspired letter to Timothy, persecution is something Christians have to expect. He wrote: “All those desiring to live with godly devotion in association with Christ Jesus will also be persecuted.â€â€”2Â*Timothy 3:12. Let us not forget that the one behind the persecution is none other than the great opposer, Satan the Devil. Your firm stand as a Christian and your love for Jehovah God are proving the Devil to be a liar, since he claims that no one really loves God, and that if anyone does serve Him, it is only because of what he is getting out of it for himself. Satan boasted that if he had a free hand, he could turn Job, and by implication all other humans, too, away from God. (Job 1:8-11; 2:3-5) Though he failed to break Job’s integrity, the Devil has never given up.—2Â*Corinthians 4:4.
Early Christians Persecuted--In harmony with Jesus’ warning, early Christians did experience persecution, which at times was very severe. Many were driven from their homes and forced to flee to other areas, as in the case of the congregation in Jerusalem. (Acts 8:1) Others, like the apostle John, were exiled. (Revelation 1:9) The apostle Paul and those working with him in the public ministry were stoned and flogged. (Acts 14:19; 16:22) Many of the early Christians experienced imprisonment, some had their belongings plundered and some were even killed. (Colossians 4:3; PhilemonÂ*9, 10; Hebrews 10:34; 13:3; Acts 12:1, 2) But they were able to rejoice, because they fully understood why they were being persecuted. Did such persecution have the effect of stopping or even slowing down the work of ‘speaking about God and bearing witness to Jesus’? No, for the early Christians refused to be intimidated. The account in Acts 5:40-42 tells us that the officials of the Jewish Sanhedrin court “summoned the apostles, flogged them, and ordered them to stop speaking upon the basis of Jesus’ name, and let them go.†What did these Christians then do? “These, therefore, went their way from before the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy to be dishonored in behalf of his name. And every day in the temple and from house to house they continued without letup teaching and declaring the good news about the Christ, Jesus.†Earlier, the apostles Peter and John had been before the Sanhedrin because of having healed a lame man and because of teaching on the basis of Jesus’ name. The account tells us: “With that they [the rulers and older men] called them and charged them, nowhere to make any utterance or to teach upon the basis of the name of Jesus. But in reply Peter and John said to them: ‘Whether it is righteous in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, judge for yourselves. But as for us, we cannot stop speaking about the things we have seen and heard.’ So, when they had further threatened them, they released them, since they did not find any ground on which to punish them and on account of the people.â€â€”Acts 4:18-21.
They were not frightened by the threats. The record shows that the apostles and the disciples fittingly prayed not for Jehovah to remove the persecution but that he would give them strength through his spirit to continue speaking his word with boldness. And that he did.—Acts 4:29, 31.
Paul’s imprisonment in Rome had beneficial results, as he explained in his letter to the Philippians: “Now I desire you to know, brothers, that my affairs have turned out for the advancement of the good news rather than otherwise, so that my bonds have become public knowledge in association with Christ among all the Praetorian Guard and all the rest; and most of the brothers in the Lord, feeling confidence by reason of my prison bonds, are showing all the more courage to speak the word of God fearlessly.†(Philippians 1:12-14) Yes, the persecution of Paul led to a greater witness being given, not only because of the publicity and opportunities that he had to witness to court officials, but also because other Christians were thereby encouraged to increase their activity.
Persecution in the “Last Daysâ€--Just as God’s prophets of ancient times and just as Jesus Christ and his apostles and disciples in the first century exp
