In the United States, the church has enjoyed a peaceful existence. Our Federal and State governments allow us to worship freely. However, God does not promise us a carefree, painless life. Very early in his preaching, Jesus promises “Blessed ore those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when men cast insults at you, and persecute you.\u00a0and say all kinds of evil against you\u00a0falsely, on account of me. Rejoice, and\u00a0be glad, for your reward in heaven is\u00a0great, for so they persecuted the\u00a0prophets who were before you<\/em>” (Matthew 5:1-12).<\/p>\n In the parable of the sower, Jesus warns that some of us will fail when we face persecution. He says this: “for what was sown on rocky ground, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives with joy yet he has no root in himself<\/strong> but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away<\/em>” (Matthew 13:2-21).<\/p>\n Jesus tells us we have to be\u00a0ready to sacrifice everything on His account. In Mark 10:28-31, Peter says to Jesus “Lo, we have left everything and followed you<\/em>.” Jesus responds “Truly I\u00a0say to you, there is no one who has left house or brother or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children <\/em>[fellow Christians] and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. Bur many that are first will be last, and the last first.<\/em>” We must always remember Jesus’ promise to reward our sacrifices and our steadfastness when we endure persecution.<\/p>\n We do not know what our individual future holds. We do know Jesus promises:<\/p>\n Despite His warnings, two men betrayed Jesus the night he was arrested. The difference between these two men is found in their rootedness: Judas hung himself, whereas Peter repented. When we fail Jesus – even during times of persecution – we can always\u00a0come home to Him and repent.<\/p>\n The door is always open.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Jeff Carter Sentry Magazine, September 2001 In the United States, the church has enjoyed a peaceful existence. Our Federal and State governments allow us to worship freely. However, God does not promise us a carefree, painless life. Very early in his preaching, Jesus promises “Blessed ore those who have been persecuted for the sake of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[572,1288],"class_list":["post-32454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-persecution","tag-steadfastness"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":39941,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/persecution-in-europe\/","url_meta":{"origin":32454,"position":0},"title":"Persecution in Europe","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 25, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Source:\u00a0Joy Pullman, \"In Case With Global Implications, Finland Puts Christians On Trial For Their Faith,\"\u00a0The Federalist, 23 November 2021. \"Rasanen's alleged crimes in a country that claims to guarantee freedom of speech and religion include tweeting a picture of a Bible verse. Potential penalties if they are convicted include fines\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Issues"","block_context":{"text":"Issues","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":88243,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-all-christians-persecuted\/","url_meta":{"origin":32454,"position":1},"title":"Are all Christians persecuted?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 28, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a question about a verse that tells us that all godly Christians shall suffer persecution. II Timothy 3:12 states: \"Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.\" This verse concerns me because I've been a Christian since I was 12 (I'm now\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":57417,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/early-persecution\/","url_meta":{"origin":32454,"position":2},"title":"Early Persecution","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 29, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Andy Sochor via\u00a0Unmasking Sophistry, October-December 2022 As the apostles were commissioned to \"make disciples of all the nations\" (Matthew 28:19), this would include preparing these disciples to face persecution for the cause of Christ. Jesus warned about this in His Sermon on the Mount: \"Blessed are you when people\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":53976,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-get-teased-for-being-a-christian\/","url_meta":{"origin":32454,"position":3},"title":"I get teased for being a Christian","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 24, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi there, I have many questions, and I need your help badly. I am the only Christian in my family and in my high school. Others tease me once I mention that I am a Christian in my country. Answer: You've come to the right place because I tend\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":34189,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/in-england-christians-cannot-be-foster-parents\/","url_meta":{"origin":32454,"position":4},"title":"In England, Christians Cannot be Foster Parents","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 22, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Source:\u00a0Michael Brown, \"The Precipitous Decline Of Christian England,\"\u00a0TownHall.com, 22 July 2012 \"And then there was the case of Eunice and Owen Johns, a Christian couple in their 60's who had cared for\u00a015 foster children\u00a0in the past. Last year, England's High Court ruled that they could no longer take in children\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Issues"","block_context":{"text":"Issues","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6762,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/where-does-it-say-that-those-preaching-gods-word-would-be-hated\/","url_meta":{"origin":32454,"position":5},"title":"Where does it say that those preaching God’s word would be hated?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 1, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I'm looking for a passage: You will be not liked very much if you preach the Christian word. Please give some direction as to where I might find this. Answer: Several passages could fit roughly with what you are looking for: \"Blessed are you when they revile and persecute\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32454"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32454\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n