Guilty, as Charged

Standing for Christ before a Hostile Age (2)

By T. M. Moore

“This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law…” --Acts 6:13

Some years ago Susie and I were having dinner with two other pastors and their wives, when the conversation turned to persecution and martyrdom. I have for many years had a keen interest in the plight of the persecuted Church. Back in the early 80s I contacted every evangelical seminary I knew of to find out if they had any reading lists or course materials on the persecuted church.

None did. I wrote to every evangelical publishing house, seeking titles about Christians who were being persecuted for their faith. None had any to offer – none, that is, besides the few I already possessed. I contacted every evangelical publisher of Sunday school material, looking for resources on the persecuted church. Nothing.

This led me to reflect on the fact that, back in the early 80s, when the boot heel of Marxism was suppressing and crushing the faith of Christ in many places, and when the religion of Islam was just as actively and violently opposing the spread of the Gospel in traditional Muslim lands, believers in Jesus Christ were laying down their lives before a hostile age, precisely as generations of believers had done throughout the history of the Christian movement.

Only now, in this country, we were training a new generation of pastors, Sunday school students, and readers through whose minds a thought about the suffering Church conceivably might never pass. We were practicing a studied ignorance of what it means to suffer and die for the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and why that might be necessary for believers in a hostile age.

So I wasn’t really surprised, when our dinner conversation turned to persecution and martyrdom, that one of the pastors opined that he wasn’t sure he was ready for that. Asked to explain he said, “Well, I’m just not sure that I’m willing to lay down my life for my faith. I haven’t considered that possibility just yet.” I wasn’t shocked, but I was sorely dismayed. If pastors aren’t thinking about this, and aren’t living the Gospel as though it were more valuable than their own lives, how can they expect their people to do so?

Stephen was charged with violating God’s holy standards and place. That was the ground on which he made his defense in Acts 7. The conclusion of his address was to declare, “Guilty, as charged!” Except that it wasn’t Stephen who was guilty, but those who were accusing him with anger and deceit. They had violated God’s Law; they had broken His covenant; they had hardened their hearts, betrayed their true traditions, and resisted His Spirit; they had killed the Righteous One.

Their response was predictable. They were completely caught off guard and outraged by being put on trial themselves, and they dragged Stephen out to the edge of the city and stoned him to death. They didn’t even trouble with the niceties of gaining Roman approval.

Our hostile age charges the Gospel with falsehood, oppression, limiting moral freedom, meddling where it doesn’t belong, and much, much more. In fact, it is our secular age that is the wellspring of lies, which oppresses our generation with half-truths and outright lies, which destroys morality in the name of license, and which, through its meddlesome government and schools, demands to control and rule in every area of life. It is not we who are guilty of screwing up the world, but all who are the enemies of Christ.

But if you choose to stand up to this and make your objections known, if you choose to drag out the guilt of this hostile age for all to see, then you must be prepared for the scorn, vitriol, and worse that might ensue. Think it can’t happen here? Think again.

Download the series, "Standing for Christ in a Hostile Age." Click here: VP Hostile Age.