‘'PRESS ON TO THE END-NO MATTER WHAT THREATS MAY LIE AHEAD'’

‘PRESS ON TO THE END-NO MATTER WHAT THREATS MAY LIE AHEAD’
2Cor.4:8-18.
‘8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. 11 For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12 So death is at work in us, but life in you.13 Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak, 14 knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. 15 For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.’


Dear Friends and readers,
It is my great pleasure again to share with you the living and encouraging word of faith so as to resuscitate our hope that may seem to be engulfed in many tumultuous winds of persecution and affliction. Christian persecution is on the rise at we move towards the coming of the Lord. You do not need to be in Pakistan or Afghanistan where being a Christian is anathema! Right where you are you can experience persecution the very moment you decide to stand with the truth. I some countries, and surprisingly well known for their role in spreading Christianity and Christian morals in the past, things are slowly giving room to modernity and humanism in the name of ‘human rights’. The whole sense of human rights –as a concept, and in its true good intentions- is being lost as some stuff, which contradict the truth revealed in the Bible, are being shielded in the name of human rights. In fact, such stuff should have been labelled ‘human wrongs’ to save the good name of human rights.
And, the drama comes when a true believer questions their moral correctness. Immediately you will be silenced, sometimes with a threat of being put into jail for injuring ‘the feelings of another fellow.’ But truth is truth. It is never sugar coated. The Bible is there to correct, admonish and guide our lives and the lives of those around us. In some countries to-day, if I speak about the incorrectness of homosexuality and the fact that the Bible warns that all who practise it or condone it are sinning against the holy and righteous God, I may be jailed. So, ministers of Truth are now being persecuted for having warned their members who might have been trapped into this devilish, immoral, and un-Christian behaviour.

Persecution is right where you are if you decide to speak the plain truth! Paul, writing to the Corinthians, admonished them to that effect and encourages them to press on. In 2Cor.4:8-9 he says
‘We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.’


However, as it is said, ‘though we may think we are at the end of our rope, we are never at the end of our hope'. So if you are the lover of Truth, Press on, no matter what! For those in countries where Christian persecution is on the acute angle, resort into Paul’s comforting and encouraging message above. During his time and afterwards, Christian persecution was from all corners. From governmental authorities to religious societies of the time and individuals, more to say, from one’s family! But this was and should even to-day be expected to all Saints! The Lord Jesus said (in John 16:33) that ‘[h]ere on earth we shall face many persecutions. But take courage, because I have overcome the world.’ So Paul and those of his time took courage and persisted in their tribulations no matter what the end was. They maintained what we should always maintain:
“I believed, and so I spoke.”

Stories of Christian persecuted during the Roman Era are, on one hand appalling while on the other hand, encouraging. They were falsely accused from all sides and by all manners. Some said they indulged in cannibalism and pervasion. But in the midst of all such false accusations true and faithful Christians steadily stood their ground. And, their accusers clearly saw and acknowledge the precious things in their lives which could be found in no-where else. For instance, in Minucius Felix, Octavius ch. 9 (written in 2nd or 3rd century) one of the accusers, a certain unbeliever in the name of Caecilius, is said to have said the following:
They… love one another almost before they become acquainted.
What an amazing jewel in the Christian family. Despite the present day accusations and persecutions, the brethrens stood as ONE! Press on, they do see even if paying a blind eye. As so Paul exhorts us saying that we should not ‘lose heart.
‘Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.’

Press on,
For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.’

" Others had trials of mocking and scourgings,yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: they were stoned, they were sawn asunder,they were tempted, they were slain with the sword: they went about in sheep skins,in goatskins;being destitutes,afflicted,illtreated (of whom the world was not worthy) (Heb.11:36-38).

You, who are in Pakistan, I say PRESS ON!
You, who are in Iraq I say, PRESS ON!
You who are in India, I say, PRESS ON!
So press on and never let down the Lord even by a second!
Best Regards,
Ev. D.J. Nangela.