By David Omongole
OPINION | Persecution has never worked against the church, it has always worked for its good. I am very happy that the church in Uganda as a whole is finally getting real persecution again, not inter-church fights masked as persecution. Jesus said “they will persecute you.” He didn’t say “you will persecute yourselves.”
Now real persecution is at your door! It means God has considered that you are growing and are now able to bear it, so He is permitting it to happen (1 Cor 10:13).
There is no true promotion which comes from God without persecution. Read your Bible! (Mark 10:13).
When you don’t understand it well, you ask God to take away persecution. When you grow up you discover His grace is sufficient. To ask God to take away persecution is to ask Him to revoke all His blessings from you which is something He won’t do (Romans 11:29).
It is time to go beyond only quoting scriptures and also start living them. If you say the weapons of your warfare are not carnal then put them to work now! You cannot be crying to government and praying to God at the same time. You cannot serve two masters; you must love one and hate the other.(Matthew 6:24)
Persecution is good for you as an individual and as a church. It helps shake away all man-made things so that only that which is of God stays (Hebrews 12:26-27).
That said, I feel very sorry for those who think the government can pass regulations to favour the church. I weep for you-I sure do! It means you have no clue of what is happening. Who has bewitched you? Have you not read in your Bible that they will never like you? (Luke 21:17) Are you greater than your Master Jesus who warned you about these times?
Finally it will happen: they will lay their hands on you, they will persecute you, they will deliver you to synagogues (religious groupings/organisations!), and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for His name’s sake! (Luke 21:12). It will be tough and only those who laid a proper spiritual foundation will be standing when it is done.
I weep for those who think it is good that the government should regulate the qualifications of God’s ministers. Because your eyes have been blinded by the ruler of this world you will be the first to be swept. There will even be no footprints to show where you came from. Oh! Earthly governments don’t perfect the saints for the work of the ministry. If you have no idea who does, pick your dusty Bible and check in it, the answer is there.
It is not wrong for ministers to be trained. In fact they should be. In our ministry we have a college called the Rhema College with a comprehensive syllabus where ministers are trained.
But don’t for one moment think government will get involved genuinely. When they are done with convincing you that you should study, then they will go to the next step-they will dictate where you should study. They will tell you Rhema College or Charis Bible College is not good enough. Finally they will tell you what to believe, and that will be your end. Now you know who will be the first to be swept!
Only those whose hope is in Christ and not anything man-made will stand those times. Did you hear that? Know of a surety that your praying won’t stop it from happening. It will happen and only those who truly know their God shall be strong and do mighty exploits! Instead of making endless noise about it, get to the Word and fortify yourself.
One more thing: when God thinks it is time up for an earthly king, He sets him up against the church. It is hard to kick against the pricks. Ask Herod!
Let him who has ears hear what the Spirit says to the church.
Blessings.
The writer is a Pastor and Pharmacist.
