American Church Not Ready for Persecution — E.A. Johnston

Persecution Is Coming to the American Church

I strongly believe two things, and I want to state these for us right now, friends. Number one, I strongly believe that high persecution is coming to the American church. You'd have to be an ostrich with your head in the sand not to see the storm clouds lining up on the horizon.

We're living in a God-hating society from the top down. God has been legislated right out of our government. God's been kicked out of our educational system, and he's a cuss word in the corporate sector.

An out-and-out atheist would have a better chance at landing a top job in government today than would a true born-again believer who was outspoken about his faith. Persecution is fast approaching the American church.

There can be no denying it. It's already begun. Number two, I also strongly believe that the American church is completely unprepared for this coming persecution. She's not ready on a number of levels, which I will elaborate upon as we proceed.

The 1 Peter 4 Warning About Fiery Trials

The title of my message this evening, friends, is American Church Not Ready for Persecution, and my text can be found in 1 Peter 4. You can turn in your Bibles there now, friends. We'll be in verse 12.

Let me read this striking passage of scripture to us at this time. Here now is the word of God, and may the Spirit of the Lord be pleased to attend the reading of his holy word. Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you.

But rejoice inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings, that when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye, for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you.

On their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men's matters. Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God on this behalf.

For the time has come that judgment must begin at the house of God. And if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?

Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well-doing, as unto a faithful creator will stop their friends. There are several aspects I'd like to draw out from our passage this evening.

The Coming Clash Between Christianity and Pagan Society

The first is this, number one, hot persecution is coming to the American church. It won't be long that pastors will be forced to marry homosexuals or lose their tax-exempt status. A real on-fire Christian will soon be viewed as a fanatic and an enemy of the state.

I remember several years ago when I was sitting at my seminary graduation dinner and it was testimony time. We were all seated at banquet tables and the platform was open for any graduate to get up and testify about their faith.

And I'll never forget one man, a pastor from London, got up on stage and stood before the microphone and this is what he told us. He said he'd just been arrested in London for handing out gospel tracts because they contained a verse from Romans which the judge viewed as hate speech.

And all of us there shook our heads in disbelief and thought that kind of persecution would never come to the shores of America. But guess what friends, it's right around the corner. Christians in America will be viewed as both troublemakers and hate mongers.

If you're a street preacher now, friend, you better get all the preaching in that you can because soon you'll be thrown in jail for preaching the gospel of the Son of God. And if you are a pastor and you preach an easy-to-believe gospel and a no-soul salvation, then you don't have any worries because you'll just blend in with the rest of the apostate church because no one's offended by your brand of Christianity.

But if you are a fiery preacher who preaches the full counsel of God, there will be a time when you might go to jail for your stand for Jesus Christ. In the New Testament church, the church went in one direction and pagan society traveled in the other direction.

And when they met, there was a clash. Christianity has always meant to be counter-cultural. Look at the Chinese church and how they suffer for their testimony in Christ Jesus. So I strongly believe that persecution is coming to the church in America.

It's already on our doorsteps, but many refuse to acknowledge it. My second point is this. I strongly believe that the American church is not ready for persecution. I believe that when persecution comes to America, there will be a sifting of the American church.

The chaff will be sifted from the wheat. There will be a thinning of the ranks of church membership because many who call themselves Christians now will deny their faith when tested because they never had any faith to begin with.

All they had was a decision. I was preaching at a conference back in 2012 in Atlanta, Georgia, and the theme of the conference was the coming persecution as it was coming to America. And I was preaching on the underground church in China and making contrasts between it and the American church.

And at the time I made the following comment, I said, I thought that the American church was not prepared to face the coming persecution. And I gave my reasons for making that statement. Now that time has transpired and events have taken place in our land, I can give you even stronger arguments for this statement now, friends.

An Easy Gospel Produces Unprepared Believers

I want to list four reasons why I believe the American church is unprepared for the coming persecution. I will list these one by one. Number one, the American church is unprepared for persecution because many enter the church through an easy-to-believe gospel that's centered around the happiness of man.

The only gospel to these individuals is a man-centered, false gospel that will send you straight to hell. When persecution comes, these unconverted church members will be the first to fall by the wayside.

In our passage, the Apostle Peter speaks of the coming suffering to the saints for their testimony in Christ Jesus. And this can be applied to us here in the West at this hour, friends. The early church back in those days when early Christians would stand up for Christ, society burned you at the stake if you were a true outspoken Christian.

It was either Caesar is Lord or Jesus is Lord. And if you said Jesus is Lord, then you risked your home being ransacked, your loved ones arrested, and your life snuffed out in a violent death. Right now, throughout the world, Christians are being beheaded and burned to death for their faith by religious zealots who hate Christianity.

All you have to do is look at this country today, friends, and see how the very face of this nation has changed dramatically in just the last several years. Born-again believers are a minority in this country today.

America's become a pagan nation, and we live in a God-hating society. Number two, I believe the American church is unprepared for the common persecution because the average Christian is worldly and attached to his or her material things of this world.

Materialism and the Cost of Following Christ

Many believers are hoarders and have accumulated money and material goods for the benefit of their own families, and they cling to money and symbols of success and will refuse to part with them at any cost.

If high persecution comes to the church in America, you better be prepared, friend, to lose all you have. You might lose your home. You might lose your money. You have all you hold dear confiscated because you'll be viewed as an enemy of the state.

Many American Christians are hoarders and rely on their accumulated goods and money to give them security, even if it's a false sense of security. The main reason why Christianity has thrived in China is because many of the Chinese believers have no material goods or wealth.

All they have is Jesus. All they want is Jesus. But here in the West, our motto is, grab all you can while you can, and the one with the most toys at the end is the winner. We cling to our belongings and hold them with clenched fists.

We're like the monkey and the nut. We won't let go of the nut in the bottle, even though it spells out our capture and certain doom. Number three, I believe that American Christians are unprepared for the coming persecution because many have never counted the cost of becoming a Christian through a life of discipleship.

Counting the Cost Through a Crucified Life

In Matthew's gospel, we have the words of Jesus as he declared how the gospel has rights and claims on a person's life. In Matthew 16 and verses 24 to 25, Jesus declared, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. Your average believer has no concept of living a crucified life because most pastors today refuse to preach on the doctrine of the cross and the life of a believer.

We are unprepared, friends. We might as well just admit it. We're unprepared for the hardship that is coming. The apostle Paul admonished his disciple Timothy to endure hardship like a good soldier. Many know nothing of that concept today.

When they throw you in prison for your faith, your faith will be tried. Some of you won't make it. Your faith is too weak. And lastly, I believe that the American church is unprepared for the coming persecution because when persecution comes, it will be a time of a great spiritual harvest.

Scripture Memorization and Readiness for Spiritual Harvest

Many will be saved, but it will be a minority who are prepared to share the gospel effectively at that time. It will be the greatest opportunity of a lifetime to be a soul winner for Christ Jesus, but many are unprepared because of their weak walk with God.

Let me ask you a question, friend. When they throw you in jail and take your cell phone away, when they take your Bible away, how much scripture will you have hid in your heart to get you through that time and to be a witness to others?

If I asked you now to take out a piece of paper and for the next two hours write down from memory as much scripture as you could, how many of you would run out of gas in 15 minutes? Be honest. We don't know our Bibles as we should.

We don't know God as we could. We've spent our free time entertaining ourselves and enjoying ourselves rather than being on our knees and in our Bibles. Even pastors are guilty of this. They spend more time on amusements than on a close walk with God.

Chinese believers are walking Bibles because they've memorized much of it. We must prepare ourselves, friends, for the coming persecution because things are going to be so bad in this country for Christians that all hell will pop.

Humility, Repentance, and Endurance in Persecution

Let us align ourselves to our God and go to our faces in humility and repentance and ask the Almighty to grant us the grace to endure the coming persecution for his great glory. Let us go now to a time of prayer.