Suffering and the Kingdom of God — Zac Poonen

The Kingdom of God in the Teaching of Jesus

I was seeking the Lord about what we should share for this coming year. And there's something on my heart which is not something we have spoken about very much at all, but which is spoken about a lot in the New Testament and what Jesus spoke about a lot.

And that is the subject of the Kingdom of God. We have hardly ever preached on the Kingdom of God and what the Bible speaks about it. And I was looking through the Gospels and the Kingdom of God is mentioned more than a hundred times in the four Gospels.

And Jesus spoke about it all the time. And when John the Baptist came as a forerunner of Jesus, his first message was, repent because the Kingdom of God is near and you must enter that. And Jesus spoke about entering the Kingdom of God as a little child.

And after Jesus died and rose again from the dead, we read in Acts of the Apostles chapter 1 that, notice here in Acts chapter 1 verse 3, to these apostles he also presented himself alive after his suffering by many convincing proofs and appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke of the things concerning the Kingdom of God.

So for forty days he was speaking about the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of God, every day for forty days with those disciples. And they misunderstood it. There are a lot of people preaching about the Kingdom of God today, Christians, in the health, wealth gospel, preachers.

They mean something completely different from what the New Testament teaches. And that is what I wanted to make clear. These disciples also misunderstood it. When Jesus spoke about the Kingdom of God for forty days, they thought, oh, we're six.

Does it mean that Israel is now going to be the Kingdom of God that's going to rule the world? And that's the false understanding that those disciples had when Jesus spoke about it. Because man's mind always thinks about earthly authority.

And today also you find there are a lot of people in many charismatic groups who preach about the Kingdom. It means that Christians must begin to rule the world and then only will Jesus come. Are you going to restore?

Not to Israel. Lord, is this the time you're going to restore the Kingdom to the Christians? So we're going to have authority in every nation and influence governments. You know that the apostles of Jesus Christ were the most godly, those eleven people who had given up everything and whom Jesus, who walked with Jesus, were filled with the Holy Spirit and were faithful right up until the end of their lives.

I think all eleven never backslid. They were faithful right up until the end of their lives and all of them suffered. They never ruled the world. They never controlled any nation. Rome was the great ruler in the world.

And they persecuted the Christians. And every one of those apostles were killed. And John also perhaps lived. He suffered a lot. We don't know whether he was killed, but all the others were killed. Even Thomas who came to India was killed.

Why did God allow that? Is that how the Kingdom of God is established? Was the Lord helpless to protect his apostles, these representatives of God going around the world, preaching his gospel who were 100 times more faithful than you and I?

I feel ashamed when I compare myself with the Apostle Paul. I think I'm a tourist compared to Paul. Let's none of us have any conceited ideas of our own spirituality. If you want to come down quickly to zero, just look at the lives of these apostles and see where you stand.

A lot of us think we are pretty good Christians just because we've done something for the Lord or sacrificed some little thing here. I'm just humbled the more I read about these apostles, how they suffered because they understood that there was only one way to enter into God's Kingdom.

Suffering as the Way Into the Kingdom

Notice the connection between suffering and the Kingdom in verse 3. He presented himself alive after his suffering and told them about the things concerning the Kingdom of God. You remember when he was walking to Emmaus in Luke chapter 24 and those disciples couldn't understand why did this person who we thought was the Messiah suffer?

We read in Luke 24 and they said we couldn't understand why he suffered. And Jesus replied to them in Luke 24 and verse 25. O foolish men and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.

Wasn't it necessary for Christ to suffer and then enter into his glory? Jesus spoke a lot about suffering in relation to the Kingdom of God. We don't hear much about that today. Turn with me to Acts of the Apostles and chapter 14 and see what the apostles preached to encourage believers.

How did they encourage believers? It says in Acts chapter 14 and verse 21. And after Paul and Barnabas had preached the gospel in Derbe and they made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and Iconium and Antioch and everywhere they went to these churches, they strengthened the souls of the disciples.

How did they strengthen them? You know a lot of messages we like to hear are messages of comfort. Don't worry, I'm with you. Don't worry, I've got a great plan for you. A lot of people live with these words and words and words and they never seem to come to an overcoming life in their personal life.

They are still grumbling and complaining and getting angry and upset. It never seems to make any difference year after year after year. 2015 will be no better than 2014 and 13 and 12 and all the years gone by.

Just remember this. Because there's something in the Christian message we have missed. Acts 14, they encouraged him to continue in the faith saying it is through many tribulations that we must enter the Kingdom of God.

That's not a message the Health Wealth Gospel preaches. The Health Wealth Gospel is an old covenant message. God will bless you and you'll have a lot of money. I'm the Lord your healer. You'll be healed.

But there was no promise in the Old Testament that they would become Christ-like or that they would overcome sin. Nothing like that. It is only I will bless you and prosper you and you'll be healthy and you'll be wealthy and you'll never have any earthly need.

And whenever Israel suffered, oh, that's because God had forsaken them. Then they suffered and the Philistines ruled them. But when God was with them, they were triumphant. That is old covenant and there are many people who believe that Old Testament Gospel.

And I want to say to you, even though we preach the New Covenant, I fear that there are people sitting in our midst who believe that Old Covenant Gospel. In the New Covenant, it is not like that. The eleven apostles were killed.

They didn't live a comfortable life. None of them became wealthy. Many of them were not healthy. The apostle John was so weak and old when he was 95, they had to carry him in a chair and make him sit.

He couldn't stand up properly. He probably had trouble with his back and his spine. And he was an old man, 95 years old. He couldn't even stand. And he would sit in a chair and preach to people. It was no health wealth gospel that the apostles preached.

It was a life of faithfulness in the midst of suffering. Tradition tells us they put the apostle John in a pot of boiling oil. What all things they suffered when they wanted to crucify Peter. He said, please, I am not worthy to be crucified like my Lord.

Please put the cross upside down. And they crucified him upside down. These are the greatest servants of God. Where do you and I stand compared to them? We get little mosquito bites and we complain, oh, I'm suffering so much.

We haven't understood anything. Through much tribulation, we must enter the kingdom of God. We think because God prospers our life. Some of us were very poor when we started. And financially, you're well off today.

So is the king of Saudi Arabia. So is the sheikh of Abu Dhabi. So are the Hindu businessmen in India. Many of them started poor. They are wealthy like you. They worship other gods. Is that the mark that Jesus Christ is with you?

If so, Jesus Christ is with them too. Why preach the gospel to them? And some of us can look over that and say, see how well it's gone with me. Really? Have you overcome your anger? Have you overcome complaining?

Have you overcome dirty thoughts? Have you overcome bitterness? Have you got a forgiving spirit towards others? Are you always in a good mood? Can you say that I can never get offended? No matter what people do or say?

Then I'd say God has blessed you. Otherwise, just to say, oh, I had so little when I came to CFC. Now it's gone so well with me. God has blessed me. My brothers and sisters, don't let Satan deceive you.

Don't let Satan deceive you. The greatest saints on earth, the apostles, you are richer than them. Wow. Imagine, you're richer than Paul and Peter. You really think so? They were a million times richer than you.

You've got a wrong idea of wealth. We enter the kingdom of God through tribulation. And we can very cleverly avoid tribulation by compromising here, by being a little quiet about our faith in Jesus. I could have avoided a lot of reproach from the Christian world if I had kept quiet about many things.

But I decided I'm not going to keep quiet. Let all the Christians think I'm a false teacher and a heretic like many of them do think, even today. It's fine. But those are all mosquito bites compared to what the apostles went through.

Becoming Nothing Through Trials

You know, we saw this illustration last Sunday about the zeros. And we say, yeah, I want to be a zero. I'll tell you how you'll be a zero, through tribulation, affliction. And when you welcome it, God will allow so many trials in your life to crush you, and you accept it, you'll become a zero.

But if you complain and you question, you'll never become a zero. Some trial comes in your home, perhaps. Maybe you have a difficult husband, or a difficult brother, or sister, or brother-in-law, or some neighbor, or some boss.

And you think you're suffering. God's trying to reduce you to a zero. You said, I want to be a zero, but you don't allow God to make you a zero. That's how these apostles became. You know, Jesus said in John chapter 16, John chapter 16 and verse 33, These things I have spoken to you so that in me you may have peace.

In the world, you will become rich? No. That is another gospel. You will have tribulation. But in me, you will have peace. I have overcome the world. The world sent tribulation my way, Jesus says, and it could not crush me.

I forgave them. Learn to forgive your enemies. He loved them. He couldn't fellowship with them. Jesus couldn't fellowship with his enemies, and I can't fellowship with my enemies either. But I can forgive them.

I can love them. I don't have to go visiting their homes. Jesus didn't go visiting the homes of the Pharisees, but he loved them and he forgave them. He overcame. You overcome, and you remain in love.

No matter what people do to you. Whatever people may do to you. They curse you, you love them. You have become an overcomer. Whenever you face any trial, from anyone, in your office, in your home, on the street, in the road, in a train, in a bus, and you can remain in love, you're an overcomer.

If not, we're just singing songs here about the new covenant. I don't want to suffer. Because it is a suffering. You know, not to talk back, not to answer back when somebody is upset with you. To die.

To speak a gentle word. It's easier sometimes to keep quiet, but the Bible says a gentle answer puts away wrath. It's more difficult to give a gentle answer. Try that. So if I'm willing to go, if I recognize my calling in life is to go through tribulation.

What type of tribulation he determines. That's not for me to choose. I'm not going and choosing it. Peter didn't go and say, hey, hey, crucify me. That's not what he did. No. Paul didn't go to Emperor Nero and say, come on, cut off my head.

No. We don't choose suffering. But when it comes our way, we accept it. Jesus didn't go around saying, hey, kill me, kill me, kill me. No. So, what I mean is, when it comes your way, you accept it. And you don't complain, you don't resist it, you don't fight against it.

You say, that's my calling. How many of you have seen it as your calling? Through much tribulation, you'll enter the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God, by the way, is not ruling the earth. Will you restore the kingdom now to Israel?

Will you restore the kingdom to Christians? No. The kingdom of God is within you, Jesus said. He said that once in Luke. The kingdom of God is inside you. And we read also in Romans chapter 14, what that kingdom is, really.

Righteousness, Peace, and Joy in the Holy Spirit

Which is another thing, which all these charismatic, health, wealth people who preach about the kingdom have not understood, Romans 14, 17. They're always going to the Old Testament. They live under the old covenant.

In Romans 14, 17, it says, the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking. And I might even say, it's not health and wealth. People who have a lot of money can eat and drink a lot, according to their choice.

The kingdom of God is righteousness, and peace, and joy. And the church that preaches righteousness, that is freedom from sin, all sin, that preaches that Jesus loved righteousness and hated iniquity, and the church that preaches that we must rejoice always, and the church that preaches we must always have peace in our heart, in our conscience, and peace with all men, that is the kingdom of God.

The kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. And I want to say to you, there are very, very few churches in the world today preaching the kingdom of God. And this is not possible in human strength.

It says here, in the Holy Spirit. That's why there was no kingdom of God in the Old Testament. Because the Holy Spirit was poured out on the day of Pentecost. And here I find so many people say they are filled with the Holy Spirit, just because they babble a few words and think they are speaking in tongues.

As you know, I never despised speaking in tongues. I have spoken in tongues for 40 years. But that is not the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

When the Holy Spirit enables me to hate sin, and love righteousness like Jesus did. When the Holy Spirit makes me full of joy, in His presence there is fullness of joy. Rejoice in the Lord 24 -7. Which means I will never be in a bad mood.

That is the fullness of the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit brings peace in my heart, that I never have a disturbed conscience. Never. If a thorn pricks me, I pull it out immediately. And always seek to pursue peace with all men.

Then I know I am filled with the Holy Spirit. That is the kingdom of God. The man who is pursuing righteousness, and peace, and joy, in the power of the Holy Spirit. He is seeking the kingdom of God first.

Seeking the kingdom of God first does not mean doing missionary work, and giving to missionary work. All these wrong ideas, which are not found in scripture. It sounds very reasonable, but God says, My ways are not your ways.

My thoughts are not your thoughts. And yet so many people believe all this rubbish, that is being preached in the name of Jesus Christ. I always say, show it to me in scripture, I will believe it. I wish people would say that.

Show it to me in scripture. Where does it say missionary work is the kingdom of God? Show it to me in scripture, I will do it with all my heart. I see in scripture the kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

I see in scripture that it is not through health and wealth we enter the kingdom of God, but through much tribulation. Turn with me to 1 Peter. And chapter, you know, I don't know if you ever find a preacher who quotes scripture as much as I do in one message.

Most of these people, I'll tell you, they quote one verse and then keep on airing their own thoughts. 1 Peter and chapter 2. Here's a verse that may surprise you. What is our calling as Christians? Let me tell you what Peter says is our calling.

Suffering Unjustly as a Christian Calling

Who are the people who can suffer in the world? Those who have to submit to somebody else. A boss doesn't suffer. Those who work under the boss suffer. You know that. So it says in verse 18, 1 Peter 2 .18.

First of all it says in verse 17, Honor all people, love the brotherhood, and honor the king. Can you honor the Prime Minister of India if you feel that his party is anti-Christian? I can. I can honor the Prime Minister of India.

Because when Peter wrote to honor the king, the king in Rome was Nero. One of the most wicked emperors that Rome ever saw who persecuted Christians. And Peter says, honor that king. Because there's no authority.

Paul says that in 1 Timothy 2. Pray for the king. For those in authority, for there's no authority except from God. All these wrong ideas we get from Christians who don't know the Bible. Don't listen to them my brothers and sisters.

Read the Bible. If you don't know the Bible yourself, at least listen to somebody who knows the Bible who's telling you what the Bible says. One of the two. Either study it yourself or listen to someone who has studied it.

One of the two. Honor the king. And then you'll suffer from that same king. Because he's a wicked man. But God is sovereign. He will not allow one hair from your head to be touched without his permission.

That is the proof that we believe in a sovereign God. That not a sparrow falls without his knowledge. Nobody can touch me without God's permission. They cannot touch a hair on my head. Leave alone cut off my head.

If you have that faith, then you're a Christian. You know, that was the difference. In the Old Testament, they would throw Daniel into a lion's den and God would shut the mouths of the lions. Couldn't touch Daniel.

Because he had not experienced Pentecost. In the 2nd, 3rd century, the Romans would throw the Christians to the lions in the big amphitheaters and the lions would eat them up. What happened to the God of Daniel?

Couldn't he shut the mouths of those lions when they came to eat his children? Daniel was an old covenant Jew. These were new covenant Christians. And God was going to show the devil. These are not like Old Testament people who are happy only when I bless them and prosper them and make everything nice for them.

These are people who will be faithful to me even when the lions eat them up, they'll be praising me. And they would sing the praises of God when the lions were eating them up because they had known through much tribulation, we must enter the kingdom of God.

Many of them would be crucified. I have two pictures in my home. One is of Daniel standing before the lions and the lions are unable to touch him. And I have another picture of Christians kneeling down and praying as the lions are coming to eat them up.

And in the background, some Christians are crucified on the cross. And I say that's the difference between Old Covenant and New Covenant. And I am a New Covenant Christian. I don't want to say God shut the mouths of the lions.

I want to say I sang the praises of the Lord when the lions came and ate me up. In the Old Covenant, they threw three people into the fire. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Jesus was in the fire with them.

And when they came out, the fire didn't even touch the hair on their hand. But in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd centuries and many times later, even in the 10th, 12th, 13th, 14th centuries, even Roman Catholics put Christians to a stake, tied them up, set wood around them and burnt them.

And there was no Jesus walking with them in the midst. They burnt, they suffered, they cried out. And their soul went to be with God. There are so many cases like that. Christians have been persecuted for years in prison.

It's not only Paul and Peter. In communist countries, in Romania, in Russia, in China, Christians have suffered just because they were faithful to the Lord. They were not healthy, they were not wealthy, but they were faithful to Jesus.

They entered the Kingdom of God through much tribulation. They believed what Jesus said, in the world you will have tribulation, but in me you will have peace. I want to say to you, my dear brothers and sisters, 2015, be prepared for it.

I want to prepare you for it. I want to be a watchman that blows the trumpet. I have sought to serve this church for 40 years, tried to give it the word that was needed at each occasion. And I say, Lord, I want to be faithful.

I don't want to be popular. I have no interest in being popular. I want to give people the word that will prepare them for the future. I'm your servant. I'm your mouthpiece. I've only got to tell them what you tell me to tell them, not what I feel like telling them.

Okay, so he says in verse 18, Servants, 1 Peter 2 .18, be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good. That's a word for those of you who have got very bad bosses in your place of work.

Be submissive, not only to those who are good, but to those who are unreasonable. Do you have an unreasonable boss? What does the Bible say? Be submissive, not just be submissive to them with a grumpy face, but with all respect.

This unreasonable boss who yells at you. Yes, sir. I've done that in the Navy when I was there. I had unreasonable people because they knew I was a Christian. Because when you submit like that, this finds favor for the sake of conscience toward God.

You as a Christian, bear up under sorrows when you're suffering unjustly. You don't deserve it. You've done what is right. And that boss treats you unjustly. For the sake of your conscience, you bear up.

And then it says, what credit is there, verse 20, if when you sin in your office and then you're harshly treated, you endure it with patience. You did something wrong in the office and you suffered for it.

That's not suffering of Christians, and a lot of people in the world suffer like that. There's no credit there because you deserve it. But when you do what is right, and then, verse 20, when you do what is right and you suffer for it, not just suffer for it, patiently endure it, this finds favor with God.

Do you want to please God? Christianity is intensely practical because, now here's the reason, you have been called for this purpose. Now many people, if you ask them, what have you been called for? They'd say, well, I'm going to heaven.

Or a little better than that, I'm called to become like Jesus. Right! Okay, here is what it means to become like Jesus. One aspect of becoming like Jesus, which we don't usually think of, we think, oh, to be kind and nice to people and to be generous to them.

That's not all. Here's another aspect of becoming like Jesus. You've been called for this purpose because this Christ you want to become like suffered for you, leaving you an example to follow in His steps and suffer unjustly.

Jesus suffered unjustly. He didn't get justice in the court. Many Christians, when they go to court, many have come to me, Brother Zach, please pray that I will win this court, usually for some money or some property or rubbish.

I say, don't come to me. Go to Moses. Ask him to pray for you for all that. I'm not Moses. He suffered unjustly. He didn't get justice in the courts. He left you an example to follow in His steps. Who?

It says in verse, who did not do any sin. That's one thing. There was no lie found in His mouth. And when they reviled Him, He did not revile in return. When they got angry and yelled at Him, He just kept quiet.

Have you learned to keep quiet? When somebody got angry with you and yelled at you, even though what you did was right? We all have experience of that. You did what was right. You were faithful in your work.

And somebody who didn't have control over his temper yelled at you, got angry with you. Maybe a Christian. Maybe a Christian boss. What did Jesus do? He just kept quiet. And when He was suffering, He didn't utter any threats.

He didn't say, wait till I come back in the second coming and see what happens to you. He never said that. He uttered no threats. But all the time He kept on entrusting Himself to the Father who judges righteously.

He didn't just do it once. And that's the thing I realized. It's not enough to do it once. I have to keep on entrusting myself because I'm living in a world where somebody or the other is going to be upset with me.

Somebody is going to yell at me and somebody is going to get angry at me. And it's okay. I've just got to keep entrusting myself to the one who judges righteously. And then it speaks about wives. Wives are the other group of people who suffer.

Just like servants. Chapter 3, verse 1. Wives, be submissive to your husbands even if they are disobedient to the word, even if they treat you unmercifully. It's amazing. It says in James, in chapter 1,.

Trials That Produce Endurance

Consider it all joy, my brothers, verse 2, when you encounter various trials, because it's through the testing of your faith, James 1, 3, that it produces endurance. And finally, when endurance has had its perfect result, you will become perfect, lacking in nothing.

Look at this expression. Perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. That means you completed your earthly education. And that is going to come through trials and suffering. That is God's way in the New Covenant.

Turn with me to 2 Thessalonians, and chapter 1. Paul writes to the Thessalonians in verse 4. We speak proudly of you among the churches of God for your perseverance and faith in the midst of all your persecutions and afflictions which you endure.

So it's not only the apostles. The Christians in Thessalonica had a whole lot of persecutions and afflictions. And this is a plain indication of God's righteous judgment, so that you will be considered worthy of the kingdom of God for which you are suffering.

It's exactly what Jesus said. It's exactly what the apostles said. You know, these are verses that we don't look at much. We always want some comfort. Oh, the Lord is with me. The Lord will take care of you.

Don't worry, brother. The Lord will take care of you. He's all right. Don't worry. We want all this. And we become soft Christians. We're not able to endure even little mosquito bites. Our brothers who have gone on to be with the Lord suffered so much.

We're going to meet them. We're going to meet them in heaven. Some brother will tell me how a lion ate him up and he sang Jesus' praises. Some other person will say, they burnt me at the stake, but I didn't give up my faith.

They'll ask you, what did you suffer? Oh, brother, I didn't get an increment when I was expecting it because I was a Christian. I should have got 500 rupees. They gave me only 300 rupees increment. You say, that's what you suffered?

For Jesus? Anything else? You scratch your head and say, what else did I suffer? Oh, yeah, one teacher didn't give me marks properly in my math exam. Think of it. What is going to be your testimony? I was ashamed to admit Christ, so I didn't suffer much.

The world is full of preachers who do not preach the whole counsel of God, just tickle people's ears to collect their money and never prepare them to be godly men and women like the apostles of old. I can't guarantee that all of you will become like that because I don't know if all of you will respond to the message you hear.

I don't know whether all of you are going to live another year away in 2015 that you have lived in the past. Not always looking for some comfort. Oh, don't worry, the Lord says, I'll be with you and I'll take care of you.

I've got a great plan and purpose for your life. In the world you shall have tribulation and thus you will enter the kingdom of God. That's how Jesus entered. Look at Paul's words to Timothy. You know, he writes to Timothy in 2 Timothy 1, verse 8.

Therefore don't be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me, his prisoner. He's writing from jail. But join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God. Suffering for the gospel according to the power of God.

Chapter 2. He says in verse 3, Suffer hardship with me as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. And because I preach this gospel, verse 8, verse 9, I suffer hardship, even to imprisonment as a criminal. Imprisonment as a criminal.

This is the greatest man of God walking on earth in the first century. Have you tasted anything of that? So far? Have people ever looked down upon you as a criminal? I had a little taste of that. Very little.

Little mosquito bite of it. When some religious people took me to court a few years ago. Criminal court. I stood there for a crime I never committed. And there were all these other criminals brought from the jails with their handcuffs.

And they would call, Narayana Swami, Abdul Qadir, Zak Poonen. And I said, Lord, what an honor. What an honor. It says in Isaiah 53, the last verse, Jesus was numbered among the criminals. One of the prayers I prayed many years ago, I said, Lord, for every experience that you went through on the earth, please give me the honor, if I'm worthy, to have a little taste of that.

He was numbered among the criminals. My brothers and sisters, it was only a mosquito bite. It was nothing for me. But what I want to say is, we have heard too much of a soft gospel. And it's possible that things may be different in the days to come for us in India, in our place of work.

It'll be easy to hide the fact that I'm a disciple of Jesus Christ. And to try and cover it up so that I don't face any loss of increment or loss of promotion. I don't even want the mosquito bite. Yeah, it's...

There are many verses like this that we could look in scripture. Suffering and tribulation enter into God's kingdom. Jesus spoke so much about it to his disciples. We want to seek the kingdom of God, which is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Suffering in the Flesh and Self-Denial

And in conclusion, let me say, the first part of that suffering is what we have often taught in the church, suffering in the flesh. 1 Peter chapter 4. Christ suffered in the flesh. Arm yourself. 1 Peter 4 verse 1.

Arm yourself with the same mind. Because the one who suffered in the flesh has stopped sinning. That is the first suffering we must go through before we come to this external suffering of being imprisoned and being beaten and numbered among the criminals and maybe eaten by lions or thrown in a jail for the gospel's sake or some false accusation they made against you because they knew you're a Christian and accused you and everybody thought, aha, this fellow called himself a Christian and he was doing this terrible thing.

Do you know that some Christians have been accused in order to put him in jail in China and the communists took over. They falsely put charges on people that he committed adultery with a lot of women or he stole so much money and all types of lies because that's the way they could imprison him.