By the grace of God, for many years in the good ol' U.S. of A., it was easy to view Christianity as "everyman’s" religion. Your grandparents were church-goers, your parents grew up in or at least around the church, most everyone at least knew of and respected Jesus and the Ten Commandments were acknowledged by all to be the fundamental rule of law.
But in many other places in God's world, it has not been this way. In many locales, simply proclaiming in the name of Jesus could be a death sentence. This is not a new development, but has been the case for much of the history of the church. In fact, the peace that the church in America has seen throughout its history is not only rare, its actually unprecedented.
Taking into account the whole of church history, back to the time of the apostles and following, the church can rightly be called the "Persecuted Church". The church has been widely persecuted because, despite the Church’s love for people and the desire to see men and women saved, its fundamental message is decidedly antagonistic toward culture due to the sinful desires of man and the evil spirits at work in this world. Often, even without words, the Christian's simple abstinence from pagan living is triggering in and of itself to the world's citizens. As Paul writes in II Corinthians 2:15-16, "15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, 16 to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life..."
Historically, the significant persecution of a group of people results in the decline, possibly even the near-extermination, of that people group. But there are exceptions to that, two in particular that I'd like to mention: 1) Israel, and 2) the Church. When God’s chosen people are persecuted, God himself sanctifies that persecution, morphing it into a means of purification for His people and a witness to the world. As Tertullian (second century Christian author and apologist) reportedly said, “The blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church.” In the case of the church, persecution has served to move Christians out into new areas where the Gospel is then preached. And where the true Gospel is proclaimed, people are saved. Therefore, what was meant to harm the true body of Christ only served to strengthen and expand it.
In virtually every respect, Christians should be considered by governments as valuable citizens. Christians honor the magistrate, even during persecution (Romans 13:1; I Peter 2:17), pay their taxes (Mark 12:17), and abstain from immoral and criminal behavior. However, the spirit of the antichrist is relentlessly at work, thus, the destruction, or at least the marginalization of God’s people remains the emphasis of many. That is why Paul warns that all who seek to live a godly life will face persecution (II Timothy 3:12).
You see, Satan is the god of this world (II Corinthians 4:4) and all who remain under his influence are haters of God. Sadly, many of them manifest that hatred for God by hating His people. So, just as the early church was instructed to not be surprised by persecution (I Peter 4:12), neither should we be. It may be that you never face serious persecution in your lifetime, and praise be to God if you don’t! But praise be to God that if you do, you are considered worthy to bear the reproach of Christ (Acts 5:41).
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