Reviled for the Name of Christ
Posted By Joe on June 29, 2009
Last week was quite eventful, was it not?
One of the blogs I follow is Ray Comfort's Atheist Central. My how he is persecuted over there. I've only posted a handful of comments. The most recent was on Friday. Ray had a post on Michael Jackson's death so I took the opportunity to post a comment.
Ray,
There is so much going on in our world right now. A story that isn't getting much western media attention is tomorrow morning, the patriarch of the Ethiopia Orthodox church will reveal the Ark of the Covenant.
I can't help but put this news, Iran, North Korea and now these celebrity deaths together to paint a picture that we are in eventful times. Jesus is coming back, and I believe very soon.
We aren't promised tomorrow and we aren't even promised 30 seconds from now. Now is the time for everyone to get your relationship right with God! Open your Bible, read, and understand the signs of the times.
Harmless, right? I mean I wasn't attacking anyone or berating anyone. I was simply sharing my thoughts. Perhaps not the most thoughtful comment, I will admit. In reading it again, it didn't really convey what I was thinking in my head. Still, my point with the celebrity deaths was to point out that as famous and adored as Michael Jackson was, he met the same end we all will.
Here is a smattering of some of the responses to my comment:
"Haven't you heard, popular actor Rudolf Valentino died in 1926, Korea and the U.S. were at war with each other from 1950 until 1953, Iran had a revolution in 1979 and Indiana Jones found the ark of the covenant in 1981. What has kept Jesus from returning before the present time? If you take momentous current events as "sigs" that Jesus is coming back, then he must have already come back at least 2000 times."
"You really cannot be serious … tell me you aren’t being serious … you idiots!!! I assume you are referring to the late Farrah Fawcet and Micheal Jackson? Firstly, you credulous fools, are you aware of how many celebrities die every year? A quick look on the interwebs reveals that hundreds of celebrities die every year. In fact your comment is even more stupid than that – the two examples to which I think you were referring where a death from cancer and a death from a heart attack – have you any idea how many people die of these every year? Celebrities aren’t special human beings who are immune from death – the death of a celebrity is no more a significant event than the death of Joe Bloggs who lives down the road. The celebrity issue does give an insight into the workings of the brains of religious adherents – it does highlight your need to endow things with special power and significance, rather than accept the world as you see it.
"There is no (as in none, zero, zilch, nix) evidence that Jesus is coming back (assuming he was ever here in the first place), let alone soon. You are sad fantasists, desperate to see your fantasies play out, living your lives with the sole expectation of spanning eternity grovelling to your ultimate celebrity idol. I’ve got news for you – it ain’t going to happen! You’d best get used to it and start living the life you have because when you’re dead, you’re dead – worm food!"
They reminded me of:
For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. --1 Corinthians 1:18.
I did respond at the end of the day, but I said that I chose to pray for them.
"Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you." --Matthew 5:11-12.
I share these comments with you--if you are a Christian--to remind you that the world hates us. But take courage, Christian! God sees the courage we have to continue to persevere in spite of the ridicule.
If you are not yet a Christian, please understand that we are commanded to share the good news of the gospel with the whole world. Call us idiots! Call us credulous fools! I would rather be a fool for the sake of the gospel than have all the wisdom in the world and spend an eternity in hell!
If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. But if anyone suffers as a Christian, he is not to be ashamed, but is to glorify God in this name. --1 Peter 4:14,16.
Pray for those that persecute us (Matthew 5:44).
May He Increase!
About the author
It's interesting that the Bible doesn't recognize an athiest. It does say that all men outside of Christ hate God. I think this is what you are seeing with these comments. They call themselves "athiests", when they are really "God haters"!
Actually, the Bible does recognize them:
I don't want to be smug about this statement. They called me a fool, but in reality they are the fools. I feel pity for them and even wonder that they cannot just open the Bible and see the salvation therein. If I'm mad, I'm angry that the enemy has blinded them. Then I feel pity because I remember when I was just like them and I didn't understand either. It's so hard because I was there! I remember those days. I didn't read the Bible either and yet I said that there was no God. What a fool I was! How can you attack something you haven't bothered to read?
That is why I must pray for them and pray that their eyes are opened and they can see!
And only the God who they are denying can raise them to life. "We" could be them.....oh what a wonderful Saviour "we" have!!!
Joe,
You have more patience than me. I like to read Ray's blog, but I have a hard time reading the comments anymore. It makes me sad to see that many people who are deliberately blind to the truth and arrogant about their ignorance to boot. Your experience in the comment thread is all too common on that site. I really enjoy Ray's perspective on things though.
I'm probably going to stay off the site. As much as I feel we need to witness to people, the venue isn't going to really work. It's really ironic. Ray is a Christian, the site is called "Atheist Central," and that's really who he attracts. But I'm not necessarily seeing people convert. I'm not saying anything against Ray, I'm just wondering if the platform is working.
That said, I guess if I see a topic of interest, maybe I will post again. We'll see.
Joe,
I don't think it is a testimony against Ray necessarily. It just shows the stubbornness of the human heart. The atheists that come to attack Ray are very closed minded types. If the gospel is to have an impact on them, it will most likely be in the form of a person who loves them despite all they do and say. I recently did a post regarding incarnational apologetics, and the more I think about it, the more I realize that some people are never won by persuasive words. I would dare to say that most people are not won by persuasive words, because even though we protest that we are logical beings (and atheists like to say that more than most); the emotional component of our makeup is amazingly good at overriding everything else.
Jeff, totally in agreement with you. Thanks for the follow-up!