And the hits just keep on coming. The next sign to be on the lookout for as evidence of the last days is that men will be traitors. Men without a firm foundation, without permanence and total submission to Christ, will abandon ship at the first sign of trouble. Fairweather Christianity only works in fair weather, and if the Bible makes anything about the last days crystal clear, it’s that fair weather will be in short supply.
If an individual or a congregation is duplicitous, lukewarm,
and distracted during the best of times, when the worst of times descend upon
the world, they will react just as those of the world to the changing times. If
one’s singular pursuit is not obedience and faithfulness to Christ but rather
hardship avoidance, their actions will complement their pursuit, and in order
to save themselves momentary discomfort, they will betray their fellow man and
even God Himself.
Betrayal by someone you once considered a brother or a sister
in Christ is one of the hardest things to stomach and takes time to get over.
Getting stabbed is never fun, but getting stabbed in the back brings a special
kind of pain, especially when it’s done with such precision that you can’t
reach the knife on your own and need someone else to pull it out for you.
It hurts, and I say this from personal experience, having felt
such betrayal not once but twice. Not only does it erode your ability to trust,
and yes, I know, cursed is the man who trusts in man, but you can’t lone wolf
it through life or ministry; it also makes you suspicious of anyone new that
comes into your life even when they gave you no reason. It’s one of those
things you have to actively guard against and remind yourself that not
everyone’s out to get you, just some people.
To get a clearer understanding of what it means when men are
traitors, one need look no further than the days of Communist tyranny that
blanketed Eastern Europe not so long ago and the lengths to which some supposed
brothers and sisters in Christ went to that they might save their own skin, or
keep from having to endure torture or imprisonment.
Since the first day that the Communist regime began cracking
down on Christians, there was an incentive to becoming an informant, or letting
the local party leaders know of unapproved practices such as distributing
Bibles, or having fellowship in an unsanctioned meeting place. It wasn’t much,
but when you have nothing, an extra loaf of bread or a kilogram of sugar seems
like a fair exchange for sentencing a loved one or someone you know to years of
hard labor or worse.
While many resisted turning in their fellow man for a little
extra food, far fewer did so when it meant their own well-being. The way it
worked is you brought someone suspected of distributing illicit materials, such
as the Bible, or congregating with undesirables, such as Christians, in for
interrogation, placed a sheet of paper and a pen in front of them, then
informed them that the price of their freedom was no less than ten names.
Ten names, and you get to go back to your family—to your
wife, your children, your husband, or your parents. For most, there was no need
for violence since the threat of it and their own imagination as to what would
occur if they failed to procure those ten names were enough to make them become
traitors to their own.
When those ten were brought in and made the same offer, the
ten would turn into a hundred, and so on. Those who resisted the instinct for
self-preservation and placed their loyalty to Christ above all else were shown
in brutal fashion that the threats leveled against them were by no means empty,
and there are countless stories of faithful men and women who endured the most
horrendous of things while remaining faithful.
If the overarching message of the modern-day gospel is
prosperity and ease of life, how many do you think will remain faithful when
confronted with hardship and prison? How many will take the easy way out,
becoming traitors just to save their skin?
It’s not an issue of semantics; it’s a reality that some of
us will have to contend with sooner rather than later. If today you are not
rooted, anchored, and steadfast in Christ, and if you are not fully committed
to denying yourself, picking up your cross, and following after Him, what makes
you think you will stand in the storm? When Jesus instructed us to count the
cost, it wasn’t regarding how many McMansions we’d own or how many supercars.
He knew the world would hate those who would follow Him because the world hated
Him first.
The only way someone becomes a traitor is if they were not
fully committed to Christ in the first place. If the person of Jesus and His
presence in your life alone does not satisfy you, but there’s something more
you’re always seeking to make you complete, fulfill you, or give you purpose,
then you are not fully committed to Him. Jesus is enough. He is more than
enough, and once you’ve laid hold of the knowledge of His goodness, mercy, grace,
and love, you will never want for anything more.
It is not coincidental that the old hardline communists
targeted Christians who believed in the power and presence of God in their
lives and for whom God was a present, everyday reality and not just some idea
removed from the realm of their existence, far and distant, looking down, but
doing nothing to comfort, strengthen, and embolden those who followed Him. They
understood, whether intuitively or through lived experience, that it was far
more difficult to break someone who was wholly sold out to God than someone who
had a casual relationship with Him. It was through those who were unprepared or
unwilling to endure hardship as good soldiers of Jesus Christ that they could
get to those who were actively living out their faithfulness every day. They
started at the edges and worked their way to the core group of a church body
until they came upon those who would not yield, bend, or break and who endured
untold horrors yet remained faithful to their calling and to their brothers in
arms.
Posted on 31 July 2024 | 11:42 am
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