Compiled from the teachings of David Brandt Berg
Webmaster's note: This article differs from the other article on Persecution entitled "Persecution -- Yesterday And Today!" in that it is more specific to the persecution received by The Family International.
"If the World HATES you," Jesus told His followers, "you know that it hated ME BEFORE it hated YOU! If you were OF the WORLD, the World would LOVE its own. But because you are NOT of the World, but I have chosen you OUT of the World, THEREFORE the World HATES you!" (John 15:18,19) This explains why CHRISTIANS who are really following Jesus are frequently LIED about, VILIFIED and outright PERSECUTED by the forces of "this present evil World"! (Galatians 1:4)
"But come now!", some may object. "This is the TWENTIETH CENTURY, a modern, enlightened and civilised age! Aren't things different now?" Well, sad to say, NO, they're NOT! The heart of Man is the same today as it always was! In fact, if anything, "Wicked men and deceivers have grown WORSE and WORSE", just like the Bible said they would! (2Timothy 3:13) -- And the Devil is just as real and evil as ever, and his people are just as vicious and against God's people as ever! In this regard, times have NOT changed!
WHY did the World hate JESUS? He was PERFECT, the Son of God. He never committed a sin or did anything wrong, but look what happened to HIM! -- The RELIGIOUS LEADERS of His day were so infuriated with Him that they not only LIED about Him and actively campaigned against Him, but they actually had Him ARRESTED, TRIED and publicly and shamefully EXECUTED like a common criminal, crucified on a cruel cross!
WHY did they do this to Jesus? -- Because He EXPOSED them! They SAID the reason they wanted to get rid of Him was because He broke their RELIGIOUS laws, traditions and conventions. -- But the REAL reason that they wanted to kill Him was because He EXPOSED their HYPOCRISY and their SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS, He showed the public what absolute HYPOCRITES they were! -- "White-washed TOMBS which APPEAR beautiful and clean OUTWARDLY, but within are full of wickedness, filth and dead men's bones!" (Matthew 23:27)
Jesus PREACHED what they WEREN'T preaching, DID what they WEREN'T doing, and showed great LOVE and MERCY to others, exposing how LITTLE love these religious leaders had! His simple life of healing, teaching, loving and reaching the common people in the streets, markets, gathering places etc., exposed and condemned the religious leaders for their selfishness and lack of love!
If you preach the TRUTH, you cannot help but make ENEMIES! Jesus said, "If I had not come and SPOKEN unto them, they had not had sin. But NOW they have NO CLOAK, no COVERING, for their sin!" (John 15:22) -- Which is why the ones who SHOULD have been His FRIENDS, who were supposed to be of His same religion -- the Scribes, the Pharisees and the Chief Priests -- were the very ones who KILLED Him! -- Because He EXPOSED their religion for the empty, hollow, shallow sham that it really was! (Read Matthew 23!)
Another major reason that the religious leaders violently turned against Jesus was because His liberating message of, "All you have to do now is LOVE God and your neighbours as yourself!" (Matthew 22:37-39), destroyed their dictatorial control over the people! Jesus' doctrine of GRACE gave the people FREEDOM and made them realise that they didn't NEED the old laws, ceremonies and traditions of their former religion any more! OUR message of Love and freedom has likewise caused many religious leaders today to accuse us of being "immoral breakers of God's Laws", when all we're actually doing is accepting and practicing the liberty that the NEW TESTAMENT talks about from cover-tocover! -- God's LIBERATING Law of Love!
Jesus told some compromising hypocritical religionists of His day, "The World CANNOT hate YOU, but it hates ME. -- Because I speak the TRUTH against it, EXPOSING its evils!" (John 7:7) The reason why we true Christians today have so many enemies is the same: We have uncloaked and exposed the enemies of God with the bright and searing light of His Truth!
In our PUBLICATIONS -- which we have distributed throughout the World literally by the MILLIONS to the BILLIONS -- we have repeatedly exposed the ANTI-CHRIST FORCES that are taking over the World! -- The so-called "ONE-WORLDERS", the international big money boys who control and manipulate this World's financial and political systems!
In HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS of pages of tracts, brochures, flyers and full-color posters, we have exposed their plans to bring on the great ECONOMIC CRASH in order to destabilise things enough for them to be able to put their man on the throne of the World! -- The long-foretold "ANTICHRIST" who will ultimately demand the World's obeisance and worship, forcing men to be branded like cattle with his soul-damning credit mark and number, 666! -- The Mark of the BEAST! (Revelation 13). The propagators of this plot have frequently used their enormous influence and financial resources to orchestrate massive media campaigns against us.
Our uncompromising stand against the evils of COMMUNISM -- an integral PART of the Antichrist's scheme for World domination-has also caused many to turn against us and persecute us with a vengeance! Nevertheless we feel it is our God-given duty to expose the anti-Christ forces that are at work in this World, so that people can know the TRUTH, and BEWARE, and have their eyes opened to the "Signs of the Times" that are clear indications that we are NOW living in the TIME OF THE END, and that Jesus Himself will soon return to take over this crooked World to set things STRAIGHT!
From our very beginning -- over twenty (now over 30) years ago -- our challenge to the established CHURCHES to obey Christ's command to "GO into ALL the World and preach the Gospel to EVERY creature!" (Mark 16:15), has also brought the wrath of many conservative RELIGIONISTS down upon us! Because we have given our ALL to become missionaries and to obey Christ's command, our lives have put other Christians to shame who REFUSE to do so, so they have either got to start obeying THEMSELVES, or somehow DISCREDIT US to ease their OWN guilty consciences! -- This is the REAL reason that so many supposedly-religious people take it upon themselves to persecute and campaign against us!
From our earliest days we have also received persecution from antagonistic parents of some of the full-grown, legally-of-age "children" who have joined us. Although MOST parents, thank God, are GRATEFUL that their children are safe and happy serving the Lord with us, some have become embarrassed and ashamed that their "child" has chosen to leave them and THEIR way of life in order to serve Jesus with US, and therefore they fight against us. -- Some selfish parents have even said that they'd rather their "child" would go back to a life of drugs, crime and absolutely worthless living than embarrass them by being with an unusual religious "sect", as they call us!
We've also had defectors and backsliders, who, like Judas betrayed Jesus, have lied about us and tried to stir up trouble against us to justify themselves! Actually, MOST of the folks who have been with us but chose to leave after awhile -- usually because they found they were unable to sacrifice and endure the hardships and rigors of our way of life on the mission fields of the World -- remain friendly to us, and we with them.
But SOME who have left us, rather than ADMIT and confess failure on THEIR part, turn against us in order to excuse and justify themselves for leaving. A few have even been paid and manipulated by our powerful religious enemies to write and speak against us. But as we said, such traitorous backsliders are a tiny minority compared to those who have spent time with us, left, are grateful for their experiences with us and still remain our friends, thank the Lord!
Another reason we have often been vilified is because we have uncompromisingly proclaimed and exposed the evils of modern, decadent AMERICA! In the late '60s, we made headlines there, warning them that, "The wicked shall be turned into HELL, and EVERY nation that FORGETS God!" (Psalm 9:17) Wearing sackcloth and ashes, we delivered the "MESSAGE OF JEREMIAH" to the U.S., receiving Worldwide newspaper and television coverage, infuriating many Americans by telling them that God would soon judge and destroy their once-Christian nation for their sins against Him and the poor of the World! The Worldfamous evangelist, Billy Graham, has said the same of the U.S.: "If God does not judge the U.S., He will have to apologise to Sodom and Gomorrah!"
For over 20 years we have continued to warn America of her sins, yet she has continued to turn her back on God! She has become even MORE materialistic, MORE antiChrist, MORE perverted and MORE vicious and cruel, not only in her relentless nuclear arms build-up and unprecedented weapons sales to the rest of the World -- fueling the fires of war around the Globe -- but also in her creation and exportation of absolutely sickening VIOLENT and PERVERTED horror movies and so-called "thrillers", as well as her "punk", "heavy-metal" and other demonic music that is corrupting the youth of the entire WORLD!
-- Not to mention her appalling example to the rest of the World, pretending to be so righteous and "Christian" while she annually slaughters millions of innocent unborn babies through ABORTIONS, has abolished and made PRAYER, GOD and the BIBLE illegal in her public schools, and refuses to make fair and JUST TRADE AGREEMENTS with the developing nations of the World etc. etc.! Our clear-cut Biblical stand against other perverted modern trends such as HOMOSEXUALITY, so-called "WOMEN'S LIB" etc.-trends which are becoming more and more prominent and acceptable in modern Man's twisted society -- have also caused many to rise up and fight against us! Nevertheless, NONE of these forces have been able to STOP us, and our zealous group of 12,000 fulltime missionaries is continuing to SATURATE the World with the Gospel of God's Love, as well as our warnings against these anti-Christ evils of our day!
So is it any wonder that we have many jealous and hateful ENEMIES, that we are viciously PERSECUTED, that there are many who would like to do anything they could to DESTROY our work for the Lord entirely and put an end to our Worldwide evangelical movement? Jesus Himself warned His followers, "Ye shall be HATED of ALL nations for My Name's sake!" (Matthew 24:9) -- So why should anyone be surprised if a little persecution and opposition is raised by those whom we expose with the light of God's Truth?
Jesus told us, "WOE unto you when ALL men shall speak WELL of you! -- For so did their fathers of the FALSE prophets!" (Luke 6:26). In other words, if you're always so POPULAR, and everyone is always thinking and speaking WELL of you, then something must be WRONG with you! This is why the Bible says that, "ALL who will live GODLY in Christ Jesus SHALL suffer PERSECUTION!" (2Timothy 3:12). If everything is always so smooth and you never have any problems or persecution, then you're NOT living GODLY in Christ Jesus!
Of course, very few of our enemies ever give the REAL reasons WHY they persecute us. -- Just like JESUS' enemies never told the Roman Governor, Pilate, the real reason why they sought to slay HIM! If they'd said, "This guy is EXPOSING us, BREAKING our TRADITIONS, and LIBERATING the people from OUR CONTROL!", Pilate would have thrown the case out of court! So they LIED and leveled POLITICAL charges against Him: "We found this man SUBVERTING the NATION and OPPOSING payment of TAXES to Caesar, claiming that He Himself is a KING! -- If you release Him, YOU are not a friend of CAESAR!" (Luke 23:2; John 19:12) But despite their lies and their futile attacks against us, they will NEVER be able to stop us, even if they KILL us! We'll keep on going and keep on winning souls and prospering and multiplying until Jesus returns, because that's God's plan! In fact, our enemies could even KILL any one of us or even a LOT of us, and our work would STILL go on, because the LORD is our Leader and they can't beat HIM no matter how hard they try! -- "If this work were of MAN, it would come to NOTHING! But if it be of GOD, then NO man is able to stand against it! -- Lest they be found to be fighting against GOD!" (Acts 5:38,39).
NO ONE can stop our work for the Lord, and we will keep on witnessing His Truth to the World's BILLIONS, and winning and loving MILLIONS into His Heavenly Kingdom until HE HIMSELF finally stops us for our VICTORY CELEBRATION in HEAVEN when He returns! Hallelujah! (Revelation 19)
But until THEN, we'll keep on fighting evil and "going into all the World, preaching the Good News of His Love to every creature!" -- Until the END! Praise the Lord! -- Are you fighting EVIL or GOOD? -- Or GOD! Beware!