Then He said to the crowd, "If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me.
Luke 9:23
Being a Christian in America in this present age in history is pretty easy. We can go to church openly, talk about God openly and we have Christian stores, movies, clothing, music etc. We can live with abandon for Jesus so well! But, what if all of that was taken away? would you still willing follow Jesus; even to death?
You have to mean it
If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.
Luke 9:24
I would like to tell you a story. A true one at that. It's about a legion of Roman Soldiers during 320 AD. This is taken from the book "Jesus Freaks DC Talk and the voice of the Martyrs; stories of those who stood for Jesus: the ultimate Jesus Freaks"
The Roman governor stood resolutely before the forty Roman soldiers of the Thundering Legion. "I command you to make an offering to the Roman gods. If you will not, you will be striped of your military status."
The forty soldiers all believed firmly in the Lord Jesus. They knew they must not deny Him or sacrifice to the Roman idols, no matter what the governor would do to them.
Camdidus spoke for the legion, " Nothing is dearer or of greater honor to us then Christ our God."
The governor then tried other tactics to get them to deny their faith. First he offered them money and imperial honors. Then he threatened them with torments and torture with the rack and fire.
Camdidus replied, "You offer us money that remains behind and glory that fades away. You seek to make us friends of the Emperor, but alienate us from the true King. We desire one gift, the crown of righteousness. We are anxious for one glory, the glory of the heavenly kingdom. We love honors, those of heaven.
"You threaten fearful torments and call our godliness a crime, but you will not find us fainthearted or attached to this life or easily stricken with terror. For the love of God, we are prepared to endure any kind of torture.
The governor was enraged. Now he wanted them to die a slow, painful death. They were stripped naked and herded to the middle of a frozen lake. He set soldiers to guard them to prevent any from coming to shore and escaping.
The forty encouraged each other as though they were going to battle. "How many of our companions in arms fell on the battle front, showing themselves loyal to an earthly king? Is it possible for us to fail to sacrifice our lives in faithfulness to the true King? Let us not turn aside, O warriors, let us not turn our backs in flight from the devil." They spent the night courageously bearing their pain and rejoicing in the hope of soon being with the Lord.
To increase the torment of the Christians, baths of hot water were put around the lake. With these the governor hoped to weaken the firm resolve of the freezing men. He told them, "You may come ashore when you are ready to deny your faith." In the end, one of them did weaken, came off the ice, and got into a warm bath.
When one of the guards on the shore saw him desert, he himself took the place of the traitor. Surprising everyone with the suddenness of his conversion, he threw off his clothes, and ran to join the naked ones on the ice, crying out loudly, "I am a Christian."
Could you ever do something like that? Be so bold to stand for Christ in the face of torture and even death?
Here in America things have been changing. It is becoming harder to speak up about our faith. I challenge you. Whenever an opportunity arises for you to talk abut your faith, your God or even to defend Jesus. I pray that God will give you the strength to do so while Christianity is still legal. But, one day if it becomes illegal to be a Christian, would you still stand boldly for Christ?
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