Scripture

Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

~Matthew 5:10

Quote

“If God offered you only suffering—would you continue to love Him?”

~Richard Wurmbrand

I have shared two messages lately on the “persecuted.” Let me say at the on set, persecution has more than one level.  According to Jesus, an insult or a slanderous lie is a form of persecution. To be reviled or mocked can be a form of persecution, but a mild form compared to the confiscation of property, imprisionment, the burning of your home or martyrdom. Ten of the eleven disciples were martyred. Only John died of natural causes. What we forget to easily is that there have been many others who gave their life for the cause of Christ and one of those was John Hus. Hus had been highly influenced by John Wycliff, an English theologian and professor at Oxford University. Wycliff worked to translate the Bible into English. The Catholic Church did not want the Bible published in any native tongue. The Roman Vulgate was Latin and the priest did mass in Latin. The common people could not understand a thing being said and Wycliff saw this as a problem. He wanted everyone to know what the word of God had to say because the Catholic Church was violating the word right and left.

Huss was in Bohemia which is the present day Czech Republic. It is ajoining to Germany and Austria. Hus translated his sermons in to the Bohemian language where everyone could understand what he was saying. He believed the bible was the inspired word of God and our sole authority for faith and practice. He preached the Bible and Jesus and folks loved him. He served the Bethlehem Church in Prague and he preached to a full house. His popularity was upsetting to papal authority. He went into hiding in 1412 but the emperor lied to him about a hearing. They talked him into coming to Constance, Germany to state his case and beliefs before papal authorities. They lied: it was all a trick. In the year 1414, He was arrested and thrown into a dungeon. He was never given a fair hearing. On July 6, 1415, he was burned at the stake but he died as he lived, faithful to Christ. He never gave his persecuters the satisfaction of hearing him recant.

Hus’ death was not in vain; his followers rebelled against the Roman Catholic Church and thus the UNITY OF THE BRETHERN was formed. The largest protestant denomination of its time. Later they would be called Moravians and were given to missionary zeal. I am not an expert on the subject, but in time the Moravians became pacifist and I think there is a connection to our modern day Amish. May God give us the courage to stand for our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ and to be found among the faithful. Blessed are the persecuted for righteousness sake.

Extra

Joyce is settled in at Moulton. Christy and Mark are at Dollywood. Mike Garnett is critical. I am leaving in a momment for Biscuits and the Bible at 5:30, Warehouse Coffee in Hartselle. I hope you have a great day and thanks for reading the blog.

Extra/Extra

This is a generality, not a principle: in other words it may not always be true but most of the time it is true. People who were good athletes are better sports than those who were not. I was standing at a soccer game the other night with two female athletes who played basketball in college: both were very good. They don’t hollow and carry on like a maniac. It was not the first time I noticed this. Frustrated, want-to-be athletes are horrible sports. They think their kids or grandkids are being unjustly treated and they scream their head off. It is the same when they coach. I am just telling that those who are calm and collected are usually those who have nothing to prove. Their picture is on the gym wall.