Persecution is Often... Persecuted

"I soon found, however, that my telling the story had excited a great deal of prejudice against me among professors of religion, and was the cause of great persecution, which continued to increase; and though I was an obscure boy, only between fourteen and fifteen years of age, and my circumstances in life such as to make a boy of no consequence in the world, yet men of high standing would take notice sufficient to excite the public mind against me, and create a bitter persecution; and this was common among all the sects—all united to persecute me."
—Joseph Smith History 1:22

Not every negative thing that happens to someone from another person is persecution.

Sometimes people will believe that they are being persecuted for the sake of godliness, or holiness by what they teach and say. Regarding Joseph Smith, for instance, a rock in a hat told Joseph Smith to supposedly tell Martin Harris what God told Nephi. Through this dizzying chain of supposed communication, we find the following in 2 Nephi 29:3 and 6:

“And because my words shall hiss forth—many of the Gentiles shall say: A Bible! A Bible! We have got a Bible, and there cannot be any more Bible.”

“Thou fool, that shall say: A Bible, we have got a Bible, and we need no more Bible. Have ye obtained a Bible save it were by the Jews?”

In other words, because of the absurdity of it all, Smith knew that “persecution” was bound to happen. But not all predictions are prophetic, even biblically speaking (see Philippians 1:22-25). This means as suggested above, sometimes people believe they are being persecuted for the sake of godliness or holiness by what they teach, but again, not everything that happens against a person is persecution.

In the same light, not all perceived persecution is actual persecution.

1 Peter 2:19-21 delineates this accordingly:

For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.

Being punched in the mouth for telling someone they are stupid is one thing, but being punched in the mouth for informing someone they are living in an adulterous relationship is completely another thing. The problem is that people have a hard time seeing the difference between the two, and persecution is often equivocated and mislabeled.

Not all “bad” things that happen are persecution. This word seems to unfortunately get thrown around carelessly because people think of themselves more highly than they ought. Consider Romans 12:3 “For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.”

Sometimes, I find that people misjudge themselves, believing the lies they have been told all their lives… “You are a great singer!” comes to mind. This is why it is frequently such a disaster on “American Idol” and the like. The same is true for some people who have been told that they are to be regarded as holy or smart. Proverbs 15:22 reads, “Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisors, they succeed.” Sometimes, people misjudge the source of their counsel, and because “…people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths” (2 Timothy 4:3-4). …Even myths about themselves.

Let’s look ahead to what awaits us in the future, which Paul lays out for us in 1 Corinthians 3:10-15:

“According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.”

Paul says that there are some things that even a Christian does will be burned up. I like to think of this as walking through a metal detector at the airport. Metal does not go through the detector for one to get to enter the terminal, the same way that the Christian who does things that are not built on the foundation that is Christ, enters into eternity. Like the person who forgot that he had his pocketknife on him while going through the metal detectors will have to throw away his knife if he wants to get through (suffer loss), the same will happen for those who build on the foundation of Christ things that are not of Christ. They will suffer loss but still enter into eternity. I imagine that every single human being will suffer some kind of loss (See Romans 3:10-18).

The reason this will happen is because people can be careless when it comes to reasoning. God desires our reasonableness. Consider when Abraham reasoned with God about Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18). Or when God said to Isaiah, “come now, let us reason together…” (Isaiah 1:18).

We are to even use reason to examine ourselves honestly and truthfully. When we take the Lord’s Supper, for instance, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11:28-31,

“Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged.”

The question is, are we being reasonable when we hear criticism from others, or are we letting our “itching ears” regulate and barricade what might be actually beneficial? 1 Peter 4:15 reads, “If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler.” This is a lot like what Paul says about those who are divisive in Titus 3:9-11:

“But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned.”

Isn’t it interesting how often the Bible talks about such things? We could even keep going (for a very long time). Proverbs 6:16-19 states:

“There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.”

The Lord hates… discord being sown among brothers.

The question is, how do we have “sober judgment” about all this, like Romans 12:3 suggests? It is simple… are you a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even a meddler? Are you stirring up division? Are you a false witness that breathes out lies or one who sows discord among brothers? I highlight these because again, people see the word, “murderer” and completely distance themselves from everything in the descriptive group that follows.

Not everything you experience in a negative way from other people is persecution. Not that it necessarily does, but truth can come from any source.

For more, see my book on Mormonism:

https://www.amazon.com/Mormonism-Refuting-Fundamental-Apologetics-Latter-Day/dp/1662885377/

Written by Nace Howell through the grace of the Lord Jesus

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