Turning OFF Christian Persecution

~~For anyone that has been following the news there are a growing number of stories that speak of the persecution of Christians. For many, such articles seem surreal, they remain so far removed from our current peaceful existence that we find no reason to relate, let alone guard ourselves from any possible violation.
But what happens if it does come to our door? Must we fall victim to the tyrannical plans of a corrupt world. Should we yield ourselves over to those that would gladly bring harm to us and to those that are precious to us?   Some Christian’s believe that just as Christ suffered so shall we. However does that mean all of God’s people are destined for the same fate? Absolutely not. 
Sadly many believers have no sense of their personal authority. All too often they look to people in leadership to exercise spiritual authority for them. But as society and governments become more corrupt personal attacks will become more common and violence will be imposed upon innocent people if given the chance. 
The question is; can it be avoided? Can we teach God’s people to be separate from the carnage of a world system (Babylon) and be free of its violent acts? Only when God’s people stand in the authority of Christ and say no to personal abuse, do we let Jesus to be the one that decides our fate. Let’s consider a couple of valuable truths that make victory possible.  

Dwelling with the Most High.
When we got saved the authority of Jesus was given to us through a supernatural connection. Jesus became our source of life and faith as we were brought into the family of God and His authority became our source of authority.
 
 Ephesians 2:6-7 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
 
Seated with Christ means two things; it means we have ceased from our own works and our own abilities, since Jesus has offered us a full and rich alternative to mankind’s dominion.  Secondly it means that we have gained a spiritual position in Christ that is raised above the dictates of a fallen world. We can literally hold on to the perspective that we are in the kingdom of God and preserved by His hand.  In fact the Greek definition for “salvation” amounts to “deliverance, preservation and safety”. Now that should help us not only take responsibility for our faith but also make choices that allow us to continually abide in God’s favor. From this regal place of authority and position we can conclude that the kingdoms of this world remain under our feet. However there is one thing that stops us from living in that place of total blessing; it has to do with our dependence on our old man’s flesh and blood nature. Let me explain.
At one time humanity received a commission from God to be fruitful and take dominion, and this was a good thing. However as man sinned and lost connection with God, his natural ability to take dominion failed him. Left to his own devices he became a slave to a temporal world and to numerous false gods. 
As believers this should concern us for one reason. Even though we have been invited to rest in the kingdom and partake of that which is victorious in Christ, God’s promises are only as effective as our willingness to agree with Him. The dividing line between true success and failure depends on many of our personal choices.  Will we allow the accomplishments of our natural man to define us or will we be known by the life and strength of Christ.  The Apostle Paul helps make a distinction by saying;

Romans 8:5-6 (NIV) Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.

As I have matured in Christ I have become more and more aware of my own limitations and how the choices I have made in the past have actually set me under worldly oppression. When I thought naturally about the world, its inhabitants and my place in the scheme of things I was actually seeing myself as being under its power and a victim of its past, present and future history.  Under that umbrella I might have hoped to avoid evil men and dark circumstances but realistically I have been thinking naturally since birth and for the most part continued to do so even after receiving Christ. Due to this destructive natural mindset I have experienced physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual abuse. However, as a believer the Holy Spirit has been at work in me to change how I think and act so that I can see with new eyes and walk with new authority; an authority which is raised above the dictates of a corrupt and violent world. In other words I needed to see the new authority I had in Christ rather than the old authority I had in a fallen physical world. After years of living under the weight of poor natural choices I discovered that Jesus had made a way for me to gain spiritual confidence in Him. The answer is present in what He did on the Cross.

Our way of escape
There are many benefits that the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus provided for us, all of which helped us sever our umbilical cord with Adam (fallen mankind). Since we were desperately owned by a corrupt world, God sent His son in the likeness of frail man to save us all. In this case Jesus was fulfilling the will of the Father by becoming a sacrifice for mankind’s sin, but he was also providing a way for us to come out of the limitations of this fallen world.
So how did we get set free?  
As it happens Jesus wasn’t the only one that died on the Cross; as believers we also gained freedom from the world by participating in that one event. No, we didn’t die physically; instead Jesus supernaturally took us into His own death so that we could also experience His life. Here are some verses describing this marvelous way of transformation.
 Romans 6:2 We died to sin.
Romans 6:3 You were baptized into His death?
Romans 6:6 The old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be done away with.
Romans 6:7 Anyone who has died has been freed from sin.
Romans 6:8 Died with Christ… alive with Him.
Romans 6:11 Count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Romans 7:4 You also died to the law through the body of Christ.
Romans 7:6 By dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law.
1Corintians 5:14 Christ died for all; therefore, all died.
Galatians 2:19 I died to the law so that I might live for God.
Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.
Colossians 2:20 You died with Christ to the basic principles of this world.
Colossians 3:3 You died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
2Timothy 2:11 If we died with Him, we will also live with Him.
Colossians 1:22 You were reconciled by Christ’s physical body through death.
These verses are telling us that the way of escape is based on dying to what once owned us. We escape by leaving the worlds physical clutches and enter into the arms of a supernatural God. This example of transformation is often spoken of when a person gets baptized. As Paul points out;
 
Colossians 2:12 You were buried with him in baptism and raised with him through faith in the power of God.
 
So here’s this powerful (often over looked) aspect of the gospel which shows us how we were set free of the old life and were loosed from the effects of our poor Adamic choices. These were matters that had laid hold of us in physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual ways and subjected us to slavery.  Yet the Cross set us free not just once, but every time we notice that some worldly lie or worldly master still wants to own and control us.

How do we take an issue to God?
Romans 8:12-14 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live 14. For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.

To separate from any improper ownership all we have to do is agree by faith that it was severed in Christ and at the Cross. When we died we left the bonds of improper control and abuse behind.  Jesus then supernaturally changes our circumstances of life by establishing us in His authority which offers us a true measure of peace and safety. 
Is Jesus owned, controlled or in harms way any longer? If the answer is no; then we shouldn’t be either.
 
Romans 8:11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.

Application
Jesus, the scripture says that I died with you, so I ask that by your Spirit you will put to death where I remain improperly owned and made subject to men, organizations, or a demonic realm who seek to harm me.

So what is established is a long term relationship with God that allows us to mature in our faith as He intended and separate from worldly and destructive forces by the supernatural power of His Spirit. 
Now if we are going to address any issue of worldly “bondage” that may still own us, we want to bring attention to two main components that often work in tandem. The first component is our self centered Adamic nature. We often are looking for something in the world to satisfy an itch and give us what we think we need to survive. Thus man’s initial commission to take dominion was replaced with an attempt to dominate creation for personal gain.  
The second refers to the Devil and his own involvement in such endeavors. He is known as “the god of this world” and remains master of something we now call “the world system”. Please notice the distinction here; God rules heaven and “earth” but the “world system” is based on the Devil’s own agenda.  So when the Devil engaged mankind he took man’s natural fleshly abilities, desires and appetites and supercharged them. Hence a bond was formed between man and a fallen spirit which gave man a sense of counterfeit power and purpose, but this also allowed the Devil and his minion’s to gain ultimate control. This is an important point of union because it reveals how most of man’s violent actions get moved along by a corrupt and wicked spirit. For this reason Paul the Apostle says;
 
Ephesians 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms

Please notice that he is not just talking about personal bondage, but rather an on going source of contention. There’s a spiritual realm out there that wants to influence society and it has no intentions of giving up any ground. The ground we speak of can best be described as a zone where a demon has gained a certain amount of control and influence.  If one enters that spiritual zone then it has a tendency to weaken our resolve and eventually we will find ourselves playing into its hands. So the combination of bad company, both human and spiritual, are what corrupt good morals and sets the stage for us being “under” various degrees of oppression and defeat.  Think of it this way; if a particular demonic zone says “abuse Christians” then those who are controlled by that power will be moved in physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual ways to fulfill that inspiration. Hence dark spiritual forces are able to control men to the point of them committing terrible atrocities.  
Now besides people representing their own questionable fleshly/spiritual zone of influence, there are households, organizations, cities; states, governments, countries, nations, and continents, all of which were formed in the same manner.  It is to our advantage to understand that when we entered into the life of Christ we left these destructive spiritual zones. We don’t have to leave physically but we can leave by relying upon God’s spiritual victory. 
Jesus says that our citizenry is in heaven, He says we are seated with Him in heavenly realms, He says our success is in His spiritual life and victory; He also says the devil is defeated and finally He says all authority in heaven and earth belong to Him.  So if this is true then our spiritual connection with Jesus (Yeshua), remains the authority by which we say “hands off of our life and family”. We transition from having questionable authority in the natural to representing the authority of Christ in heavenly realms as well as here on the earth.  
Paul reinforces this point by saying
2 Corinthians 10:3-5 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

Application 
Jesus,
I recognize that I died with You to the following;
• To fighting a physical battle in order to separate from worldly physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual trouble. 
• To denying your Spirit the right to win battles for me.  
• To being subject to a spiritual realm and false gods that support these issues.
By virtue of my death with you, these improper covenants are broken. 
I ask You to be the resurrection power that now saves me.

So far we have been talking about separating from spiritual zones of influence that control men and place us in harms way. The goal has been to see ourselves as raised above where Christ dwells rather than down below where the world dominates.  However if we are planning on winning future battles in Christ we may also need to call upon the Name of Jesus for support.
The Name of Jesus (Yeshua) is our last line of defense against human and ultimately spiritual aggression. It is not merely reciting the name that is powerful, but rather it is the authority that is behind the Name and our position within it which makes the difference.

John 17:11 I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name—the name you gave me—so that they may be one as we are one.

When we proclaim the Name of Jesus we are letting both heaven and earth know that we are joint heirs with Christ and are declaring our Family Name! In such an environment of grace we have the authority to command spiritual violence and murder to cease in its advance against us. 
Presently in the world there are sources of violent contention brewing and ready to pounce. So in the days ahead you can expect that there will be opportunities to stand in Christ and oppose various forms of oppression. I say “stand” rather than advance, simply because we need to trust that God is on our side, so we really don’t need to pick a fight. In fact I believe that we should avoid confrontation whenever possible because there is a question as to whose ground we are standing on in the midst of such a battle. Let me give you an example.
Acts 16:16-18 is telling the story of a girl that had unique abilities. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. One day as Paul and Silas where preaching in that region she started shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.”  She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her. 
What should be brought to our attention is the girl and spirit engaged the apostles on their own turf; they were doing God’s work. She unfortunately entered into their zone of power and authority which was the result of Christ on their lives.  Hence based on Jesus’ authority the demon had to leave and the girl ceased in her rant.
Let me give you another example of how God is capable of winning battles without lifting a finger.
A few years back I was meeting a friend of mine who was having some work done on his house. For the project, he had hired a man with whom he had previous business connections. Yet on this day the two had a disagreement and the hired man started to become quite aggressive, even to the point of becoming violent. Before the confrontation became ugly, the Holy Spirit prompted me to bind the spirit of violence that was on this man’s life. I didn’t bind the man, I bound the spirit. I said;
“In the name of Jesus (Yeshua) I bind the violent spirit that is at work in this man.”
Now I was about thirty feet away from this encounter and had whispered my command, but immediately the hired man turned to me obviously shaken and said, “ Wait a minute “we” don’t have a problem with you, our fight is with the boss!” My reply was; “That doesn’t matter you are now bound from being violent.” In short order the confrontation was over.
Whatever the battle, whether it’s as simple as having a quarrel with the man on the street or having a confrontation with a violent oppressor we have a way of escape, we have authority in spiritual realms and we have the Name of Jesus on our side.
In the days ahead the individual Christian may not be able to depend on others as a shield against violent acts. Instead it is time that each believer develops their own set of leadership skills. That means, we each put on the armor of God and really settle in our hearts that God is for us. It is by His authority on our lives that we can set at bay any potential enemy. In the Name of Jesus violence stops when we say it stops.  If believers finally get a revelation that they are seated with Christ in heavenly realms, then evil will want to stay far from us. Based on a timely revelation it is very possible that some will call off spiritually inspired and aggressive armies with a simple word. But all of us have a birth right in Christ to say “no” to evil advances.
Now some may say, “But what about the bibles many references to being persecuted, shouldn’t I accept persecution as just the way things are?” You could, but a better response would be; “Lord, your will be done in my life”.
So if you find yourself staring death in the face and some man wants to steal away your dignity and your right to life, I think it’s a good time to introduce them to the authority that you have in Jesus.

Gordon Brownlee is the founder of Shadow free Ministries which teaches the importance of the Cross in our daily lives, as well as our way to freedom from spiritual error. His latest book; “The Shadow of the Spiritual” teaches how to understand spiritual worlds and the Bibles marvelous way of escape. It’s available on Kindle, Nook or paper back from amazon.com. It is also free for the asking in PDF form. 
Come visit us at http://www.shadow-free.com