Spiritual Preparation

Let’s get one thing out of the way up front, so there is no misunderstanding of what it means to be an authentic Christian.

You must prepare to be martyred for your faith, to die for your beliefs in Christianity, just as Jesus died at the hands of the Hypocritical Pharisees. Jesus set the bar for humble, non combatant martyrdom, closely following in His footsteps were the 12 apostles, 11 of whom died through brutal martyrdom. All throughout history, Christians have a rich heritage of dying a martyr’s death.

Please pardon the candid and blunt description of what is expected of Christian’s; accepting the mantle of Christian martyrdom is truly a liberating experience. It is not physical death that is to be feared, as we all must die someday; but rather eternal Spiritual death that we should fear. We repeat this theme throughout this site. As Jesus Himself stated in Matthew.

“Do not be afraid of those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul. Rather be afraid of the One who can kill both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28)

If we adopt this perspective, and fully trust in Jesus for our eternal salvation, then fear of anything but forsaking Jesus becomes irrelevant in comparison.

SHADRACH, MESHACH & ABDE-NEGO

When Shadrach, Meshach & Abed-nego were faced with a fiery death at the direction of King Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel ch3), their perfect faith is one of many role models for facing the suffering as a martyr we have. They could have avoided facing the fiery furnace by worshiping the golden image King Nebuchadnezzar had commanded them to; just as someday, many will be offered the option to take the “Mark Of The Beast” that the antichrist will command, to avoid martyrdom in the coming tribulation period.

Shadrach, Meshach & Abed-nego’s response to King Nebuchadnezzar’s question: “what god is there who can deliver you out of my hands?” stands as one of the greatest all time statements of pure faith in God ever made. They calmly stated “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to give you an answer concerning this. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O King, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”

Their faith was perfect; they did not fear the furnace. God chose to spare them and they came out of the furnace without so much as a hair singed or even smoke on their clothes.

THE LIFE OF BRIAN

One way to face martyrdom is illustrated at the end of the Monty Python movie The Life of Brian; a movie that although slightly irreverent, is quite funny at times. Spoiler alert, if you have not seen the movie and do not want to know the ending, stop reading this brief now. In the movie, “Brian” is a character whose life in some ways parallels Jesus, although Brian is just a regular guy who wants none of the worship and adoration; he just desperately wants to be left alone. His intense effort at avoidance of the throngs of worshipers provides for some very funny moments. At the very end of the movie, when the religious elite decide to crucify Brian (sound familiar), they cannot identify which among dozens of his followers is the real Brian. When dozens of Brian’s many followers all claim to be Brian in an effort to disguise and protect him, the elite decide to crucify ALL of the many dozen followers, just to be sure they get Brian. In a statement of blind loyalty, all of the dozens of followers, as they die on the cross can be heard joyously signing, “ALWAYS LOOK ON THE BRIGHT SIDE OF LIFE”, over and over again. The movie slowly fades with dozens of followers joyously singing as they are simultaneously dying. To the lay person, this scene is profoundly absurd, and therein lies it’s comedic appeal; but to the Christian Warrior, the scene portrays the kind of Shadrach, Meshach & Abed-nego faith that will serve Christians well as the likely martyrdom is upon us. Again, authentic Christians are largely unconcerned with physical death; it is their eternal, spiritual life in Jesus they immensely value.

Many more references to spiritual preparation will be posted soon, thank you for your patience, and please visit again.

ALSO VISIT OUR PHYSICAL AND FINANCIAL PREPARATION TABS

This tab is limited to EXCLUSIVELY SPIRITUAL PREPARATION; please make sure you VISIT THE PHYSICAL & FINANCIAL PREPARATION TABS to get a well rounded picture of how to prepare for the suffering that is going to significantly increase.