AP

Acts 12:4After arresting [Peter], [Herod] put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each.  Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover.

It is interesting that the persecution of Christians is usually carried out as a public spectacle.  The  purpose of this is not only to mock the Christian faith but to act as a deterrent to others.  Public crucifixion was invented by the Romans for this very purpose.  A milestone in the cause of the Protestant Reformation in the 16^th Century was the public burning at the stake of Latimer, Ridley and Cranmer in the centre of Oxford on Saturday, October 16, 1555, where Latimer’s prophetic last words were: “Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man.  We shall this day light such a candle, by God’s grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out.”

Today the media have become the main vehicle for ridicule and persecution of the followers of Jesus, with the same intent.  But Latimer’s prophecy was foreshadowed by Jesus himself, as the Apostle John writes: “Now is the time for judgement on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out.  And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” [Jesus] said this to show the kind of death he was going to die” (John 12:31-33).

Throughout Church history it is often the case that the cause of the Gospel is most fruitful where there is the most public persecution, and, by corollary, the least fruitful where there is no persecution, as in the decades of Western ‘Christendom’.  So, let us not lose heart as we face increased outspoken opposition to the proclamation of the Eternal Gospel, but let us rather identify with the Early Christians, about whom Luke wrote: “The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name” (Acts 5:41).

– Bruce Christian