CHARLO, New Brunswick, July 22, 2023 – When he came out as the Messiah in his hometown synagogue, Jesus was nearly stoned to death by his fellow Nazarenes. It was only by God’s supernatural intervention that Jesus escaped unscathed.

Even so, he was cast out of his hometown from that point onward. Over the next few years, he became an outcast in several other jurisdictions as well, and in some places he became an outright outlaw. As God’s Messiah speaking God’s Word, Jesus was not welcome among most of his people, some of whom also vehemently hated him.

Jesus warned us that we would suffer the same persecution and unfounded hatred as he did if we’re authentically speaking God’s Word.

What can we take from this warning? Only what Jesus said. Christians who are not being persecuted or are not outcast and hated are not authentically speaking God’s Word and are therefore not followers of Jesus. In other words, they’re not Christians. If you count unbelievers as your friends and are close to unbelieving family members, you are not a Christian. Jesus had no friends among unbelievers and he was estranged from his family after he started his ministry. These are the facts – scriptural facts, which means they’re indisputable.

So, are you a Christian according to Jesus’ definition or a Christian according to the world’s definition? Because according to the world, a Christian is someone who is nice and quiet and tolerates, tolerates, tolerates. A doormat, essentially, a human doormat who is pliable and gullible and can be counted on to fork out for whatever charity is currently making the rounds. The world sees Christians as silly, stupid, naïve, and seriously uncool dupes who should keep their foolish beliefs to themselves but otherwise go along with whatever the world says they have to go along with. Christians are not, in the eyes of the world, strong and fearless truthtellers who will continue to be strong and fearless truthtellers no matter how much the world tries to silence them. This version of a Christian – a strong and fearless truthteller – is nearly unheard of today, even though it’s the only version that Jesus would consider worthy of him.

I hope these words have jarred you into taking a mental inventory of your friends to see if any of them are unbelievers. Be friendly with everyone – by all means, be friendly and kind – but being friendly is not the same as being friends. How can you be friends with someone who denies Jesus? You hammer a nail into Jesus’ hand when you have such a friendship. The same goes for unbelieving family members, no matter how close they may be to you in blood. Jesus said that our real family members are those who do the will of God and that if we don’t hate (that is, distance ourselves from) family members who refuse to do God’s will, we’re not worthy to be called his followers.

These are also facts, scriptural facts, and therefore indisputable.

Being a genuine follower of Jesus who speaks God’s Word fearlessly is what we should all be aiming for. You’ll know whether or not you are such a person because if you are, you’ll be banned on most social media sites, fired from your job or dropped by your clients, and shunned by your unbelieving family members and former friends. You’ll also be blacklisted in places that used to welcome you and you may even enjoy the dubious privilege of being kicked out of Christian places of worship for, well, worshiping.

If you’re an outcast and an outlaw for fearlessly speaking God’s Word – CONGRATULATIONS! There is no higher achievement in this life than to be hated by the world for being a follower of Jesus. You now stand shoulder to shoulder with Jesus in his persecution and you can expect the same and worse treatment by the world for the rest of your time on Earth.

It is a very great blessing to be persecuted solely for speaking God’s Word.

I wish this blessing on every Christian.