Early Christianity

Martyrdom

Matthew 10:17 But take heed on account of men, for they shall hand you over to councils and they shall whip you in their assembly halls 18 and you shall be brought before governors and even kings because of Me for a testimony to them and to the Nations.

This was fulfilled with the early Christian martyrs. For 300 years Christians were persecuted at the instigation of the jews. They were indeed dragged before kings, governors, and judges. Little things like this in the gospels, which are hardly noticed or which are taken for granted by nearly all Christians, indeed prove that Christianity is true – how could Christ make such a statement, and we see that it all came true, with such bold confidence? How was He so confident that thousands would follow Him to their death, for a mere profession of their faith? Only because He knew that it was true – and only God could know such things so far ahead of time.

Matthew 10:34 You should not suppose that I have come to put peace upon the earth. I have not come to put peace, but a sword! 35 For I have come to divide a man against his father and a daughter against her mother and a bride against her mother-in-law, 36 and a man’s enemies are those of his house!

And we in Christian Identity today can imagine just what it was like for Christians in ancient pagan Rome. We are often shunned and excoriated by our own families, because we refuse to accept the universal religion of the empire. Yes, there is little difference between modern ecumenism and the universal paganism of old Rome, where just about anything became acceptable so long as one worshipped Caesar. Today we are for the most part merely shunned, but in the first few centuries of the Christian era, our forebears were often reported, arrested, and martyred merely for professing Christ.

Christianity is not about our own sick ideas of “peace”, sick because they usually include placating aliens and sinners. As we have seen here while covering Matthew chapter 5, a true peace-maker is one who is willing to obey the laws of God, and reprove his fellows when they do not obey. Contrary to the profession of the phony “judeo-Christians”, Christ is not about peace, but rather about obedience to God, love for our own kind, and the consequences of violating those precepts.

Here Christ quotes Micah 7:6, which reads: “For the son dishonoureth the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter in law against her mother-in-law; a man's enemies are the men of his own house.”