It Has Been Suggested that in the apostolic age, the world was providentially ripe for the preaching of the Truth. Roman roads, one world empire, advanced technology, many people disillusioned with paganism and ready to adopt a new satisfying moral religion – these have been cited as favoring the spread of the Christian brotherhood in the first century A.D.
Modem secular humanism has glorified classical (Greek and Roman) culture. The school I attended as a youth openly ridiculed religion of any kind and deliberately adopted spartan ideals. But in reality, there was very little that was noble in the world of antiquity. Like every dictatorial, militaristic regime from Sennacherib to Stalin, behind the wonderful architecture, great literature, the marvelous road system, and the advanced technology, there was unspeakable savagery and depravity. Extreme sports like chariot racing and other bloody games were a worldwide rage drawing millions of fans. The hippodrome in Caesarea held nearly a quarter of a million raving spectators. There was a flourishing industry producing musical organs, but most of the instruments were installed in arenas to drown the screams of dying victims.
No human age has been “ripe” for the preaching of godliness. Even the nineteenth century, the great “missionary” age of “Christendom” was full of hypocrisy. An Anglican bishop of that period once suggested that if the Shona people in what is now Zimbabwe resisted conversion, then they should be exterminated.
Preaching the Truth is always a miracle wrought by the living Christ through his willing servants — in every place and every age. When sending forth young missionaries in the first Christian century, an ecclesial elder would say: “O God, Father of my Lord Jesus Christ, look upon this your slave, and impart to him the spirit of grace, counsel and leadership so that in every place which becomes your sanctuary your name will be praised and thanked unceasingly” Preaching has always been carried out in the teeth of animosity at best, persecution at worst.
You think that it was easier to live the Truth in the first Christian century, or the sixteenth, or nineteenth, than in our day? Please think again! The passionate prayer of a brother Klementos in the apostolic age pulls aside the veil a little from the lives of our brothers and sisters of those days.
We beseech you, 0 Ruler, be our helper and defender
Save those who are in distress amongst us! Have mercy on those who are disheartened!
Raise up those who have fallen, show yourself to those who entreat you, heal those who are sick!
Turn back those who stray from your people. Feed the hungry. Free our captives.
Strengthen the weak. Encourage those who lose heart!
The situation of the Christian believer in the midst of a mostly uncaring, sinful world does not change.
At the recent Australian Christadelphian Youth Conference, I was asked, Do you think Christadelphians will experience serious persecution before Jesus returns? I feel sure from Mark 10:30 that the answer must be “Yes.”
It is a year since the assassination of Bro. Glen Isaacs (Kingston). Before him were Sis. Karolyn Andrews (Georgetown, Guyana) and bro. Mahendra Prashad (Kilcoy, Guyana). All three martyrdoms — for that is what they were — have led to new waves of Christadelphian emigration from the Caribbean. That is to be expected, in fact Jesus encouraged it (Matt. 10:23). With leaders gone, of course life is going to be much tougher for those who have no option but to remain. And, as more Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Catholics, Orthodox, and members of fanatical cults come to learn the Truth and are converted, increasing persecution is inevitable. More of us must be prepared to lay down our lives for our Lord.
Do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed (I Pet. 4: 12-13).
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One