“He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” – Galatians 1:23

THE APOSTLE PAUL’S conversion was one of great magnitude in the whole realm of the New Testament Church. Notorious for his undying passion to exterminate all that Christianity stood for was no small matter; he was among those who persecuted, the greatest of them all – and amazingly, he was convinced that such zeal was in service to God. How blind many have been in their zealousness!

Even before Paul’s birth, he was set apart for God’s service. Yet, who would have believed that such a person, who displayed an anti-Christ lifestyle, was chosen before the foundation of the world? None of us would have dreamed so – no matter how well versed we are in predestination – unless we have been given a revelation of our own depravity. Oswald Chambers said that since he was given a dose of the plague of his own heart, he had hope for all men and women; he never despaired of any person of being too far from the saving grace of God. No wonder Paul could say with such conviction that we are saved by grace and that NOTHING in and of ourselves could merit God’s goodness or mercy.

So great was Paul’s opposition to the church, that almost every Christian took him to be a fraud (when he converted to the Way), suspecting him to capture and imprison more Christians than ever. That soon phased out as he was tested and given the right hand of fellowship by the other apostles. Because of the sheer might of God’s grace, the greatest opposer of the church became the greatest apostle of it.

Here is great hope for us today as we hear of worldwide severe and barbaric persecution. No-one seems to be standing up for Christians who are brutally murdered. Men, women, children are hacked to pieces – villages swept away by genocide and the authorities hardly seem to blink an eyelid to it. If we’re fortunate, we may get wind of it through our mainstream news. As the world is growing in its tolerance towards Islam, in allowing Muslims to dictate and demand that their oppressive and inhumane values be implemented within a free society, it should not surprise us that they (the westernised world) do their utmost to cover up Islam’s plethoric brutality. Thank goodness for independent news media that gets the word out there by exposing what Islam is really about – not like our westernised authorities who paint such a wonderful picture and propagate the ‘innocence’ of a theocratic tyranny. It shouldn’t alarm us that the world reacts in such a callous manner toward Christians; the spirit of the world is opposed to Christ or any serious cause associated to fundamental Christianity, but it will love and embrace a compromising church that has no salt and light amidst a crooked generation, for it is just as the world but with a tolerably ‘Christianised’ veneer.

But here is the Christians hope while all else fails in the world: God is in absolute control; He is sovereign over all the world’s affairs. All the atrocities that we find so difficult and unable to answer for what God allows is being worked together according to the perfect counsel of His will. We do not see clearly through teary-bleared eyes, but in glory we will understand; we are limited in our intellect and perception of things at present to see all things as God sees them. Where we see chaos and defeat, God is bringing order and new life through the redemption of His Son. Of course we live in a world where even Christians suffer the unexplainable, but as Oswald Chambers put it so beautifully that echoes God’s promise, that a day is coming where He will make all things new: “There will come one day a personal and direct touch from God where every tear and perplexity, every oppression and distress, every suffering and pain, and wrong and injustice will have a complete and ample and overwhelming explanation.”

As Christians have suffered tribulation and persecution throughout the Church age – and will continue to do so until Christ returns, let us take fresh courage that no power, earthly or spiritual, will prevail against the Church of Christ. The good work which He began has not been postponed, for Christ ever makes intercession for the Church; He neither slumbers nor sleeps, even though His enemies ‘appear’ to be gaining the upper ground; He has not abandoned her for He has promised to present her faultless and without blemish before God the Father, in Whom there is no shadow or turning – where we shall see His face and live eternally in the presence of the thrice Holy Trinity.

As we witness the rise of Islam and all its world-wide threats, let us seek to have our lamps filled with the oil of joy, comfort and peace in the Holy Spirit. The early church was not extinguished by Rome – the world’s greatest empire – but grew intensely as persecution became more acute. The blood of the martyrs was not the sound of Rome’s victory, but the very fuel that caused the Church to multiply and accelerate her labours in the Lord. The Church faced with fierce opposition is the opportune moment when God positions her for great exploits and the advancement of His kingdom here on earth.

Christians, let us not fear those who blindly serve Satan through the appearance of an ‘impressive’ god, no matter how prosperous and successful they appear to be, no matter what or how many kingdoms of this world they may conquer; our God is omnipotent, His weakness (for arguments sake) is stronger than man’s greatest strength; He raises kingdoms and brings them down. As with every nation, Islam will bow the knee and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord by the power of His-arm. When evil is at its ripest, God is glorified by harvesting good fruit in abundance. Revivals have often come in the thickest of society’s depravity.

In the midst of all that looks the bleakest and blackest, I can hear the Holy Spirit, through Paul, saying: “In ALL these things we are more than conquerors.” God has many souls presently trapped in Islam that are yet to be brought to Him. They SHALL come to Him for they have been given to Christ; He shall not lose anyone of those, chosen for His glory, to the flames of eternal hell-fire. Their day and hour is marked just as with the apostle Paul, moments before his 180 degree turn around, from breathing out threats of violence – to suffering for the name and cause of Christ; from persecuting Christ to Proclaiming Him.

Some of the greatest persecutors of the Church shall soon be among the greatest preachers of the Gospel.

“Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgements and how inscrutable His ways…For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever” (Romans 11:33, 36).