Simple Church Minute 88--Simson's Thesis #14

88-WS#14

My name is Tom; this is Simple Church Minute.

            We have been reviewing Wolfgang Simson’s 15 Theses towards a Re-Incarnation of Church.  Today Thesis #14—Developing a persecution-proof spirit.  On this Simson wrote, “They crucified Jesus, the leader of all the Christians.  Today, His followers are often more into titles, medals, and social respectability, or, worst of all, they remain silent and are not worth being noticed at all.  Blessed are you when you are persecuted, says Jesus.  Biblical Christianity is a healthy threat to pagan godlessness and sinfulness, a world overcome by greed, materialism, jealousy and any amount of demonic standards of ethics, sex, money, and power. Contemporary Christianity in many countries is simply too harmless and polite to be worth persecuting. But as Christians again live out New Testament standards of life and, for example, call sin as sin, the natural reaction of the world will be, as it always has been, conversion or persecution.  Instead of nesting comfortably in temporary zones of religious liberty, Christians will have to prepare to be again discovered as the main culprits standing in the way of global humanism, the modern slavery of having fun and the outright worship of Self, the wrong centre of the universe.  That is why Christians will and must feel the repressive tolerance of a world which has lost its absolutes and therefore refuses to recognize and obey its creator God with His absolute standards.  Coupled with the growing ideologization, privatization and spiritualization of politics and economics, Christians will—sooner than most think—have their chance to stand happily accused in the company of Jesus.  They need to prepare now for the future by developing a persecution proof spirit and an even more persecution proof structure.  Unquote.

            Under the right political conditions, institutional churches could be potentially closed with one phone call or fax, and the structure isn’t prepared.  Only a church by the Spirit is prepared.  You can read more about Simson,s 15 Theses at www.simsonwolfgang.de. You can email me at simplechurchminute@gmail.com.  For more info on house churches, visit http://www.simplechurch.com/ or (local website).