What would you do? You are held at gun point. The shooter is asking you to deny Christ or be shot. Would you deny Christ to avoid being shot or would you say I believe in Jesus Christ and be shot? That is the ultimate question!
I have been blessed by sitting in with the youth at church and Jerry read a segment out of the book “Jesus Freaks: Martyrs: Stories of Those Who Stood for Jesus: The Ultimate Jesus Freaks.”
He has read a couple of them with the youth here around the Spring 2013. Most recent one, when this post was first published, was from a girl at the Combine shooting. It was said she has a gun to her head and he asked if she believes in God. She said yes. The shooter asked why. Before she could give her answer she was shot dead.
That is just a short of the many standing up for Christ in this book. This book is done by dc Talk a Christian Music band I remember listening to when I was younger. I enjoy them and they are still good. They even has a song Jesus Freak. I like this quote from the song. I don’t really care either if they say that I am a Jesus Freak! Below is the a quote from the song.
What will people think when they hear that I’m a Jesus Freak? What will people do when they find that it’s true? I don’t really care if they label me a Jesus Freak. Cause there ain’t no disguising the truth. What will people think, What will people do? I don’t really care, what else can I say, There ain’t no disguising the truth.
I would love to purchase this book and read these stories of these great men and women of faith standing up for what that believe in. Did you know that if you lose your life for Christ you actually gain it. You gain the ever lasting life. You become a Martyr. Did you know the apostles became martyrs for Christ.
A martyr (Greek: μάρτυς, mártys, “witness”; stem μάρτυρ-, mártyr-) is somebody who suffers persecution and death for refusing to renounce, or accept, a belief or cause, usually religious. (1)
Many times in the Bible do you see it show you that Christ said if you lose your life for me you gain it.
- Matthew 16:25
- Matthew 10:39
- Luke 9:24
Dying for Christ is taking up your own cross and denying your own-self. (Matthew 16:24) and several other places as well. You must lose your life for the sake of Christ. You may lose your earthly life but gain a greater reward of Heavenly life with our Father. Another example of standing up for Christ is Pastor Saeed Abedini who is held captive in a very bad prison in Iran. He is beat, tortured, and more daily. They have said if he denies Christ he can be set free. But he refuses. Would you do the same thing? I posted this in 2013, and it is now 2015 and Saeed is still a prisoner.
We see this today with ISIS and other extremist groups. They are in imprisoning, slaving, beheading, drowning, burning and more because they won’t denounce their Christian Faith. But the greatest thing if we give our lives for Christ, we gain our lives with Him. We were bought with a price, the price of Christ on the Cross. We are not our own, but we are His.
We may say that we would never denounce Christ, but we will never truly know unless we come face to face with that situation. I pray we can have the faith, boldness and strength to stand on the solid rock of Christ.
Just remember those who are ashamed of Christ, Christ will be ashamed of you. See these verses:
- Luke 9:26
- Mark 8:38
- Matthew 10:32
We don’t want Christ ashamed of us because we were ashamed of Him.
Check out this blog post Killed for Being a Christian
So what would you chose to do? Accept Christ or Deny Christ? Are you willing to lose your earthly body or be tortured for Him?
Footnotes:
1. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martyr
First published March 29, 2013. Republished with additions on August 17, 2015.
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Always say I am a follower of the one named Jesus, son of Yahweh. If you don’t like that, then shoot. I know where I’m going. Do you?
You are very true, I be like sorry, but I won’t deny Christ. He has given me so much to be thankful for.
Amen Elizabeth!
A good question. I would like to think I would be willing to die for Him. But Peter thought he would too. I guess we never know until we are in that situation.
You are right. We may say yes right this moment but when it comes to hear if the moment we may do something else. Why we must set our priorities before the fire than at the heat of the moment. Thanks for the comment.
Great topic! I believe that when you give your life to Christ, you give your life to Christ. Many of us are fortunate to have faced such life and death situations. I think the concept of dying for our faith also encompasses far more than the extremes. By this I mean we must stand firm in our faith and obedience and die to our temptations, our addictions, our old ways of thinking, feeling, and acting from a moment to moment. Part of our death comes to us each day as God works in our lives to shape us with heat and pressure.
You are very true we are to deny our self and take up our cross daily. Forgo what we want to do. Focus on what our Savior wants us to do. Put Him first. Thanks for the comment.
How about when beheading becomes the way of execution? Who would be brave enough to deny Christ then? If you can’t stand up for Him now, You certainly won’t be able to do it then! “Now is the day of salvation!”
You are so right Barbara Christian out pastor says have your priorities in place before the fire then I. The heat if the moment.
An important question, but I don’t think there is much value on philosophising on it now rather it’s more important to build a strong relationship now so that if that time ever did arise there would be no question.
Like our pastor says set your priorities now so you know where you stand. You want them set before the fire, than at the heat of the moment.
I confess Jesus Christ as my Savior, and I will not be ashamed!
It can be easy to say now but what if we truly were put to the test we will never know unless we are in that situation. We can say what we would do all we want.
True, we will never know what we would do. Therefore, let us pray that we will never be in such a situation, but let us also pray that we will be prepared and faithful until the end.
Stand up for Him – no other choice to make. <3
Amen to that Brett Smith
It can be easy to say now but what if we truly were put to the test we will never know unless we are in that situation. We can say what we would do all we want. Trish Lee