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if you live for Christ — persecution awaits you.

This is not some fanciful statement, this is a promise from Jesus Christ for all of His followers:

2 Timothy 3:12 12 Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

John 15:20 20 "Remember the word that I said to you, 'A slave is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also.

Hear the account of Church history under the reign of Nero, the vicious Roman Emperor:
". . . Mockery of every sort was added to their [the Christians] deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination when daylight had expired. Nero offered his gardens for the spectacle, and was exhibiting a show in the circus, while he mingled with the people in the dress of a charioteer or stood aloft on a car. Hence, even for criminals who deserve extreme and exemplary punishment, there arose a feeling of compassion; for it was not, as it seemed, for the public good, but to glut one man's cruelty, that they were being destroyed" (Tacitus, Annals, xv.44).

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