Righteous Persecution
PBS had a contest on their website “The American Experience” to select the most memorable documentary over the last 25 years. The winner was Abraham & Mary Lincoln. The documentary “Freedom Riders,” was in the final runner ups. To be called a “Freedom Rider” was a great honor earned by over 400 Americans from across the country. The most notable were James Farmer the initiator and organizer of the 1961 Freedom Rides, and Long-time Georgia Congressman John Lewis. What makes the freedom riders so renowned is the beatings, harassment and persecution they suffered for what they believed to be the rights of all Americans – to ride a bus, eat at a public lunch counter, use a public rest room and drink water from a public fountain without the label “For colored people.”
Righteous persecutors are not the same as a person who is being persecuted for living a righteous life. Many of us think we are right or righteous. If you don’t believe it, just ask us. We will persecute anyone who goes against what we believe. This is the cloth of fanaticism. I can name a few people in history who fit the description; Hitler, Napoleon and Joseph Stalin come to mind. Countries and movements fall into this category, like the Confederate States of America, Jim Crow Laws, Skin Heads, the KKK, the Black Panthers and the National Rifle Association. These groups will severely persecute anyone who does not believe in the righteousness of their cause. In Congress there is a group that calls themselves the “Tea Party,” who every year it seems is set on bringing down the federal government and the Obama Administration based upon the righteousness of their cause. To fight for what we think is right does not mean we are living a virtuous life.
To receive the blessings of righteous persecution we must learn to keep control of our mouth. This is the foundation of non-violent resistance. Not striking back with hand or mouth is the hallmark of passive resistance. Scripture says, “Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.” This put simply means to pray for those who persecute you! We also can receive the blessings of righteous persecution by turning from evil and seeking peace. How you might ask, does a person, face to face with evil turn from it and seek peace? History is full of examples from Socrates – who died by poison and for his belief that “might does not make right” – to Jesus who died for our sins and the thousands of saints who followed Him and the hundreds who have stood face to face with evil trusting the Lord to hear their prayers, they knew the meaning of these words. We call them martyrs for the faith! They were willing to pay the price for what they believed. Not just in words but in the actions they took.
