Agreed.
I extended it to mean that a man like Jerry Falwell, who had said things and set storms with his tongue - could not walk into Vegas and just take a vacation. Sometimes the work you do spiritually and the legacy you leave goes with you and people are funny how they express persecution.
In this dark age, people ripping a server or hijacking email or following you around slashing your tires are things that happen. Often, because you left a legacy. Billy Graham, though I do not agree with all he did had a group of people at his meetings that were just trashing the event. They staged protest and generally disturbed the mood of his events.
So yeah, I agree we glory in our sufferings FOR CHRIST. But the point has to be made that if you do the right thing, you would be suprised at what all is persecution.
And to add to it, people have gone into debt doing the right thing. That was more common in past generations with people who played fairly in the business place, and was mentioned about one the churches in Paul's epistles.
I'll also add that in Ecclisiastes, Solomon called the house of mourning better than the house of mirth. He, in Ecclisiastes, adds that mourning was the natural state and not jubilation. The point I wanted to make was that I don't preach that the Cross is all suffering (His burden is light and yoke easy), but people in these next few years are going to be blown away by the amount of longsuffering that it may require to survive in one peace, and it is something many of them were not taught about.
The Bible says Jacob was a man acquainted with suffering and also that MANY are the afflictions of the righteous, and Paul closes by saying 'The godly in Christ will be persecuted'.
I don't go looking for suffering, but I weather storms and retain faith, learn my lesson and increase in righteousness. This church of sweet things needs to be taken to Basic Training and sent through some excercises. For every Solomon or Job who was blessed thoroughly, there are handfuls of servants who labored and suffered for Christ and the church misses that wisdom.
Sam
