Persecuted but Not Forsaken
Commentary for the January 3, 2026, Sabbath School Lesson
"But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed." 2 Corinthians 4:7-9
As I write this, we are beginning a new year as the Christmas season draws to a close. It is a season when ersatz Christians claim they are being persecuted because stores and governmental agencies say, "Happy holidays!" instead of "Merry Christmas." Perplexingly, it is also a time when others, who think they are God's favorite Christians, attack other Christians for even declaring that there is anything Christian in the celebration of Christmas. Everyone has an opinion, and everyone thinks they are under persecution for either celebrating or not celebrating Christmas. I can almost see the Christians of the first through the third centuries shaking their heads and asking, "You call THAT persecution?!?" The blood of so many martyrs cries out from the dirt floor of the Colosseum in Rome where it watered the ground through horrific acts much worse than daring to say, "Merry Christmas."
Does this mean persecution is unknown in the modern church? Hardly. The Apostle Paul even says it will always be with us. He tells his assistant, Timothy, "Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." (2 Timothy 3:12) And to the church in Rome, he wrote, quoting Psalm 44:22, "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." (Romans 8:36) The attitude of too many of those who claim they are being persecuted today is like a cranky child who is told to take a nap and throws a tantrum in response. It only proves the need for a nap, not the cruelty of the one suggesting that rest. Should real persecution come, those who tremble at hearing "Happy holidays!" will be gone from the faith for if they quail at such simple things, how will they stand in the breaking tempest of actual hostility?
What is that like? Unfortunately, we are not a nation of great readers. According to the National Literacy Institute, 54% of adult Americans read at less than a sixth-grade level. Since these commentaries are written at a high school level that means that over half of adult Americans would struggle to read them. Fortunately, the Bible in a modern translation, such as the New International Version, is written at a fifth-grade level or less. It can be read and understood by most. Considering the depth of meaning that can be derived from its pages, its simplicity still provides fertile ground for contemplation by the greatest intellects who never exhaust the lessons to be found in its pages. Nonetheless, in the Bible are examples of murders, stonings, and imprisonments suffered under genuine persecution. If that is not enough, Foxe's "Book of Martyrs" takes us well into the early church and the horrendous deeds done through the ages to those who dared to see their fellow human beings as precious in God s sight and not as mere brutes, subject only to humiliation and degradation, forced to live in fear of those who would oppress them.
Then as now, the wealthy and powerful saw the rest of humanity as only raw material to be exploited. Over six hundred thousand died in the American Civil War fighting to free the nation from such abuse. When people continue to see others as mere objects to be abused and perversely enjoyed because they have power over their victims that seems unchallengeable, it reveals that war against inhumanity toward others has not been won. How strange it is that in a world with enough resources to feed and clothe everyone, so many should go hungry and naked, or in a world where there are more vacant homes than there are homeless people, anyone should be homeless. How strange that Christians, who claim to believe that all are descended from a single couple based on the account in the early chapters of Genesis, should not see all human beings as brothers and sisters, deserving to be treated as equals. There is no justifiable reason for persecution of others.
How do I know of persecution? In the United States we no longer have the mass murder of martyrs that continues to plague other countries around the globe. However, that does not mean that persecution does not exist. It is alive and well and does not need to be manufactured by Christmas hating zealots. My own life is an example. I served over six years during the Vietnam War era as a medical corpsman. I was a conscientious objector. I did not carry a weapon because as a follower of Christ, I did not believe in taking the lives of others. At times, others would try to provoke a violent response from me, thinking they would expose hypocrisy. When that failed, they turned to violence themselves. I was not alone in their attentions. A private, who was a practicing Pentecostal, fell down the stairs and was one day gone. I never knew what his fate was. After him, they also turned on a man two ranks higher than the private. He was a Jehovah's Witness, and they coerced him into publicly renouncing his faith.
When they came after me, it was a more difficult challenge because I was a non-commissioned officer, granted that promotion in Vietnam despite not carrying a weapon. However, the war had ended with the signing of the Paris Peace Accords in 1973, and by 1974, some higher-ranking officers saw conscientious objectors as traitors without regard to lives they saved or the necessity for medical care during a war. Desmond Doss, who won the Congressional Medal of Honor as a medic without carrying a weapon was another war and already forgotten. As a Seventh-day Adventist, I had served faithfully and honorably both stateside and in Vietnam and even became a paratrooper. Other than not carrying a weapon, the only thing that seemed to others to set me apart was Sabbath observance from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday. Since Saturday drills had become outdated, there was little reason for friction over religion.
That all changed when I was transferred to Alaska. In Alaska, the sun went down in the winter shortly after noon on Friday which cut significantly into the duty day. Army commanders have the discretion to allow personnel to have time off for religious observance. Although I did not need to before the transfer, in Alaska, I asked for that permission. That was in the same battalion that had persecuted the Pentecostal and the Jehovah's Witness. Since my request was reasonable and I had served in a war zone and was a paratrooper, considered an elite status, and my company commander had even attended my wedding, I did not anticipate a problem.
However, once I made that request, things blew up quickly. Battalion command group did their research well and finding that Seventh-day Adventists do not eat pork. Bacon suddenly started appearing in everything in the mess hall, from mashed potatoes, to peas, and to the point that I was reduced to eating white bread and drinking milk for meals. As I said, my company commander was a friend, and he approved me for separate rations which provided enough income to purchase my meals elsewhere. I appreciated his intervention, but that was of limited help while we were out in the field. Even buying freeze-dried soups and vegetables, I could only carry so much and eventually ran out when on extended bivouacs. I taught myself how to identify edible plants to carry me through. Commands response was to bivouac on a glacier where there is nothing growing, and when I went to the edge of the glacier to forage, they charged me with disobeying and took away my rank. During that same field exercise, someone tried to take me out by hitting me in the head with a huge rock. The only thing that saved my life was the helmet liner I was wearing. I still bear the scar and the dent in my skull to this day. This was one of several attempts on my life. I do understand what real persecution is like. In part, it is why I find myself more in common with the early church than with the Laodicean church of Revelation. (Revelation 3:14-22)
The important take away from my persecution experiences is one I think that those early Christians would agree with. Through every trial, every accusation, every violence perpetrated against me, God did not forsake me. With the assistance of my company commander and the Pentagon, who saw merit in the argument as to why all the persecution? If the Army no longer wanted my honorable service, why not simply let me go? The Pentagon agreed and ordered my immediate honorable discharge. This did not stop one last attempt on my life, but God, who often steps in at the very last moment with his deliverance, thwarted that attempt as well. That is why I am here to share this. I have personally experienced what David the Psalmist wrote, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me." (Psalm 23:4a, KJV)
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