Dr. David Jeremiah: END TIMES - BE PREPARED | David Jeremiah Sermons [5:02-10:02]

releases a world watch list highlighting the 50 places where faith in Jesus costs the most. In 2022, Afghanistan, North Korea, Somalia, Libya, Yemen, top the list. Furthermore, they estimate that 360 million Christians in the world today experience extreme persecution because of their faith and to give that some context that is one out of every seven believers in the world. One out of every seven believers lives under the pressure of persecution. Jesus saw this coming. He didn't want us to be caught off guard. Once again, he said they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake and each phrase in that prophecy is important so let's take them one by one. First of all, the promise of tribulation they will deliver you up to tribulation. Now the word tribulation is an interesting word. It comes from a great word that describes a grinding pressure. It's a word that was used for the grinding of wheat. Think of how they ground grain in the ancient world. The kernels were pounded and pulverized between two millstones and there was no chance of relief. That's tribulation and that is what Christ has promised. We will experience if we follow Him. That begs the question, are we already feeling that kind of persecution and tribulation? And the answer is yes. In fact, there are a couple of examples of Christians being persecuted that I called out from my study. Here's one, in Kaduna State, Nigeria, a group of Philani herdsmen attacked four villages, killing 18 Christians, burning down 92 houses. The victims were specifically targeted because of their faith in Jesus Christ. In Eastern Uganda, a man named Yusufu converted to Christianity even though he was the head of a private Muslim school. When the teachers at the school heard Him praying in Jesus' name, they beat Him and scarred Him with third-degree burns and fired Him from His position. There are hundreds of stores like that that come across the way every day. But notice Jesus' second promise, he says they will persecute you and then verse nine, he says they will kill you. This is really getting good, isn't it? From persecution to murder, the world of the end will see a dramatic increase in the rise of martyrdom and religious killings. Not only in regions of the world dominated by Islam and Hinduism and socialism, but in all the nations, the Bible uses the word martyr to describe someone who was slain for their faith. That's what they call Stephen, Acts 22-20, the blood of your martyr, Stephen. Jesus reminded the church in Pergamus, Antipas was my faithful martyr. Now the word martyr means witness and it means somebody who dies because of their witness. Someone who dies because they say what they believe about who Jesus is. And the Bible says that in the future, when somebody does that, they will be taken out. Caleb Mueller understood that reality as a Christian. She believed it was her responsibility to join in God's work of relieving suffering in the world. I find God in the suffering eyes reflected in mine, she wants a road addressing God. She added, if this is how you are revealed in me, this is how I will forever seek you. While serving as a relief worker in Syria, Caleb was taken hostage by members of an ISS cell. She remained a prisoner for 18 months and during abuse of every kind, along with several other female captives. She eventually became a personal prisoner of a Bubacar El Baghdad, the leader of the ISS. When a group of her friends, four women made a plan to escape their captors, she refused to join them. She said, I am an American. And if I escape with you, they will do everything to find you again so I shall stay. And the four women did escape. They smelled out a letter that Caleb wanted to give to her parents. I told you this story because I really want to read this letter. Here's a portion of what that amazing young woman wrote during one of the darkest circumstances you can imagine. This is to her parents. You could say I have suffered, she wrote, throughout this whole experience. It is only in knowing how much suffering I have put you all through. I remember, Mom, always telling me that all in all in the end the only one you really have is God. I have come to a place in this experience, Caleb wrote, where in every sense of the word, I have surrendered myself to our creator because literally there was no one else. By God, by your prayers, I have felt tenderly cradled in free fall.