My Dear Friend,

As many do, I believe the Scripture and Spirit are telling us an awesome, sovereign, spiritual awakening will end the church's story (Matthew 25:6-7). And every day makes me surer.

But there's another side to this revival story, and you must know it. It is this: End-Times revival will spark End-Times persecution - whether directed at individual Christians, local churches, or the entire body of Christ in various nations. Why? True revivals have always brought believers rejection. Or, "persecution," which means to harass (set the dogs on), harm, and seek to drive away or destroy a particular group because of a perceived difference. In our case, utter devotion to Jesus!

Now before your spirit droops, rejection sets in, and you stop reading, let me complete this prophetic memo. Satan's hateful harassments of God's beloved people have always blown up in his face. More specifically, they consistently bring about the opposite of what Satan hopes to achieve.

Since the unofficial definition of insanity is "doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results," I suggest a new name for Satan: Dr. Insanity! Scripture and history prove his compulsive, repetitive harassment of God's people is, well, crazy!

When Satan inspired Pharaoh to cruelly depopulate the Hebrews, they only became more populous. "But the more they [the Egyptians] afflicted them [the Hebrews], the more they multiplied and grew" (Exodus 1:12). But Satan obstinately continued the harassment. Crazy!

When Satan inspired the Jews first persecution of the Jerusalem church, instead of smothering them, it scattered them, like human faith-seeds, in every direction. "They were all scattered abroad" (Acts 8:1). And that's not all. Their spontaneous flight led them to the very places Jesus prophesied they would go, and in the very order He predicted: "in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth" (Acts 1:8). So, the Jewish persecution actually seeded Christianity throughout the Mediterranean world, beginning with the Samaria awakening (Acts 8:4-17) and the first entirely Gentile church in Antioch (Acts 11:19-21), from which Paul's great apostolic missions were launched. All thanks to Satan's opposition. Crazy!

As Jewish persecution subsided, Roman persecution arose. Satan first inspired the psychopathic emperor, Nero, to work his madness by blaming and cruelly punishing Christians for the great fire of Rome (AD 64) - which many believe Nero himself started! Satan hoped to grind them to powder. Yet after Roman persecution continued sporadically for three centuries in cities, provinces, and, on three occasions, throughout the empire, Satan only grew the church again, spiritually and numerically, which he meant to grind. Crazy!

Church history has more examples of Dr. Insanity's work than this small post can contain, so I'll mention only one. In the 20th century, Chinese Christians endured not one but three persecutions. But each time they emerged from their fiery furnaces spiritually stronger and more numerous. Crazy! Which brings us to another subject.

Us! When after seeing the great End-Times revival arise worldwide, Dr. Insanity again tries to break us, he will only make us! Everything he does to stop Christ's End-Times plan will only accelerate it. Instead of killing Christ's bride, Satan's nefarious work will wash, dress, and fully prepare us for our glorious wedding (Revelation 19:7-9)! How?

• Persecution will purify us. Its relentless pressures will force us to steadily reexamine ourselves and our assemblies. To overcome what's coming against us, we will cast off the faults and sins that weaken us, especially pride, and expel impenitent sinners and deluded heretics from our fellowships. And the rebels among us, unwilling to endure the correcting, cleansing heat, will walk out.

• Persecution will prove us. It will enable us to show by our actions that our religious devotion is genuine, authentic, New Testament. We will walk the Word we talk, through fiery conflicts, rivers of reproach, and floods of injustice. Every new test will yield a new, convincing testimony of God's reality and our faith.

• Persecution will grow us. By forcing us to trust God more, we will learn to believe Him more. Our knowledge of God's nature - utterly unfailing faithful love - will grow, as we experience His presence, voice, and hand more clearly and intimately, and His providential and miraculous works more often. Our love and unity will grow, as being hated and disrespected by unbelievers will prompt us to love and respect believers more, and live, work, and minister alongside them with greater oneness of mind and purpose. And our endurance will grow, as our longer tests will force us to exercise more grace-given patience and staying power. We will be able to wait longer for God's help without discontent or panic, and train others to do so.

• Persecution will enable us to bear more spiritual fruit. As Satan applies heat to our branches to burn up our ability to bear Christ fruit, he will only hasten the ripening of the "fruit of the Spirit" (Galatians 5:22-23), or Christ's virtues within us, as we continue submissively trusting and obeying God. Persecution endured correctly also builds spiritual power and a larger capacity for effective ministry. The more we overcome adversity, the more powerfully our life example will convince, convert, correct, and inspire others to do so.

• Persecution will qualify us for the rapture. Jesus promised the Philadelphians: "Because you have kept my command to persevere [in difficult testing], I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth" (Revelation 3:10, NKJV). Note Jesus did not promise they would be "kept from" the Tribulation because they were "born again." If merely being a Christian qualified one for the rapture, Jesus would have promised all the other churches what He promised the Philadelphians. To the contrary, He promised this great privilege of being translated alive to heaven without seeing death, and being spared the world's final, most severe time of testing, only to those who had already been successfully tested.

• Persecution will qualify us to rule and reign with Christ, first in the Millennium (Revelation 2:26-28), and later in the eternal world. "If we suffer [for him], we shall also reign with him," declared Paul (2 Timothy 2:12). So, it's simple. Only Christians who have endured rejection for Christ will rule with Christ. If we never experience rejection, or we deny Christ while being rejected, though saved by God's grace, we will not "reign with Him." Why? Jesus faithfully honors all who faithfully honor Him (see 1 Samuel 2:30).

• Persecution will transform us. We will enter our fiery tests in one condition and emerge from them in another! We will enter our furnaces still walking in many of our own ways, and bound with fears, bad attitudes, and wrong motives. Yet, after learning to consistently, humbly trust and obey in the fear (awe) of God, we emerge loosed from every bond and steadily thinking Jesus' thoughts, practicing His teachings, and walking in His ways, or spiritual life disciplines. In Paul's words, we will be "conformed to the image of his Son" (Romans 8:29). This transformation is the primary reason Christ exposes His bride church to opposition.

May I prophesy? Dr. Insanity will once again see his nefarious work blow up in his face - and leave him without any way to save face! Through even the worst, most persisting rejection he may bring, our faces will shine with the glorious joy and likeness of Christ! Dr. Insanity hopes we (particularly American believers) will remain asleep in spiritual and moral lukewarmness, and continue to be untested, polluted, unproven, spiritually fruitless, unqualified to rule, and unlike Jesus. But his harassment will make us just the opposite: tested, purified, proven, grown, qualified, transformed, and "ready" for eternal union with Christ (Revelation 19:7-9)!

Therefore, when our great awakening awakens great opposition - or the next time you find yourself enduring personal rejection due to your uncompromising devotion to Christ - remember to "think it not strange ... but rejoice!" (1 Peter 4:12), and to "give thanks in all circumstances" (1 Thessalonians 5:18, ESV). Why? You have learned the great, timeless lesson poor, old, incorrigibly stupid Dr. Insanity has never learned: The more he afflicts us, the more he matures and strengthens us! This is the rest of the revival story.

Ready to rejoice in revival - and whatever rejection it brings,

Dr. Greg Hinnant

GREG HINNANT MINISTRIES