Matt. 24:10 Then many will take offense, betray one another and hate
one another.
Persecution will cause many to "take offense", to stumble. People who are commanded to love each other can, under pressure, betray one another.
Daniel Defoe wrote, "Tis the easiest thing in the world to hire people to betray their friends." Wyatt Earp's dad said, "There's family; all the rest is strangers." Actually, under terrible circumstances, even family can betray us.
These assessments may be overly harsh, but do remind us we can fail to show loyalty. Something better is expected of us Christ-followers. We are to be loyal to one another, but being human, we fail often under pressure.
We love to tell stories that exonerate and honor believers who stood true in the early days of church persecution. We are right to do this. There is, though, another side to the story we rarely tell. Not everyone stood true.
The Roman historian Tacitus wrote of the persecution under Nero in 64 A.D. "First those were seized who confessed they were Christians; and then on their information a vast multitude was convicted." How devastating it must have been for the person who sat next to you at the Lord's Supper on Sunday to have turned you in on Monday for the sake of blood money.
This happened to Jesus—Judas Iscariot, one of His own tightly knit band of disciples, betrayed Him. It happened in Paul’s day--he complained of deserters. It has happened in every century since. It still happens.
Disloyalty is a terrible thing, but do not be harsh toward those who falter along the way, and do it. Speak kindly of and to those who leave us and turn against us. It could be done by one of us or one of our loved ones.
Some stumble headlong in order to escape persecution or pain. Others are tripped up by nothing more than the fear of embarrassment or ridicule.
For me, I think the ultimate test might be to protect my loved ones. What if my wife, my breath, were threatened with torture due to my faith?
Some say God is preparing to use difficult times ahead to help purify His USA churches. I don't know about this. I cannot predict the future.
We do, though, in these growing-more-difficult days need to ask ourselves a serious question. If we are unwilling to sacrifice, take up our cross, and endure difficulties during relatively good, albeit not perfect, times, why would we think we would stay true during hard times?
Even if persecution does not force us to betray others, it can result in our hating God and/or hating the persecutors. Even without persecution, we have too often disliked unbelievers. This harshness devastates our witness.
Matt. 24:11 Many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.
In difficult times, false teachers claim to have an authoritative message, as if it were from God. They develop their own ways and ideas for people to follow. The most dangerous ones are those whose words are meant to try to make our lot easier, who try to make us compromise, who tell us not to be true to the Bible, who say we should lighten up a bit.
Heretics have been among us from the first. Judaizers said people had to embrace Judaism, and follow Old Testament laws such as circumcision, Sabbath observance, and observing the festivals to be saved. Gnostics taught that a select few were given the secrets of salvation; they believed Jesus became God by gaining much knowledge. Arius believed Jesus was not fully God. People have at times claimed special writings were conveyed to them. These and other heresies have happened in every generation of the church.
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