The word “peace” is mentioned over 100 times in the New Testament.  In the vast majority of instances the peace was directed toward or wished upon human beings.  Without peace, little else in this life matters.  Knowing this, God wills that His human creations live in a state of continuous peace.  While embracing this Biblical Truth, we must be aware that there are two types of peace: internal and external–peace with oneself (internal) and peace with others (external).  Inner peace is a sense of tranquility that is beyond “all understanding.”  This is the peace God’s people have when in the midst of a trying, even deadly situation.  It is peace that fame and fortune cannot buy, peace that is dependent on Someone greater than oneself being in charge of the situation.

In this posting we will look into what seems to be a Biblical “contradiction,” a confusing “disconnect” between what is on the one hand promised repeatedly, and on the other hand denied repeatedly.  Both promises are guaranteed and with equal emphasis.  In this posting I will emphasize how God’s promise of peace is counterbalanced by His promise of turmoil, how a promise of “peace like a river” (Isa. 66:12) is offset by a promise of unending turmoil (Jn. 16:3).  We will look at Scriptural passages that are impossible to understand unless one reads God’s “fine print” that explains and qualifies His “headlines” concerning peace and conflict in this life.  Our understanding of the subject and how we handle it will decide our eternal fate.  As this posting will show, religious man is in control of the entire situation.  He decides whether he will have peace or the lack of peace in his life.  His choice has life and death consequences.  Let us see how this happens.

The following is one of the confusion-causing “contradictions” that arise when one focuses on the “headlines” found in the Bible.  For example, Jesus Christ said: “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give you ….  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (Jn. 14:17), “These things I have said unto you that you may have peace ….” (Jn. 14:14; 16:33).  These are the “headlines” that professing Christians hold up as the Lord’s promise of peace.  However, that same Jesus Christ seemingly contradicts those statements by saying: “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth; I did not come to bring peace, but rather a sword.  For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.  A man’s enemies will be those of his own family ….”  “And the brother will give up the brother to death, and the father the child; children will rise up against their parents and cause them to be put to death, and you will be hated by all men for My name’s sake.  He who endures (persecution) to the end (with his holiness intact) will be saved” (Mat. 10:34-36; 21,22).  “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me, and he that loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of Me.  And he who does not take up his cross (choose Him over all others) and follow after (obey) Me is not worthy of Me.  He who finds his life (choose to please others) will lose it (eternally), and he that loses his life for My sake (obeys Him) will find it (eternally)” (vss 37-39).

For the casual reader these statements made by God’s Messiah can be confusing and contradictory.  He is warning the God seeker that the world, including his own mother, father, siblings and children, will hate him and betray him if it is the expedient thing to do?  He was speaking then about a future time when a man will be forced to make eternal life and death decisions based upon whose approval he seeks–family and friends or God.  For those who seek to please God, that time began not long after He made the Matthew 10 and John 14 statements.  Some in the religious establishment take pride in the fact that the prophesied persecution, rejection and hatred are not a part of their lives, that they have not had to carry that cross.  These poor souls attribute their smooth spiritual lives to the “fact” that they are saved, born again and live according to God’s expectations.  THEY BELIEVE THAT THEY PLEASE GOD AND THEREFORE HIS WARNINGS DO NOT APPLY TO THEM.  They do, however, apply the other people who claim to be God’s people.  These are those few religious outcasts who enjoy none of the social and religious acceptance of their socially acceptable counterparts.  These hapless souls are known as–“those people.”  The derogatory words are often followed by a slow wagging of the head and a deep sigh and the shrugging of the shoulders.

Is anyone in the saved, sanctified, sealed, born again Institutional Church being persecuted as Jesus promised His saints?  Church family members do not turn against each other for Christ’s sake; no one is despised and rejected by the religious world; no one is left out of interfaith meetings; no one is denied the opportunity to speak in the church of another faith.  “However,” one might say, “there is that little group of reprobates who meet at someone’s house on Saturday.  They’re sometimes laughed at and ridiculed.  But that’s to be expected.  We make jokes about them.  After all, they’re not true Christians.  No true Christian gets looked down upon by the church.”  The problem is that God said the exact opposite of the church’s “truth” relative to persecution.  Herein is the religious fog of confusion manifested; and herein lies its explanation.  Let us begin the Biblical explanation of why, in the eyes of the majority, God has gotten everything backwards.

The Old Testament was written to, for and about biological Israel–the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  The New Testament was written to, for and about spiritual Israel–those who embrace the God of the Israelites, His Law and His rules for living the holy life exemplified and taught by His Son.  Every command, promise and warning spoken by God to the prophets, to Jesus and to the apostles was directed to His true church, including the Old Testament “church in the wilderness” (Acts 7:38).  These are they whom He calls His saints, His remnant, His Very Elect, His jewels, His little flock who believe and obey Him.  His promised blessings for obedience and cursings for disobedience found in the Holy Scriptures are reserved for His spiritual Israelites, which includes biological Israelites and biological Gentiles who have become spiritual Israelites.  Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 explain God’s promises of blessing and cursing and to whom they apply.  Spiritual Gentiles and sinning Israelites who know God’s Word but do not live by those Words (Mat. 4:4) are not eligible for His promised blessings.  However, they are eligible for His promised cursings (Romans 1:18-32) because they claim to know Him: “He who says ‘I know Him’ and does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (1 Jn. 2:4).  They and their religion are addressed by Jesus in several places: “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord’ and not do what I command you? (Lk. 6:46).  “If you love Me, keep My commandments/words” (Jn. 14:15,23).  “In vain do they worship me, who obey their commandments instead of my decrees” (Mat. 15:9).

The confusion/contradiction problem abounds because those who call Him ‘Lord, Lord’ and worship Him while following their own commandments “know” that they are one with Him and that they are saved, born again and rapture ready.  They “know” that they have a mansion awaiting them in heaven were they will spend eternity with Jesus and their ancestors.  These people have peace.  No one speaks ill of them.  The world accepts them and politically courts them.  Their opinions are valued and their friendship is sought.  No one deliberately avoids them in public.  No one fears being seen with them.  THOSE IN THE INSTITUTIONAL CHURCH ARE POPULAR AND SOUGHT AFTER LIKE NO OTHER GROUP.

But Jesus said the opposite would be true for His peoplen  He said that the world, including family members, would hate them and speak all manner of evil against them for His name’s sake.  He also said that ONLY those who were hated, despised and rejected because of Him could be saved (Mat. 10:22).  Either the Lord or the Institutional Church has created a convoluted, contradicting, confusing Biblical enigma.

If the Bible is indeed God’s Word, and if His Word is indeed the Truth, then the problem lies with those in the church who, having failed to consult the fine print, rely on the headlines and therefore do not understand that God is not referring to them in the above quoted passages.  He is referring to His true church, universally known as “those people.” His formula for the holiness-peace situation is this: THE MORE HOLY ONE IS THE MORE PERSECUTION, REJECTION AND TRIBULATION HE WILL EXPERIENCE.  The opposite is also true.  The other side of the peace coin reveals that no matter how bad things become for the true saint, internally he/she is at peace, knowing that God has everything under control.   Now for a warning relative to future peace or the lack thereof.

There is coming a time, and soon, when true saints of God will come under attack for their obedience to God and the blessings He will bestow on them.  I believe that this will take place on two fronts.  I believe that I and others of my ilk will perform mighty signs and wonder publicly which all the world will witness via the media.  Secondly, I believe that when the world situation reaches an apex (starvation, etc.) God will openly feed and care for His people which the world will witness.  I believe that we will be accused of causing the problems that will then plague those not in our (God’s) camp. Revelation 12:16 warns about a time when the people, led by the government, will turn on God’s people and force them to leave the geographical United States.  Just as Adolf Hitler convinced the German people that the Jews were the cause of the nation’s problems, which led to the mass slaughter of millions of innocent people, there will rise up in this country those who will convince governmental officials that God’s people are the cause of the nations’ many problems, and that their removal would bring an end to those problems.  Many of those demanding our removal will be wearing crosses and holding Bibles as they call for the removal of all true believers from the nation.  In so doing they will believe that they are pleasing God.

In summary, the Lord promised those who served Him in holiness that they would suffer persecution, rejection, hatred, and in some cases death for their obedience to Him.  The Lord proclaims that “WE (NO EXCEPTIONS) MUST (not might) through MUCH TRIBULATION enter the Kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22), and that  “ALL who will LIVE GODLY in Christ Jesus WILL SUFFER PERSECUTION” (2 Tim. 3:12).  Any church person who is being persecuted, rejected and despised by Catholics and Protestants for belief in and obedience to God’s Word is not a child of God.  Thus says the Lord. L.J.