Persecution and Perseverance

Hosts Corey J. Mahler coreyjmahler.com @CoreyJMahler Woe aka Eschatologuy @treblewoe We often think of persecution as a matter external to the church, as something inflicted on the church; however, persecution is often — and these days most often — a matter within the church — the persecutors, the goats and the wolves, claim outward fellowship with the sheep. Persecution has almost always been a part of the Christian life, even if it has waxed and waned over the centuries (and some who lived under Christendom enjoyed relative peace). Today, we are faced with a period of increasing persecution; in fact, it is already in full swing. If we, as Christians, are not prepared to face persecution, to persevere in the face of it, then we will almost certainly fall away from the faith when the persecution rises in intensity. There is a great apostasy that has been underway for decades, and now the world and the devil are earnestly seeking to persecute and destroy what remains of the Church on Earth, and they are aided in this by goats and wolves posing as sheep. The persecution of today, as has been the case with so much of the persecution of the past, comes largely from within the church, not from without her. And yet persecution is not a cause for despair or even for worry — it is a reason to act. If we are to persevere, to run the race successfully, then we must spend time in the Word of God, be confident in our faith, and secure in our knowledge that God is always true to His promises, not least of all: ‘Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love Him.” Subscribe to the podcast here. Show Notes Acts 7 Romans 8 Hebrews 11–12 See Also Further Reading Germania by Tacitus [Amazon] Parental Warnings None. Transcript The transcript for this episode can be found here Other transcripts can be found here Support the Podcast Recurring Donation One-Time Donation Cryptocurrency Donation Mahler’s: Throne.com Wish List | Amazon.com Wish List Woe’s Amazon.com Wish List The Stone Choir 2024 Challenge Coin Comments? Join the discussion on Telegram, visit the feedback form or comment below. function waitForElement(selector, callback) { const interval = setInterval(function() { const element = document.querySelector(selector); if (element) { clearInterval(interval); callback(element); } }, 100); // check every 100 milliseconds } function updateTranscriptLink(audioSrc) { const episodeNumber = extractNumber(audioSrc); if (episodeNumber) { const transcriptLink = document.querySelector('a.transcript-link'); if (transcriptLink) { transcriptLink.setAttribute('href', `/transcripts/transcript-episode-${episodeNumber}/`); } else { console.error('Transcript link not found.'); } } else { console.error('Episode number could not be extracted. The audio source was: ' + audioSrc); } } // Function to extract the number from the audio file name function extractNumber(src) { const match = src.match(/e(\d+)\.m4a/); return match ? match[1] : null; } // Start waiting for the audio element to appear in the DOM waitForElement('audio[src*="s.stone-choir.com"]', function(audioElement) { const audioSrc = audioElement.getAttribute('src'); updateTranscriptLink(audioSrc); });