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Persecution And The Christian
Lesson One

Welcome to the first lesson in this challenging course.  Persecution is not something we like to think about, but the Bible speaks of it frequently so we need to be informed  For this course you will be using the textbook In The Shadow Of The Cross by Glenn Penner of Voice Of The Martyrs.  I have used the PDF Edition in developing this course.  The textbook is available both as a PDF and a paperback directly from Voice Of The Martyrs.  You MUST have this book to do this course.  If you do not have it yet, you can purchase it through the link on the textbook page here.  [I make no commissions from the sale of this book.]  

For Lesson One read the following sections in your Textbook and do the questions below.  The questions are in chronological order.

Common Sense Promo

Read pages 1 - 34 and answer the associated questions.  If you are using the PDF version of the textbook, I suggest you make a 'copy' so you can highlight in it.  You may write the answers to the below questions in a notebook or on a computer file.  You may also print them off here and work from a 'hard' copy.  God bless.

Lesson One Questions

Preface

1. “____________________ means allegiance to the suffering Christ, and it is therefore not at all surprising that Christians should be called upon to suffer.”

2. Most of the passages dealing with suffering in the New Testament had to do with suffering because of ____________________.

3. The God who ____________________ the persecuted is the same God who upholds all of His children in their time of need.

4. The ____________________ was written by persecuted believers for persecuted believers.

Chapter One
Old Testament Perspective

5. The Christian view of ____________________ rights and religious liberty is largely based, not on a set of specific biblical proof texts, but on a biblical view of mankind.

6. God’s character provides the foundation for laws and values that allow man to have ____________________ without chaos.

7. The basis of all biblical commands is the ____________________ of God.

8. To disrespect the image bearer is to ____________________ the one whose image is being represented.

9. Rights, in the Christian perspective, are not given by any __________ institution but are acknowledged and upheld as being granted by God.

10. God’s people were to keep themselves ____________________ from false religious systems of their day, yet without violating the rights of those whom they knew to be wrong.

11. Israel was expected to be a____________________ for all nations and a testimony to the truth of God.

12. Religious ____________________ is a violation of an individual’s God-given right to choose one’s own belief system.

13. Christianity must not be judged by the actions of its inconsistent followers but the the actions, teachings, and revealed _________________ of its Founder.

14. To be created in the image of God means that to exist is to be ____________________.

15. All humans are equally ____________________ of God, regardless of whether they worship Him or not.

16. It seems to me that a better explanation is found in what may be described as “____________________ grace,” whereby God frees our will to obey Him and to choose to follow Him.

17. The process of restoring God’s creation to its intended state will be one of ____________________.

18. Privately, Christians are not to take the ____________________ into their own hands, but this does not remove the right and the God-give obligation of the ____________________ to uphold the laws of the land and punish wrongdoers. 

19. There are times when the call to follow Christ and to conform to His image requires that we renounce the rights that we may _______________ possess.

20. The advance of God’s ____________________ would seem to be the biblical criterion of whether to renounce or uphold one’s rights.

21. Christians in many parts of the world often suffer persecution in virtual ____________________ and ____________________.

22. The World Evangelical Fellowship estimates that _______________ million Christians worldwide live under the daily threat of imprisonment, torture, or execution because of their faith.

23. Evangelicals must begin to do the hard work of reclaiming a part of our legacy—the field of ____________________.

Religious Freedom Under Islam

24. A widely accepted understanding is that an apostate male should be persuaded three times to return to Islam and, failing this, be put to ______. An apostate female should also be persuaded three times, failing which she should be ____________________ up for the rest of her life. 

25. Governments in the Islamic world see themselves as _____________ of the true faith, and the Islamists who accuse them of not doing enough to fulfill that role stand ready to take that role upon themselves.

The Biblical Basis For Persecution

26. From the nature of the question it is obvious that the serpent (Satan) is already in ____________________ against God. 

27. Exposed and challenged with the reality of their disobedience, both Adam and Eve look for someone to ____________________.

28. This motif of deliverance in the process of ____________________ is repeated in the words that follow to the woman and her husband. 

29. God tells the woman that the relationship between her and her husband will be one of ____________________ and _________________.

30. The culprit responsible for this world’s condition is ______________, created in the image of God, deciding that being an image bearer was insufficient.  pg. 25

31. ____________________ is, hence, an act of grace, controlling the depth and scope of depravity. pg. 26

32. The solution to man’s suffering because of sin will come __________ suffering.  Pg. 26 

33. But God’s plan of restoration did not begin at the _______________.  pg. 27

34. As the early church fathers understood, ____________________ is no attribute of God. pg. 27

Cain And Abel

35. The first case of persecution in the Bible begins in a place of ____________________.

36. Jesus clearly saw ____________________ death as an act of martyrdom.

37. Families, as important as they are for our nurture and security, can also be places of terrible ____________________.

38. The imagery of God hiding His presence or face is a common one in Scripture, meaning to ____________________ to notice something and thus avoid responding to it. 

Noah

39. God announces that mankind has been delegated the responsibility of being God’s instruments of ____________________ and upholders of basic human rights. 

40. All who claim to follow God will undoubtedly be called upon to make a ____________________. pg. 31

Abraham

41. From Abraham’s life we glean the valuable lesson that true _______ inevitably suffers, sacrifices, and hopes. pg. 31

Isaac

42. The call is to respond graciously, ____________________ depriving oneself in order to maintain one’s integrity and witness before others. pg. 32

Egypt’s Oppression Of Israel

43. Sacrificing for the purposes of God is a Christlike kind of ____________________. pg. 32

Blessing And Cursing In Deuteronomy

44. Therefore, to the question of whether all good things and all bad things are the result of God’s response to man’s actions, five conclusions may be drawn: 

  1. Every good gift comes from ____________________.
  2. Many blessings and curses are a result of man’s ________________ to God.
  3. Some blessings and curses are a result of God’s ________________ for man.
  4. Blessings can become ____________________ if we fail to glorify God.
  5. The teaching “whatever a man sows, that he will also 
  6. reap” (Galatians 6:7) is a ____________________ principle that will be true in the long run, but there will be times when it seems to be fallacy (especially in the short term).  pg. 34

Assignment

1. Memorize Gen. 3:16.

2. Break Genesis 3 into sections and analyze each section.  [The Feed Yourself course explains how to analyze chapters/verses.]

Registration

If you did not register on the main page, you may do so here in order to receive the instructions on finding the password for the lessons.  You will need the textbook to find the password.

Registration:  Persecution And The Christian

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Please note: We no longer have the commenting feature [maybe again in the future].  Joshua Institute students who have questions or comments on their courses can use the contact button and mention the course name and lesson number in the email.  Thank you.  Glenn

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