The Earliest Persecutions of Christianity

2,000 years ago Christianity was considered nothing more than a “sect” of Judaism referred to in Paul’s day as “The Way.” But Jesus’ apostles boldly testified for Jesus despite the many negative rumors that had spread about them. They began in Jerusalem but quickly spread as far as Europe and Asia. St. Andrew carried the gospel as far as Scythia (Ukraine and southern Russia) and was crucified in Achaia (southern Greece). Phillip evangelized as far as modern day Turkey and Asia minor before being martyred there at Hieropolis. Simon (the Zealot) went as far as North Africa and Persia (Assyriean empire which is modern day Iraq) where he was killed along with Jude(Thaddaeus).

Peter Evangelized even in Prison

During the final days of Peter in Rome, he was cast into a horrible prison called the Mamertine for nine months, in absolute darkness; he endured monstrous torture manacled to a post. In spite of all the suffering Peter was subjected to, he converted his jailers, Processus, Martinianus, and forty-seven others.

They preached Jesus’ words with unflinching conviction and courage in the face of severe persecution by the Roman state. Their legacy remains and continues through the faithful actions of those who continue to evangelize in the face of great obstacles. Here is a brief mention of more recent examples.

Heroic Examples of Faith in Modern Times

Lives of Exemplary Faith

A. W. Milns sold everything he had, placed it in a coffin, and then went to missionize a tribe of head hunters from which no missionary had ever come out alive. 35 years later (they didn’t kill him) when he died the tribe burried him and wrote this as his epitaph, “When he came there was no light. Now that he leaves there is no darkness.”

When the experts told pastor Joshua Jung Myung Seok, the founding pastor of Providence church, that the rock landscape God wanted him to build could never be built with such huge rocks, he decided to direct the construction himself. After months of intense labor the rock landscape collapsed like a set of dominoes. And so they rebuilt it again. It crumbled again. They rebuilt it again and again each time learning how to get the work done properly. After what they thought was the final construction it collapsed yet a fourth time. Many lost hope. Pastor Joshua himself wouldn’t eat or speak. Finally in the morning he said, “Because it is God’s will, we will rebuild it 1,000 times if we have to. Though the rock stadium crumbled, my heart hasn’t crumbled.” The fifth rock stadium still stands to this day.

By their fierce mentality, devotion to the Lord’s will, and by the grace of the Holy Spirit the heroes of faith accomplished great things for the kingdom of Heaven in the face of huge persecutions. But now that the message has reached nearly every tribe of the earth the work has not stopped. Even today we are preaching the gospel despite many persecutions.

Today Jesus’ message is more important than ever as his second coming approaches. As he said in the Mathew 24, the greatest persecutions will take place in these end times.

Rev 2:10 Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life.

Today’s Persecutions

One should not be surprised to see that those who preach about the Lord’s Second Coming the most passionately are persecuted to this degree even in the 21st century. In the following article I will describe one such case in more detail.

Christians on Trial: Pastor Joshua Jeong Myung Seok

Should I be worried?
- Concerned Parent

Don’t worry, you are a good parent and you have already taken a step in the right direction. How should I know if you are a good parent or not? Any parent who takes the time to research before jumping to conclusions is a good parent from my point of view. Another reason not to worry – If your son, daughter, brother, sister, or loved one has begun living up to higher standards, this is a good thing and nothing that should cause you concern. When you’ve known someone for a long time you come to know what to expect from them. When they suddenly start displaying unexpected behavior, whether good or bad, it automatically begs the question, “What outside influence has come over them?” It is natural to question, doubt, or even distrust outside influences. But if the one you love is displaying good behavior, then it is good to invest some time, do a little research, and find out about what they have suddenly taken interest in. This article and the other articles on this website were all written to thoroughly explain what Providence church is and address any concerns you might have.

Providence Church

In Providence Church we deal with this question often because our bible study does have a unique set of teachings that produce distinctively better results in young people and helps them to live up to far higher standards than those of their peers. For someone to live up to higher standards is a positive change, but as is the case with all change whether good or bad, it is not easy to deal with. Change causes difficulties for the one letting go of old habits, and change also causes difficulty for those next to them because for them the new habits and behaviors may be unexpected and even unwelcome.

2,000 years ago Jesus was also new and different. People liked that he could perform miracles, change people for the better, and they even agreed that his teachings were good. But unfortunately people often reacted in a negative way with doubt and negative criticism when it came to Jesus himself, who to them was new and unknown at the time. For this reason Jesus gave us the following advice.

A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit… Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. – Matthew 7:18-20

If some new and unfamiliar influence produces good results in the lives of the ones we love, then it follows that the new thing they have found must also be good.

Dealing with unexpected change

As human beings we have to deal with change all the time. But too much change makes us feel like we are losing control over our life. We often take comfort in the things we don’t expect to change because this gives a sense of stability. That is why it is often difficult to deal with changes in areas of our lives or those close to us that are totally unexpected even if it could be considered a positive change.

We are used to people developing bad habits, and we can accept that people will sometimes disappoint our expectations, but it is truly rare that we see those close to us do better than we would expect in areas of their life that they never previously explored. And because it is a rare experience, people often do not know how to handle such a situation.

The media often floods us with images of young people committing acts of juvenile delinquency, so if your young person commits such an act it may be disappointing, and maybe even unexpected, but it would not likely be a complete surprise in view of all the negative influences you know they are facing. But when a young person begins challenging themselves in ways you have never seen portrayed in movies or are on tv how do you deal with the change? On tv we see parents dealing with their children’s failures and disapointments, but how many times have you seen parents have to deal with their children suddenly praying a lot or attending bible studies?

Encouraging young people to live by higher standards

Another unfortunate side effect that results from young people living up to higher standards is the misunderstandings that young people can cause when they represent an outside influence with their own lack of maturity. With all youth comes immaturity. And in that immaturity young people often display arrogance or moral superiority after achieving positive change. For example, when a young person begins waking up early for prayer, they could easily begin looking down on any family members who wake up at a later hour. Please understand that this is not a reflection of the church. This is merely another bad character trait that every young person should overcome with time as they become more mature.

In general most people agree that this generation must learn to live up to higher standards. The moral decline, crime rate, death rate, juvenile activity, teen pregnancies, decline in physical health, and innumerous other problems teenagers face today are so much worse than generations past. Parents, teachers, and others involved try to encourage the young persons within their reach to live up to a higher standard but often with poor results. If attending church helps the young person achieve your goals, then please consider the church your ally and not your competition. As a bible study teacher, I always consider myself as a supporter of what the parents are already doing, because it would be extremely difficult for a pastor or teacher to do for children what their parents are not already doing.

Family is the foundation upon which community is built. Young people need both family and community, but they also need to see harmony and cooperation between both groups. In an ideal world all good behavior would be encouraged. But when we find ourselves getting help we didn’t ask for we instinctively begin to question, doubt, and distrust the values of the other’s influence over our child. And when the goals that the parent, child, and community have for the child are not completely aligned parents often make the mistake of discouraging the young person’s efforts. This is why communication and partnership between parents and the community are so critical. So if your child expresses excitement about attending a new bible study and church, my first suggestion is to talk to the church leaders and teachers about your goals for your child.

Bad first impressions and internet research

As we know, first impressions have a profound effect on our judgement. For the parents of our bible study participants, the children themselves are often the first impression because they often begin describing how different and new the bible study’s teachings are. They themselves may not know the content of the bible study that well having only learned it once, but then they find themselves teaching their parents and perhaps even creating many inaccurate ideas about the bible study. Then upon doing research parents often find negative criticism of our teachings online. Our teachings are not that controversial but the nature of internet research is that no matter what you look for in a search engine, controversies will often populate your search whether it is valid or not. You can do a search about the President of the United States and I’m sure you will find just as many controversies as you would find about our or any other church. When it comes to the internet, large organizations, corporations, individuals, and conspiracy theorists all have the same authority in a google search. As a rule of thumb I usually look at how professional the design is, whether there is a poor use of bright color (conspiracy theorists often use bright yellow or red for example) and use of language to discern how authoritative and trustworthy a site might be.

Other controversies surrounding Providence Church

The next step is to find out more about our church and find out for yourself what the teachings are. Providence church is an international Christian movement with a rich history and a broad cultural diversity. It is a relatively new church, founded more than 30 years ago in Korea, but has since spread to 50 nations. And like all great Christian movements Providence has had to endure a tremendous amount of persecution. Our church has especially had trouble in the Asian nations that lack the same Christian history and freedom of religion. The founder of our church was arrested while missionising in China. He endured a year of prison there and is currently serving a 10 year prison sentence in Korea. You can learn more about his difficulties and the history of Providence in the other articles of this website. I hope you will be able to share the same enthusiasm about Providence that we and your child or loved one have found.

Lesley Stahl, journalist of 60 minutes recently profiled a case out of North Carolina where the eyewitness testimony of a rape victim turned out to be wrong, leading to an innocent man’s conviction and 11 year incarceration before DNA evidence proved his innocence. This is a fascinating story about how flaws in the way police collect (and produce) victims’ visual memories can lead to wrongful convictions.

In America over 200 convicted prisoners have been proven innocent by more recent DNA tests. The most common element in all wrongful convictions later overturned by DNA evidence has been eyewitness testimony. In this segment two psychologists show how fragile human memory is and how easily it can be influenced leading to eyewitnesses who are absolutely convinced they are telling the truth and yet still they are proven wrong.

Read a script of the show in PDF format.

Pastor Joshua Jeong Myung Seok is one of the most publicized Christians in Asia. He founded Providence Church which quickly became one of the fastest growing churches of the 20th century. The church has grown fastest in Korea (known as Sumni Church) and in Japan (known as Setsuri church). The church has grown to 50 nations and continues to spread through the world.

But in May 2007 while evangelizing in China [where Christianity is illegal] he was arrested and thrown into prison. While he was suffering the inhumane conditions of the Chinese prison, accusations against him spread throughout public broadcasts. The church was labeled a cult in Japan, Korea, and Taiwan and members of the church all over the world began experiencing extreme persecution from friends, family, and each by their own nation.

After a year of imprisonment and interrogations China found him innocent of all charges and released him. Before his release he was asked if he would like to stay in China or face charges in Korea. He chose to go to trial, but his trial was far from fair. To hear first hand accounts of the trial and the final decision read the full article,

Christians on Trial: Pastor Joshua Jeong Myung Seok

Persecution takes many forms. Some forms of persecution are new, but in reality we are still walking the same painful path Jesus told us we would have to endure 2,000 years ago. Jesus Christ himself preached the gospel to a believing nation, and was judged as guilty and given capital punishment even though he never broke any laws.

In a day and age where broadcasts dictate the public perception, a person is deemed guilty long before any court ever rules. In this article Providence church addresses the false accusations and reveals what is really taught by laying out all the facts and letting you read the sermons preached from the pulpits for yourself.

This article will address the false impressions that have dominated the public perception. To learn more read the full article…

Providence Church Responds to the Question of Cults

The following is a news article titled, “Why is JMS’ President Jung Myung Seok carrying the cross?” by a monthly magazine in Korea called, Civil Government.

President Jung Myung Seok, founder of Christian Gospel Mission (CGM), is currently in prison. His ten-year sentence was the decision of the Supreme Court which upheld the decision of the lower court.

Now there are voices that Mr. Jung’s trial was unfair and should be retried.

A monthly magazine, Civil Government, published an article in its February issue, under the title, “Why is JMS (CGM)’s President Jung Myung Seok carrying the cross?” and listed the problems of his trials, item by item.

The reporter, Cha Jin Soo, is an active journalist who has been following this case for the past eleven years and has been frequenting police stations since 1995.Cha reports the following…

Read the Full Article…
JMS in the News: Full Report Reveals All