Persecution Before The Rapture

Q. RE: The reference to Matt. 24:6-7 in your Seven Major Signs article, “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.” is happening more and more as Christians have become very unpopular worldwide. Do you think we will experience persecution (bodily harm) and death in the Americas as is true in China, Korea, India, etc. before the Rapture? A number of prophecy people think we should prepare for serious suffering and death by beheading. Would you please tell your thoughts about persecution as a human activity compared to wrath as God’s activity?

A. Concerning Christian persecution, I believe the enemy only bothers with the Church where it’s vibrant and growing.  Since that’s no longer the case in the West I don’t expect there’ll be the kind of persecution here that we hear about in the Far East before the Rapture.  In short I don’t think Satan feels like we’re worth that much effort. However I do believe we’ll pretty much be divested of  our worldly wealth because that’s our biggest stumbling block to faith.

The reference to beheading is from Rev. 20:4 and applies primarily to Tribulation martyrs, although there are cases of beheading being reported in places like Indonesia today where militant Islam is a major religious force.   Warnings of such a thing happening in the Western Church come mostly from folks who hold the post-trib rapture view.