And Saul approved of their killing him.

On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. Acts 8:1

Even though the early Church was very young, it faced great persecution. It’s a curious phrase “all except the apostles were scattered.” Why didn’t the apostles scatter? Evidently they still had a lot of work to do in Jerusalem since that is where it all began. I also suspect they were clearly told not to go anywhere, else why would they stay? The normal reaction would have been to flee.

It’s clear, though, that the Church has been dealing with persecution from its very beginnings. Persecution is not going away even in our modern age. The perpetrators and victims have all changed, but the reasons have not: to destroy the Church and to minimize its influence on the culture.

As sure as the sun rises tomorrow morning, it’s a given that if the Church is changing culture, there will be pushback and confrontation. In more civil societies, physical persecution is at a minimum.

The persecuted church worldwide continues to thrive despite severe physical and psychological stress (i.e., having to watch someone being tortured is a form of psychological persecution).

Continue to uplift the Persecuted church as they try to gain perspective and strength from what they have to endure.