The story of my life 7: "The persecutions"

When our family members knew that we were going to the Universal Church a great persecution rose against us. I remember well that my uncles, my mother's brothers, went to our home and said a lot of things so that she would not go to church. Being part of a very religious family and full of traditions, it was a lack of respect for someone to reject the teachings received from parents and grandparents, and to start practicing something completely different. It was a real betrayal!

In fact, what they could not see was the spiritual ignorance in which they lived. But how could us make them understand it? Religion does this to people, they become slaves of manners, imprisoned to their ancestral’s teachings that have no biblical basis, but for them is everything. The teachings create roots in them, so they won’t let themselves evaluate the origin or the foundation of what they have learned. That's it and period! There is no room for questioning. As a teenager I was just listening; I did not interfere but my mother stood firm in her choice. She had the patience to answer them according to the Word of God, in what was being confronted, although without success. They did not even try to understand, they always repeated the same things!

They all stood against my mom! How could she deny everything her parents taught her? Deny the religion of the family and abandon all traditions? This was an absurd! So they thought.

That’s why whoever accepts the Lord Jesus in this life will certainly be persecuted and even slandered because the world does not accept the Truth. The world is concerned with appearances, not with knowing the truth of the Gospel. If only they read the Bible, I thought!!!

To further strengthen their position, my uncles made the news reach a third brother; an uncle of mine who lives in Brazil. My uncle called my mother to “open her eyes”. He said that the church in Brazil was not liked (at the time) and that she would have to leave the Universal Church urgently. They did everything to “keep” the customs of the family and according to them they did not have a heretic sister. I believe they thought that “together they can do more.”  Like if they get united against it, then you will give up that idea. Of course this never happened and they were the ones who gave up persecuting her. My father did not like the church much either, but he never prohibited us to attend it.

My friend if you are suffering a persecution because of your faith, whether it is at home, at school, or at work, stand firm with the Lord Jesus. Do not argue with people. Just give a good testimony and pray for them. Be strong and do not let persecution separate you from the presence of God.

Have any of you ever been or are being persecuted?

In the next post I will tell you what happened to Joaquim. We were still dating, but he still wasn’t going to church.

Read the previous postshere!