Persecution vs. Prosecution (where is the line as a believer?)

About six years ago, my husband and I heard a very good teaching on Matthew 5:10-12

¹¹ Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. ¹² Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

The teacher said, “if you are not being persecuted, then maybe you are not actually living for Christ.”  The pastor had no idea how hard his message hit Jeremy and I.  It was that day that we decided to leave that church, and openly keep Sabbath.  We, as a family, had slowly over time through reading and studying God’s Word realized that the common church”holy days”  and the Biblical “holy days”  were not the same.  We had stopped keeping the Catholic holidays, and begun keeping the Biblical holidays.  But, quietly.  We had not been able to find a church that met on Saturday that we felt comfortable worshipping with, so we had decided to just keep Sabbath set apart at home, and still go to Sunday worship at a church for fellowship and encouragement in the faith.  We knew that Sunday was NOT the Sabbath, and we knew that it was established by the Catholic church, and rooted in Babylonism.  But, we also knew that every day is a good day to worship God.

But, the day we heard this pastor teach on persecution we realized we were not really living set apart.  We were quietly applying what we had learned from Scripture to our own lives, and not wanting to upset others with our beliefs.  The pastor said, ‘if you are not feeling persecution then maybe you need to pray and ask God to show you where you might need to make some changes.”  My children also were moved by this teaching, and they went home and began praying that they would choose righteousness no matter the cost, and that persecution for Christ sake would be a part of their lives.

In the last six years, we have been persecuted over and over again.  Sometimes by family, sometimes by friends.  Most of the time by the system.  We know that we are radical.  For many years, I worked with and advocated for vaccine choice, and medical freedom.  I have also, worked very hard for parental rights, and homeschool freedom.  These are causes I believe are worth fighting for.  I have been asked to write a book more than once about these issues, as I have grown up, and have a lot of personal experience in the area of family court, foster care, adoption, special needs, and vaccine injury.  I have chosen not to make these issues my number one priority in life, but to quietly stand up for my freedoms, and I have paid heavily for standing against the system at times.  But , this is not the type of persecution I want to be known for.

You see I have very, very strong opinions about science, diseases, medicine, vaccines, public schools, parental rights, and so on.  My opinions are not niave or uninformed.  I have spent years studying and learning, I have a life time of personal experience in these areas.  But, THIS IS NOT the cause I want to die for.

I want to be free, and I am grateful to be born in America, where for now I do have the choice to make decisions for my health and my children’s health.  I am grateful that it is still a right that I have to choose to educate my children the way I see best.  I am well aware that these freedoms are slowly and methodically being taken from me and my children, and I will continue to work and fight for those freedoms, as long as the American system allows me to fight for them.  I fight for them by reaching out to my representatives, and by working with others to make sure bills and laws continue to afford us these freedoms.  I fight within the system, not outside of it.   If my toilet gets clogged up and I need a plumber, I don’t stand outside the bathroom with signs protesting that my toilet is broken and won’t flush.  No, I call in a plumber, and he goes in and gets into the messy situation, and works at resolving the issue from within the plumbing system of my house.  He is an expert and knows where to cut pipes, if needed.  He knows how to repair the problem, and he also knows when a pipe needs replaced.  He knows if the system needs pumped out completely.  I call the expert, and he knows how to work within the system to fix the problem.  My house has old pipes and some new pipes, and slowly the old have to all be replaced, because it continues to have reoccuring issues.  But, for now my toilet flushes and my drains work.  This is how we repair, and fix the problems in the system.  We get experts to teach us, to help us, to work with us, to explain to us what can be cut off, and what can remain.  We can’t just shout at the bathroom door, nothing will change that way.

Opps, I digress again.

Back to persecution.

I am the type of person that when I learn a truth, I want to share that truth with everyone.  For example, I recently read a medical journal article from a Eurpopean doctor about this current pandemic, and that they have proof that this virus has been around for a lot longer than originally believed, and that they believe it is actually passed through feces.  When I read the article, I wanted to share it with everyone I know.  But, I didn’t because it is controversal, and I realize that it is.  Another example, of  truth, I want to shout to people, is that aborted fetus tissue is in vaccines, and that the DNA of those babies actually alters our DNA when we get those vaccines.  Another truth, I want to shout out to people is there is NO such thing as a vaccine for a coronavirus, and never will be.  These are truths I have studied out, and I have looked at the science, and I understand the science, but I am not going to die on this hill.  These are NOT the truths I want to be persecuted for, because you see there is a bigger issue at hand.

I want to be known for, live or die, my love for my God and His people.  There is NOTHING more important to me than that.  I want to have my life story be all about loving Yehovah with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength.  I want my testimony to bring Glory to Him every day.

There are many things in this world that upset me, and anger me, because they are NOT Godly.  But, I can not, and do not expect the people of the world to understand the Ways of God.  I can not expect them to desire to live righteously, because they do not know righteousness, and many do not want righteousness.  My battle is not against these people, my fight is not with them.

IN fact, my fight is for the lost.  I want to live set apart as a light in a dark world, so that others will see that there is hope.  I want to obey my God and walk in His Ways, so that the poor in spirit will see and desire the fruit of the Spirit.

Recently, I made a promise to my husband, that I would do whatever I could to stay out of jail until all our children are adults.  You see, I really do feel strongly about standing up for what I believe in.  I am willing to suffer for the truth to get out to the lost.

I have asked myself several times what is worth persecution, and possibly prosecution.  What are the causes I am willing to champion?

I have decided I will be like Daniel, and his companions in Babylon.  I will never stop praying to Yehovah.  I will never bown down to a false god, or idol.  I will not compromise those commands of God that are clearly laid out in scripture.  I am so grateful for a clear outline in our Bibles.  Daniel and his companions did not have all the scriptures we have written out. Paul and Peter had the Torah and Prophets written out for them, and yet they died for declaring the Truth.  I am willing to declare the truth of God’s Word, and to stand firm in it.

This is my cause, this is what I am willing to be persecuted for.  I will put on the full armor of Yehovah each day, and stand firm in His Truth, and I will not waiver no matter that cost.  I hope and pray that His testimony will be seen in me, and even one will be found in Him.

Written by Katie

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