Here are some of the sufferings St. Paul endured:
2 Corinthians 11:23-28,
“… in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness— besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches.”
Why did these things happen to Paul? It is because he proclaimed Jesus Christ, and he rejected all other gods as false. Who punished Paul with beatings, and who tried to kill him? The same men who had Christ executed: religious men, leaders of the churches.
Behold some of the sufferings other saints endured in the Bible:
Hebrews 11:35-38,
“Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented— of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth.”
This is the earthly lot of all true and uncompromising Christians. We are against the world, and the ways of the world are against us. Christ said, “If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world … therefore the world hates you.” There is no such thing as a glamorous Christian life. Those who think there is such a thing ought to read Foxe’s Book of Martyrs. Today, in 21st century America, the false gods our culture worships are: insanity, irrationality, the imagination, humanism, evolutionary theory, Freudian psychoanalysis, Jungian psychology, suicide, death, art, beauty, dreams, fantasy, fiction, lies, acting, facades, movies, horror, shock, thrill, adventure, excitement, action, emotional highs, feelings, melancholy, the sense of awe, pleasure, morbidity, bloodshed, violence, gore, escapism, dictators, etc. We are not only a suicidal society; we are going to keep it that way. Proud America nurtures, protects, and defends its beloved suicidal tendencies. Is it any wonder that we are left with nightmares and unendurable memories after the things we put ourselves through, and the mental intake we choose? We’re living in a lazy, filthy, stupid, stubborn world.
2 Timothy 3:1-4,
“But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves … boasters, proud, blasphemers … unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good … headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God …”
Notice how the Bible assigns personal responsibility to people, and does not excuse them. People are what they want to be. People are what they love to be.
2 Timothy 4:3-4,
“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.”
Men who mishandle the Bible, watering it down so bits and pieces of it are palatable — such as Joel Osteen — are precisely what our feel-good society feens for.
I will close with an excerpt from my recent book, The Responsibility of Jeffrey Dahmer:
“The Bible convicts all human beings of sin. It excuses nobody. It makes a mockery of the self-esteem movement, and exposes every person as hypocritical. It lays humanity low in order that it might drive a few humble souls toward salvation.”
The Responsibility of Jeffrey Dahmer is available here, and is deliberately and conveniently priced at $5.38 + shipping: