My wife and I went to the funeral of a good friend and Pastor: John Muncy, a man who never wavered in his convictions and faith in Jesus Christ, this cost him a very lucrative career as a high profile preacher, but John was unwavering in his loyalty to the Truth of God’s word. And in honor of his memory I post here one of his last articles:
Too many weak and wimpy Christians have left a testimony of a lack of faithful love to Christ. Where are the ones who are not afraid to stand for Christ?
All they have to do today is threaten your job or the tax deduction status for your church and most will buckle under the “pressure”.
Thank God, Christians have not always been so spineless. Polycarp was a leader in the early church. He was a disciple of the apostle John. History records that he was a bold witness for Christ and would not bow under the pagan power of Rome.
The early church was hated by the society and the government of the Roman Empire for their determined refusal to sacrifice to the various gods. The Empire would force their beliefs on everyone, demanding that the Christians sacrifice to one of their idols — which meant denying their faith — or they would be killed. Many lives of Christians and many of the apostles died because of this persecution.
In 160 AD, Polycarp was brought before the Roman Proconsul and was told to obey the Roman form of worship or die. The Proconsul tried to persuade him to take the oath “Caesar is Lord” and throw a small amount of salt on a pagan altar as a form of sacrifice.
“86 years have I have served Him, and He has done me no wrong. How can I blaspheme my King and my Savior?”
This was the bold reply and confession of Polycarp as he was being threatened to be thrown to lions or burned at the stake.
“I have wild animals here,” the Proconsul said. “I will throw you to them if you do not repent.”
“Call them,” Polycarp replied. “It is unthinkable for me to repent from what is good to turn to what is evil. I will be glad though to be changed from evil to righteousness.”
“If you despise the animals, I will have you burned.”
“You threaten me with fire which burns for an hour, and is then extinguished, but you know nothing of the fire of the coming judgment and eternal punishment, reserved for the ungodly. Why are you waiting? Bring on whatever you want.”
Eyewitness accounts claim that after being tied to a stake, a fire was started. But the fire formed around him and would not burn him. Eventually, when his persecutors saw that his body could not be consumed by the fire, they commanded an executioner to pierce him with a dagger. When he did this, such a great amount of blood flowed from Polycarp that the fire was extinguished.
Polycarp died, but left a faithful witness! Will YOU and I do the same? God helps us to be fully committed to our Lord!
Sadly, most Christians can’t give up their entertainment (their nasty TV shows, movies and godless music) – much less – give up their LIVES! We need to examine our level of commitment to Christ! and make some sacrifices! I hate to think of the level of superficiality that has become commonplace in Americanized Christians. In most cases, it appears that modern Christians no little to nothing of what it really means to follow Jesus.
This following passage is the MOST AVOIDED words of Jesus in the Bible…
Luke 14:26
If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
Our love for Christ must be so strong, that it makes our love for our family and ourselves appear to be HATRED!
Do Christians today even believe THAT statement from our Lord anymore? Notice, unless you hate everything else (in comparison to your love to the Lord), you CANNOT be my disciple. Wow! I wonder how many would follow Christ if we started preaching that kind of commitment? The original church preached that message and Polycarp believed it!!!!!
THINK ABOUT IT! – John Muncy
True Discernment 
Reblogged this on 1 Way 2 Yahweh.