"If anyone wished to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross, and follow Me."

- Mark 8:34

Since the election this month, I have read more and more about America becoming dominated by socialism, ignoring the lessons so tragically exemplified by Russia’s “Marxist” experiment. In the 2016 election, all of my Russian evangelical friends were pulling for our current president, believing the other candidate would lead us into a socialistic demise. They know firsthand what it is like, as a believer, to be the enemy of the state and a false church and to be persecuted by both. Could this happen in America? With the secular culture, and the church built around entertainment, would anyone be prepared? Are you prepared? Do you, by faith, have full assurance of your salvation, and can you say with the Apostle Paul, “I know whom I have believed?” Or, with Job in the midst of intense suffering, “I know my Redeemer lives?” Are you convinced, by the Spirit and the Word, that neither tribulation, distress, persecution or peril will be able to separate you from the love of Christ? Do you have full assurance by faith, that as Christ conquered rejection, hatred, suffering and death, you, too, will overwhelmingly conquer through Him? Be prepared to carry your cross and in doing so, be encouraged!

Scripture References: Mark 8:34; Selected Scripture