Wake Up Part I
Can't turn a hoe into a housewife...
The North American church is so afraid of persecution that we often see threats where none exist, while missing the far greater danger already in front of us.
We talk as if hostility, legislation, or public opposition will be the greatest test of our faith. We imagine a dramatic future moment when we will be forced to choose between allegiance to Christ and allegiance to the state.
But the book of Revelation does not primarily warn the church about persecution. It warns about comfort and seduction. That distinction matters.
Persecution clarifies allegiance. Comfort and seduction confuse it.
Satan understands this. His primary weapon has never been force; it has been confusion [Gen. 3]. And, he is a student of history. He knows what happens when the church is persecuted. Jesus was crucified. Stephen was stoned. Peter, Paul, and Andrew all suffered and died. And the church exploded across the world.
Tertullian said it plainly: "The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church." History keeps proving him right.
After the communist revolution in 1949, Mao Zedong expelled missionaries, imprisoned pastors, and attempted to eradicate Christianity from China. Many assumed the church would vanish. Instead, it multiplied.
In 1949, there were roughly 1–2 million Christians in China. Today, there are an estimated 80–100 million Christians, many of whom meet in underground house churches. No buildings, programs, or cultural approval, just men and women dependent on the essentials: Scripture, prayer, and discipleship.
The same pattern appears in Iran. Since the 1979 Islamic revolution, conversion from Islam to Christianity is dangerous and often illegal. Yet many researchers now say Iran has the world’s fastest-growing church. Iranians are converting from Islam to Christianity in droves, through dreams, visions, and underground discipleship.
Pressure did not extinguish the faith. It intensified it.
North Korea is considered the most dangerous place on earth to follow Jesus. Owning a Bible can mean imprisonment or death. Yet believers still gather secretly—sometimes whispering Scripture or memorizing entire books of the Bible so the Word cannot be confiscated. One account tells of Korean men and women gathering, at night, deep in the forest to share the Word and memorize Scripture. If they cannot have it in their homes, they hide it in their hearts.
Across the world, the pattern repeats. Persecuted churches are often the fastest-growing churches. Why? Because persecution does three things:
It clarifies allegiance. Cultural Christians disappear; real disciples remain.
It purifies the church. Comfort and compromise burn away.
It amplifies the witness. Courage makes the gospel believable.
And Satan KNOWS this. Which is why he prefers comfort and seduction over persecution. Persecution draws sharp lines and makes Christians bold. Comfort and seduction blur the lines and make Christians sleepy.
And a sleepy church is far easier to conquer than a persecuted one. Most Christians do not abandon Jesus because they are threatened. They drift from Him because they are comfortable.
When John writes Revelation, he is not addressing fringe radicals. He is writing to ordinary churches living inside the massive cultural machine of the Roman Empire. Rome was not just a government. It was an entire system shaping what people desired, valued, and worshiped.
John calls that system Babylon.
Babylon is more than a city. It is a worldview built on power, pleasure, and prosperity apart from God. And John pushes the imagery even further. In Revelation 17–18, Babylon is personified not as an army, but as a whore. She is clothed in purple and scarlet, glittering with gold and jewels, holding a golden cup filled with corruption. The kings of the earth commit adultery with her. The merchants grow rich from her luxury.
This is not the imagery of persecution. It is the imagery of seduction.
Babylon does not conquer the church primarily by force. She lures it with prosperity, numbs it with comfort, and dulls its spiritual senses with endless appetite. The danger is not simply that the church will be crushed by Babylon. It is that we will sleep with her. Which is why Revelation’s most urgent command is not "Prepare for persecution." It is this: "Come out of her, my people" [Rev. 18:4].
Notice the language. John does not say, 'Fight Babylon.' He says, 'Come out.'
The greatest act of resistance is not political rebellion but spiritual separation—refusing to let Babylon shape what we love, desire, and worship. The real battle in Revelation is not about empires. It is about allegiance. The question is not, "Will we survive persecution?" The question is: "Who has your love?"
Babylon cannot be escaped by relocation. It is only defeated by a church whose first love is Christ, whose allegiance is clear, and whose eyes are open to every subtle compromise. The call is not to safety, but to faithfulness.
May we have the courage to wake up, come out, and bear faithful witness, no matter the cost. Where do we start? We start with the men.
How do we start? More on that coming soon. Until then, wake up. And be careful who you let in your bed.
For the King,
— Harp
Brothers, I will be at the Noble Warriors Conference at Grove Church [8701 Ridge Rd, Richmond, VA 23229] on Saturday, March 21, 2026. I’d love to see you there!
Terrific message! Comfort is so alluring and deceitful. Thanks for the reminder!
Amen! Thanks Harp