"What will you do if there is a direct persecution of the Christian church? Are you ready to confess to death?" I can't recount the number of times I have been asked this question in my life and perhaps countless times more I have queried myself with it. Will I stand fast and confess when the church's enemies begin to confiscate her property, constrain by hate speech codes her preaching, fine or jail her leaders. How will I reply when jackbooted tolerationism tries to silence the divine truth? I pray for the strength to be faithful unto death, that I might win the crown of life (Rev 2:10). In so far as it depends on me, I don't know how I will reply when called to account for the hope that is in me. I am not so full of myself to say that I know the answer to this question in advance.

When interviewed before a game, a football coach will often testify that his team had a "great week of practice," as though that guarantees a positive outcome in the game. But more than one fan has been disappointed after this positive prognostication on the part of a coach. The game day sometimes puts the lie to all preparations. The team that did not practice well sometimes emerges victorious, driven on by a desire to triumph and the roar of the crowd. Preparation is important, but it is not everything. In fact, our God promises to be with us when we are called to confess our hope. Insofar as it depends on Him, by the power of His Holy Spirit, I have no doubt that I shall confess faithfully. He promises to be with His people in the moment of truth. He has proven Himself constantly ready on that day. Thus it was at Cyprian's time that the Carthaginian church confess that the suffering and death of Christ paid for all sins, even though property was confiscated, torture applied, and judicial murders worked. Cyprian himself, while eluding an earlier persecution, confessed to death in 258 A.D.

Only when a storm comes do we know how well the house is founded. Only in the clutch does the wrestler know if he has the strength and skill to overcome his opponent. This is why we welcome the challenge of our faith. This is why we approach the battlefield when our enemy demands that we enter the contest against all his earthly power. With fear? Yes. With passionate prayer? Yes. With agony? Yes. With confidence that Christ Himself so prepared for His suffering in just this way in the garden, which He remade with great drops of blood (Lk 22:44). Yes. With the trust that He who has suffered will be with us in our agony (Heb 2:14-15). Yes.

"Abraham pleased God, who, so that he might please God (Rm 4:3) did not shrink even from losing his son, or from doing an act of parricide (Gn 22:1-18). You, who cannot endure to lose your son by the law and lot of mortality, what would you do if you were asked to slay your son? The fear and faith of God ought to make you prepared for everything, even if it should be the loss of private property, the constant and cruel harassment of your limbs by agonizing disorders, the deadly and mournful wrench from wife, from children, from departing dear ones. Let not these things be offenses to you, but battles. Do not let them weaken nor break the Christian's faith, but rather show forth his strength in the struggle, since all the injury inflicted by present troubles is to be despised in the assurance of future blessings.

Cyprian, On Mortality, 12