Kingdom People, Kingdom Prep: How does Union with Christ Become the 'Worldview that Survives Anti-Christian Hostility?'
Josef Ton is a Baptist Romanian pastor who suffered for his faith under the Soviet Union’s control of Eastern Europe in the twentieth century (yes, he is still with us and still teaching). Pastor Ton was among the few able to escape the Marxist system that was functionally hostile toward the transformation that Biblical Christianity could bring to individuals and to society.
As he reflected on his time under that system, he published an enormous, twenty-year-long, living research project - Suffering, Martyrdom, and Rewards in Heaven. Published in 2002, this voluminous work gives the insights he drew from Scripture into Christian Endurance under anti-Christian hostility.
It’s a big work, and some of his ideas will challenge you, but it’s worth adding to your library of Christian Endurance Studies.
As part of our Kingdom Prep series, I’m going to unpack his view that a robust understanding of our Union with Christ is essential to surviving anti-Christian hostility, whether that hostility is familial, relational, cultural, or systemic.
For now, though, here are 4 four key takeaways from Pastor Ton’s epic work:
Martyrdom is a divinely appointed means of witnessing to Christ’s truth.
Love, truth, and self-sacrifice are the weapons for spiritual warfare.
Christians are called to live without fear because of their union with Christ.
Death, pain, rejection, isolation, marginalization… none of these things hold power over those who are in Christ; they are merely a passage to glory.
Union with Christ satisfies all angles of identity that false narratives pretend to fulfill.
Ton’s reflections on living in union with Christ in dangerous times challenge believers to adopt a worldview shaped by the sovereignty of God, the power of transformative love, and the understanding that physical death is merely a doorway to eternal life. Tson’s life and theology demonstrate that even in the face of persecution, Christians can live boldly, knowing they are secure in Christ and called to bear witness through suffering.
After this brief introduction, we’ll break down what the redemptive benefits of union with Christ looks like in every day life, in discipleship on the ground. If you want to share this study on union with Christ and share how it uniquely informs Christian endurance under challenging times, be sure to like, follow, subscribe, and pass this on.
Take up and read, the time is now.