Spiritual Warfare & Suffering in the West

John MacArthur - “It is difficult for Christians in most of the Western world to understand what serious spiritual warfare and suffering for Christ mean. The secular environment in our society is becoming more and more hostile to Christianity and to religion in general. But we are not faced with loss of job, imprisonment, and execution because of our faith. With few exceptions, being a Christian will not keep a student out of college or a worker from getting a good job. But the more faithful a Christian becomes and the more the Lord blesses his work, the more Satan will put roadblocks, hardships, and rejection in the way, the more evident the spiritual warfare will become, and the more frequent and obvious the hardship will become." Chrysostom wrote that "It behooves thee not to complain if thou endure hardness; but to complain if thou dost not endure hardness.” (MacArthur, J. 2 Timothy. Chicago: Moody Press)