5. How might governmental action threaten a Christian’s economic security?

⁵ At times, on account of governmental bans, true Christians may be faced with forcible loss of employment. The governmental authority may demand unqualified allegiance and support of the political party in power. In effect, it may demand that the state be idolized. That there would be such developments in the world is shown at Revelation 13:16, 17, where we read regarding the “wild beast,” or the world’s political system, that all people would be put under compulsion, “the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free and the slaves, that they should give these a mark in their right hand or upon their forehead, and that nobody might be able to buy or sell except a person having the mark, the name of the wild beast or the number of its name.”

Should ban or persecution put a Christian’s livelihood in jeopardy, he would still lose out on life were he to compromise. He might get temporary relief from an extreme situation. But he could lose his title to life and go into everlasting destruction. Were he to perish at the time divine judgment is executed or should he die before then as one disloyal to God and Christ, he would forfeit the prospect of a resurrection from the dead, with eternal life in view. On the other hand, the person who dies as an integrity-keeper is assured of a resurrection from the dead. No man can stop God from restoring that individual to life. Regardless of how severe things may appear to be, the hand of Jehovah is not cut short. His record as a Provider for his people guarantees that.