Post 13: Persecution from a neighbor
Image: Graphic drawing of one person yelling at another person
Summary: This post, continued from Post 8: A Neighbor in Need, discusses an instance of Christian persecution that came from my neighbor to whom I had previously witnessed about Christ.
Despite the recent job termination in July 2024, the Lord had provided resource to live on. From that resource, I was still offering light financial support to my neighbor whenever he presented a need. I was also still sacrificing personal time to help him with various issues around his apartment, as he was still going through some health issues.
In our chats, I would occasionally bring up our need for reconciling our relationship to God through our salvation and forgiveness provided for in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God (Isaiah 59:2, Corinthians 5:18-19, Colossians 1:20). My neighbor would claim that he had a relationship with God, but sometimes would say that the Most High goes by many names and that we don't need to cosign or ascribe to a specific name for God. He would also say that you don't have to read the bible to have a relationship with God.
Sometimes he would bring up various scriptures out of context, in a seemingly manipulative or arrogant way, to get what he wanted out of me or to make himself seem wise. In a couple of instances, he made wild claims about the bible, saying that it advocated for this or that, and would boast about all of the knowledge of the bible he has. Whenever I would challenge him to show me scriptures in the bible to support his claims, he could not do it.
Occasionally, I would suggest that we read the bible together so we could read about some of the things he was saying that the bible supported. He declined that every time and would sometimes say that he didn't like that I would keep bringing up reading the bible. Whenever he brought up the bible, it was only to make an unsupported claim, try and twist scripture for his own purpose, or claim that the bible's main purpose is predominantly teaching us how to live a moral life.
He is a very prideful person in general, and often said he doesn't need forgiveness (Proverbs 16:18, Isaiah 2:11, 1 John 1:8). He seemed to be under the impression that he can claim a life lived for God without requiring any change of mind about his rejection of Christ and sinful nature. His conversations almost always reverted back to him talking about himself. He stayed on his pride high-horse as he typically did when discussing God/Jesus and would not acknowledge that he is even sinful, only admitting that he has had problems and issues. On one occasion, he even said to me “ How can I, who is so much younger than him, not accept the wisdom he tries to provide to me?” (1 Corinthians 1:19)
He also said that he believes God has something for him in this life because of all the trauma he has survived. I mentioned that perhaps all of the pain, abuse, and trauma in his life was God trying to get his attention, to humble himself, and to repent and turn to Jesus for salvation. I kept my focus on pointing him towards Jesus, however he would be dismissive, shut down the conversation when I redirected to bringing up salvation, or express that he did not want to talk about Jesus.
Our friendship devolved from having conversations initially to him simply asking me for money almost weekly for several months. I continued to help a little bit, while constantly reminding him that my reason for being in his life was not financial, but that I believed God orchestrated our meeting and getting to know each other so that I could be a witness of Christ. Sometimes when I would decline giving him money, he would throw in my face that I previously said that I wanted to help him but by denying him, I'm going against my word to help him. This was crazy because I had never once made a promise to help him, almost like he thinks he deserves my help and that because I agreed to help him early on I was agreeing to help him forever. His reaction here was showing me how entitled he is and was yet another red flag to add to the growing pile of red flags.
At least 3 times to date, he has gone through this cycle of being friendly, then cursing me out when I don't give him what he wants and/or when I challenge him to look to God and not man. He has cursed me out over text message, and in person, calling me several ungodly names, which include Jesus Freak, Bigot, hypocrite, among others. In those occasions, he ends his tantrums by saying he no longer wants anything to do with me, that he'll forget my number, and telling me not to bother trying to contact him anymore. Then, I'll run into him again a couple times afterward in the neighborhood and he'll will go back to trying to have conversations with me and asking for money like he didn't previously curse me out.
Sometime after the 3rd telling off, this thought randomly came into my head to look back over our old conversations. As I did this, I came to the realization that our entire friendship was about him and his needs. He never once showed an ounce of concern for my well being, and only seemed to engage me when he's asking for money, or wants me to do something for him. There was a clear pattern of a one-sided friendship, and showed me how truly self-centered he is.
I later confronted him about my thoughts based on what I considered to be solid evidence in our text conversations. I said that I would no longer offer financial support since I felt he was taking advantage of that kindness. He, of course, denied that he was taking advantage, but then seemed to get upset with me sometimes when I would not give him money. In these instances, I would continue to offer help in non-monetary ways but rebuke the poor behavior, however he would persist in his tantrums and shut down any further communication with me.
After constant praying about him and giving this situation over to the Lord, I believe God has shown me that my neighbor is not really the follower of God of the Bible that he claims to be! He claims a relationship with God and frequently tries to counsel me about various things, but leads a lifestyle of wickedness. He is prideful, manipulative, and arrogant. God warns us not to listen to such people (Psalm 1:1), and has shown me that he is a mocker and scoffer (Proverbs 9:7-8).
Despite my neighbors behavior, I continue to show him the Christian love Christ commands of His followers (Matthew 5:44). My prayer is that the Holy Spirit convicts my neighbor of his unbelief and rejection of our Lord Jesus Christ, and leads him into salvation (Acts 4:12)! Stay tuned for the next post where I discuss another instance of Gospel persecution from someone who was once a childhood best friend.