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whatever affliction that New Creature undergoes becauseof following the Lord, is suffering as a Christian; andwhatever our experiences in suffering may be, theseare not necessarily the portion of the sons of God, for theangels do not suffer; but He permits the Church to havethem in order to develop and crystallize character. Ifwe rejoice that we are found worthy to share in the sufferingsof the present time, every trial will be turned toadvantage as a part of our Christian experience. "Theyare not of the world." (John 17:16.) Therefore all ofour experiences must be regarded as Christian, for correctionin righteousness and for educational purposes.But this is taking a broader, deeper view than ordinary.Certainly a Christian is not to be ashamed of whathe may suffer because of his loyalty to the Lord, to theTruth and to the brethren. In these sufferings he is toglorify God and to be thankful for them. He is to beglad for the opportunity of enduring something, to shownot only the Lord, but himself also that he has enduredsomething for Christ's sake. Every sacrifice that wemake is for the purpose of suffering as a Christian, andwe are not to be ashamed so to suffer.--I Peter 4:16.SUFFERING FOR CONSCIENCE NOT ALWAYS SUFFERINGFOR CHRISTThere are others who suffer more or less as Christianssuffer, but they are suffering from a worldly standpoint.People sometimes say, "This worldly man has his trialsand sufferings, and shows such patience, such resignation,that surely he is suffering as a Christian." But we do notR5118 : page 325understand that anyone can suffer as a Christian unlesshe takes the steps necessary to make him a Christian.We are to view matters from God's standpoint. Doubtlessmany have suffered as Christians from a human viewpointwho were not Christians. In the Dark Ages many wereput to death for the sake of principle. In our own daythere are people who give no evidence of being Christians,but who would rather die than have the Bible taken outof the public schools. Although they do not understandthe Bible, yet if these were times of persecution, manywould die at the stake in order to keep the Bible in thepublic schools.We cannot always tell whether suffering is for Christ'ssake. But where people have suffered for conscience'sake, they have thus cultivated character, and will get ablessing in the next Age for that suffering. At presentthere is only the one door into membership in the Bodyof Christ--obedience even unto death. Suffering withChrist, as we have seen, is not the ordinary sufferingcommon to all in the fallen state, but only such experiencesas are the result, more directly, of following Christ'sexample in advocating unpopular truths and in exposing