With the changing times, believers need to prepare themselves for false accusations.

It is becoming a common occurrence in India. Hindu extremists recently assaulted a church pastor in Solapur, Maharashtra, India, Open Doors reports.

They entered his church during a service and accused the pastor of forcing the members of his church to drink blood. They were of course having communion at the time.

Similar accusations were made against the early church. Christians were accused of cannibalism, because they ate the Lord’s body, during communion. This was quickly refuted by simply showing people that it was bread.

The pastor in India did the same thing. But after he showed the extremists that people were drinking grape juice, they then falsely accused him of forcing the women of his church to drink ‘addictive’ wine.

The members of the Hindutva nationalists then seized the grape juice and assaulted the pastor.

Online things took a bizarre turn. The same pastor was accused of forcing the women of his church to drink wine. The poster went on to suggest that once the women were intoxicated, the pastor took advantage of them.

Open Doors reports that “Hindu extremists distort and fabricate claims to fit their agenda and incite fear and hostility against Christians.”

Hindu extremists have been putting pressure on state governments to pass legislation to prevent religious conversions through inducements or force. So far 11 states have passed such laws.

They then take advantage of this legislation by bringing false accusations against Christian churches. Open Doors added that the disruption of services is becoming a common practice.

Unfortunately, false accusations have been the hallmark of many of the attacks launched against the early church.

In Philippi, a Roman mob dragged Paul and Silas before the magistrates and falsely accused them of “advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice” (Acts 16:20-21). This was in response to the duo casting a spirit of divination out of a slave girl depriving her owners of income.

The Jews falsely accused Paul of desecrating the temple by bringing in a gentile (Acts 21:28-29). Paul was taking the Gospel to the gentiles and was in constant fellowship with them. Some had joined him in his visit to Jerusalem, but had not entered the Temple.

Later, Paul was accused of being a troublemaker (Acts 24:5) by the very people who were causing the riots.

Christians were falsely blamed after a fire destroyed much of Rome in 64 AD. When people accused Rome’s emperor, Nero, of purposefully setting the blaze, he deflected the blame onto Christians.

It was during the resulting persecution that the Apostle Paul was martyred.

Roman historian, Tacitus, stated that Nero sent Christians to the arenas to be ripped apart by animals and used their bodies as torches to light his garden.

Early Christian apologist, Tertullian (155 to 220 AD), wrote, “If the Tiber reaches the walls, if the Nile does not rise to the fields, if the sky doesn’t move or the earth does, if there is famine, if there is plague, the cry is at once: ‘The Christians to the lion’.”

Even in America, Christians are facing similar questionable accusations.

In 2023, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) under then President Joe Biden fined and sued Grand Canyon University (GCU) for deceiving students about its programming costs and illegal telemarketing calls.

GCU, which is based in the Phoenix, Arizona, is America’s largest Christian university. The FTC initially suffered two defeats in court over the case.

The federal agency has since announced it is dropping the case.

In a statement to CBN, GCU stated:

“The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) voted unanimously [Friday] to dismiss its lawsuit against Grand Canyon University’s largest service provider — Grand Canyon Education — and Brian Mueller, ending years of coordinated lawfare by government officials under the Biden Administration against the largest Christian university in the country.”