I still remember reading of how the Pharisees of the Ancient Age spied on early Christians. They would search meticulously for the slightest excuse to persecute the followers of Christ, mostly out of fear and envy. And of course they found ample evidence against their self-proclaimed adversaries, because the fact of the matter is that no one on this earth is perfect. But even when they could not find what they were after, they always had ample assets to bribe others into bearing false witness against those they wanted eliminated.
And yet, their espionage missed a very important point, because anything they caught the Christians doing paled in comparison to the sins they themselves committed in digging up such dirt. That is because in this life, where you find yourself in any given moment is not as important as what direction you are heading in, whether that be up or, in the case of the Pharisees, straight down into the depths.
As for the outcomes of the espionage campaigns, they were more than welcomed by the early Christians, because such people already knew that they were deeply flawed individuals, and that part of the pathway towards redemption was both acknowledgement and awareness of one's inner waywardness. The only relationship that mattered to Christ's followers was between them and the Almighty, with whom they solely sought reconciliation. That the spiritually blind should know of their transgressions was of no real importance to them, and was only relevant in so far as it compelled them to be cleansed of their stubbornly lingering follies. For to them, as well as to those of us who have inherited their legacy, what was rooted in Christ would live forever, but what was not rooted in Christ was already for all intents and purposes dead.
These and other ancient stories deserve to be kept in mind in the Modern Age, because overall not much has changed about the human condition between then and now. Those lost in envy still spy on and persecute those committed to self-improvement. Whether it was the Pharisees against Christ, or the FBI against Martin Luther King, modern surveillance, entrapment, and where both fail, false witness, were and still are the modus operandi of the day. And just as iron ore welcomes the furnace that smelts it into steel, so do the followers of Christ to this day welcome any and all forces that assail and attempt to crush their moral fortitude. For they have long since realized that it is not the ordeals of a difficult life that defeat us, but rather the negligent rust and decay of a life untouched by fire and flame.
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