When we think of courage as a Christian we often picture Steven, the first martyr facing an angry crowd of Jews who stoned him for professing his belief in Jesus. Or we think of the early Apostles being flogged by the Pharisees and told not to Preach "Jesus" in the Temple. Mostly we think of all those stories we have heard of Christians being eaten by lions or of Nero burning Christians as torches to light his gardens in the evening.
However, these days I read a monthly publication called Voice of the Martyrs , a publication founded in 1967 by Pastor Richard Wurmbrand, who was imprisoned 14 years in Communist Romania for his faith in Christ. VOM has an interesting and thought provoking mission statement:
“Serving the persecuted church through practical and spiritual assistance while leading Christians in the free world into fellowship with them.”
The last part is the most troubling as a Christian. Are we Courageous enough to be led to fellowship with our persecuted brothers?
I read a book last year which had strongly influenced me to get more involved with the issue of religious persecution. I urge every Christian to read a book called " The Criminalization of Christianity" by Janet Folger head of Faith2Action. In this book Ms Folger tells what is going to happen, and what is already happening to destroy America as a Christian Nation. Most of it is our own fault for turning away from God. The outside forces encircling Christian Believers every day and in every facet of our culture is perpetrated by the Evil One. It is not an accident or just a change in our culture that is threatening the very core beliefs of our society. It is a deliberate, well planned army of evil doers using focused events to shake our core beliefs. Often the attacks come from things we take for granted as a natural evolution in our pluralistic belief system. Secular Humanism has been the prevailing "philosophy in our culture for many years. FBC Pastor Larry gave a great example of how it works in a sermon in May of this year: First the idea which flies in the face of our Christian beliefs is floated in such a was that we hardly notice it. If we speak out against it, we are seen as intolerant, bigoted, and radical. Next we come to the point of acceptance. We say things like "See that's not so bad. I know others doing this, and they are still 'good people'. Lastly, it becomes so common that we consider doing it ourselves saying, "this is not bad , let's try it,everyone else is doing it too."
Let me give you just two real life examples that we are facing everyday:
The Boy Scouts [BSA] and Marriage:
The Boy Scouts are being told they must accept Homosexuals into their troops. Most people I ask will say "so what there are gays everywhere, and it is the Christian thing to do to accept these boys and thus be allowed to minister to them." Sounds logical, but does it work in practice? Again I refer to Janet Folger. in her book she outlines how the gay agenda is more far reaching, and that it specifically targeted two CORE Christian beliefs that they find offensive. Homosexuality and Marriage.
The BSA was an easy target because on the surface it seems like a "Civil Rights" issue. To most it is simply an act of pure discrimination to say homosexual boys cannot participate in the BSA simply because they have a different life style. Sounds simple, yet it does not take into account the lifestyle changes you are imposing on the 102 year old BSA organization. So what about their rights and beliefs? Must they change so that gays who are about 4% of the population can join into Scouting. Also, would those same gays be willing to stand up and practice the Boy Scout Oath:
On my honor, I will do my best
To do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law;
To help other people at all times;
To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight.
The BSA was specifically targeted for that last point.
Would a gay young scout follow the Scout Law:?
A Scout is:
- Trustworthy,
- Loyal,
- Helpful,
- Friendly,
- Courteous,
- Kind,
- Obedient,
- Cheerful,
- Thrifty,
- Brave,
- Clean,
- and Reverent.
Leviticus 18:22; I Cor many verses; Galatians; Ephesians] There are many letters concerning sexual sin.
God loves the sinner, and hates the sin. Can we deal with this on a practical level. As you read Janet Folger you will see that she points out that like Larry's sermon on the creeping nature of sin there is more to it than just being a tolerant Christian who loves the person yet hates the sin that others are doing.
The long term agenda in the creeping pace toward compliance is , acceptance and Practice
Thus: First force the BSA to accept gay boys; next follow with installing gay leaders; once in a position of leadership acceptance and practice is inevitable. Also, those leaders will set out to amend the Oath and Laws. We have seen this same pattern with our government over the past 4.5 years. Our President announced he will "Fundamentally Change America. He's is doing it because we are letting him.
MARRIAGE
In the Spring of this year we saw the Gay community bring two major cases to the Supreme Court.
Proposition 8 [California's Defense of Marriage Act] Much to my surprise the voters in California affirmed this proposition. Some 14 million n Calif. said the DOMA law of 1996 affirmed that marriage is defined as the Union of one man and one woman. They may have never read Genesis, but God made that a law on day one of the creation of Eve for Adam.
Now the Gays [ or LGBT] want to push their agenda on the entire country. Again they are using the Civil Rights argument and calling anyone who opposes their agenda Racists and Bigots . This movement does not just want to marry each other. They can already do that in many states. They are using this a s a way of, again, creeping up on the uninformed and making them believe there is something wrong with us if we oppose these sinful life styles. Again, I refer back to Janet Folger. She points out that the defeat of Prop 8 and DOMA is just the first step. Gays do not want equal Pluralistic acceptance. They want you in agreement and participation of this evil practices. What better way to do this than with the BSA, and in our schools. My grandson, Christian, had to read a book called "Timmy has Two dads" for his Literature class. So put these ideas into the minds of children in school, and in the Boy Scouts, and as Vladimir Ilyich Lenin said,"Give me four years to teach the children and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted."
Further down the line, the LGBT agenda adds more to the mix. Once open gay marriage becomes a law their logical extension migrates toward toward the following: Multiple partner " Marriage "; Incestuous "Marriage"; Pedofilia "marriage". It is a slippery slope toward the complete erosion of the fundamentals of society that all people have held since Adam and Eve. This is not Bible Thumping. It is basic common communal beliefs that mankind has naturally held since their creation.
So will we stand with the martyrs and face these troubling changes in our society with Christian Courage, or we will we become like the ancient Jews who in a cyclical pattern sometimes worshiped the True Living Jehovah, and in their low periods turned from God and worshiped the same Secular Humanistic Gods that are offered to us today?
