How are Christians fairing in the U.S.? Here are some headlines to give you a clue:
Home Schooling German Family Fights Deportation
The Religious Cleansing of Bulloch County, Georgia
Judge Rules Baker Must Provide Wedding Services to Gay Couples Despite Religious Convictions
Veterans Affairs forced chaplains from program for quoting Scripture, praying in the name of Jesus, suit alleges
Student Sues School District for Allegedly Banning ‘See You at the Pole’ Fliers That Included Bible Verses
Military Chaplains Being Censored?
Atheist Group Seeks to Deny Poor Children Christmas Gifts
*Obama Signs 2013 NDAA: May Still Arrest, Detain [U.S.] Citizens Without Charge
Christians are under attack. Not just around the world, but here in the
States. Laws and "executive orders" are constantly being put in place
to steal our freedom of speech and religion - gifted by God, fought for by our Founders, and guaranteed by the Constitution. At the same time
Christians are being hounded and silenced, other world views from
atheism to Islam are being tolerated, endorsed and embraced. (Obama Administration Announces Nationwide Muslim Outreach Program For Children Grades K-12 )
The Bible teaches that governments
were instituted by God for the purpose of protecting the people and ensuring justice as God defines it. When they do not, it is
the responsibility of God's people to step in and act. Read
Exodus, Deuteronomy, Esther, Daniel, Isaiah, Micah, and James to see how, among other things, God moves through His people to address earthly authorities and correct oppression. He calls us to do the same.
We don't discuss this much
from the pulpits. We preach personal spirituality, but shy away from
"secular" things. I challenge you to find in Scripture where God gives us one set of instructions for living privately and a different set for how we are to live publicly. We've bought into the "don't offend" ideal as if
Christianity isn't, at its core, offensive to a worldly soul. Maybe we don't discuss it because the problem is too big ("Let's stick to the battles we know we can win"). Perhaps we don't discuss it because we
don't want to be seen as alarmists. There are, after all, so many
other believers in foreign countries going through much worse. It's not
like we're experiencing a holocaust.
May I
share with you an excerpt of the *Reichstag Fire Edict, a decree that
suspended sections of the German constitution for the general safety and
well being of the people after a national "emergency" took place:
"Restrictions on personal liberty, on the right of free expression of
opinion, including freedom of the press; on the rights of assembly and
association, and violations of the privacy of postal, telegraphic and
telephonic communications; and warrants for house searches, orders for
confiscations as well as restrictions on property, are also permissible beyond
the legal limits otherwise prescribed."1
This edict set
the stage for the Nazi's to complete their transition to a dictatorship
and more boldly persecute those who opposed them, including the Jews and dissenting
Christians. The rest, as we say, is history-or at least until the
re-write is complete.
My cry is this, church: Learn from the
mistakes of the German church. Do not let their failures be in vain. Do not wait until it is too late. Do not
think this cannot happen here. Do not be that naive. Or lazy. Or
afraid. Be informed. Be bold. Ask questions, study, and talk about it. Everywhere. Preach it from your pulpits. And
throughout this time remember God's promises, repent privately AND
corporately, and encourage each other to return to holiness with a
desperate cry for the power of the Holy Spirit to lead us.
This Christmas as you sing "O Holy Night", let the words soak into your soul...
"Chains he shall break, for the slave is our brother.
And in his name all oppression shall cease. "
Oh, that we would be found faithful to be his hands breaking the chains of the oppressed.
1(Metaxas, Bonhoeffer Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy,
2010, pg 148)
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