So, what should our attitudes be? If I know there is a certain consequence for my actions, and I don't want to face that consequence, I would do whatever I could to make sure I do not do the activity that will bring the consequence.
I guess some people go as far as they can, thinking somehow they won't get caught, or they will be able to get out of the punishment somehow. That is not how I look at the impending threats to our freedoms. I want to take caution to make sure that whatever I do in life, will not bring about bad consequences.
So, when we see things like Muslims raping girls and going free, and teachers instructing their students to write Jesus' name on a piece of paper, then stomp on it, we see an injustice to what is right and fair, being done. When we see these things being done, what should our attitudes be?
For some, it is just carelessness. It is under the guise that 'Jesus is coming back soon so it doesn't matter'. While it is true that Jesus is coming back soon, we have to remember that He could come tonight, but He could come back 20 years from now, or maybe 100 or more. In God's eyes, a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like a day. It's been almost 2,000 years since Jesus ascended back into heaven, so maybe in God's eyes, that is like almost 2 days. So, if Jesus is coming back tomorrow, how should we respond? What if we just let everything go, and Jesus comes back in 50 years from now? We would be living in a country where the leadership are tyrants. That is just the default for people when the citizens let go of their responsibilities.
But before Jesus left earth to go back to heaven, He told His disciples to 'occupy' until He returns. Occupying does not mean just sitting back and doing nothing until He returns. It means we are to be busy with the kingdom of God. We are to be diligently studying His word and letting His word fill our hearts. It means we are to depend upon the power of the Holy Spirit to change. It means that our focus in life will be different than it was before. Everything we do should be to promote the cause of Christ on earth, while we are here.
The reason I am writing this blog, is because too many Christians respond to the horrible things happening today by just saying, 'that's terrible', or, 'how can he get away with that?' These same people do very little in society. This world is not our home, but we have to make the best of it while we live here.
Is it easier to do evangelism in a country where freedom reigns or is it easier to do it underground, in a country where there is little or no religious freedom? If we don't take responsibility soon, we will be doing evangelism underground. We will risk our lives for loving the truth. Attending a church meeting will be risky. Many who profess Christ today, will end up denying Him because it will be too hard to be a Christian.
I am not saying that persecution is bad in itself, but it is hard. In some ways, it is preventable. For example, years ago, children were able to take their Bibles to school and read them. In fact, many lessons were taken from the Bible in Early American schools. But today, Madeline Murray O'Hair went to the Supreme Court and brought with her a bogus case that actually got accepted and now it is considered illegal to carry a Bible to school. Did you know that there is nowhere in the Constitution that talks about 'separation of church and state'? The whole concept of 'separation of church and state' came about when the Pilgrims arrived here in 1620. The reason they left England was to be able to have a normal church setup, where there was a pastor who gave oversight, and took care (spiritually speaking) of the flock. But in England, instead, they had a king who was over the church. He called the shots and decided how the people would worship. The king was not a pastor. The king was not even a Christian. But because he was the ruler, he made the rules, and he ruled the church as well as the land. The Pilgrims and other groups got tired of that and made their way over to a new land to set up a new place to settle in and live, without a king presiding over their churches!
Sometime later, the people who were members of Danbury Baptist church in Connecticut were concerned about the possibility of a leader of the newly found country to run the church. Thomas Jefferson wrote back to them and used the phrase 'a wall of separation between church and state' meaning that the church would be protected from any governmental opportunities to gain control or give oversight to the church. In the First Amendment, it states 'Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceable to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.' This doesn't sound like forbidding Bibles to be in schools, does it? It has to do with the government taking initiative in trying to establish a religion or religious thought.
Our rights to believe and hold dear to our hearts, God's word, are being violated. Ultimately, it is our fault that this is happening. The reason it is our fault, is because we have not been vigilant in protecting our freedoms. Even today, people are making up bogus cases and bringing them into the legal system to have them enacted. Why aren't we doing the same? Are we too distracted with plans to go to Disney or the beach? Or, is it just laziness on our parts?
No one challenged Madeline Murray O'Hair when she went to court. No one was there during the Roe vs. Wade court hearings to challenge them. Today, people do not even know that it is a sin for people to sleep together outside of a marriage relationship. That is because they were never taught the 10 Commandments because the 10 Commandments are being stripped off our school walls as well as other government owned buildings.
Where are the true Christians in this? Do we not know what is going on? Or do we not care? Here's the point: If we don't start caring soon, we are going to lose our freedoms altogether. Please don't think that that would never happen. It will. But it doesn't have to.
Next time you hear about someone coming up with a law that will enable people to sin, don't just sit on the back burner. Do something. Even if all you do is pray, that is significant. All of us need to be praying for our country to be restored.
The alternative is to watch our children and grandchildren be swallowed up in a confused world filled with hate. How would you like your 13 year old granddaughter to be raped by a Muslim, and the Muslim gets away with it because he has the right to do that, according to his religion? How would you like your grandson to be kidnapped by a Satanic worshiper, in order to offer his body as a human sacrifice? How would you like your son to not be able to get a job, because the area he lives in is predominately Muslim? All these things are going to be happening to us, because we don't care, or we don't believe that they will happen to us. Somehow, we think we are invincible, or that God loves us so much that He wouldn't let those things happen to us. They are happening because of our apathy and indifference.
So, we need to repent from apathy and indifference and ask God to give us hearts that will be aware of what is going on around us. In the book of Revelation, God is going to spit out those who are lukewarm or indifferent. On the other hand, we really can make a difference in our churches and in this country.
I pray that the day will come when we will not see articles where Muslims get away with raping 13 year old girls, and students will not get arrested for bringing Bibles to school. I pray that the day will come when every parent will attend PTA meetings and protest books like, 'Heather Has Two Moms'.
I always ask myself, 'where did the breakdown occur in our country?' There were probably several events that caused us to breakdown, but the one I have seen which brought a significant change was when Madeline Murray O'Hair went to court and had prayer taken out, and following that, the 10 Commandments being removed (under the guise of 'separation of church and state'). This happened in the 1970s, or earlier. When I was a teen, everyone knew it was wrong to sleep together. If people were doing this, they kept it secret. There used to be a standard of right and wrong. The standard (10 Commandments) is gone today. I talk to many people and meet professing Christians who are living together with their boyfriend or girlfriend. They have no idea that this is sin before God. Someone needs to tell them.
Another problem is the churches that exist today. Many of them do not believe in the authority of Scripture. They pick and choose what they want to believe. They make a god that makes them happy. They believe that God wants them happy. These people also believe that when Scripture and culture conflict, that the Scripture must bow to culture. What? Did I hear that right? Yes, they believe that. They believe that God doesn't know what He is doing and that He didn't know how hard life was going to be in the 21st Century. You see, they don't know God. They don't know the all-powerful, all-knowing, Uncreated One, who lives and reigns throughout Eternity. They have made a weak god that they think will make them happy.
Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
http://www.wallbuilders.com/libissuesarticles.asp?id=65
http://www.wallbuilders.com/LIBissuesArticles.asp?id=123
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