Persecution of Christians – Do Your Actions Speak Louder Than Words?

I spend so much time and energy keeping up with the political brouhaha that I tend to lose track of what is really important. Not that what I perceive to be the slide into socialism isn’t important, but it is far less important than winning souls for Christ. And definitely less important than praying for the people that are called to true communist/socialist/Muslim countries to do just that.

Take a moment and read some of the most recent accounts of torture, tragedy, persecution and suffering. And then pray.  Even our so called Christian organizations who tout themselves on social justice and liberalism are falling down on the job. They are more concerned with political apeasement than they are their brothers and sisters in Christ. It reminds me of the scripture where Jesus cries because Jerusalem has turned it’s back on Him:  Luke 19: 41-42 Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.

On June 16, North Korean Christian Ri Hyon-ok was publicly executed for the crime of distributing Bibles. As her parents, husband and children were forced to look on, the 33-year-old mother was shot in front of a crowd in the northwestern city of Ryongchon. Her grieving and distraught family were then packed off to a prison camp.

Last month, a Muslim mob in the northeastern Pakistan town of Gorja heard rumours that a Koran had been defaced during a Christian wedding ceremony. Officials investigating that subsequent riots could find no evidence of such a blasphemy, but that did not stop a mob of thousands of Muslims from burning more than 50 homes and a church in the Christian section of Gorja. At least 14 Christians were killed in the rampage, including one woman and three children who were burned alive in their homes.

Maryam and Marzieh, who are imprisoned in Iran after converting from Islam to Christianity. They were arrested March 5th and last week went on trial. They refused to recant their faith and now will probably die. You can read more here.

Also, does anybody pay attention to the converts here in America who face punishment? Our president thinks we can CoExist and just sit down and chat about differences. He is so ignorant to the real issues of spiritual warfare and it makes me sad. So those of you driving around with your “Coexist” bumper stickers are being naive as well.

Teenager Rifqa Bary fled to Florida and told authorities that her Muslim father threatened to kill her for converting to Christianity. She went to a pastor’s home in Florida and is currently fighting against being returned to him for fear of her life. Lorenz, the pastor,  said he fears Rifqa is “definitely not safe.” He pointed to other suspected honor killings in Muslim families, including two Texas sisters who were murdered by their Muslim father Jan. 1, 2008, in what some believed to be religion-fueled rage over the girls’ Western ways.

There is a much bigger spiritual war going on today, but nobody on TV will talk about it. Heck, our churches do not even talk about it. They are too scared and politically correct. They must not rock the boat or offend anyone. Even churches who claim they believe we are in the last days will not preach or teach prophecy. They do not teach the whole counsel of God. Congregations do not get Genesis to Revelation. Instead, they get the “feel good sermonettes” that last 15 minutes so they leave early enough to beat the other churches to the lunch line.  And this is being disobedient to God. Because if you are called to preach the Word, then preach the Word. All of it!

I pray for the persecuted Christians who do not care about the status quo, or what their neighbors think of them, or if there are enough offerings to pay their salaries each week. I pray for the Christians whose actions speak louder than words.

Rationed Healthcare, Green Czars, Population Control, Terrorists as Neighbors?

My title sounds like a fictional book written about a communist country. Who would have ever thought it would be about this great country of mine? I knew that one day something like this might happen, but I never thought it would happen so quickly.  Originally I figured it would be a slippery slope, and happen slowly so nobody would notice a new world order come into place.

Has anyone ever considered what people would do when they are not allowed another prescription for their pain medication, or are not allowed another cortisone shot for the back pain? How about the person that cannot take typical pain meds and needs surgery to alleviate the pain, but the government says “no”? And they think we have a problem with illegal drugs now. Just wait.

And how about the new Green Czar, Van Jones? First of all, he has no clue what a green czar is. He is also a self described former communist.  This administration is spending $60 billion to create green jobs but so far NOT ONE exists! The czar said this is because no one can really agree what a green job is.

Well, we still don’t have a unified definition, and that’s not unusual in a democracy. It takes a while for all the states and the federal government to come to some agreement. But the Department of Labor is working on it very diligently. Fundamentally, it’s getting there, but we haven’t crossed the finish line yet.

Did you know he sits on the board of directors for Institute of Noetic Sciences? If you don’t know what this is, Google it. This is about as ‘new age’ as one gets. But just another nutjob that is guided by the moon, wind and stars, instead of the Holy Spirit. He made the following statement in 2005:

“I met all these young radical people of color – I mean really radical, communists and anarchists. And it was, like, ‘This is what I need to be a part of… I spent the next ten years of my life working with a lot of those people I met in jail, trying to be a revolutionary…I was a rowdy nationalist on April 28th, and then the verdicts came down on April 29th..By August, I was a communist.”

My guess is that Obama will appoint Rev Wright as the Tolerance Czar and Bill Ayers as Peace Czar. Oh, and what on his resume qualifies Van Jones as a Green Czar? NOTHING!

And a recent study at Oregon University says people who are serious about wanting to reduce their “carbon footprint” have one choice available that yields a large long-term benefit – have one less child.  This reminds me of a book I read about this Supreme Court Justice…..oh wait….that wasn’t a book! Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader recently stated

“Frankly I had thought that at the time Roe was decided, there was concern about population growth and particularly growth in populations that we don’t want to have too many of.”

I bet you haven’t heard the mainstream media talk about this have you? She wants to kill babies that do not meet what she considers an acceptable race or socio-economic level.  Why is it okay for Gates, the Harvard Professor to assume the police officer was racist, but nobody thinks this statement is racist? Come on now, do people REALLY think she is talking about cute little white kids with blonde hair and blue eyes?

Last, but definitely not least, is the topic of terrorism. This hits close to home as the  most recent cell of home grown terrorists was found very close to where I live.  These 7 men from Raleigh were engaging in a plot to cause jihad in Israel and Kosovo.  But I thought this was a religion of peace? But our Peace Czar isn’t in place yet to “define” what peace really is, so I’ll cut the O-Man some slack.

We are Commanded to Pay the Tax Man Romans 13:7

But what if those taxes fund abortions? Yesterday, Chris Wallace interviewed Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag. Here is part of what was said:

“Are you prepared to say that in a government public- funded, taxpayer-funded public health insurance plan that no taxpayer money will go to pay for abortions?” asked Wallace.

“I think that that will wind up being part of the debate. I am not prepared to say explicitly that right now. It’s obviously a controversial issue, and it’s one of the questions that is playing out in this debate,” replied Peter Orszag, the interviewed official.

Republican Senator Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, also interviewed by Mr. Wallace, replied to Orszag’s refusal to rule out abortion funding under the health care proposal.  “No matter what your views are on abortion, you shouldn’t ask people to use their tax dollars if they think that abortion is taking a life — to use their tax dollars for that purpose.”

Again, why aren’t Christians/churches speaking out about this? CAN’T ANYBODY TAKE A STAND ANYMORE??

And this is EXACTLY how I feel about church today…

These exerpts below are taken from preacher/author John MacArthur. I believe in our (Christians/church) efforts to “love the sinner, hate the sin” we have become so much like the world, nobody can tell us apart anymore. We are supposed to be IN the world, not OF the world.

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Many evangelicals (once known for a very prudent and biblical approach to doctrine) are fast becoming as doctrinally clueless as the unchurched people they are so keen to please. At least three decades of deliberately downplaying doctrine and discernment in order to attract the unchurched has filled many once-sound churches with people who utterly lack any ability to differentiate the very worst fast doctrines from truth. I constantly encounter evangelical church members who are at a loss to answer the most profound errors they hear from cultists, unorthodox media preachers, or other sources of false doctrine.

In the church today, there is a growing reluctance to take a definitive stand on any issue. Discernment is frankly not very welcome in a culture like ours. In fact, the postmodern perspective is more than merely hostile to discernment; it is practically the polar opposite. Think about it: pronouncing anything “true” and calling its antithesis “error” is a breach of postmodernism’s one last impregnable dogma. That is why to a postmodernist nothing is more uncouth than voicing strong opinions on spiritual, moral, or ethical matters. People are expected to hold their most important convictions with as much slack as possible. Certainty about anything is out of the question, and all who refuse to equivocate on any point of principle or doctrine are therefore automatically labeled too narrow. Zeal for the truth has become politically incorrect. There is actually zero tolerance for biblical discernment in a “tolerant” climate like that.

****And how many times have I personally heard this next statment???****

Many in the church, caught up in the spirit of the age, think Christians should never take an uncompromising stand, should never argue about anything. We’re not supposed to engage in polemics. I hear this frequently: “Why don’t you just state the truth in positive terms and ignore the view you disagree with? Why not steer clear of controversy, forget the negatives, and present everything affirmatively?”

But many of the issues being compromised within the evangelical movement today are not questionable. Scripture speaks very clearly against homosexuality, for example. The Christian position on adultery is not at all vague. The question of whether a believer ought to marry an unbeliever is spelled out with perfect clarity. Scripture quite plainly forbids any Christian to take another Christian to court. Selfishness and pride are explicitly identified as sins. These are not gray areas. There is no room for compromise here.

Nevertheless, I constantly hear every one of those issues treated as a gray area-on Christian radio, on Christian television, and in Christian literature. People want all such matters to be negotiable. And too many Christian leaders willingly oblige. They hesitate to speak with authority on matters where Scripture is plain. The lines of distinction between truth and error, wisdom and foolishness, church and world are being systematically obliterated by such means.

The world needs Christians who embrace an antithetical worldview, a biblical mindset that answers questions of truth and morality in terms of black and white. Why? Because there is no salvation without absolute, unshakeable truth.

What’s needed today is a generation of men and women who will take a stand on biblical truth. People like that fear the Lord, not men, and will find power and courage from the Lord to uphold His truth in an age of extreme tolerance.

And I totally agree with this last sentence, and it is why I am going to continue to be outspoken, informed, unchanging, and will yell at the top of my lungs if I hear scripture distorted to fit someone else’s lifestyle.