Archive for persecution
Hate Crimes
Posted by: | CommentsHate crime legislation is a popular concept in the current US Government. Great Britain has already passed national hate crime laws. What is hate crime legislation?
The idea is that thought matters when it comes to criminalizing certain activities. American rights to free speech allow people to say what they want to say and express opinions that may “offend” certain other Americans. The trend of government passing hate crime laws in America and around the world will provide the opportunity to persecute Christians.
The Bible establishes moral standards for human beings and many of those standards create problems for people who want to establish their own personal standards of right and wrong. As the modern world moves to allow truth to be variable based on personal preferences, the idea about absolute standards decreed by an omnipotent God are terrifying to those who seek to be their own Gods.
In Great Britain a Christian is in danger of being prosecuted criminally for quoting scripture from the Bible that condemns specific sinful behavior, such as homosexuality. To do so is considered “hate speech” and it violates hate crime statutes. This movement is coming to the United States and in not too distant future the possibility exists that Christians will be imprisoned for preaching the Bible as absolute truth.
The Fast Pace of Persecution
Posted by: | CommentsThe most extreme example of religious persecution in modern times happened during World War II when six million Jews were murdered by Adolph Hitler and his Nazi collaborators. That monstrous act had its roots in a propaganda campaign that began soon after Hitler rose to power in 1932 – well before the beginning of the war. Jews were portrayed as a problem and accused of being the reason for German economic difficulty. The official newspaper of the Nazi Party, Der Stürmer, had as its motto: “The Jews are our misfortune.” By May 1933, books written by Jews were being burned and there was an economic boycott of Jewish businesses. By October 1933, Jewish editors were banned from newspapers. In May 1935 signs began to appear in restaurants and shops that read “Jews not welcome.”
By November 1935 Jews were legally barred from public business life and their political rights were redefined. Jews were legally prohibited from marrying non-Jews. Jewish children were prohibited from using the same playgrounds as other children and from utilizing the same locker rooms. In 1937 the systematic confiscation of Jewish property began. In July 1938 Jews were forced to accept national identity cards and Jewish passports were confiscated. It was in 1938 that Jewish children were expelled from schools and all Jews were banned from Berlin. In 1939 the war began and Jews began to be forcibly taken to extermination camps and confined in ghettos. Only seven years elapsed between the beginning of anti-Jewish propaganda in 1932 and the actual slaughter of the European Jewish population in 1939.
I am not predicting this level of persecution for Christians in America but I would not rule it out as a long-term possibility. The question that begs an answer is what kind of Christianity is it going to take to stand and survive any form of persecution. The lukewarm will fold up like a cheap tent and flee the Christian label faster than a powerful thoroughbred leaving the starting gate! The moment it becomes uncomfortable to be a Christian, the lukewarm Notional Christians will cease to have the notion! A carnal church will be totally ineffective and flounder as it struggles to regain a solid foundation in God’s truth.
What kind of faith do you have?
Christian Persecution in America?
Posted by: | CommentsPersecution is not a word that American Christians have had to contend with since our country won its independence. The authentic Christian experience has been mainstream and Biblical truths permeated the foundations of our society. Persecution of Christians in America is not something most of us are even willing to entertain as a possibility. We need to wake up because the early forms of persecution are already upon us.
Just about everyone has heard the story about cooking a live frog. You put a frog in a cold water pot and turn on the low heat. The water gradually heats and the frog winds up being cooked without ever realizing what was happening to it. Biblical Christianity is being slowly cooked and by the time the water gets too hot to take, it will be too late. Under the guise of separation of church and state, Christianity is being isolated from public places and institutions. In addition, the public ridicule of Christians is now common and very open. In television and in movies, Biblical Christians are portrayed as bigoted morons for whom there should be no tolerance or respect. Lastly, on the political front the angry cries against the ‘Christians of the Radical Right’ are becoming louder and more intense. Politically, far too many Americans believe Biblical Christianity is the problem for what is wrong in America– not the solution. I believe these conditions are obvious precursors that could provide the basis for full blown Christian persecution in the not so distant future. If we living near the time of Christ’s second coming, all of this is right on time.
