- Jan 14, 2015
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Despite the false claims of leftist Fake News, Christianity is the single most persecuted group in the world - not women, not gays, not transgenders, blacks or browns...Christians. While there are good people doing a good job raising awareness of the plight of our global Christian family - such as Voice of the Martyrs, Open Doors, ACLJ - sadly, most Christians don't know what's going on a mere few feet beyond their own church parking lot. If we did, maybe we'd be far less easily offended, easily discouraged, and less likely to give up on God when the going gets tough as often is the case.
In far away lands, Christian women are raped and jailed, their children taken into custody, Christian men and pastors are imprisoned, tortured, killed, churches are targeted and firebombed, governments of pagan countries hostile toward Christianity offer little to no protection, and even far worse atrocities are widespread across the Christian world...but here in the West it's another story.
Here, we enjoy religious freedom. We enjoy the 1st Amendment which forbids state sponsored religion. We enjoy Section 8 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which guarantees workplace religious freedom. We enjoy 501(c)3 tax exempt status which allows billions to be put to use for the cause of God, but much of which is sadly pocketed by unscrupulous "preachers". Yet, in all this, many Christians live under the apprehension that their world will end at any moment. Their boyfriend will break up with them, their church may not re-elect them to that coveted position of leadership, they may be seen as kooky by their secular friends if they join a church, they may even face "difficulties" at home from an unbelieving spouse if they decide to follow Jesus, which often don't go beyond mild annoyance by their significant other. Western Christianity seems to be the weakest spiritually than anywhere else. As that comprehensive Willow Creek church study proved, the more money we throw at this ministry or that ministry, the lesser the positive outcome. Christian divorce is on the rise, children abandon their faith in college for atheistic evolution due to their indiferent "Christian" parents having failed to teach them the difference between Biblically accurate science and the false science of the atheistic scientific community, church attendance wanes, immorality/alcohol/drug/porn addiction is on the rise among believers - the wretchedness of Western Christianity seems to only grow worse and worse.
I think we need to go back to the beginning. We need to get back to our "first love" and "remember from whence thou hast fallen". We need to develop a thankful heart for what we have instead of resenting God for what we think we've be unjustly denied. What we need is a generous dose of persecution:
In far away lands, Christian women are raped and jailed, their children taken into custody, Christian men and pastors are imprisoned, tortured, killed, churches are targeted and firebombed, governments of pagan countries hostile toward Christianity offer little to no protection, and even far worse atrocities are widespread across the Christian world...but here in the West it's another story.
Here, we enjoy religious freedom. We enjoy the 1st Amendment which forbids state sponsored religion. We enjoy Section 8 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which guarantees workplace religious freedom. We enjoy 501(c)3 tax exempt status which allows billions to be put to use for the cause of God, but much of which is sadly pocketed by unscrupulous "preachers". Yet, in all this, many Christians live under the apprehension that their world will end at any moment. Their boyfriend will break up with them, their church may not re-elect them to that coveted position of leadership, they may be seen as kooky by their secular friends if they join a church, they may even face "difficulties" at home from an unbelieving spouse if they decide to follow Jesus, which often don't go beyond mild annoyance by their significant other. Western Christianity seems to be the weakest spiritually than anywhere else. As that comprehensive Willow Creek church study proved, the more money we throw at this ministry or that ministry, the lesser the positive outcome. Christian divorce is on the rise, children abandon their faith in college for atheistic evolution due to their indiferent "Christian" parents having failed to teach them the difference between Biblically accurate science and the false science of the atheistic scientific community, church attendance wanes, immorality/alcohol/drug/porn addiction is on the rise among believers - the wretchedness of Western Christianity seems to only grow worse and worse.
I think we need to go back to the beginning. We need to get back to our "first love" and "remember from whence thou hast fallen". We need to develop a thankful heart for what we have instead of resenting God for what we think we've be unjustly denied. What we need is a generous dose of persecution:
"The apostle Paul declares that 'all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.' Why is it, then, that persecution seems in a great degree to slumber? The only reason is that the church has conformed to the world's standard and therefore awakens no opposition....It is only because of the spirit of compromise with sin, because the great truths of the Word of God are so indifferently regarded, because there is so little vital godliness in the church, that Christianity is apparently so popular with the world. Let there be a revival of faith and power of the early church, and the spirit of persecution will be revived, and the fires of persecution will be rekindled." —The Great Controversy, 48.
