I keep thinking about my fellow Christians who live in countries that persecute them for professing faith in Jesus Christ. What are their thoughts as they ponder their new found faith in Christ? Will they be kicked out of their homes? Will they loose their means of income? Will their spouse or children be taken from them? Will they be able to continue attending the college they have enrolled in? Will they be on the run to be relocated to a safe place due to the threats from their own families? The cost of making a decision to follow Christ means harassment, rejection, torture, and even death for many in our world today.
I receive an email every Saturday with information on how to pray for individuals who are enduring persecution for their faith. It is a sobering read and raises so many questions for me. Would I continue to profess my faith if I knew I could suffer such persecution? I would hope so, but I would not find such strength apart from God! As I am confident is the means whereby our brothers and sisters in Christ continue to endure. Therefore, I am compelled to faithfully pray for the persecuted.
America’s Christian population can’t imagine such oppression. Yet, the evil that is the source of such affliction is rearing its ugly head within our own boundaries. The challenges to our faith come under the label of discrimination at this point in time. Yet, there are those within our borders whose reported plans are to force their godless ideologies upon us.
In Jeremiah 7:8-10 we read how the Israelites were warned about placing their security within the structure of the Temple. They misunderstood how their behavior was linked to God’s favor on them. They had the Temple, after all. Therefore, they could misbehave as they chose. It took the destruction of their beloved Temple and exile to a strange and godless nation that enlightened them to the price they had paid for rejecting God’s standards.
The enemy, Satan, is actively deceiving American Christians today with similar misconceptions. The deception that because we call ourselves a Christian nation, God will not allow the terrible persecution that occurs in Communist and Muslim countries. So we sit in our comfortable pews or homes and give little thought to the type of persecution some are enduring. For we are a Christian nation and our safe keeping is dependent upon God. He will do all the work of protection. We don’t have to worry about it.
Listen Christian America, if we don’t stand solidly upon the Christian principles our beloved United States was founded, what happened to the Israelites could very well happen to us. The persecution Christians are enduring in other countries could reach our shores.
But REMEMBER,
voting for those who take a stand against anti Christian ideologies, is part of God’s plan for America’s protection.
