Fort Hard Knox

If the world abused and killed Jesus Christ, of course they will abuse and kill His followers too. If the world would beat and mane the physical Body of Christ, then they will most certainly beat and mane the Christian church that makes up the spiritual Body of Christ. In fact, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all record Jesus as saying “if they persecute me, you too will be persecuted”.

In fact, in return for the persecution in this life, Jesus promised unimaginable rewards in the life to come. Not only are we promised “great rewards”, we should be happy, and understand that what we experience glorifies the Lord. We also know that all things work together for good to them that love God, and are called according to His purpose. This passage from the eighth chapter of Romans is usually easier to read, than it is to endure.

God’s people have been persecuted since the dawn of time. Abel, the son of Adam, marked the beginning of persecution for God’s people. His brother persecuted him to death, because of jealousy. Jesus continued in a long line of persecuted men that did not end with him, but the persecution of Christians still continues. In the Middle East, at the hand of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), many men have paid with their lives for bearing the name of Christ.

The men that killed Jesus, are the people that taught Israel about Christ himself. They ignored the signs and circumstances His coming. As a believer I understand many things concerning the truths of the Messiah. One great truth is that nobody truly took Jesus’s life, but He gave His life up to redeem humanity back to himself. All of the persecution that Jesus suffered, was the most important part of God’s plan. As Christians, we should embrace persecution at some level, because our supreme leader endured the Cross for us.

The world we live in is a maddening place. We live in a place where we have to tip toe around every single thing. We are not supposed to call a spade a spade. We are instead asked to consider the possibility that the spade is actually a clover and that what we perceive to be black is probably yellow. Obviously I am speaking about the politically correct garbage that we are all subjected to on a daily basis. When did it become okay to ignore the facts? We live in a nation where we are asked to console and befriend the Muslim. We are asked to overlook the atrocities their faith pulls off and we are told that this is not indicative of the true faith. However we are also fed the lie that the Christian faith is the most cared for and protected faith in the entire world. The whole time we have millions of Christians being killed all over the world every single year.

Christian persecution might not be that prevalent in the USA but it is something that is rampant across the globe. We have large swaths of people being cleansed and executed in places like Iran, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Somalia, Libya, and China. And the whole time our government and our news agencies are acting as if nothing is happening. Instead we are more focused on the life of a lion or even on catchy phrases like black lives matter. When did one life matter more than another? The truth of the matter is that all lives matter. Every life matters and every faith matters. Until we reach the point where we are as concerned for the Christian facing persecution as we are about the Muslim…things will never change.

When I had kids, I knew that there would be many things that I would have to teach my children. From riding a bike and tying their shoes to how to drive and fill the car up with gas, I knew the list was long. But there was one thing that I guess I never expected to have to talk to my kids about and that is religious persecution. We should learn in our history classes about how many different religions were persecuted in the past and how it still takes place in a lesser form today.

But is it really any less of an issue today. I thought so, but I am learning that that may not be the case. What I am talking about is how one of my kid’s friends was bullying on the bus for his religion. This may not even come close to what happened to so many people in Germany years ago, but it is a form of religious persecution. Bullying kids is bad enough and I don’t know what to tell my son about why people do this, but when it involves religion, I really have no idea how to explain it.

The best thing that I can think of is to tell my son that everyone is different and we should embrace those differences because they are what make us unique. But sometimes there are people who don’t like that other people are different and that is sad. We need to show everyone that this kind of behavior is not acceptable. He knows that the best way to teach something is to lead by example. Bullying because of religious beliefs or for any other reason is not something that should be tolerated.

How can it still be that a person cannot practice their religion freely without someone else telling them what they believe is not correct? And that is not even the extent of how badly some people are treated because of their beliefs. Certainly times have changed and things have gotten better in many ways, but it is not even close to being a safe world for every kind of religious group. There are so many different religions out there that it is hard to believe that any religion is right in what they think.

Of course it is not important who is right in their beliefs, just that we all have the right to belief what we want when it comes to religion. The entire topic is a hard one to think about let along discuss. This is why it is usually a good idea when you are in a group of large people that you mostly get along with that religion is often a topic that most people try to avoid. Everyone has a different opinion on religion and most people are not easily swayed. For this reason, there is no point in talking about things like religion or politics unless you really do want to start a fight.

Unfortunately, there is no way to completely avoid people talking badly about your religion unless you are an atheist and even then, you will come across people who will question your choice. The best thing that we can do is take the comments with a grain of salt. People will believe what they want and say what they want and there is usually not much you can do to change that.

We live in a day where the average religious person is required to follow a certain standard. What I mean by that is that the religious people of the world, especially the United States, are asked to keep their faith quiet and their ideas to themselves. In the United States the rights of Christians are typically left alone. However the past few years have seen a huge spike in the number of religious liberties that are being denied. However the bigger issues that we find in the United States have to deal with the Islamic faith. In the United States it is a problem for many folks if you share your Christian faith but it is not a problem to share the Islamic faith. Praying to Jesus is an issue here but praying to Allah is not a problem. The double standard is huge and the vast majority of folks can see it. However when you step outside the U.S. you will find a much different issue.

In places such as the Middle East, which are predominately Muslim, you will find Christian rights are hardly considered. The rights of the Christian are considered miniscule and they basically have the right to convert to Islam or they are exiled. So what can we do to improve the Christian rights around the world? I would argue that there is very little that we can do. Sure, we can speak of education and enlightenment. But the real change will come through the heart and lives of the people involved. A true life-changing event must take place before a person will have a change of heart. The Christian understands this and they are also aware that there Christian rights hinge on this issue.

This ISIS thing is out of control and we as Christians need to do something about it. The Christian persecution by ISIS is bad and is getting worse. The Pentagon has issued a statement warning of the severity of this issue and the danger that ISIS poses.

This group by the name ISIS is much more than a terrorist group and they are letting everyone around them know that. They are beheading Christians, men, women and children. No one is off limits to this group of horrible people. I hope that they will be stopped before it is too late. I have heard rumors that ISIS members are crossing American borders everyday and are videotaping themselves doing so. Is someone going to do something about this? Perhaps it is time for the American public to stand up and take control if the government is not going to. This stuff gets me outraged and I can hardly stand to write about it without getting super upset.

The government is saying that ISIS is beyond anything they have ever seen before. Today being Sept 11 has been pretty weird, thinking that the 911 tragedy may not have been the worst of things.

ISIS may claim that they are at war with the United States or the West but the fact is they even are at war with their neighbors. ISIS has been persecuting Christians and religious minorities in order to establish their Islamic Caliphate. More than 1 million people have fled their homes from Iraq and more are leaving every day.

Whether or not you are a Christian you need to pray every day for this ISIS issue that it will soon be a thing of the past.

You hear all sorts of things on the news these days but none of them have anything to do with Christian persecution. You may wonder why this is true and so do I. The fact is that the world seem to care more about what gadget is hot and who is dating whom than who is being killed for their religious beliefs. It’s sad but true that neither the media nor anyone else these days cares about you, but it’s time to shed some light on things. The fact is things like a seven year old slave boy in Sudan being crucified on a board and left for dead by his owner simply because he snuck out to go to a church service and teenage girls in Indonesia walking to their Christian High school were murdered Islamic jihadists and their heads left on the steps of the church happen all the time in the world in which we live.

Perhaps we can go back to the Bible to find out why Christian persecution is not highlighted in the world today. The bible says that “if the world hates you, remember that the world hated me before it hated you and because you are not of this world, the world hates you.”

One of the reasons why Christian are persecuted in this world in which we live is because many Christina lifestyles are a constant reminder that folks are living in sin and people don’t like to be reminded of that. Folks don’t like to think about all they are doing that is sinful because that may make them feel bad about themselves. This world needs major prayer and we should all do our part to make sure it is covered in it!