Scripture
You will be arrested, persecuted, and killed. You will be hated all over the world because you are My followers.
~Matthew 24:9, NLT
Quote
“God takes a safe course with His children, that they may not be condemned with the world; He permits the world to condemn them, that they may not love the world, the world that hates them because it hates HIM.”
~Richard Sibbes
Joe David talked about persecution last night. He mentioned the fact that more Christians were martyred in the 20 century than all the others combined and the numbers are not close. The number one persecutor of all time is COMMUNISM which is still a problem: North Korea and China being two examples. However the growing threat of this last four decades has been Islam. If suddenly Islam and Communism were eradicated, there would be practically no persecution. The Western Hemisphere has known religious freedom for centuries but in the East, it is a different story; they have known nothing but persecution. It is practically impossible to get someone with a Western mindset to believe that Christians are being martyred daily.
Denying Christ is one thing, escaping danger is another. In Acts 14 we have the account of Paul and Barnabas being threatened by the Jews who had involved the Gentiles in a conspiracy to stone Paul and Barnabas. However Paul found out about the plan and they escaped to Lystra. There have been many times when missionaries were moved due to danger. The night Peter got out of jail, he went straight to a house church and then into hiding. Eventually Peter dies as a martyr because he went back into Rome after friends had helped him escape. Paul also died a martyrs death. The point is this: there is a time to flee to safety and there is a time to die–May God grant us the wisdom to know when to do what. I for one will not label Paul and Peter as cowards.
One other thing: I heard this on Talk Radio a week ago: 70% of progressives [democrats] believe that Christianity is more violent than Islam. I know what you are thinking–It is crazy logic or no logic at all but let me assure you, it is real. The ACLU and other Jewish organizations like them hate Christianity more than they do Islam. Are we a threat to Jews? No, of course not, but they are blinded by their pride and prejudice. It is all a part of the curse of rejecting Jesus. There is no link between Judaism and Islam other than the fact they both descended from Abraham. Islam in definitely a threat to the State of Israel. There is a link between the Jews and Communism. Karl Marx was a Jew and so was Lenin. The ACLU is a group of Jewish communist. It is what it is folks: wealthy Jews own the democratic party which stands for the very same things the Communist Party of America stood for 50 years ago. Just read the book of Acts and you will meet the original community organizers. Give them credit, they are good at stirring a stink and then denying culpability. The Romans would not have crucified Jesus had they not been incited by the Jews.
I spilled a glass of ice tea on my lap top last night and I think I fried it. I had to come back in the house to finish this blog. The February DIGEST should be in the mail by Friday. I think I will get Catfish to help me put it on line. There is bound to be a way. Didn’t that full band look good last night. We have awesome music on Wednesday night. God is good. Thank you Dave and the band.
I had a sobering and sad experience yesterday. I went to see my friend Marc Crowe who now resides at Madison Manor. Marc is the one who talked me into trying out for the Cross Country Team at Calhoun, a team which never lost a meet in two years. Marc has a pulmonary disease and he is getting very weak. He is on a feeding tube and he cannot sit up. He has lost a lot of weight since Christmas. It broke my heart to see Marc in this condition. We are the same age. Marc was 67 in April and myself in August. The pic below was taken last Summer.
