I think the days ahead will prove to be increasingly difficult for those with sincere Christian faith. I have said for several years that I see the days coming when, increasingly, the word “persecution” for the Christian with be spelled “p-r-o-s-e-c-u-t-i-o-n” as the courts will be used increasingly to put Christians in a pressure cooker. Laws will tighten…regulations will squeeze out…judgments will be rendered…and difficulties will increase for those who unflinchingly stand on their Christian beliefs in the face of human secularism an political correctness.
The present administration is watering down the term “a person of faith” in a similar manner to how “born again” got watered down under Jimmy Carter.
And violence is increasing against the realm of faith. My friend Ted Baehr just recently listed a sobering and staggering list of violence in Christian settings….
• February 18, 2009: A man committed suicide in front of a cross at the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California.
• November 23, 2008: A gunman killed his estranged wife in a New Jersey church as Sunday services let out.
• November 1, 2008: A Cincinnatti minister, Rev. Donald Fairbanks Sr., was killed while he was attending a funeral in Kentucky.
• July 27, 2008: Two people were killed and six wounded in a shooting rampage at the church in Knoxville, Tenn.
• December 9, 2007: A man kills two young adults at the Youth with a Mission (YWAM) base before driving to a Colorado Springs church and opening fire on the congregation just after church was let out. A total of 5 people were killed, including the gunmen.
• August 12, 2007: A lone gunman opened fire in a Missouri Micronesian church, killing a pastor and two other churchgoers.
• May 20, 2007: A standoff between police and a suspect at a Moscow, Idaho church ended with three dead, including one police officer.
• Oct. 2, 2006, A man in Lancaster County, PA., killed five girls and then himself at an Amish school.
• May 20, 2006: Four were killed by a man at Jesus Christ Church in Louisiana.
• Feb. 26, 2006: Two people were killed at Zion Hope Missionary Baptist Church in Michigan by a man who later killed himself.
• April 9, 2005: A 27-year-old died after being shot at a church in College Park, GA..
• March 12, 2005: A man walked into the services of the Living Church of God in Milwaukee and open fired immediately, killing seven people.
• Oct. 5, 2003: A woman opened fire in Turner Monumental AME church in Kirkwood, GA., killing the pastor, her mother, and herself.
• March 12, 2002: During Sunday Mass, Peter J. Troy fatally shot Rev. Lawrence M. Penzes and parishioner Eileen Tosner.
• Sept. 16, 1999: Seven young people were killed when a man opened fire during a prayer service for teen-agers at the Wedgewood Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas
The days ahead do not promise to be easy, but will surely clarify who isThe time is coming when to take a stand will really mean something in America. I plan to be there. See you there with those who aren’t ashamed of the Gospel!