THE RISE IN ANTI-CHRISTIAN VIOLENCE
For the past few weeks we've been receiving reports about a sharp increase in the burning down of churches and homes, and other anti-Christian violence led by Muslim extremists. Our contact 'Y' in Pakistan, sent us this message as he was driving his family to a safe location after leaving his home and all his possessions behind: "Christians are requested to pray for the Christians of the Christian Colony of Baraf Khana, Rawalpindi, because the Christians spent the last night in fear. There is a church near Chhoti Palli in Baraf Khana Christian Colony."
"Someone has mischievously said that Christians have committed blasphemy here, while according to initial reports, no such incident could have happened. However, in the night, all the Baraf Khana Christian Colony was evacuated and the Christians there temporarily left their homes along with their wives, children and family like in the Jaranwala tragedy. Which is the state where the guards ask the minorities to leave their homes for fear of these few evil elements and cannot protect them."
The army and police in Pakistan are doing very little to stop this violence, so their passivity and complicity encourages the extremists to continue. In Prov. 29:2-4 we read – "When the righteous thrive, the people rejoice; but when the wicked rule, the people groan. Whoever loves wisdom brings joy to his father; but a companion of prostitutes squanders his wealth. The king by justice makes the land stable, but he who takes bribes tears it down." This applies both to Pakistan and to the U.S., as well as other parts of the world: we've recently received reports of anti-Christian riots and persecution in India and Africa.
Persecution of Christians is to be expected, as the Lord and the Apostles foretold. It's not only in faraway countries, but also here in the West: We've been conditioned by centuries of social pressure, first under the Moslems who conquered the Middle East, North Africa, Spain, the Balkans, and parts of France, Italy, Russia and Hungary, and who at best consigned Christians to second-class "dhimmi" status and forbade them to have any social outreach – only Moslems were allowed to do that. Christians were limited to only hold religious observances within four church walls. At worst, Christians were persecuted and killed if they wouldn't convert to Islam.
Then in Western Europe, after driving the Moslems back and after several religious wars that decimated the populations, the various Edicts of Toleration reinforced the notion that people should stop fighting and show "tolerance" to those of other religious convictions, not pushing their religious beliefs on others. Today this has led, however, to the widespread notion that everything is relative, there are no absolutes, and that's the absolute truth!
But in the Christian East, communism took hold shortly after the collapse of the Moslem Turkish Empire, and at best strictly limited the Christian faith to only religious observances within four church walls, they were forbidden to have any kind of social ministry: only communists were allowed to do that. At worst, Christians who wouldn't meekly comply were tortured and killed.
And in the West it's just a bit more subtle: the ever-expanding secular humanism under the guise of "democracy", "freedom" and "tolerance" exerts strong social pressure against living out one's Christian faith in the public square. Leftists now push the idea that religious freedom means only the right to attend the worship service of your choice, not freedom of religious expression (as the First Amendment's clearly states). Do you see a pattern developing here? Our courses can help you break out of these cultural stereotypes!
How often have you heard, "Don't shove your religion down other people's throats!" and Christians being labeled as "intolerant" or "bigoted" or "haters" if they speak of or live out their beliefs in public? We've internalized these social pressures, accepting them as "normal" and even come to believe in them almost as religious dogma. We must break out of this "psychological box" that we've been shoved into, and reclaim the free exercise of our religion in society, as the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees and as Christ commanded us to do.
You likely don't have the gifts of healing or exorcism. Perhaps you're not a great evangelist: you get real nervous if asked to speak in public. It's OK if you don't have those spiritual gifts. Remember Christ's parable of the ten talents, five talents and one talent? The person with just one talent buried it, so the Master took it and gave it to the person who had ten.
But actually, you most likely have ten talents already! What are those things attached to your palms? Ten fingers! You have ten spiritual gifts, called the gift of helps! Learn how to start using them, and perhaps the Master will entrust you with some of the greater gifts. Break out of the box!
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