American Church, Wake Up

            What I say isn’t always uplifting, but I’m just going to be frank here.

            American church, we need to wake up.

            I know, it’s all good here. We face our share of hardship- liberal legislation, angry humanists, etc. But most of us are clueless as to the extent of evil in our world.

            As I work in the pro-life movement, I see the amount of apathy by not just our nation in general, but by the church itself. Twenty-nine hundred babies, dismembered every day. Who knows that? Not enough. Who is aware of what an abortion “procedure” entails? Who has seen the victims, talked to regretful mothers?

            That isn’t even the main reason I’m writing, I just thought it needed added on.

            There is persecution in America. There is. It isn’t always easy. But look at the news lately. We don’t have it all that bad.

            Folks, we need to pray for our Christian brothers and sisters. Pray for those you know, that they’ll have the strength to stand through adversity. Pray for those around the world that have it much worse.

            As I mull over the articles, the photos, the videos, of what’s been happening in the Middle East, my heart breaks for my fellow believers. Headlines of Christians being attacked and massacred are paired with visible evidence. Any believer Islamic terrorists can find, yea, even CHILDREN, are being beheaded for their beliefs that run contrary to Islam. And the Muslim jihadists have a book they follow that not only allows but commands they do it. The “Religion of Peace”.

            Whatever I do, the image of a young girl in a pink dress, decapitated by the Islamic State (ISIS) militants, refuses to leave my mind.

            Pray for the Christians there. Pray for those in Southeast Asia, in Africa, in Ukraine- anywhere where their very lives are risked just by calling upon the name of the true God, the God of the Bible. We must stand behind them.

            We must stand behind Israel. The liberal media makes this tiny nation out to be terrorists themselves. The facts show differently. Israel lies under near-constant barrage from Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Finally, enough is enough as the rocket attacks increase, and Israel went to war to defend themselves. Let’s cut the religious side of it for a second- what country does not have the right to defend itself. Apparently, when the Left hates you almost as much as Islam does, you forfeit that right.

            Hamas uses children as bait, as shields. Three Israeli Defense Force soldiers were killed when they took children who said they were injured to a hospital, which was booby trapped. Muslim children, by the way. Children are put in buildings in which Hamas stores their weapons, or they are stored in hospitals. And when Israel tries their best to keep the civilian toll as low as possible as they strike these military targets, they are called terrorists- not the pigs that put the children there in the first place. Children also make good shields for the jihadists as they fight their religious war.

            “Yes, it’s a religious war.” Started by a religion we agree scarcely little with. Begun out of a hatred for anyone different. Contrary to popular rumor, most wars are not due to religion- but the ones that have been lately always have hateful Islam at their roots.

            The Bible is clear on this one. God isn’t full of hatred for all other people like jihadists are. But God did and has made Hebrews His chosen people, because way back when He called Abraham and made him a promise. And it was through Abraham’s line that God brought His own Son into the world to be the sacrifice for all the world’s sins, Jew or Gentile. This theme saturates the Bible.

            What was the promise God made Abraham? It had several aspects. By Abraham, all the world would be blessed- Jesus Christ. God would make his descendants “like the stars in the heavens”- something the Bible reflects and is reflected today. And that God would bless all those who bless Israel and curse those who curse them.

            Now we see plainly the biblical view and what’s at stake. America has always been the strongest ally of Israel. And America has been blessed. That relationship isn’t as strong as it used to be. There’s a problem here, because God will curse those who curse them. The Middle East is an area in constant turmoil. Not just Muslims against Jews and Christians, but Muslims against Muslims. It’s crazy over there. Even more, there will be a much worse punishment that those who go against God’s people will face.

            America needs to stand with Israel. It is both logical- seeing they fight out of self-defense- and biblical. The IDF doesn’t need much help, they can mobilize like no other army. But our support must be with them- no for their sakes, but ours. Those calling Israel terrorists will face their punishment with Islam. Don’t get mad at me, get mad at the Bible.

            American church, wake up. We sit and wait for God to move, we wonder why the world is the way it is. The answer is sin. And we have a duty to fight sin through the power of God. We may not face the persecution (yet) that others face, but we do have the freedom to share our support for them.

            Yet instead, when the going even seemingly gets tough, when it appears we might have to sacrifice something or make someone upset, the American church makes like an ostrich and buries her head in the sand. “What? Christians are being beheaded? Babies are being butchered? I don’t see anything.” But that doesn’t change the fact that it is happening.

            It is left up to no one but the church to fight injustice. We are held to the higher standard, and cannot expect non-believers to do so. Children are dismembered abroad in the name of Islam, children are dismembered here in the name of “choice” and “women’s rights”. When will we realize that God has not set us here to enjoy a Joel Oesteen-esque Christianity (“Christianity” being a loose term) where we expect that, because we are God’s children, we’re going to live an easy and blessed life? A life of surrender to Christ is blessed, but not in the way we often think.

            Let me try to put it in layman’s terms: If you are not facing persecution, you are not serving God. Wait, I hear excuses. Let me put it out there again: If you are not facing persecution, you are not serving God.

            This too is biblical, for Jesus said that the world will reject us and abuse us. You want the litmus test for a sold-out life? Who have you made angry simply by you speaking the truth in love?

            This sort of Christianity is not popular, but it is commanded. I am speaking to myself just as much. As I stand testifying of God’s love for the preborn, I often come across people who hurl expletives, give gross commentary, and gesture rudely. But rarely do things, at this point, get physical. We are blessed in America, but that’s not an excuse for a lackadaisical Christian life.

            Rise up. Take a stand. We think God, being a good parent, won’t allow us to suffer. But in reality, He tells us we can take JOY in suffering. I saw an article in Parade Magazine (I don’t recommend the magazine, but it occasionally has something good) that had an interview of the mother of a man martyred in the civil rights movement. He, like his mother, long stood up for the equality of all mankind. He found another opportunity in registering blacks to vote in Mississippi, and there was murdered by the Ku Klux Klan and buried in an earthen dam. The mother didn’t want her son to die, of course, but wanted him nonetheless to fight for his fellow man- knowing full well the consequences that could ensue. The man, Michael Schwerner, had even brought along gauze for the expected physical assault. He didn’t expect to lay down his life, but he was ready nonetheless.

            Parents since the beginning of time have sacrificed their children (not themselves, that is another conversation) to movements of human equality and the message of the gospel- which go hand-in-hand, if you haven’t realized. Countless millions have been slaughtered standing for the Truth of God when those around them threatened their very lives. Many more have used themselves up furthering the Kingdom of God, rather than trying to live out an “American dream” or some other notion of “normality” in society.

            Find something to reach out with. Forget what the liberals, or the jihadists, or the sodomites or child-butchers or anyone else says or threatens. God’s Truth, the only way to be reconciled to Him, cannot be silenced by those who hate it. May we not be either.