If our children are going to remain faithful to God in a time of trials and persecution there are some things we have to do to prepare them for something we have never faced before. One of those things is . . .

Making Christian Connections

There is something encouraging about knowing you are not alone. In 1 Peter 5:9 we are encouraged to resist Satan and the encouragement given is knowing that others are facing the same afflictions and temptations. Sometimes we suffer from the Elijah syndrome which occurs when we think we are the only ones in the whole world who are faithful. Other than the days of Noah that has never been the case. God has children throughout the world and we would do well to remember that.

I know we are busy with our lives and many churches are busy with their own activities, fellowship time, Bible studies, outreach, evangelism, benevolence programs, etc.(and they may be great things to be involved in), but we have to make time to make contact with other Christians beyond our own congregation as well. Do we connect with a church when we are traveling? Do we visit area congregations when they have a meeting, ladies’ day, or even VBS? Do we interact with other Christians by phone, email or snail mail, or even social media?

During the first century there were certain places with more persecution than other places. At one point all of the Jews were forced to leave Rome, in some towns Paul stayed and preached for a long time while in others he was attacked, Jesus even told the disciples at one point that if they were persecuted in one city they should flee to another. He was not encouraging cowardice, but prudence; live to fight another day. I believe that the same clustering of persecution will be true in our modern times as well. Just as certain things have been pushed and promoted more in some states than others, it seems likely that before there is a national persecution there would be some in certain cities or states. If they become severe enough it might be advisable for Christians to leave one place and go to another. Would you have any contacts under those circumstances? Where could you go? Who could you call? Who could call on you?

I think about the Christians who got out of Jerusalem before the destruction or the Jews who left Germany and later Austria to escape Hitler. Some thought it was foolish and unnecessary and that nothing bad would happen, but looking back we see those leaving were wise. I certainly am not saying that we should all be scared and running for our lives. We are not there yet and I still hope that we can turn things around, but I am saying that just as with a fire, tornado or hurricane it is good to have a plan in case of emergency. Once the house is on fire is too late to plan. Some probably think that I am being silly to even bring any of this up, but that is what many thought before the destruction of Jerusalem and before WWII as well. It is better to be prepared for something that never occurs than to be caught flat footed when it does happen.

Our country is currently on a trajectory away from religious freedom. If you don’t believe it consider what is going on in the military which has always had a strong religious foundation. 
* An Air Force officer was told to remove a Bible from his desk because it might give the impression he was endorsing a religion.
*The Air Force censored a video created by a chaplain because it include the word “God.” The Air Force feared the word might offend Muslims and atheists.
*A service member received a “severe and possibly career-ending reprimand” for expressing his faith’s religious position about homosexuality in a personal religious blog.
*A senior military official at Fort Campbell sent out a lengthy email officially instructing officers to recognize “the religious right in America” as a “domestic hate group” akin to the KKK and Neo-Nazis because of its opposition to homosexual behavior.
*A chaplain was relieved of his command over a military chapel because, consistent with DOMA’s definition of marriage, he could not allow same-sex weddings to take place in the chapel.
*The VA has banned the use of “God” in military funerals.
These are actual events, not some fictional storyline. Add to that the fact that this very week the Supreme Court heard a case about whether a town council can say a prayer before they start their meeting. Can you imagine that happening 50 or 100 years ago. The founding fathers said prayers when they had meetings, but some think it should not be allowed anymore. We are definitely headed toward persecution of Christians if we don’t make a course correction.

In the meantime having fellowship with other Christians near and far will help us grow stronger and help them grow stronger. Studies have been done showing that the number of Christian friendships a person has is directly related to how likely they are to remain faithful. We are a family and even though we don’t see all of our family every week we still love those family members that live far away from us. I know in my family there are some family members who have never met one another, but we still know they are family if we need them or they need us. We will not meet all of our Christian family on this side of Heaven, but we need to know they are family if we need them or they need us. - jp

  According to a recent news article that you can read at the NY Post site, there are some people who have lost their minds about parenting in our society. What is worse is that they have pushed someone who was trying to do what was right into apologizing for doing the right thing. The gist of the story goes this way: a father was going to take his son out to eat (Not so bad yet). The boy didn’t want to go to that restaurant and threw a tantrum (Ever been there). The boy wanted to go to McDonald’s (No big surprise there). What should a good parent do? Reward the tantrum? I’ll be honest this father was much softer than I tend to be. He told the boy they could go anywhere except McDonald’s or not eat. See I would say forget it you can have a sandwich at home. This boy chose to make his stand ‘take me to McDonald’s’. Do you know why he made the stand? Because he knew he would win (Only he didn’t win, everyone lost). At this point in the standoff mom comes to the ‘rescue’ and takes Junior to McDonald’s just like he wanted.

  Now mom who was the ‘bad’ parent in this sequence of events is in court trying to have the father found unfit because he wouldn’t give in to the kid’s hissy fit. The father has been beaten down to the point that he is quoted in the story as saying that he wished he had taken the boy to McDonald’s. Now this is a divorce / child custody battle and I am sure that there are many other things involved, but this part is pretty simple no one wins when selfish childish outbursts are rewarded and not disciplined. What do you think about it? - jp

If our children are going to remain faithful to God in a time of trials and persecution there are some things we have to do to prepare them for something we have never faced before. One of those things is . . .

Making Christian Connections

In the first century, since there was no Social Security, unemployment payments, Medicare, Medicaid or welfare people who were destitute or out of work or aged or ill, they had to depend on the charity of others. Sometimes their family could help them, but sometimes the whole family was in trouble and had to depend on friends or even strangers. The Christians in the first century took care of each other during these difficult times. There was a famine in Judea and Christians from all over sent aid to the apostles and elders in Jerusalem. People like Barnabas sold land to help provide for the needs of other Christians. Take a closer look at Acts 2:41-47; 4:31-37 and 6:1-3. After reading those sections a few times honestly ask yourself if that sounds like the congregation where you attend. All things common, none considered possessions theirs, daily food distribution to widows, selling things to give more, being in daily fellowship and study, etc. Some people think it sounds like Communism and it scares them, but the fact is that it is New Testament Christianity and an aspect of it that we have lost touch with because government programs have taken the place of Christians caring for one another. However, we need to return to this way of thinking and acting as one large extended family, and may soon be forced to either do so or allow the church to be destroyed. 

How far would you be willing to go to help your brethren. Would we be like the man described by James that says, ‘be warmed and filled’, or perhaps one who says, ‘I’m praying for you’, but does nothing? Would you allow a widow, an orphan, or a homeless family to live with you for a time? Would you make sure everyone in the church had food each day? Would you give one of your cars to someone who had none? Would you sell something to help a fellow Christian have something they need? These things seem extreme in the land of plenty where Americans live. Here aside from some who truly have had some serious physical or mental handicaps people who are poor to the point of not having the necessities of life are in that position because of choices they have made. Drugs, alcohol, other addictions, dropping out of school, criminal activity, laziness, attitude of entitlement, etc. The Bible certainly does not encourage the support of sinful choices, but things can change quickly and good Christian people could be in a position of losing their means of support. The financial condition of the United States could bring reductions or even elimination of some of the social programs that many depend upon. How many older Christians, orphaned children, widows or those with handicaps are receiving Social Security or SSI benefits? How would they get by without it? Will the church step up and sacrifice houses, land, cars, possessions for necessities of their brethren.

We must instill in our children and ourselves a desire to have the kind of relationship with other Christians that would drive us to sacrifice for them. I am not talking about supporting deadbeats, that is condemned in scripture, but those who are truly in need. Are you closer to physical family members who are not Christians or Christians who are not physical family members? Jesus said those who do God’s will are His family members and we need to think the same way.

So far we have only considered economic reasons for need, but let’s be honest, persecution would certainly cause Christians to have needs. What if Christians were actively persecuted? Not necessarily with beatings or killings even, but what if someone was fired for refusing to do something sinful? What if Christians were excluded from benefits like Social Security. In India a Christian cannot be buried unless the church has some land and a cemetery. In the Roman empire at one point in time you could not do business in the marketplace unless you had offered sacrifice to their gods and had proof of it. In Nazi Germany, Jews were marked, were fired from jobs, had their possessions stolen (confiscated) and ultimately were executed. Here in America the Indians were forced off the land and black people were sold as property, separated from their children and families, etc. For any who would say, ‘that can’t happen here’; I say, ‘Wake up!’ It can and I expect will happen in my lifetime. In fact, I would suggest that it is already starting to happen in some places. Have you seen the video by Ben Stein called Expelled? It describes cases of scientists who lost their jobs right here in America because the believed in design rather than evolution. That movie is several years old now. There was a substitute teacher banned because a student asked about his Bible and he gave it to the student. Some would say these are isolated events and perhaps that is true . . . for now. Paul told Timothy that evil men would get worse and that is the trajectory of our society today. Back to the question. How much would you do to help your fellow Christians? Locally? Nationally? Internationally? - jp

If our children are going to remain faithful to God in a time of trials and persecution there are some things we have to do to prepare them for something we have never faced before. One of those things is . . .
Build Boundaries

One of the hardest boundaries for Christians to even consider is at what point they would be willing to break the law. Christianity from its beginning has taught and practiced submission to governing authorities. Jesus and the apostles teach us that taxes are to be paid even to an immoral government (Matthew 22:16-21, Romans 13:6-7), respect is to be given to those in authority even if they are abusing their authority (Acts 23:1-5, 2 Peter 2:9-10), that we should pray for those in authority (1 Timothy 2:1-2), that the government is serving God even though some of them persecute Christians (Romans 13:1-7), that we are to obey them even though their laws are manmade (1 Peter 2:13-17, Titus 3:1-2), and that the only time we should refuse to obey is when we are commanded to violate God’s commands (Acts 5:27-29). It is determining the point at which disobedience becomes the appropriate response that would please God that often causes us difficulty. 

I sat with some young men in a high school/college age class and tried to get them to ponder that line in their lives. Some of them were in the military at the time, so as we talked about the wars in the Old Testament and the soldiers who crucified Christ, arrested the apostles, etc. I asked them where they would draw the line to disobey a command from a superior officer. They were totally stumped. The thought had not occurred to them before. We talked about the Nazis in Germany and how they were expected to arrest and execute people who had been their friends, neighbors, and even family. With some of the problems that have come out of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan I believe there were some young people who should have considered those limits before they went. Some things that were done were more peer pressure than commands (and that topic deserves a book of its own), but how far is to far. Were the soldiers who crucified Jesus excused from guilt because they were just following orders? What about police working under a corrupt system, does that excuse them? What about employees who are asked to lie, cheat, steal, etc., do they have to do as they are told?

The problem that can arise from teaching respect for authority is that sometimes people are not taught the limits of that authority. People will say things like: “I didn’t have a choice.” or “They made me do it.” or “You would have done the same thing.” to try to justify what they have done. The fact is there is always at least one other choice, it just may be unpleasant. You may lose a friend if you don’t go drinking with them. You may lose a job if you refuse to be dishonest for them. But do you really want to work for someone who cheats others? Do you think they won’t cheat you, too? You may even lose your life if you refuse certain people at certain times, but isn’t it better to die with a clear conscience than to live knowing that what the devil said falsely about Job could be said truthfully about you. Remember Job 2:4 “And Satan answered the LORD, and said, ‘Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life.’”

Government has authority in our lives, but it does not have unlimited authority. We need to understand the limits that God has placed on other authorities in this world. Parents, husbands, elders, masters(employers), and, yes, even governments have been limited by God’s spiritual law. The thing is that while God’s physical or natural law cannot be broken without immediate consequences(Disregarding the law of gravity and walking off the roof will bring pain and possibly death depending on the height of the roof.), His spiritual laws can seemingly be broken with impunity. The fact is many of the authorities mentioned above routinely disregard God’s limits and overstep the boundaries of their authority, but not with impunity as it seems. God is keeping score and He will hold them accountable for what they have done and how they have abused the power they have been given. He also expects us to do what is right even when others are not even if those others are in positions of authority. He even expects us to do what is right when those in authority over us allow, encourage, expect, endorse, promote, or even command disobedience to God. He expects us to obey and not try to find loopholes, make excuses, or compromise.

So, where would you draw the line? If tomorrow they passed a law that said we had to stop worshiping God and start worshiping the presidents on Mount Rushmore, we quickly say, “Of course not, we will worship God!” But it doesn’t usually work like that. The fact is our government is continually taking more authority for itself and pushing churches and Christians farther away from their God ordained position and authority. The Jewish leaders were not telling Peter and John to bow down to an idol, or not to have church services, or that they couldn’t worship God in private; they told them not to be telling others about him in public. The military is doing exactly that with new regulations that are being prepared for military personnel. There are already rules in most government organizations that forbid ‘proselytizing’. In talking with government employees that I have known I found that they had been told that they can’t talk about God on the premises, even on breaks, at lunch, or before or after work hours. Starts to sound quite a bit like what the rulers in Jerusalem told the apostles. So what has our response to that typically been? Compromise, kowtow, submit! I am not talking about hounding someone who is not interested in listening and following them around trying to tell them one more verse while they are trying to get us to leave them alone. Schools also have these kinds of strict policies in place. One substitute got in trouble because he gave a student his own Bible after the student asked him questions about it.

What if a church that provides shelter for someone in need is told that they can’t discriminate against people living in sin. Do they have to let the unmarried couple or the homosexual couple have a room? How long before a church is sued because of something ‘offensive’ that is on the church sign. What about in states where homosexual ‘marriage’ is allowed, and a church refuses to let one of these couples use their facilities? There will be lawsuits. There already have been against private businesses that refused to participate in providing service for either cakes, flowers, photos or venues for homosexual weddings or providing accommodations in your house because of the business owners religious convictions.(these links are to news sites that document the events and we are not responsible for the content of those ) What will we do when a preacher is arrested for hate speech because he said that something, anything, was a sin, or spoke out against a false religion? What about a church that loses its nonprofit status for preaching against abortion or homosexuality or some other hot button moral issue. 

You see the first step is not ‘bow to the idol’, the first step is eat the king’s food and enjoy his favor. Long before Daniel and his friends were cast in lions’ dens and fiery furnaces they enjoyed the favor of the king and were trained at his expense and fed on his dime. They were seduced by the benefits first, but they didn’t fall for it. The problem in America is that too often we have fallen for the government favors. It is hard to bite the hand that feeds you, and with the special tax benefits, exemption from certain regulations, etc. churches have been lulled to complacency and many may not wake up before it is too late. Daniel and his friends refused the king’s meat and that gave them the courage later because they had won that battle with Satan. If they had compromised on the meat, chances are they would have compromised on the prayer and the idol as well.
-jp

If our children are going to remain faithful to God in a time of trials and persecution there are some things we have to do to prepare them for something we have never faced before. One of those things is . . .
Build Boundaries

I can’t draw boundary lines for your family and you can’t draw them for mine. That is hard for us because we wouldn’t believe what we do if we didn’t think it was right, but there must be room for the authority God has given fathers and mothers to decide what is best for their children. We need to support each other’s right to draw lines for our own families and defend those who are persecuted for drawing lines in their lives even if we do not draw the same line. There are some things that are a matter of conscience and for someone to violate his conscience the Bible calls sin (1 Corinthians 8:10-12; 1 Peter 2:19). We must study Romans 14 and 1 Corinthians 8 and realize that God has given certain authority to the father of the family and not the church to decide some things. For example: I have decided with my wife that our children will not be allowed to spend the night with friends where we are not present. Based on our own experiences and other dangers that we know exist we are not willing to allow that. You may not agree or even understand why we have made that decision, but that doesn’t matter, you should respect the right of our family to decide that. There are other things that do not always make sense to others looking in from outside, but that are an important part of one families rules. When I was young I would go to a friend’s house and when we came in the door his mother would tell us to take off our shoes. My family never did that, but at their house I did because it was their rule. It never made much sense to me at the time, but looking back I realize that since they lived on a farm there were probably some pretty nasty things on those shoes that they did not want tracked all through the house.

God never gives a responsibility to someone and makes them accountable to Him unless He has also given that person the authority and power to fulfill the responsibility. When God tells husbands and fathers that they are the head of the house they have the power, authority, and information necessary to fulfill that responsibility and will be held accountable with what has been entrusted to them. If fathers (or mothers for that matter) shirk their responsibility they will have to answer to God for that. What are you doing to lead your family in the right direction?

So where will your family draw the lines? Only you can answer that, but let me give you some questions to consider. 

1. Has your family drawn lines regarding use of language (Cursing, lying, using God’s name in vain, etc.) that are not to be crossed?
2. Has your family made boundaries in the sexual arena (dating, premarital sex, flirting, sexting, etc.) for your self, spouse, children maturing into adulthood?
3. Has your family set guidelines for time usage (things that are a waste of time and shouldn’t be done, things that must be done before others, activities with time limits, etc.) that help everyone in the family be productive?
4. Has your family determined out of bounds markers on money matters (amounts to save, give and spend, discussion between husband and wife before spending, budgeting, kids’ spending, what kinds of things should never be bought, etc.) to avoid materialism, affluenza, poverty, greed, government dependence, etc?
5. Has your family fenced off negative entertainment and fenced in positive entertainment to keep minds pure and attitudes positive?
6. Has your family defined proper and improper behaviors in your home and in public?
7. Has your family determined what is a sufficient reason to miss worship or other spiritually beneficial activities?
8. Has your family decided what teachings or practices would cause you to leave one church for another?
9. Has your family outlined priorities based on principles you believe are most important?
10. Has your family clearly marked the limit of government interference, intrusion, coercion, etc. that you will allow before saying we must obey God rather than man? 
11. Has your family drawn a line in education (safety, things taught, private school cost, home schooling, etc.) about what you will or won’t allow for your children?

There may be other areas that you need to consider, and if so, consider them and make a decision. As in many other areas of life, so in the area of drawing boundary lines: not deciding is deciding not to. If you don’t build the walls and draw the lines someone else will do it for you and you may not like the results. Remember that there may be new information that could change some things for your family, so the things you have put down need to be reviewed an a regular basis to make sure they are still in line with your family culture and values as well as your knowledge and understanding of the Bible. For example: as you learn and grow as a Christian some things that you once allowed you may realize should not have been allowed, but other things that you were dogmatic about you may realize were family traditions and not Biblical principles and you may want to go a different direction from the way your parents or grandparents or siblings went. - jp

If our children are going to remain faithful to God in a time of trials and persecution there are some things we have to do to prepare them for something we have never faced before. One of those things is . . . Build Boundaries

How far will you go? What will you not do? What will you do? At what point will you do it? Where is the line drawn? The problem we have in many areas of our life is that our boundaries are ambiguous and subjective rather than clearly measurable and objective. We might say, or think, for example, if ________is too bad / gets too bad / gets much worse / etc. then I am going to get mad / do something about it / look at my options / have to think about quitting or leaving / etc. What problems with those kinds of statements can you see? How do we define “too bad” or “much worse”? Instead of those vaguely threatening type statements we need to say something more like: “If there is alcohol at the party I will not go / stay.” or “If there is nudity / cursing / sin glorified / etc. I will not go to that movie or watch that show.”  or “If the school teaches evolution / homosexuality / etc. are right I will not let my children continue going to school there.” The building of boundaries is essential for Christians in many areas not just these 3 examples.  What a difference it makes when you set a specific boundary that you will not cross!

Martin Luther King Jr. said, “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” In our society too many times people don’t stand anywhere even in time of comfort and convenience. How would they ever stand under difficult circumstances. There is also the old saying that the man who won’t stand for something will fall for anything. The Bible tells us to stand in multiple ways multiple times. We are told to be steadfast in 11 verses. We are told to stand or stand fast over 15 times. We are also told to hold fast or hold on another 10+ times. A big problem is knowing where to stand: What are the things that really matter? What is worth spending time, energy, and money fighting? What battlefield is worth dying on and which one should be abandoned? What is worth living for and what is worth dying for? What would be worth losing your soul over?

We quickly say, “nothing” to that last question, but if we do not draw lines with indelible ink we will find ourselves erasing lines and drawing new ones a little further away from God each time. God does not change, His law has not changed for 2000 years and won’t change as long as the Earth remains. We discussed in a Bible class recently just how much we have really compromised already. We may not have even realized it, but when a TV show that is supposedly for young children uses God’s name in vain there is a problem. Look at what people who consider themselves Christians accept now that they would not have 50 years ago and it is obvious, but when we look at this year versus last year we don’t see much difference. That is the way Satan works many times, gradually pushing us a little at a time until we are falling off the cliff. Television is one of the easiest to see the difference. 50 years ago: there were no homosexual characters, much less homosexual couples and kisses; adultery was unacceptable, divorce a rarity; there was some immodesty, but nothing compared to today; parents were smarter than their children and disobedience was corrected; there was respect for authority; violence was limited; there was almost no bad language; and although alcohol and cigarettes were present in some shows, no other drugs were used. Compare that with today’s shows and there is a stark contrast, but if we compare 2013 with 2012 it doesn’t seem any worse. In fact, some years it may even seem to get better than the year before.

Now consider the federal government’s authority and compare what is demanded now compared to 50, 100, or 200 years ago in this country. Quit looking at last month or last year, but use a wider lens to look at the direction our government has been moving overall from its founding until now. Watching videos like The Silencing of God or America’s Most Pressing Concern may help you see the incredible difference between the principles upon which this country was founded and the principles that are currently driving it away from God and toward destruction. When this country was founded, for example, the freedom of speech was included in the Bill of Rights along with other rights to freedoms like religion, bearing arms, not being searched without reason, etc. In fact, the first amendment in the Bill of Rights says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” Compare that with recent laws that restrict speech and attempts to label the condemnation of certain sinful behaviors as hate speech that needs to be punished, or laws that make it more difficult to assemble, especially to protest the Government (like HR 347), without fear of reprisal. 

How long will churches stand for what God says if they could be sued or if preachers and elders could be arrested for the things that are taught? How long will you continue to support the church if it stands against sin? What would cause you to decide to leave a congregation? The issue we are talking about is one of the reasons that many remain in a congregation that has slowly moved into apostasy. In the 1820's or 1950's it would have seemed unthinkable that congregations full of faithful Christians would ever have to worry about the problems of instrumental music, but 50-60 years after that in the 1870's-80's and now look what happened. It would have seemed impossible to most in the church that there would be a problem in the Lord’s church with women wanting to step outside their God-given roles and take on leadership positions even 30 years ago, but look where we are today. So even though we think the church will not give in on an issue like same-sex marriage, homosexual preachers, or any other controversial area we must realize that some will. What if it is the one where you are a member? What will you do? Will you stay or will you go? At what point will you say it has gone too far? 

We will continue looking at this concept on an individual family level next time. - jp

If our children are going to remain faithful to God in a time of trials and persecution there are some things we have to do to prepare them for something we have never faced before. One of those things is . . .
Examining Extreme Examples of Endurance.

Imagine with me what it would have been like to be a faithful Jew in the days of righteous King Hezekiah. He reigned for 29 years and worshiped God with all his heart. He encouraged worship, cleansed the temple, tore down the places of false religion, etc. Going to the temple was a wonderful experience and the priests and prophets were respected. Being Jewish religiously was something honorable and it was shameful to be anything else. That is what being a Christian in the United States has been like for the past century. There have been problems, and being a member of the church of Christ was not quite like being in some of the denominations that were more prominent. Overall however, things have leaned toward morality and virtues for the greater part of the 20th century. We have had laws in place that protected religious freedom and benefitted religion in general.

Now, let’s imagine a different Israel. What would it have been like to have tried to live as a faithful Jew in the days of wicked King Manasseh? He reigned for 55 years and it was a reign of terror. He sacrificed his own son to a false god. If he would do that to his son what do you think he would do to you if you went against him. There is a legend that says that he put Isaiah in a log and then cut it and him in half. Some believe that is referenced in Hebrews 11:37. Second Kings chapter 21 explains that he did more wicked things than the heathen Canaanites that had been destroyed so that the Israelites could have the land. He put idols and altars to false gods in God’s temple, and killed so many innocent people that it says Jerusalem was filled with the blood he shed. How hard would it have been to be a faithful Jew under those circumstances? You could not go to the temple because it had been confiscated by the king for use by false religions. How would you find a priest to perform a sacrifice or anything else the religion requires? Where would you hear the law taught if you did not have a copy of your own, which you probably wouldn’t? How would you find friends who were like-minded? Who could you safely talk to about your faith? If you can imagine what that would have been like, then you can see the direction we are headed in America as we move deeper into the 21st century. 

We are leaving the reign of Hezekiah and entering the reign of Manasseh. Realize that Manasseh did not do all of those wicked things in the first year. I imagine that it deteriorated as the years went by until it hit rock bottom. We should not expect to wake up next Sunday to find the church doors chained, but that is certainly the desire of a portion of society. While the majority would not vote for such a thing today, chances are many would not do much to stop that kind of thing. 

As we move into a time like this we have a choice: we and our children can gripe and moan and whine that we didn’t live in the days of Hezekiah, or we can impress our selves and our children with the Esther factor, that perhaps God put us here in this time and this place because we have an important role to play. I don’t know about you, but I am convinced that the second is the way to live a life that is pleasing to God. If you look to the Scriptures you will find a multitude of accounts of people who were faithful under extreme persecution or in the face of godless surroundings. We look to heroes like Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Joshua and Caleb, Gideon, David, Elijah, Daniel, Shadrach, Meschach, Abednego, Jeremiah, Esther, Peter, James, John, Stephen, Paul, and others who triumphed against the wickedness that surrounded them. 

When we look at persecution we have to change the way we look at it. The first century church had an amazing view of this. Notice what Paul says in Philippians and let it sink in. Philippians 1:27-29 says, 

“Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether
I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast 
in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;  (28)  And 
in nothing terrified by your adversaries: which is to them an evident token of 
perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God.  (29)  For unto you it is given 
in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;”

Notice verse 29 talks of two blessings that were given to them one was faith which we all know is a wonderful thing from God, but the other is not what we usually think of as a blessing or gift. Look at that verse closely, Paul says that not only has it been given them to believe on Jesus, but also (they get a special gift) to suffer for Him. Have you ever felt that God was neglecting you because He had left suffering out of the list of gifts and blessings that He has poured out on you? I know I never have. If we and our children are going to remain faithful through times of persecution we are going to have to look at persecution as an opportunity to be blessed by God. If we continue to have the attitude that we should never suffer for being Christians then we will quit when Christians begin to suffer.

We are going to have to look at those martyrs in the Old and New Testaments with more than the token respect we have given them in the past, but with a desire to follow in the footsteps of their faith, a faith that rejoiced at being counted worthy of suffering for God - Acts 5:41. In a society full of people who won’t go to worship God because: it is too hot, it is too cold, it is raining, it is dark, I don’t want to bother someone for a ride, I don’t have anything to wear, I don’t want to miss _________(fill in the blank with any tv show, sporting event, etc.), someone hurt my feelings, I was up too late Saturday night, etc., etc., etc.; How would they ever even consider worshiping God if there were some real problem like persecution or breaking the law involved. Someone I went to college with said she thought that if the government tried to take the freedom away that people would rise up and stand for the right to worship like many have over efforts to increase gun control. I hope she is right and I am sure some would, but the majority, I think, would just roll over and go the easy way. There are not many Daniels in the world, but I want to train my son to be like him. There are not many Esthers in the world, but I want to train my daughters to be like her. Who are training your children to be? - jp

    Obama is going to be sworn in with two Bibles. There is all kinds of symbolism with Abraham Lincoln's and Martin Luther King Jr.'s Bibles. Biden is using a Bible that has been in his family for 120 years. I have to say that if a Bible were being used it would never last 120 years, and God intended the Bible to be believed and respected, opened and read, and studied and lived, not collected to be used symbolically. What is the point of having people swear on the Bible when they don't even believe it? How much better would we be in this nation if instead of having public officials lay their hands on a Bible before taking office we expected them to read it, believe it, and live by it or we wouldn't vote them into office in the first place. It always amazes me that we think this means something. If a person believes the Bible there is no need to have them swear with a hand on it, and if they don't it is useless. People could swear on a stack of Bibles, or the original manuscripts (if we had them) and it won't matter at all.
jp

Preparing Children to Survive Behind Enemy Lines (part 3a)

If our children are going to remain faithful to God in a time of trials and persecution there are some things we have to do to prepare them for something we have never faced before. One of those things is . . .
Get that Government is not God

As I look back at history when there was a hostile government there seemed to always be a group that wanted to be violent. That is not the answer! We need to teach our children to be the best citizens they can be as long as the government does not call on them to violate God’s teaching, and then to simply refuse to submit to those laws. We will look at this further in the section on setting boundaries. One of the most difficult things for a person who is used to freedom to handle is the loss of that freedom and mistreatment or the violation of their rights. As Christians, however, we must remember that being right with God is more important than having rights with government. Jesus taught peace and submission, not violence and rebellion. Not all who have used the name of Christ have practiced what He both taught and practiced. The Old Testament tells of a time of violence and a physical kingdom that fought with physical enemies and material weapons, but Christ’s kingdom is not of this world because if it were His subjects would fight, but they don’t (John 18:33-37).

We have mostly failed to take the peace that Jesus left and implant it in our hearts and minds and the hearts and minds of our children. We must understand that as soon as we take up physical weapons to fight for God’s kingdom, we have betrayed what that kingdom stands for and have become traitors to Jesus and friends to the enemy. Gandhi was quoted as saying, “I like your Christ, but not your Christians. Your Christians are not much like your Christ.” When we act like the world and fuss and cuss and fight and kill we are part of the world and not part of Christ’s body, because His body does not behave that way (1 Corinthians 4:12; 1 Peter 2:23). 

Jesus warned Peter that those who use the sword will die by the sword (Matthew 26:52), and His true followers have been warning others of this same thing for 20 centuries. One case, certainly not the only one, from the 1400's recorded by Hans Grimm in his book The Course Of The Church Through The Centuries:

             Reiser had warned in vain against trying to protect churches of Christ with the sword.  
             The Taborites, incensed at the betrayal of the common cause, began the two-front war 
             against those who had capitulated in their own camp and against the crusaders on the 
             borders.  They were annihilated near Lipan in 1434 as a military force by the combined 
             forces of their opponents, and about the middle of the century they vanished as a reli-
             gious party also. 

We need to listen to those warnings. Other religions may call on their faithful to fight, but Christianity is more precious. Christianity is a faith worth NOT fighting for because fighting violates the faith. We are not terrorists. We fight against spiritual enemies with spiritual weapons and because of that we are no threat to anyone as long as we follow Christ. The wisdom of God’s plan for the church is seen in the way it is capable of surviving through times of turmoil and persecution. The autonomy of the local church with local leadership instead of a central government, the peaceful nature, the teaching to be submissive to the authorities, etc. are all things that make the persecution of the church problematic for a government. A group with a national headquarters that depends on that organization to function will be devastated by a law that affects that group, but if the government wants to shut down or cripple the churches of Christ they will have to come to every town to do it. Remember in the first century the church was large in Jerusalem before Acts 8 when Saul began to make havoc of it and they just scattered to other places, that left Saul having to go from town to town trying to get them. The governing authorities are not God and, therefore, they cannot be everywhere and know everything. 

We need to learn to focus our minds on Hebrews 13:5-6, God is with us we should never be afraid of what man can do to us. We need to pound this fearlessness, the desire to be weird, the courage to walk away from the fight attitude into our children if we want them to win. The child who has to fit in with the group will not stand against the crowd.
jp

If our children are going to remain faithful to God in a time of trials and persecution there are some things we have to do to prepare them for something we have never faced before. One of those things is . . .
Get that Government is not God

It seems like we as a people are becoming more and more dependent on the government to be there for us, especially the Federal government. I suppose that I honestly lean increasingly toward the libertarian view of things even though there are moral issues involved that I disagree with strongly. The fact is that our government has been growing at an alarming rate and has become truly unsustainable at this point. If something is not done soon the weight of it will fall on the American people and crush them, but this is not even about fiscal problems or bloated programs, or bureaucracy, or the things that people generally talk about when they discuss the problems of government. We are following a path that has led to problems for others in the past. Read one woman’s account of what happened in Austria during WWII.

The fact is that there are many people, including some Christians, who have been duped into believing that the government has the right to make laws that it actually does not have the right to make either constitutionally, or according to God’s law. When I asked once, in a Bible class, what we would do if they passed a law that said we couldn’t get together to study the Bible or worship one woman actually said she guessed we would have to quit doing it. Let’s make this clear, no government, not the United States government, not any state or local government, not the United Nations, not a husband, not an eldership, nor any other government is God. Government has no authority except what is given from above, Jesus said as much while on trial with Pilate - John 19:11. In Romans 13:1 Paul reminds us that the government is ordained and authorized by God, not the other way around. Peter and John made it clear that we are to obey God rather than man - Acts 5:29. When discussing Obamacare and the mandate to provide funding for the abortion pill, at least one Christian said since it didn’t affect churches it didn’t matter to us and that businesses had to do what the government said, even non-profit religious charities and Christian colleges. That is not true, and I for one am glad that there are some companies like Hobby Lobby that are fighting it and refusing to obey it.  Understand that just because they didn’t try to force it on churches this time does not mean they won’t soon, speak up while you can. I am often reminded of the quote that is attributed in various forms to Martin Niemoeller. 

There is also a growing percentage of our population that depends on government for day to day existence rather than on God. Money is a tool the government has used effectively in only one way – to get people addicted to the next handout. What if the government completely shut down tomorrow? There would be chaos, theft, murder, and rioting in the streets next week when half the people in the U.S. who get a monthly check and/or other benefits didn’t receive them. What about you? Are you depending on the government or God? Even those in private business might have some serious cutbacks if those on welfare and social security did not get their money to spend. There would be a massive ripple, a tsunami, throughout the economy. Someone took the 23rd Psalm and changed it to reflect the thinking of many who believe “The Government Is My Shepherd”. It has been around for years and there are several variations, this is a recently updated version of it.

There is an increasing ignorance about the role of government and the history of our government. People today have completely perverted the founders’ intentions with their talk of the separation of church and state. Originally, the idea was to protect the church, religion, and Christians from the federal government. Read the amendment in the Bill of Rights and you will see that it clearly says that congress(federal government) shall make no law establishing a religion or prohibiting the free practice of religion. There was actually nothing about local laws regarding religion, in fact several of the states had recognized churches. The point was not to allow the entire nation to have only one church as had been done in England. 

Consider the way that worked in the past, the Mormons were not welcome in many of the established states, so they went west and established their own in what is today Utah. That state is still strongly Mormon, but their laws have changed as others moved into the area, voted, ran for office, etc. There was a time when in Missouri a city was established for atheists. It was named Liberal and the goal was that no church building would be built there. Eventually the founder of the city became a Christian himself according to Wikipedia. Now there are at least 7 religious groups there. You can read more about this failed experiment in an article by Apologetics Press. That is what freedom is about and to some degree what was intended (although the founders had no use for atheism or any religion other than Christianity - for more on these views consider the videos The Silencing of God and America’s Most Pressing Concern available from World Video Bible School). Those kind of things could not happen today. If a group of religious people of one stripe or another decided to have a town of their own and not allow others, it would be attacked in the courts as soon as it was known. It has gotten to the point that if one person doesn’t like it he can scream about it and get any religious thing thrown out of town. You see, the truth is not afraid to stand toe to toe with a lie because it can win, but the lie can’t win in honest debate so it must resort to other means to silence truth and win the day. Today the founders' original plan has been twisted and perverted to protect government and society from religion. 

As Bible believers, we know that God does not call us to go live in isolation with only other believers, we are to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth. Both light and salt are more clearly evident in circumstances where there is not much. Turn on a spotlight out in the sunshine and it would barely be noticed 10 feet away, but light a match in the darkness of a cave and everyone there can see it. Put some salt in a salt shaker and you may not notice, but put some on bland vegetables and it makes them edible. Because our country has been one that taught morality and had many religious people of various denominations who were living basically good lives but were confused on certain doctrinal issues, the contrast has often not been that great. We are used to agreeing with our neighbors on 90-95% and debating issues of worship, a doctrine about the second coming, etc. That is not the case anymore. If we will truly live for Christ, not just worship Him on Sunday but truly live as He would live, we will stand out from the crowd, we will shine as stars in a crooked and perverse generation - Philippians 2:15.

Think about how different the Amish seem to us. Will we as Christians ever seem that different to our neighbors or will we keep doing what the media and government tell us is normal. Normal is being on the road toward Hell, I don’t want to be normal. I want people to think I am strange, the Christians in the New Testament had people thinking they were strange, not because of hair styles or not having electricity, but because they did not get involved in sinful things. Just because it is legal doesn’t mean it is moral. Government approval is not God’s approval.

There can be no doubt in our minds or our children's minds that tempts us to believe that government is benevolent, our provider, all-powerful, or our friend. The government that is at odds with and enemies with God and His Law is an enemy to His people as well. We need to know that wherever we live in this world we are living behind enemy lines and in hostile territory among citizens of the kingdom of our greatest enemy, Satan.

So what do we do with a hostile government that looks on us as a danger and that we have finally recognized as a danger? How do we react? We’ll consider that further in the next installment.

jp