For more than 20 years secularists have been saturating American minds with their list of the ultimate evils.
Their propaganda machine has successfully convinced many that the enemies of a great nation are the intolerant, bullies, narrow-minded and hate mongers. And let’s not forget the recent addition of “homophobes” to the list.
Name-calling and using offensive labels are effective battle tactics when there are no reasonable weapons in your arsenal.
Of course, most of these descriptors are aimed directly at Christians. In their crusade to criminalize Christianity, secular leftists have identified those who follow Jesus Christ as the enemy of all that is alleged to be best for America’s true progress.
If you pray in Jesus’ name, you are said to be narrow-minded and intolerant of other religions.
Therefore, you should be denied your religious freedoms.
If you don’t embrace culturally preferred deviations from biblical marriage, you are a hate monger and an intolerant homophobe. Therefore, you should be bullied into isolation and denied constitutional rights.
“Disingenuous” hardly begins to characterize the stench of hypocrisy that has surfaced from the bullies of the new world order.
Apparently they are exempt from their own message.
One of the most glaring examples is the case of Brendan Eich, the chief executive of Mozilla, owners of the Firefox® web browser.
He resigned April 3 amid protests surrounding his $1,000 donation to support the passage of California’s Proposition 8, which defined marriage as the union of a man and a woman.
Eich made the donation in 2008 – more than five years ago.
His gift was revealed two years ago when he held a senior role at Mozilla. Last month he was elevated to CEO.
At that time half of Mozilla’s board quit and some company employees publicly voiced their disapproval. A public campaign called for his removal.
Ironically, the Mozilla executive is guilty of holding the same view president Barack Obama held before he ‘evolved.’
Apparently, if you disagree with others, your voice is not tolerated, and you should not be allowed to hold a job in this country, even if you were instrumental in the success of a company that created jobs for others.
It is fair to say that the intolerant rose up, created a bully campaign, launched a narrow-minded crusade against one who disagreed with their agenda and stirred up hate against the businessman.
Absent of all basic ethical standards, the self-appointed cultural police assumed the role of judge and jury, minus the trial.
Eich lost his job. It’s enough to enrage those with minimal standards of decency.
So, here is where we take a deep breath and pause, lest we get drawn into the vortex of cultural disarray.
We are tempted to rise up and fight the battle of Jericho. Or like Simon Peter, we want to draw our sword and cut off the ear of the high priest’s servant!
Eich’s case exposes serious problems with the secularists’ agenda. We cannot overlook the grave realities of civilization’s demise.
But we must hear the words our Savior gave us:
“Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you …” (John 15:20, NKJ).
“But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you” (Matthew 5:44, NKJ).
“Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matthew 5:11-12, NKJ).
I confess that I am not prone to turn to these texts first. I am convicted by Jesus’ standards.
He does not bless the enemy, and He does not endorse the actions of the persecutors. He just says to expect persecution.
I would prefer a more comfortable world – one like Christians have enjoyed in America for several hundred years. It is not easy to bless those who revile us, persecute us and lie about us. It is hard to pray for those who spitefully reject us. It is even harder to rejoice and be “exceedingly glad.”
But Jesus said to take this posture. It is the superior path.
The suffering-less brand of Christianity is no longer the norm in America.
Don’t read into my commentary that I am waving the white flag over America.
I have not lost the conviction that there are principles on which we must stand.
I only want to remind us that the resurrected Jesus told us to expect the things we are seeing, and He gave us principles for handling such a crisis.
As we celebrate His resurrection, remember the way the world opposed His holy life. Remember how they rejected His truth.
But most of all, remember the result – He arose in victory! Sin is defeated.
There are ‘Sauls’ all around us who believe they are doing the right thing. Their hypocrisy is obvious to us.
We are called to pray for their salvation. God is still able to do a ‘Damascus road’ experience today.
Pray every day for our country. Pray for our elected leaders. May 1 is National Day of Prayer. Hold prayer meetings in your home, office and church as believers unite our cries to God for the healing of our land.
Be salt and light in a dark, decaying world. Vote in the primary elections on May 6.
Our influence is necessary.
