Matthew 5:10-12 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. I held off uploading this blog entry till today out of respect for the fifteenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C. The image I created for this blog entry is disturbing; many people will find it upsetting. I get that. I did it purposely. Because as hideous as the 9/11 terrorist attack was and continues to be, so is the exponential growth in oppression and acts of violence toward Christians and the Christian faith in general. And, as I take a look back since September of 2001 I see a correlation between the two, a parallel growth of violence against Muslim nations by western forces, a growth of Muslim on Muslim violence and a global increase in Muslim on Christian violence. We are living in a culture of hatred that I cannot remember seeing in all of my years on this planet. 9/11 seems to have been the birthing point for so many negative aspects of our current society and mostly, as I see it, that was the day when radical, jihadist Islam crossed the ocean and brought their hatred to North American doorsteps and they have been bringing it here ever since on a frightening, escalating scale. It also marks the day when hatred against the Christian faith took a leap in popularity. According to mainstream media resources, and there are many, including an excellent story on CNN’s web site, (click here to read it) last year, 2015, was the most violent year on record for acts of persecution against Christians. From what we have experienced so far this year, 2016 may break that infamous record. Every resource that can be trusted and verified claims that Christians are the most persecuted group of people on the planet. It is disturbing and it is not only an assault against the religious faithful, on the greatest source of goodness this planet has known, but it is also a worldwide assault upon society and modern culture in general; an attempt to subjugate our way of life; a war being waged against one third of the world’s population. And yet the issue infrequently appears on the evening news and when it does it is never as the main story and I personally have not seen Christian persecution on the front page of any mainstream non-religious newspaper or magazine. The violence and atrocities perpetrated against Christians worldwide is outrageous and baffling, but, so too, is the indifference and silence of our media and our governments who appear to be unmoved by global events against the faith. Click "Read More" to the right to continue.... In my last blog about the persecution of Christians I focused on the anti-Christian behavior of the Chinese government. Most people and all world leaders know about the Chinese treatment of Christians and yet no one, not a single leader takes a stand to demand that China brings to an end the practice of destroying the faith in their country. It’s almost like Christians just don’t matter, like we are some tiny religious sect that has no impact on society and that we are not the largest religious organization on the planet and the greatest source of goodness humans have known.
Since 2001 the relationship between the middle-east and the western nations has exploded into a void of horrific killing and destruction. It is the worst it has been since I have been alive. And now we have ISIS, a group determined to fulfill the prophecies of the Quran and bring about Armageddon and, destroy the Christian faith and make Allah the one and only God on planet earth. Like the Chinese, Christian annihilation is their goal. And they are not alone. According to Open Doors USA there are more than sixty five countries actively, openly, oppressing the Christian faith and killing, raping, injuring, taxing, destroying places of worship and committing other acts of violence and intimidation against Christian followers. The vast majority of culprits are Islamic nations but a good representation of non Muslim countries are practicing the same violent treatment toward Christians in their communities. Here are some resources for current statistics about the growing Christian siege post 9/11: Christian Broadcast News – Persecution On Steady Rise Barnabas Fund – claims that the west is ignoring “massive escalation” in Christian persecution since 9/11. Could you imagine if this was all reversed and Christians were cutting off the heads of Muslims and slitting the throats of 85 year old Imams and burning mosques and raping their women and jailing their sons and, well, the list goes on and on. How much would you bet it would be the lead story in the evening news and take up the front page in newspapers everywhere around the world. If that is true, then we must ask ourselves why is it true? Why are Christians presumed by example of inactivity to be more expendable? Is it the wealth of the faith? The great numbers of the faithful population? The, “turn the other cheek philosophy?” Is it because we don't band together and make a fuss and march in the streets with signs demanding protection, action, or a call to arms to defend our God? I actually heard someone say during a conversation about this issue that the reason nobody seems to care is due to the crusades and it is just our turn and history is being revisited only with the reversal of the major players. As stupid as that sounds it does have a sort of simpleminded logic. And for the life of me, I can’t conjure up an intellectual counterlogic that would explain the global indifference and negligence when it comes to the persecution of the greatest source of goodness this planet has ever seen. Indifference and negligence by Christian nations. It boggles my mind. It should boggle everyones’ mind. We should all be demanding an end to this hatred and hold Islam to their claims of being a peaceful, loving faith; and, we should be demanding that our news media and governments start taking the oppression of the Christian faith as seriously as they do the production of oil and profits on Wall Street. Get Involved! Take a look through these web sites and familiarize yourself with the movement. Open Doors https://www.opendoorsusa.org Christian Freedom International https://www.christianfreedom.org/ Dova International Charities http://dova-international-charities.org/ Christian Solidarity Worldwide http://www.csw.org.uk/home.htm Barnabas Fund – hope and aid for the persecuted church. Barnabas Fund – Christian persecution since 9/11.
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
ARCHIVES -
(For a complete archive listing click here: "ARCHIVES" or access them under the Blog link above) Bonepicking With Jesus Are New Testament Miracles Still Performed Today? The Eternal Love Buffet Of The Godly Heart DOG GOD DOGMA God's Sunday Morning Blah Blah Blah Blues Cafe Happiness In The Human Head's Solar System The Whale Of Armageddon And Our War Scorched Sky Alternate Earth And Plundering In The Name Of The Lord Ghosts of Bible Thumpers and a No Knocking God The Supreme Builder of Extremes 5 Types Of Prayer Kumbaya Muslims For Christ Christian Lives Matter Even Cavemen Had Hope Discipleship: The Paradigms Of Purpose Thoughts Of Veganism And God God's Only Perfect Flaw Of The Human Design Christian Persecution 2017 Second Thoughts The Miracle Of Forgiveness Wild Thoughts About Wild Things And Light And God My Welcome Blog For earlier posts click here: ARCHIVES
. For earlier posts click here: ARCHIVES
|