Persecution; Tyrrany; & Child-Killing in Mississippi
Darkness hates light being shined on it . . . .
My friend Mark Webb, who is without a doubt one of the best Gospel preachers I have ever heard, was speaking one time on Paul's warning "all those who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution." Mark made the statement that he -- along with most American Christians -- never really felt this & it terrified him.
I asked the question to my wife & some friends later : Why -- from the world's perspective -- do they persecute Christians ? Obviously, looking through Spiritual/ biblical eyes we know that the reason behind it is that they hate Christ & they hate the Truth so they attack the visible instrument of Christ & His Truth.
But, humanly speaking, why do governements persecute Christians ? They do not really care what we believe, or even what we teach in our churches & how we live in our homes.
Tyrants -- brutal & petty -- really only care about maintaining power. It is when what we believe, what we teach, & how we live becomes a threat to their lust for power, money, & controll that their hatred of these things spill over into actual persecution.
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In the Voice of the Martyrs magazine, which covers persecution of Chrisitans in Communist & Muslim countries, they normally divide persecution into official & unofficial. Official involves harrassment & attacks by police & governement officials. The unofficial kind is when independant individuals, mobs, or non government organizations attack Christians. In the most anti-Christ regimes, the police & judicial system look the other way.
BOTH forms of persecution are being carried out in Mississippi's capital city this week.
Operation Save America (formerly Operation Rescue) is holding a national pro-life event in Jackson, Mississippi. Christians from across the country -- as well as local pro-life activists -- are taking their theology to the streets. But they are not alone, nor have the forces of death-worshipping tyrrany taken this lying down.
The official tyrrany is manifesting itself in both unconstitutional arrests of Christians for excercising their God-given, legally-protected rights to free speech and showing a blatant pro-abortion bias by not acting when anti-christ pro-abortion activists do the same thing or even viciously attack pro-lifers.
The arrests and official persecution has been covered both on Operation Save America's site and on Covenant News.
On the "unofficial" front, check this out :
Paul Vaughn, the Josiah Project, sent me this post, which tells the story of an attack by anarchists on a gentle Christian trying to stand for the Truth, his unborn neighbors & the Saviour . . .Jackson Mississippi - Prolife or Anti-Christ Monday, Jul 17 2006
Paul R. Vaughn 1:50 pm
The sign reads “stop the violence against clinics”. The irony is the group holding the sign has just finished threatening to kill the driver of the car and has smashed in the hood and front windshield of his car. Where is the violence coming from here? And what did the guy in the car do to deserve this?
Well for starters he showed up at a national prolife event being held in Jackson, MS this week. That’s right he dared to act on his beliefs and join with other like minded folks to exercise their God given rights, secured by the 1st amendment of The Constitution, to publicly proclaim what they believe.
What does that proclamation look like? For starters it consist of prayer, public preaching of the Gospel of the Kingdom of Christ, and some times even a display of what abortion actually looks like. Now this is where the real irony starts to come in. Have you ever seen an abortion? Have you seen the results of an abortion? I have. It seems to me if someone wants to protest against violence, they really should start inside the abortion clinics, not by beating up people’s cars.
Read the entire article here.
Leslie
You do realise who those "anarchists" were, dont you? Ever heard of Anti-Racist Action? They are the group who mobilized nationally against Operation Save America's efforts in Jackson, and the people who attacked the vehicle at the Unitarian Universalist "church" were well-known members of the Jackson-Area chapter of Anti-Racist Action. In fact, the UU "church" serves as the headquarters of the Jackson-area Anti-Racist Action.
You, (and every other person whose commentay I've read on the incedent), are correct in calling them "anarchists", but I believe it is worth pointing out that they are the well-organised, consistantly violent, modern day incarnation of the Abolitionist Movement, and that the organisation Anti-Racist Action is the enemy of Christ.
Posted by Anonymous | 1:42 PM