Posted by
Bill Patchett on Friday, March 06, 2009 12:00:00 AM
The Persecuted Church: Did
you know there are thousands of Christian Churches in countries, all
over this world today, that are denied the freedom of worship. The
people in authority will arrest believers for gathering together to
worship Christ? Yes that is true. There is no freedom of religion in a
lot of countries today, like we enjoy that wonderful freedom here. A
freedom not many citizens take advantage of or even think about.
Imagine living in a country where you, as a Christian, will answer the
door at your dimly lit house and ever so quietly invite other Christians in. You then make sure no one was followed, as they come into your house. Everybody then, ever so quietly,
goes down to the basement where all the windows are closed and painted
over, so no intruder or uninvited guest can look inside. You and the
people that are gathered together then sing gospel songs from the
depths of your heart, ever so quietly. the preacher delivers his sermon, ever so quietly. Then everybody prays, ever so quietly. Then everybody worships the Lord, ever so quietly. The preacher reads from an old Bible as everyone gathers around, ever so quietly. The
congregation only dare to have one Bible at a time in the worship
service. Then the service being ended your Christian friends go up the
stairs from the basement and go out the door cautiously and ever so quietly.
This is how some of our brothers and sisters worship the Lord in other
countries. What a saddening thought. In those countries there is no
piano music, no organ music, no Church bells ringing to proclaim church
is about to start. In fact there are no churches except in secret
meetings places such as the basement above. The buildings that once
served as churches in these countries are setting empty or being used
for something else.
We as
Christians, who live in America, are so blessed because we still have
the freedom of worship that we can call on the name of the Lord, but
yet it is time for us to set watchmen over the land. More and more of
our religious freedoms are taking from us as time goes by, most of the
time it is Satan using the very people, who call their self Christians,
that we elect to public office to make changes for us. This country was
founded many years ago on Christian Principles, but every so slowly, ever so quietly
the leaders in our land are taking away our Christian liberties.
Liberties that just a few years ago where common placed through out the
land. During the past fifty years we have seen The Ten Commandments
taken from our court rooms, Bibles, Bible reading, and prayer, removed
from the class room in our schools, and manger scenes are no longer
allowed in Christmas displays, no more Christmas songs that tell about
the birth of our Savour are allowed to be sung in school or public
buildings . Preaching that homosexuality is a sin from behind the
pulpit now is, or soon will be, called a hate crime. We now have
thousands of unborn babies being legally murdered in this country every
year and they call it "planned parenthood" or "birth control". In God's
eyes it is murder.
In
all their wisdom, some people, have now elected a president who has
stated that we are no longer a Christian Nation. That should send up
alarm bells to all true born again Christians, no matter what their
race, age, or gender are. The president elect stated that we are a
nation of Muslims, Christians, Hindus, and Buddhist. The last part of
the statement he made is correct. It is true there are more and more,
diverse religions in our country and they are growing bigger and
stronger everyday, yielding more and more influence in our government,
but the first part of the statement our president elect made is wrong.
We are {still} a Christian nation. This country was founded on
Christianity, in other words Christ Jesus, The Solid Rock! On That
Solid Rock our country has stood, believed in, and fought for, for over
two hundred years . All the other is sinking sand! This nation was
founded on the Christian Principles that are found in God's Holy Word.
Turning from that Solid Rock will bring total destruction to this
country.
Some of you who
read this article might not agree with me on what I'm about to say.
Some might think that I'm carrying this to far. If we do not watch and
pray most earnestly for this nation and our Christian beliefs then we
too in the very near future will be having our church services ever so quietly