“Rise and Rise again, until Lambs become Lions!” Russell Crowe, from Robin Hood
I’ve spent the last few days praying and thinking about some things. Like why it is that somehow in America the Church is persecuted as horribly as it is. As if we are the terrorists and that anything, and I mean ANYTHING is more acceptable than us Christians, and that our alleged intolerance, bigotry, homophobia, sexism, and racism is less to be tolerated than every injustice modern man can think of to be perpetrated against their fellow man. No, we’re not being killed in the streets (again), fed to the lions (again), or being imprisoned for our faith (again)…at least not yet. But; in a country where Free Speech is supposed to be one of the benchmarks of our freedom, system of government and way of life, it seems that freedom is being suppressed for no one, except believers that speak openly and proudly about their faith in the public square. Those voices are all but ran off most places. It’s one of the reasons I got myself a blog page, so I can say what I want and no one can run me off, shut me down, or shut me up. So, here we go…
I’m going to preface what I have to say, so I don’t get a bowl of government alphabet soup dropped at my door (you know; CIA, FBI, NSA, DHS, etc., government alphabet soup). I’m not here advocating some big peasant uprising against the government. In fact; if people would pay attention to the Founders, they would know that Daniel Webster once said something like, “Whatever makes men good Christians, makes them good citizens.”. We as believers love America, or at least America as it was meant to be; a land of tolerance, where men could be free to practice their Christian belief the way they saw fit, without fear of the government telling them they had to do something that they know is against everything they believe, or be silenced by the MSM, or having someone take them to court. Not that we necessarily fear going to court, but if we took to court everything that said against us, including our own politicians, that passed the ‘clear and present danger’ test of the Constitution, there’d be some messy dockets!
No, I’m here to present a vision. To get all kinds of John Lennon on you, if you will. You see, the Church is only a sleeping giant because she chooses to be. She needs to be shaken from her lethargy and realize her power. I’m here to say “imagine”. Why is it that the entire world is afraid to say anything bad about Islam? Why is that? Is it because they don’t get involved in political discourse? I suppose not. Is it because they’re sending missionaries all over the world, helping the poor and feeding the hungry? Nope. Is it because they don’t want Muslim hospitals to shut down? It’s because, and I’m not advocating this at all, if someone blasphemes their God or defames their prophet; they’ll sue, boycott, speak out loud, cyberterrorize, and even kill if they get the chance, the person who did it! Don’t believe it? Ask Salman Rushdie, and hundreds of authors overseas. It’s been about 20 years since The Satanic Verses were put out, and the man still lives in fear of his life.
Imagine, if you would, all of the leaders of Christianity and Judaism coming together in one room. A Routinization of Charisma, if you will. An Apostolic council the likes of which hasn’t happened in over 1,000 years. That they got together and wrote a manifesto, stating once and for all, what all of Christianity believes are the basic tenets of the Christian faith. What they should have been all along, actually. Imagine what that document would look like. What would it look like? This is what I think:
We the Christian peoples in this world; being primarily subjects of our God, Yahweh, and seconded to this earth only by reason of our physical bodies, have come to the following conclusions under direction of the Holy Spirit-
That we will Practice our Belief (James 4:17). Strictly, and without reservation, upon the tenets of the Holy Scriptures. We as leaders, duly called by God Himself, do solemnly swear to uphold the basic tenets of the true and holy Faith in the Scripture (II Timothy 2:15, Psalms 119:105). We welcome the challenge of any man, by means of true and proper dividing of the Word of Truth, to anything we have to say publically from the pulpit or otherwise, speaking for the Church (Proverbs 27:17). We will not tolerate inaccuracies, distortions, falsities, or misleading statements; either from ourselves nor from fellow members of the clergy, nor will we tolerate ignorant slander from the outside (Galatians 1:8-9, II Corinthians 10:5). In this we stand completely united. We do also solemnly swear to root out and remove all corruption, in any form, from Church governance, regardless of denomination. We will subject them to Church discipline as required by Scripture (I Corinthians 6:1-7), then; as required by law, hand them over to legal authority to deal with as they see fit (Romans 13:4).
Upon this we each affix our signature:
We will accomplish this by doing the following:
We will Pray as we Believe. As believers in our God, we are instructed to pray the Will of God concerning our world (Matthew 6:10). As leaders called and chosen by our God, we will also instruct our followers to do the same (I Corinthians 11:1). If we feel a public official has overstepped the parameters of their office in ruling in such ways that violate the Word of God, we will be praying for their removal from office in anyway God sees fit to do so, and so will our followers (I Timothy 2:2). If someone in the media chooses to slander us, we will be praying for their public voice to either be redeemed or silenced, and so will all of our followers Isaiah 59:19). If one in the business world decides to deal with us deceitfully, or pledges his fortunes or endorsement to causes that are contrary to our ways, we will pray that God deals with his business fortunes accordingly. Perhaps even bringing about a transfer of wealth to one who knows how to handle that wealth in a righteous manner (Proverbs 13:22). We will continue doing so, in collective consciousness as parapsychology puts it (Matthew 18:19), until the subject of our prayers is dealt with in accordance with God’s will.
We will Purchase as we Believe. As stewards of the wealth and the ability to get wealth that God has made use to be, we will follow His guidelines in our business practices (Deuteronomy 8:18). We will not purchase, and will discourage our followers from purchasing from, businesspersons which would deal with the Church deceitfully (Proverbs 11:1), or pledge their fortunes or endorsement to causes that are contrary to our ways (Psalms 64:5). In this regard, we will be most diligent. That we will be ethical by the standards of our God; in our business practices, diligent as employees (Colossians 3:23), and faithful to our Church and our people as businesspersons, giving as we are required to do both by God and our conscience (Proverbs 16:11, Malachi 3:10). We will continue to do so until such time as the demands of our God are met.
We will Politic as we Believe. We will be active in the political arena (Matthew 28:18-20). We as believers; by the Grace of God, will decide with Godly diligence and righteous purpose, what issues need be addressed in our view, and how we feel they should be addressed (Matthew 5:13). We will be active in this process. We will not vote for one who does not stand for things we consider unrighteous. We will not tolerate our elected officials voting for things contrary to our ways, or their appointees doing so (Psalms 1:1). We will support those who by Divine guidance and diligent research support our views and will hold them to the support of those views diligently as long as they’re in office (Exodus 18:21). We will be faithful, active, and diligent members of our community. We will continue to do so until the world has ended and Peace reigns forever on the earth.
We will Prosecute as we Believe. We will prayerfully weigh all evidence and diligently examine all facts in anything we are given jurisprudence over (Proverbs 16:11). We will render verdicts and sentences that fall into line both with the laws of our God and with the laws of our nation. We will not subvert, delay, pervert, or deny Justice (Psalms 26:10, Exodus 23:8, Isaiah 1:23,). Corporately; with the advice of our leaders, the vote of our righteously elected and duly appointed officials, and prayerful consideration, prosecute war on the enemies of our God and our nation (Jeremiah 51:20). Seeking peace if necessary by eliminating it’s enemies is our way, and we will be faithful to our way of life (Deuteronomy 32:42).
If we do these things, things which should be natural to us, then we can TRULY become “One Nation Under God” again! STAND STRONG, CHURCH! FIGHT (II Chronicles 7:14)!
This is OUR Jihad!
Baruch HaShem!
Pastor Junior