"The night is coming. American Christians have been living as if the sun shone upon them"

[dgszweda]

First, we are not talking about being ripped apart and disemboweled. We sit in our lounge chairs, worship in our multimillion dollar buildings, and when a law is passed that legalizes gay marriage, we cry out “Persecution”. In America, our faith is rarely tested. Our car breaks down, and we treat that as a major challenge of our faith. The church is filled with chaff from easy-believism, and weak faith. We are nowhere close to being thrown to lions, put to death, or have the government create labor camps for Christians. Are there places like that in this world? Sure. But that is not the paradigm shift that we are facing in the next 50 years in the US. We do need some challenges. What is our faith, if it is not challenged.

…Am I saying, bring on death camps, hangings, slaughter of our families? No. But I don’t think a paradigm shift is all that to be worried about. If we really feel that, our air conditioner breaking, is this all powerful test of faith, than our churches are doomed. Do we have faith if we cannot stand in the face of impending doom, willing to give it all up for our Lord and Savior.

…My statement of “Bring it On”, is not a call to God to unleash judgment. It is a statement that reflects that 1) the paradigm shift has already started, 2) the Scripture is clear that it is the natural direction of man, and 3) persecution is not something to be feared. Why should we be “doom & gloom” Christians, just because our glass bubble that we are so insulated by in America is showing a few cracks. As Dr. Bauder states, we must view ourselves as Daniel , as exiles in a brutal and foreign land - just as they should have all along”. We have been shielded because we have chosen to politicize Christianity in America. One of the most secular nations in the world (which is where I see America going) - Denmark, still allows freedom of religion. Is it always easy to spread the gospel? No. I have been there and done that. But no one is getting burned at the stake.

So before we jump to extreme conclusions and a doom and gloom perspective that Christians in America love to jump to, we should take a deep breath and think logically about where we are going, and what is the real impact.

We’re closer than it seems, Doug. A little persecution would be good to shake us out of our malaise. I’m not disagreeing with you that we will endure persecution - just noting that we don’t get to choose our style of persecution, so let’s be careful about saying things like ‘bring it on’. Jesus said we’d endure it, and it’s obvious we will.

I don’t think, though, that this persecution will come because we’ve politicized Christianity. It will come because people hate the light and fear it (John 3:19-21; Romans 1:18-32). They do not love truth or Christ, and they will hate anyone who is serious about being a disciple (Matthew 10:24-25).

I mention this only because because Al Mohler notes an ominous development with the restriction of our religious liberties:

That point was made abundantly clear in an article published on Monday, September 16, by Associated Baptist Press. The author of the article is Tom Carpenter, identified as co-chair of the Forum on the Military Chaplaincy and an elder in the Presbyterian Church (USA). Carpenter wastes no time in declaring his argument that Southern Baptist chaplains must immediately resign from military service. Given the guidelines set down by the Southern Baptist Convention’s endorsing agency, “the only honorable course is to resign from the military chaplaincy and return to civilian ministry.”

Why is that? Because SBC Chaplains should not agree to participate in same-sex marriage arrangements as a part of their duties (link - I submitted it as a Filing).

The paradigm shift has already occurred - now we just wait for the secularists and others to catch up to the logical outworkings of their positions. That seems like it’s occurring even faster than I would have imagined.

When times get tough, people look for scapegoats, someone to blame for their problems. I have noticed a disturbing trend while reading comments on online news articles. After Obama, bible-believing Christians seem to be the next most popular target of hostility. More and more young people are admitting to being atheists, and view Christians as uneducated or bigots.

Some person reading this will say that the reports of Christian persecution are greatly exaggerated, and are a far cry from experiencing real persecution. But we must remember history. And history tells us that things do change quickly during volatile times.

All it takes is another economic downturn, war in the middle east, massive job losses, gasoline prices to break the $6 mark, scarcity of water and food, and then you will see how quickly your neighbors and friends can turn on you.