"AMERICA IS HITTING THE SELF-DISTRUCT BUTTON" - Ben Shapiro / @benshapiro / July 23, 2020 / https://www.dailysignal.com/2020/07/23/america-is-hitting-the-self-destruct-button
Protesters set fire to an American flag in Los Angeles July 4, 2020. (Photo: Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
On Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal released the results of a poll performed in conjunction with NBC News. The poll found that 56% of Americans believe American society is racist. Seventy-one percent believe race relations are either very or fairly bad. Most troubling, 65% of black Americans say that racial discrimination is built into American society, “including into our policies and institutions.”
The notion that America is systemically racist bodes ill for the future. It’s also a dramatic lie. American history is replete with racism; racism was indeed the root of systems ranging from slavery to Jim Crow. But the story of America is the story of the cashing of Martin Luther King Jr.‘s promissory note: the fulfillment of the pledge of the Declaration of Independence to treat all men equally, to grant them protection of their unalienable natural rights.
America has worked to extirpate the nearly universal sin of bigotry in pursuit of the fulfillment of the declaration. The story of America is 1776, not 1619; it’s Abraham Lincoln, not John C. Calhoun; it’s Martin Luther King Jr., not Robin DiAngelo. It is particularly true today that American society does not deserve the scorn being heaped upon her head. American society is decidedly not racist: According to Swedish economists from World Values, America is one of the most racially tolerant countries on Earth.
American law has banned discrimination on race for two generations and more than half a century; in fact, the only racially discriminatory laws on the books cut in favor of racial minorities, who have been granted special privileges in arenas like college admissions. The police are no longer instruments of racial terror, contrary to popular media narrative: In many of America’s largest cities, police forces are either majority minority or nearly so, and police are not more likely to shoot and kill black Americans than white Americans. Problems of high crime in minority neighborhoods are generally a result of underpolicing, rather than the converse.
Some problems of wealth inequality are in part products of history—history always has consequences. But overwhelmingly, the pathways to success are not barred by discrimination. Black Americans occupy many of the most prominent positions in American society, from government to entertainment to education to finance. Responsible individual decision-making is generally rewarded for all Americans, black and white. And Americans are more than willing to fight those who would obstruct the possibility of success for those who make the right decisions.
More and more Americans apparently believe that the American system is endemically racist—yet the system produces more wealth, freedom, and opportunity than any on Earth for millions of citizens of every color, creed, and religion.
If a majority of Americans believe that society is racist—not just individuals but a vast swath of friends and neighbors, and America’s institutions to boot—then it will be quite difficult for Americans to unify. No country can survive its citizens seeing one another as enemies rather than friends, seeing their country as a reflection of continuing evil embedded in its history.
America, like every other nation, requires a common philosophy, culture, and history to survive. And yet those elements are being consistently eroded by those who would rather collapse the American system in pursuit of some unspecified utopia.
That utopia will not come. All that will follow in the wake of the dissolution of our common bonds is chaos. The principles of the Declaration of Independence remain true; the promise remains durable. The only question is whether we are willing to stand up for those principles and work anew to fulfill those promises, rather than caving in the foundations of the greatest nation ever conceived by mankind.
[ italics and colored emphasis mine]
Ben Shapiro is host of "The Ben Shapiro Show" and editor-in-chief of DailyWire.com. He is The New York Times best-selling author of "Bullies." He is a graduate of UCLA and Harvard Law School, and lives with his wife and two children in Los Angeles.
COPYRIGHT 2020 CREATORS.COM
*Representative name or photo used to protect identity.
ATTENTION: SCROLL DOWN to get TODAY'S article entitled in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS. PLEASE be sure to note the various PRAYER REQUESTS listed BEFORE and AFTER the posted article. (NOTE the list of DAILY prayer requests for the persecuted church.) They ALL deserve your intercession.
BE Prepared TO SPEAK OUT AGAINST ABORTION
"RIOTERS ARE SEDITIONISTS, NOT PROTESTERS" - Cal Thomas / July 28, 2020 / https://www.dailysignal.com/2020/07/28/rioters-are-seditionists-not-protesters/
People gather in protest in front of the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse in downtown Portland, Oregon, as the city experiences another night of unrest July 26, 2020. (Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
The violence perpetrated in the streets of cities across America continues because state and local elected officials (all Democrats) refuse to do what is necessary to stop it. These acts no longer fit the definition of protest. Rather, sedition defines them: “incitement of discontent or rebellion against a government.”
President Donald Trump has ordered agents from the Department of Homeland Security to quell the disturbances in Portland, Oregon, and Chicago, which appear to be coordinated, and stop them from spreading to other cities. On Wednesday, the White House announced the deployment of what it terms “federal assets,” which Attorney General William Barr defined as “street agents and investigators,” to targeted cities experiencing the most violence.
Some contend the president is exceeding his constitutional authority and what’s known as the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, which “prohibits the use of U.S. military forces to perform the tasks of civilian law enforcement such as arrest, apprehension, interrogation, and detention unless explicitly authorized by Congress.”
It may be splitting hairs to say DHS forces are not the military, but the larger question is this: Should the president allow federal property to be destroyed and people shot, given the refusal of some mayors and governors to intervene? Or, for the sake of preserving “domestic tranquility,” saving human life and protecting public and private property take the action he has taken?
Perhaps the media should ask people whose jobs have been disrupted, their businesses destroyed, their work suspended—or ended—if they are OK with allowing the rioting to continue. Pundits and activists can pontificate all they want from the safety of their basements and the security of uninterrupted paychecks, but what about the victims? Have they no right to be safe and secure?
A federal law known as 18 U.S. Code 2385 and titled “Advocating overthrow of Government” says this:"Whoever knowingly or willingly advocates, abets, advises, or teaches the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying the government of the United States or the government of any state, Territory, District or Possession thereof, or the government of any political subdivision therein … and if two or more persons conspire to commit any offense named in this section, each shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both, and shall be ineligible for employment by the United States or any department or agency thereof, for the five years next following his conviction."
That sounds clear to me, and it should be clear to everyone else, that there are forces that wish to destroy not only the presidency of Trump and prevent his reelection, but who hate the country.
These protesters, who appear to be mostly spoiled, mostly white, and mostly young, have likely been radicalized in their universities and on social media. They are destroyers, not builders. Elected leaders who refuse to stop them are as guilty of abetting a crime as the driver of the getaway car after a bank robbery.
The president is right to put a stop to this just as he would be right to order the military to oppose an outside enemy seeking to destroy the nation. If these anarchists are allowed to get away with their crimes, there will be more anarchy. Peace through strength is not just a slogan to be invoked when fighting foreign enemies and terrorists. It is also a policy that will deter this spoiled mob that has no gratitude for a nation that has given them everything and to which they have returned little. They should be arrested, prosecuted, and locked up so that order may be restored.
[italics and colored emphasis mine]
Cal Thomas is a syndicated columnist, author, broadcaster, and speaker with access to world leaders, U.S. presidents, celebrities, educators, and countless other notables. He has authored several books, including his latest, “America's Expiration Date: The Fall of Empires and Superpowers and the Future of the United States." Readers can email him at tcaeditors@tribpub.com.
(C) 2020 TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY, LLC.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"We've Reached A New Level of Idiocy From the Liberal Media With These Leftist Riots" - Matt Vespa: Jul 28, 2020; https://townhall.com/columnists/mattvespa/2020/07/28/weve-reached-a-new-level-of-idiocy-from-the-liberal-media-with-these-leftist-riots-n2573254
PRAISE GOD for the continuing recent successes againstISIS ! Pray that coalition forces will be able to fully destroy the leadership and infrastructure of ISIS .
*Representative name or photo used to protect identity.
On Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal released the results of a poll performed in conjunction with NBC News. The poll found that 56% of Americans believe American society is racist. Seventy-one percent believe race relations are either very or fairly bad. Most troubling, 65% of black Americans say that racial discrimination is built into American society, “including into our policies and institutions.”
The notion that America is systemically racist bodes ill for the future. It’s also a dramatic lie. American history is replete with racism; racism was indeed the root of systems ranging from slavery to Jim Crow. But the story of America is the story of the cashing of Martin Luther King Jr.‘s promissory note: the fulfillment of the pledge of the Declaration of Independence to treat all men equally, to grant them protection of their unalienable natural rights.
America has worked to extirpate the nearly universal sin of bigotry in pursuit of the fulfillment of the declaration. The story of America is 1776, not 1619; it’s Abraham Lincoln, not John C. Calhoun; it’s Martin Luther King Jr., not Robin DiAngelo. It is particularly true today that American society does not deserve the scorn being heaped upon her head. American society is decidedly not racist: According to Swedish economists from World Values, America is one of the most racially tolerant countries on Earth.
American law has banned discrimination on race for two generations and more than half a century; in fact, the only racially discriminatory laws on the books cut in favor of racial minorities, who have been granted special privileges in arenas like college admissions. The police are no longer instruments of racial terror, contrary to popular media narrative: In many of America’s largest cities, police forces are either majority minority or nearly so, and police are not more likely to shoot and kill black Americans than white Americans. Problems of high crime in minority neighborhoods are generally a result of underpolicing, rather than the converse.
Some problems of wealth inequality are in part products of history—history always has consequences. But overwhelmingly, the pathways to success are not barred by discrimination. Black Americans occupy many of the most prominent positions in American society, from government to entertainment to education to finance. Responsible individual decision-making is generally rewarded for all Americans, black and white. And Americans are more than willing to fight those who would obstruct the possibility of success for those who make the right decisions.
More and more Americans apparently believe that the American system is endemically racist—yet the system produces more wealth, freedom, and opportunity than any on Earth for millions of citizens of every color, creed, and religion.
If a majority of Americans believe that society is racist—not just individuals but a vast swath of friends and neighbors, and America’s institutions to boot—then it will be quite difficult for Americans to unify. No country can survive its citizens seeing one another as enemies rather than friends, seeing their country as a reflection of continuing evil embedded in its history.
America, like every other nation, requires a common philosophy, culture, and history to survive. And yet those elements are being consistently eroded by those who would rather collapse the American system in pursuit of some unspecified utopia.
That utopia will not come. All that will follow in the wake of the dissolution of our common bonds is chaos. The principles of the Declaration of Independence remain true; the promise remains durable. The only question is whether we are willing to stand up for those principles and work anew to fulfill those promises, rather than caving in the foundations of the greatest nation ever conceived by mankind.
[ italics and colored emphasis mine]
Ben Shapiro is host of "The Ben Shapiro Show" and editor-in-chief of DailyWire.com. He is The New York Times best-selling author of "Bullies." He is a graduate of UCLA and Harvard Law School, and lives with his wife and two children in Los Angeles.
COPYRIGHT 2020 CREATORS.COM
-------------------------------------
PRAYER MATTERS:
"To clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against
the disorder of the world. - Karl Barth
the disorder of the world. - Karl Barth
"Prayer is inviting God into a seemingly impossible situation and trusting/resting in His love and grace to accomplish His perfect will in His perfect time and for His greatest glory. Intercession is one of the great privileges AND responsibilities for EVERY believer."- Stan
----------------------------------------------------------------------
World-Wide Prayer Requests:
------------------------------------------------------------
Praying Through the Open Doors World Watch List for persecuted believers:https://www.opendoorsusa.org/take-action/pray/monthly-prayer-calendar/
Courageous house church leader in Central Asia. Anastasia* is a house church leader from Central Asia. She has led many to faith in Christ, but has also faced monitoring by the police
and threats against her life. Thanks to your support and prayers, Anastasia started holding retreats for women and children in the mountains. She says: “During the retreat, we have Bible studies together. We also teach the women how to serve their non-believing relatives, [especially] when families have problems with abuse, alcohol and drug addiction. This retreat is the only place they can rest.”
July 27 - Pray the teens in these classes would learn their lives matter.*Representative name or photo used to protect identity.
ATTENTION: SCROLL DOWN to get TODAY'S article entitled in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS. PLEASE be sure to note the various PRAYER REQUESTS listed BEFORE and AFTER the posted article. (NOTE the list of DAILY prayer requests for the persecuted church.) They ALL deserve your intercession.
PRAYER ALERT:
URGENT
*That the Corona Virus outbreak may finally be contained and it's victims effectively treated. [P.S. - YOUR BLOOD can help someone specifically recovering from the cornavirus. Please consider donating blood as I have!] today's Happy Thots (: First time in history we can save the human race by laying in front of the TV and doing nothing. Let's NOT mess this up! // You know the world is upside down when you go to the bank and someone wearing a mask and gloves isn't tackled by security. // I never thought the comment, "I wouldn't touch you with a 6-foot pole" would become a national policy, but here we are!
*That the ongoing protests in America's cities will not lead to people being hurt and businesses - esp. those recovering from the pandemic - to not be destroyed by agitators.
*That the ongoing protests in America's cities will not lead to people being hurt and businesses - esp. those recovering from the pandemic - to not be destroyed by agitators.
*Pray for U.S. Pastor David Lin in China (see "Something Serious Is Happening In That Dark Place" - Tony Perkins, Washington Watch, April 09, 2019; https://www.frc.org/updatearticle/20190409/something-serious)
*Pray for Leah Sharibu is a courageous Nigerian Christian teen girl held captive by Boko Haram. The Islamic militia is threatening to kill or enslave her because she won't renounce Jesus Christ. Pray that the UN will intervene in her release. [2/13/19 – This day marked ONE YEAR since her kidnapping.
6/9 - Thank you for your prayers for my co-worker, Brandon. He surprised me by showing up for 2 long work shifts this past weekend. He looked great though he said he's still on the mend (8 months after his horrific motorcycle accident.
6/9 - Thank you for your prayers for my co-worker, Brandon. He surprised me by showing up for 2 long work shifts this past weekend. He looked great though he said he's still on the mend (8 months after his horrific motorcycle accident.
ATTENTION!
PERSONAL UPDATE: 7/15 Note my latest entry in the JOURNAL section on the right side of this page.
7/28 - PRAY for the President and others in leadership (1 Tim. 2:1-3)
Jacob Velazquez Audition on America's Got Talent 6-30-20;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?=tEyFevaOoAs
Heavenly Father,
I pray that you will guide President Trump to seek YOU with all his heart, mind, soul, and strength. May he act with wisdom and strength against those whose actions would bring harm to this nation and the world now and for generations to come. I pray that you would strengthen his marriage and deepen the love he and his wife Melania share. Pray that you give them wisdom to speak into the life of their son Barron. Please protect him and his family and others in our leadership from physical harm that any might seek to do against them. May all that our President does bring honor and glory to YOU and cause him to draw in closer relationship with you. I ask this in the powerful name of Jesus Christ, Amen. P.S. - I highly recommend your reading "The Faith of Donald J. Trump." The copy I read is in my public library. It really helps us understand our 45th President better.
The above is a picture of the First Family on Mother's Day.
Can you believe how Barron has grown? Wow!
Can you believe how Barron has grown? Wow!
*For God to be at work through the president, administration officials, and Congress as they work to provide aid to the nation during this time.
*For wisdom for those working on a vaccine, that it would be safe and effective.
*For sustained good health for President Trump during this time.
*For wisdom for the Coronavirus Task Force as they work to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
*For wisdom for the president and administration officials as they continue to lead in the midst of the pandemic and the ongoing economic impact that comes as a result.
*For God to be at work through the president as he focuses on issues of national importance.
*For guidance for President Trump as he works on a variety of issues, that God’s will would be accomplished through him.
*For God’s will to be accomplished and for His name to be glorified and honored.
*For wisdom for those working on a vaccine, that it would be safe and effective.
*For sustained good health for President Trump during this time.
*For wisdom for the Coronavirus Task Force as they work to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
*For wisdom for the president and administration officials as they continue to lead in the midst of the pandemic and the ongoing economic impact that comes as a result.
*For God to be at work through the president as he focuses on issues of national importance.
*For guidance for President Trump as he works on a variety of issues, that God’s will would be accomplished through him.
*For God’s will to be accomplished and for His name to be glorified and honored.
DECLARATION FOR LIFE: Please be sure to sign this at: https://www.focusonthefamily.com/pro-life
(...because ALL Babies Matter! - http://www.lifenews.com/2017/03/01/why-do-unborn-babies-matter-just-because-they-are/ : Go to: LIFE Training Institute - http://prolifetraining.com/resources/five-minute-11/
Be Prepared TO ENGAGE WITH THE PC CULTURE:Go to:"Tactics" -
http://townhall.com/columnists/mikeadams/2016/04/29/tactics-n2154983
"Don't Argue the Exceptions - Beating Bad Arguments For Abortion and Transgenderism" - by John Stonestreet, Breakpoint.org, May 25, 2017;
http://breakpoint.org/2017/05/breakpoint-dont-argue-exceptions/
"Don't Argue the Exceptions - Beating Bad Arguments For Abortion and Transgenderism" - by John Stonestreet, Breakpoint.org, May 25, 2017;
-------------------------------------
"RIOTERS ARE SEDITIONISTS, NOT PROTESTERS" - Cal Thomas / July 28, 2020 / https://www.dailysignal.com/2020/07/28/rioters-are-seditionists-not-protesters/
The violence perpetrated in the streets of cities across America continues because state and local elected officials (all Democrats) refuse to do what is necessary to stop it. These acts no longer fit the definition of protest. Rather, sedition defines them: “incitement of discontent or rebellion against a government.”
President Donald Trump has ordered agents from the Department of Homeland Security to quell the disturbances in Portland, Oregon, and Chicago, which appear to be coordinated, and stop them from spreading to other cities. On Wednesday, the White House announced the deployment of what it terms “federal assets,” which Attorney General William Barr defined as “street agents and investigators,” to targeted cities experiencing the most violence.
Some contend the president is exceeding his constitutional authority and what’s known as the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, which “prohibits the use of U.S. military forces to perform the tasks of civilian law enforcement such as arrest, apprehension, interrogation, and detention unless explicitly authorized by Congress.”
It may be splitting hairs to say DHS forces are not the military, but the larger question is this: Should the president allow federal property to be destroyed and people shot, given the refusal of some mayors and governors to intervene? Or, for the sake of preserving “domestic tranquility,” saving human life and protecting public and private property take the action he has taken?
Perhaps the media should ask people whose jobs have been disrupted, their businesses destroyed, their work suspended—or ended—if they are OK with allowing the rioting to continue. Pundits and activists can pontificate all they want from the safety of their basements and the security of uninterrupted paychecks, but what about the victims? Have they no right to be safe and secure?
A federal law known as 18 U.S. Code 2385 and titled “Advocating overthrow of Government” says this:"Whoever knowingly or willingly advocates, abets, advises, or teaches the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying the government of the United States or the government of any state, Territory, District or Possession thereof, or the government of any political subdivision therein … and if two or more persons conspire to commit any offense named in this section, each shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both, and shall be ineligible for employment by the United States or any department or agency thereof, for the five years next following his conviction."
That sounds clear to me, and it should be clear to everyone else, that there are forces that wish to destroy not only the presidency of Trump and prevent his reelection, but who hate the country.
These protesters, who appear to be mostly spoiled, mostly white, and mostly young, have likely been radicalized in their universities and on social media. They are destroyers, not builders. Elected leaders who refuse to stop them are as guilty of abetting a crime as the driver of the getaway car after a bank robbery.
The president is right to put a stop to this just as he would be right to order the military to oppose an outside enemy seeking to destroy the nation. If these anarchists are allowed to get away with their crimes, there will be more anarchy. Peace through strength is not just a slogan to be invoked when fighting foreign enemies and terrorists. It is also a policy that will deter this spoiled mob that has no gratitude for a nation that has given them everything and to which they have returned little. They should be arrested, prosecuted, and locked up so that order may be restored.
[italics and colored emphasis mine]
Cal Thomas is a syndicated columnist, author, broadcaster, and speaker with access to world leaders, U.S. presidents, celebrities, educators, and countless other notables. He has authored several books, including his latest, “America's Expiration Date: The Fall of Empires and Superpowers and the Future of the United States." Readers can email him at tcaeditors@tribpub.com.
(C) 2020 TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY, LLC.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"We've Reached A New Level of Idiocy From the Liberal Media With These Leftist Riots" - Matt Vespa: Jul 28, 2020; https://townhall.com/columnists/mattvespa/2020/07/28/weve-reached-a-new-level-of-idiocy-from-the-liberal-media-with-these-leftist-riots-n2573254
-------------------------------------
PRAYER MATTERS:
"To clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against
the disorder of the world. - Karl Barth
the disorder of the world. - Karl Barth
"Prayer is inviting God into a seemingly impossible situation and trusting/resting in His love and grace to accomplish His perfect will in His perfect time and for His greatest glory. Intercession is one of the great privileges AND responsibilities for EVERY believer."- Stan
----------------------------------------------------------------------
“INTERCESSORS ARE THE RUDDER” – A WORD OF ENCOURAGEMENT - Wanda Alger, June 28th, 2017; https://www.getamericapraying.com/blog/I was recently given a word by my good friend, Bill Yount. His word greatly encouraged me as an intercessor. Working for Intercessors for America
James 3:4 talks about the power of a small rudder to steer a large ship. In this scripture about the power of our tongue, consider the power of prophetic intercession! In the Forerunner Commentary on this verse we read, “…rudders manipulate the course of immense ocean vessels with a slight movement of a pilot’s hand. Since it is underwater and aft, the rudder of a ship does its work UNSEEN. A passenger is ignorant of its movements most of the time. Yet, when it is in proper working order, the rudder holds more power over the ship than the wind. The wind will blow, toss, even destroy the ship’s rigging, but the rudder guides the ship exactly where it directs.”
This is God’s promise to the intercessors in this hour of national turbulence. Don’t stop praying! Your prayers have great power to turn the ship! Continue praying, interceding, and discerning the workings and movements of the Holy Spirit, being faithful to God’s commands. As we come together to declare God’s faithfulness, this nation will, once again, head in the direction that God intends. Don’t give up and don’t give in. Regardless of the winds of adversity and the fires of the enemy, God’s people have a power that cannot be matched. Let us join in faith and continue to pray and speak of God’s faithfulness in order to bring God’s people and this nation into the fullness of God’s plans. Note this additional encouragement from God’s word:
Colossians 2:15 – “He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him” (ESV).
Psalm 33:8-11 – “Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the people of the world revere him. For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm. The Lord foils the plans of the nations; He thwarts the purposes of the peoples. But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations.”
Wanda Alger, IFA Field Correspondent
PRAY FOR AMERICA : THANK GOD for His many blessings on America AMERICA America "but instead "God be merciful towards America
PRAY FOR OUR LEADERS: 1) Pray for President Trump and his advisers, that they would select Godly leaders at the federal level who will be accountable to do an excellent job (or be fired!) ; that he would seek God's wisdom and be enabled to lead our country effectively in the years ahead; and 2) Pray our leaders at every level of government will Spirit-filled, leading us with Godly wisdom and integrity; that they will only pass legislation and enact policies that will benefit Americans today as well as future generations and NOT do any lasting harm.
SUPREME COURT: PRAY that the justices will only hand down decisions that are Constitutionally sound and in the best interests of our country now and for future generations.
World-Wide Prayer Requests:
PRAISE GOD for the continuing recent successes against
*For believers in Syria
------------------------------------------------------------
Praying Through the Open Doors World Watch List for persecuted believers:https://www.opendoorsusa.org/take-action/pray/monthly-prayer-calendar/
Courageous house church leader in Central Asia. Anastasia* is a house church leader from Central Asia. She has led many to faith in Christ, but has also faced monitoring by the police
and threats against her life. Thanks to your support and prayers, Anastasia started holding retreats for women and children in the mountains. She says: “During the retreat, we have Bible studies together. We also teach the women how to serve their non-believing relatives, [especially] when families have problems with abuse, alcohol and drug addiction. This retreat is the only place they can rest.”
July 28 - Pray children would learn to handle their emotions in healthy ways.*Representative name or photo used to protect identity.
STANDING STRONG THROUGH THE STORM - OpenDoorsUSA.org
At my first defense, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them.- 2 Tim. 4:16
SPEAK ON BEHALF OF THOSE WHO SUFFER
The Apostle Paul knew exactly what it was like to be alone, to be deserted by all who called themselves “brothers” and “sisters.” A former colleague who has done considerable travel among the persecuted says, “It is hard to believe that Christians are the largest persecuted group in the world today. But it is even more difficult to believe that this is so seldom mentioned in our gatherings and church services. More Christians know the names of their favorite actors than their fellow believers who are in prison.”
He continues, “With every trip something in my heart breaks as I hear the echoes of suffering:
I remember the echoes of an Egyptian mother as she shared how her young boy was stuck in a haystack because she refused to deny Jesus.
I remember the sounds of weeping as fellow students in Indonesia
I remember the cries of anguish as we walked from church to church that was burned to the ground on the island of Lombok
I remember the tears of Rebecca in Iran
I remember the voice of Pastor Daniel in Vietnam
I remember the fear of Grace from Sudan
Oh, I remember the cries of Caleb in Eritrea
And I remember the tears of Joy in the southern Philippines as she shared how her fiancé was shot to death in their church in Mindanao .
But, most all, I remember the deafening sounds of silence every time I return home.
RESPONSE
How can I be silent today? How can I not speak on behalf of those who suffer? How can I desert those that belong to the same body that I belong to and who desperately need the encouragement of my intervention?.
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