Apr 24 2011 dcfc english Worship [The Master & The Disciple] Luke 24: 28-36

CHURCH, ATTACK ON

America, Return to God – Ravi Zacharias

All around us ‘Christmas bashing” has gone on. After all, not everybody believes in it, so why should anyone be wished well on Christmas? The ACLU, ever present to eradicate belief from the public square, lent its oppressive muscle to those who denied any government or state agency the freedom to put up a Christmas tree or children singing Christmas carols in school. That is why in Capital Hill, the lighting of the Christmas tree became known as lighting of the “People’s Tree”. One civil libertarian demand a school in NJ that no Christmas tunes be played because it was not just the words that offended his sensitivities but the melodies as well. One well know talk show host said she would be offended if someone wished her “Merry Christmas” This bigotry has come from our culture of tolerance, which allowed cultural liberals to express their views in public while banishing everyone else’s views to their private chambers. So Happy Holidays rolled in on the heels of Happy Turkey day. Is a day coming when someone will be uncomfortable with saying Good morning, because good is a derivative of God and they would not want to offend an atheist?

There is a venomous and brazen anti-Christian attitude now being wielded in the West. How did this come to be? How did it come about that while so-called Muslim scholars do not hesitate to admit that Islam and democracy are not compatible, a Muslim can still have a democratic right to call his festivals by their names, while Christians cannot? How is it that a Muslim in Canada can get away with demanding Shari’a law be introduced into the Canadian legal code but would scream outrage if a westerner in a Muslim country were to ask to be tried by his own legal system. How is it that while Muslim radicals attacked the US, the Koran is required reading at some academic institutions in the West, though the same institutions will mock the Bible? The issue is bigger than just banning Christmas carols. Something has gone radically wrong.

Remember the words of Martin Niemoller who tried to warn those who remained silent to the Nazi atrocities, “First they came for the communists and I did not speak up because I wasn’t a communist. Then they came for the Jews and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the Catholics and I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me and by that time there was no one left to speak up for me.” Those who wipe out the memory of the Christian faith will find out that the logic of their position may one day lead to someone wiping them out as well and there will be no one left to come to their aide, for there will be no one left with reason to speak of loving those who despise you.

So what is the glimmer of hope? I began this essay while I was in Beijing China, where all over the city I saw banners that said, “Merry Christmas” I spent one morning at the Forbidden city. As I walked through the cold with some friends deep in the inner sanctum of the Forbidden city, I saw a small Starbucks with a sign that said, “Merry Christmas” I stopped and pondered, “How odd it is that in the land of Mao where individuals were humiliated for the sake of the “People” I should see a sign wishing me merry Christmas, while in the land where individual freedom is touted as defining the nation’s reason for being, “the people’s tree” won the day.
CHURCH, ATTACK ON

America, Return to God – James Dobson “How can we win this war?”

Your concern and convictions must be translated into action. As Edmund Burke, the English parliamentarian once said, “All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.” Contact your senators and representatives. Write a letter, place a phone call. Register to vote. Do it now. Take part in radio and TV call in programs. Volunteer to teach a class or hold a seminar about marriage and family related issues. Out up lawn signs and distribute bumper stickers proclaiming the sanctity of marriage.

Dr. Corts, former president of the Billy Graham organization told of this story. When he was 16, he and his younger cousins went to visit their grandfather’s farm. They couldn’t wait to get out there and go out into the fields. They wanted to pitch hay and ride on the tractor. It sounded like so much fun. But grandfather was reluctant to let them go. They whined and begged until finally he said to John, “You are the eldest. You can take the kids to the field if you promise not to bring them back early. You must keep them out there until the end of the day.” John said, “I will do that grandpa.” SO they climbed on the hay wagon and the tractor pulled them out to the field. Very quickly, the kids grew tired and started complaining. The work was hot and sticky and they were miserable. They began asking to go back to the house. But John said, “No, grandfather told me to jeep you out here.” By lunch time, they were exhausted. The hay was getting under their shirts and it itched. Everyone wanted to go home. But again John said, “No. Grandfather told me to keep you here.” About 3 o’clock, a large storm gathered overhead. The kids got scared and several were crying. “please,” they begged. “Let us go home!” Still John refused. Finally at about 5, it was time. John loaded all the kids and brought them back. After their baths and meals, grandfather praised them warmly for their work and they felt proud of themselves. That’s when his grandfather said to John, “This farm has been successful through the years for one reason: We have stayed in the field when we felt like coming in. We did what needed to be done, even when we wanted to quit. That is why I wanted the kids to have a satisfying experience of staying with something through the day.”

We are in a very difficult situation now. It is tough. It is hard swimming against the tide of political correctness, the liberal media, the entertainment industry, Congress, the libraries and cultural forces making fun of us. It is not pleasant to be called the religious right, the extremists, fundamentalist right wing crazies. None of us like that. But being ridiculed and marginalized is the price we must pay to defend what we believe. Jesus told us that it would that way. God has called us to stay in the field till the end of the day, and I for one, will do that as long as I have breath in my body.

CHURCH, ATTACK ON

America, Return to God – Thomas Wang

America and the West are showing signs characteristic of pre-exilic Judah. One by one the Western countries are turning away from God. Is America following suit? There are elements working to secularize and paganize America, twisting the meaning of noble and virtuous words:

Tolerance – tolerance of different views including the tolerance of evil, otherwise you are a hate monger

Freedom – free on everything otherwise you are a bigot

Multi literalism – all isms and religions are equal and none could claim as unique

Unity – We will have unity, if you agree with my ideology

Peace – we will have peace when you adopt my lifestyle

Prochoice – In reality it is pro-murder

Love – love is sex and sex is love. One should be free to have sex with anyone, anytime, anywhere and any number, otherwise you are restrictive and archaic