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Christians, planning your next retreat? How about an advance instead?

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Ephesians 6:10-12 says;

‘ … be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armour of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.’
Photo sxc.hu Roman soldiers

Many Christians recognize something is drastically wrong. Why is it that the church doesn’t affect our culture much, while the culture is affecting the church tremendously? Many sense a coming battle. Little do they know it’s already here.

For too long the church has been like a punch-drunk fighter, swinging wildly at a target that’s always moving and hitting back even harder. It’s important to realize that God works through His people. However, the opposition is fierce, and seemingly often victorious. Is it that the enemy’s forces are better equipped, or do Christians just not understand where the battle is focused?

Western societies once founded on Christian beliefs are being constantly exposed to vile, anti-Christian attacks. Take actress Kathy Griffin's recent rant at the 59th annual Emmy Awards. Griffin, being ‘honoured’ said;

‘A lot of people come up here and thank Jesus for this. He had nothing to do with this. … S…k1 it, Jesus! This award is my god now.’

Overall, Christianity is on a full-fledged retreat. History has shown that those that grow complacent may pay a heavy price. A perfect example? Hitler’s Germany.

A casual read of Hitler’s ‘Mein Kampf’ reveals his acceptance of Darwinism at the root of his worldview. This fuelled his beliefs that the highest evolved race (Aryan) should rule the world, which justified his elimination of other people groups as ‘less human’. Hitler applied ‘social Darwinism’ to his country.

A master propagandist, he convinced millions in his country that Jews, gypsies and people of color were ‘sub-human’. The result was the Holocaust.

Hitler used a series of steps, convincing people by playing on their pre-indoctrinated beliefs and fears, convincing them that these ‘corrupt’ individuals were the source of society’s ‘problem’:

  1. Identify the ‘problem’
  2. Marginalize the ‘problem’
  3. Institute laws against the ‘problem’
  4. Isolate the ‘problem’
  5. Eliminate the ‘problem’

Many think the atrocities of Nazi Germany will never be repeated. Can we be sure? These events happened only 70 years ago in a so called ‘civilized’ society much like our own. It’s time Christians realized these steps are being repeated.

Hostile step #1: Identify

Leading atheists are quick to identify Christian believers as the source of the world’s problems.2 For example, Richard Dawkins says Christians are deluded idiots, religion equals child abuse and believes people should have their kids taken away if they teach them about God. Does someone enforcing what can and what cannot be taught to your children under threat of losing them sound far fetched? Think again …

Montreal, August 16, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com)
A community of a dozen Mennonite families in Quebec is ready to leave the province rather than succumb to provincial government demands that would require their children to be taught evolution and homosexuality.3

Hostile step #2: Marginalize

Christianity is being marginalized every day. Greetings like Merry Christmas change into ‘happy holidays’ as the secularization programming continues. Mentioning Jesus name in public in a positive way may lead to persecution,4 but hearing His name blasphemed at your local corner store is commonplace.

Hostile step #3: Institute laws

Western governments are now demanding that Christians accept homosexuality and adultery, under penalty of imprisonment under ‘hate speech’ laws. How long before the Bible is then considered hate speech?

  • Dr Chris Kempling, a Canadian Christian, was suspended from his teaching position by the British Columbia College of Teachers for stating, ‘Many religions consider homosexuality immoral.’5
  • Christian printer Scott Brockie, refusing to do printing for a homosexual group was fined $5,000, told to deliver an apology and ordered to print material promoting behaviour that he finds repugnant.6
  • The Swedish pastor Åke Green was sentenced to jail for preaching against homosexual behaviour and other sexual sin.7

So much for religious freedom …

Hostile step #4: Isolate

What faith gets trashed in the media more than any other? Who’s the butt of the joke in nearly all TV sit-coms and movies Hollywood produces? Who’s the demented fundamentalist or the irrational prude that doesn’t have answers for their faith? The Christian.

Western media is unapologetic in its constant attack on Christianity. Whether it’s the DaVinci Code,8 the Lost Tomb of Jesus,9 SouthPark or the Simpsons,10 Christians seem to be an isolated group that are ‘fair game’ for mockery, insult and intolerance.

Hostile step #5: Eliminate

For those that think the comparison to the Nazi regime ‘over the top’, consider the following quote from Hitler himself.

When an opponent declares, ‘I will not come over to your side’, I calmly say, ‘your child belongs to us already. … What are you? You will pass on. Your descendants, however, now stand in the new camp. In a short time they will know nothing but this new community.’11

According to Barna Research,12 70% of children from Christian homes that attend public schools lose their faith by age 18, so the elimination process is well underway. If that trend continues, the ‘Christian population’ is rapidly headed for extinction. And what is the atheists’ ‘final solution’? Secular education …

I am convinced that the battle for humankind’s future must be waged and won in the public school classroom by teachers who correctly view their role as the proselytizers of a new faith … The classroom must and will become an arena of conflict between the old and the new; the rotting corpse of Christianity … and the new faith of Humanism …13

So what is it that is being taught as fact in schools and the media that is so effective in indoctrinating people in the faith of humanism? Evolution …

‘The most devastating thing though that biology did to Christianity was the discovery of biological evolution. Now that we know that Adam and Eve never were real people the central myth of Christianity is destroyed. If there never was an Adam and Eve there never was an original sin. If there never was an original sin there is no need of salvation. If there is no need of salvation there is no need of a saviour. And I submit that puts Jesus, historical or otherwise into the ranks of the unemployed. I think that evolution is absolutely the death knell of Christianity.’14

A wake-up call to believers

Hey, Christians! Do you think the creation/evolution issue is a side issue? Think again.

Many leaders in Europe, not wanting to get involved, ignored the clear warning signs coming from Hitler’s advancing juggernaut, much to their regret. No longer can the church ignore the devastation brought about by the evolutionary indoctrination in state schools and public media.

A good quote, wrongly attributed to the great reformer Martin Luther, reads;

If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the Word of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Him. Where the battle rages there the loyalty of the soldier is proved; and to be steady on all the battle front besides, is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point.15

It’s time to prepare for battle, get equipped, put on the full armour of God and advance where the battle is raging the fiercest—the battle for the beginning. Resist the enemy, spread the truth and retake the ground.



Published: 4 December 2007

References

  1. A term of offensive origin used today in the vernacular to express hostile, arrogant and extreme defiance. We felt it was nevertheless important to retain this oblique reference to it, to highlight to believers the degree of open impunity and disrespect with which the secular world regards the things of our Lord. Return to Text.
  2. Atheist with a mission. Return to Text.
  3. Forced Education in Homosexuality and Evolution Leads to Exodus of Mennonites from Quebec. Return to Text.
  4. Florida Chaplain Says Hospital Fired Him for Saying ‘Jesus’ in Prayers. Return to Text.
  5. Religious Freedom in Canada. Return to Text.
  6. Freedom of conscience debated in Ontario Christians support right of printer to refuse homosexual group’s business. Return to Text.
  7. Swedish Pastor Sentenced for ‘Hate Speech’. Return to Text.
  8. The Da Vinci Code:Fiction masquerading as fact. Return to Text.
  9. The Lost Tomb of Jesus: Another ‘Titanic’ Disaster. Return to Text.
  10. The Simpsons and Scopes. Return to Text.
  11. Adolph Hitler, Speech Nov.6 1933. Cited in The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William Shirer. Return to Text.
  12. Christian Parents Are Not Comfortable With Media But Buy Them for Their Kids Anyway. Return to Text.
  13. John J. Dunphy, Official Journal—American Humanist Association (1983). Return to Text.
  14. Frank Zindler, American atheist, in a debate with William Craig, Atheism vs. Christianity video, Zondervan, 1996. Return to Text.
  15. Luther's Works. Weimar Edition. Briefwechsel [Correspondence], vol. 3, p 81f., as translated by Dr Werner Gitt from the German. Return to Text.

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