Pick Your Battles
At what point do you stand up and fight for what you believe?
There’s no question—you have to pick your battles.
Some things aren’t worth defending. You have to know the difference.
Your faith, your family, your freedoms—are!
You stand up when you’re being diminished or others are being diminished in their value.
You stand up when what God has ordained in His Word is being diminished in its truth and value.
When you’re forced to compromise or made complicit in the compromise.
That’s when you stand up!
Government-funded abortions; untruth lifted up as the truth.
Stand up!
When injustice is committed. Stand up!
. . .and by the way. When we speak of truth and justice—it’s not based on your definition or mine.
It’s the definition of truth and justice based on God’s Word.
Universities unnecessarily cave to atheist group’s threats over Gideon Bibles
Just because an atheist group complains—it doesn’t mean we have to cave in to those complaints!
Here’s a perfect example!
The University of Wisconsin and Iowa State University needlessly removed Bibles from their university guest rooms after complaints to university officials from an atheist group. The group said it violated the First Amendment.
Not true!
The First Amendment does not require them to remove something from campus just because it happens to be religious.
In fact, the Constitution requires them to accommodate religion.
Our friends at Alliance Defending Freedom sent letters to both universities this past February encouraging them to restore the Bibles to the guest rooms—and not to surrender to the atheist groups’ unfounded legal threats and inaccurate demands!
Universities—or anyone else for that matter—shouldn’t be browbeaten into taking unnecessary and potentially unconstitutional actions!
Go Into ALL the World
The question is. . .”How are we as Christians to interact with those whose values are opposite ours, even opposed to ours?
That’s a highly relevant question, isn’t it?
. . .and Jesus used strong words to answer it. In Mark 2:16, When the Pharisees asked the disciples why Jesus was eating with the “sinners” and tax collectors, Jesus heard them and said, “I haven’t come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
He valued relationships with people that one translation calls “the scum of the earth.”
It’s the essence of the Great Commission to go into ALL the world—not just all the locations of the world, but to all the people of the world.
Not all the world except the political world, not all the world except the entertainment industry.
Go into all the world and preach the Gospel!
It’s pretty clear.
Go for it!
Who Do You Say I Am?
Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do you say that I am?”
In this culture of moral and spiritual decline—it’s the right question to ask!
. . .and what is your answer to that question?
Jesus put His disciples on the spot.
The right answer is: “He is God.”
That means He is God over you, your finances, your relationships, your community, your home, your church. And in a nation that appears to be falling apart, He is still God.
When as Christians, we’re unable to answer Jesus’ question, “Who do you say that I am?”—we’re tempted to compromise our values and principles.
The result is compromise.
Our “salt of the earth” loses its savor and we’re ineffective.
Be relevant to the culture—yes! But don’t compromise who Jesus is in the process!
Canadian Pastor Attacked by Homosexual Activists
What if an ordained minister agrees to marry a couple, then discovers they’re both of the same gender?
When Reverend Randy Harris asked the name of the bride to be in the civil ceremony he was asked to officiate, the name could have applied to male or female.
When he discovered they were both men, he explained he couldn’t officiate because of his religious beliefs.
The men filed a complaint of discrimination with the Ontario Canada Human Rights Tribunal, demanding the pastor reimburse travel expenses, that he be ordered to attend sensitivity training, and that all marriage officials be required to officiate all civil marriage ceremonies, regardless of their religious beliefs.
Alliance Defending Freedom is funding the defense for Randy Harris.
This could happen in the US!
. . a bad precedent in Canada could be cited by a liberal court here!
Religious Liberty is Foundational
As Christians we need to grasp the fact, that without religious liberty—all other freedoms dissipate!
At the top of the list of those issues that really count is religious liberty!
The truth is, those countries that enjoy great freedoms also have religious freedom. Think about it! In those countries where there is little economic freedom, there is also little religious freedom.
It’s true of many countries.
Those nations that have great religious freedom are countries of economic freedom as well.
The point is—religious freedom is the foundational freedom.
The freedom to worship God in your daily life is “foundational” because it establishes the basis for all other freedoms.
The freedom to worship God means that the individual is valued, that work is valued, and government has restraints on itself.
That effectively releases all other liberties.
Protecting our religious liberty.
It IS foundational!
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