All About GOD - Growing Relationships with Jesus and Others

Will YOU Be a Champion for Jesus?

I read today a Facebook status from my future daughter-in-law, who was telling her friends that she had just completed jury duty. She commented, “After a week of trials and deliberations, it seems awfully bittersweet that jury duty is over and life as routine shall now resume. Sometimes it is a blessing in disguise to have other intellectuals brought together in such a way. How lovely it can be to hold intelligent conversations unrelated to our daily lives.”

I have only twice been summoned for jury duty, but in both cases, I was the only one who could perform my specific job duties and was excused. I really wanted to go because I would have enjoyed collaborating with the other jury members to arrive at a conclusion after hearing the evidence.

When I was growing up in the 1950s our family would gather together in the evenings to watch various television programs. I was always intrigued by program, Perry Mason, and if you would have asked me, "What do you want to be when you grow up?” I probably would have said I wanted to be an attorney. I wanted to be that someone fighting to defend those who were persecuted and were innocent of any crimes. Yep, I am a sucker for the underdog.

Looking back today, from a spiritual perspective, I was always amazed at how Jesus had been so beaten and betrayed when he was innocent of any crime, and yet, he was put to death in the cruelest fashion of the day, crucifixion. But, He knew that which was His purpose and He willingly laid down His life for each of us.

Now what has always puzzled me is this: He did so much good in His life; He taught about love and how we should treat each other; He taught that we should love and pray for our enemies and those that persecute us; He performed miracles and healed those who were imperfect in their bodies; He even brought a dead man, Lazarus, back to life!

And yet ... where was His champion? Where was one ... just one ... who stood to defend him against the charges?

Today Christianity is under attack in our society from every direction. Where are the true defenders of Jesus today? Where do you stand today? Are you going to defend Jesus as His champion or are you, like Peter, going to deny Him?

We know that persecution is coming and not in the distant future? Did you know that during a recent briefing with a Pennsylvania Army Reserve unit, the instructor listed at the top of the list Evangelical Christianity as an example of an extreme religious group?

“The Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty together with the Archd... recently uncovered a U.S. Army Reserve Equal Opportunity training brief that expressly identified “Evangelical Christianity” and “Catholicism” as examples of “religious extremism” like al-Qaida, Hamas, and the Klu Klux Klan. Oh, and be sure to catch that last line on the slide in the picture ‘Islamophobia’.”

In other words, if you think that Islamists are terrorists or want to kill you, then you are most likely an “Islamophobist” and will also be included on their lists of religious extremism.

“Men and women of faith who have served the Army faithfully for centuries shouldn’t be likened to those who have regularly threatened the peace and security of the United States,” said Col. (Ret.) Ron Crews, executive director of the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty. “It is dishonorable for any U.S. military entity to allow this type of wrongheaded characterization. It also appears that some military entities are using definitions of ‘hate’ and ‘extreme’ from the lists of anti-Christian political organizations. That violates the apolitical stance appropriate for the military.”

After a complaint was filed by a soldier, the instructor deleted the slide and apologized. “We consider the matter closed,” he added. It should also be noted that according to George Wright, an Army spokesman, this was an “isolated incident not condoned by the Department of the Army.

Ok. So they apologized. But who approved that lecture series in the first place? Can just anyone conduct a briefing without prior approval from a higher ranking officer? I seriously doubt it. If there is one thing I know about the military that is this: There is a chain of command. No one acts independently as a subordinate without having someone at the top who he answers to.

In California, a student at Gateway East High School in San Diego County, California, Kenneth Dominguez, was suspended for carrying his Bible to school. In 2011 he filed a lawsuit against the school district. Dominguez, who was a recent convert to Christianity, began bringing his Bible to school and witnessing to fellow students about his Christian faith. There was no record of any student complaining of Kenneth’s speaking with them about Jesus, but yet the school official told him he could not share his religious beliefs because of “separation of church and state.”

Yet today, Islam is being taught as a “culture” in our public schools disguised as an online curriculum called CSCOPE. In February there were reports of students being made to wear burqas to school as part of their lesson plans.

Really? Islam is considered culture and Christianity, upon which our nation was founded and which is the basis on which our entire legal system was based, is not considered culture?

In July 2012 a pastor’s home was raided by more than a dozen Phoenix, Arizona police officers and … pay close attention to this … by city officials. Pastor Michael Salman was thrown into jail. His offense? He held Bible studies in his home and the city of Phoenix states people aren’t allowed to hold private Bible studies on their own property.

We must ask ourselves this question: When does a local, state or federal agency have jurisdiction and their rules take precedence over our constitutional rights as citizens? Was not our country founded on the basis that we, the citizens, are the employers and that the city, state and federal elected representatives our employees? How is it that these employees are allowed to make rules that make void our constitutional rights?

The answer is simple. They do NOT have that right. It is because we Christians have been so brainwashed into believing the most evil interpretation of “separation of church and state” that we have not stood up and come to the defense of our Lord Jesus and fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. We have not stood up for our God-given rights. We have not stood up for the freedom from sins that Jesus died for and our constitutional freedoms for which our founding fathers fought, bled and died for.

Because we have not been the champions of the cross that Jesus has called us to be, we will soon lose all freedom of religion in our country and around the world. The LORD gave us a very strong warning in Matthew 10:38, 39 "Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it."