I praise my Lord and Savior that someone ( Rick Scarborough) is finally bringing attention to the plight of persecuted Christians. He could have joined with the popular crowd and stood up for persecuted Christians in China, North Korea, or those being massacred in Sudan, but come on, enough is being done for them. Besides, is it really that bad? Thank God that Scarborough and "Christians" across America are defending their persecuted brethren, like Tom Delay.
The persecution of St. Hammer so reminds of the fate suffered by Perpetua and Felicitas. Just read this description and you'll find some every similarities to Delay's sufferings. Won't this type of persecution ever end!
At the demand of the pagan mob they were first scourged; then a boar, a bear, and a leopard, were set at the men, and a wild cow at the women. Wounded by the wild animals, they gave each other the kiss of peace and were then put to the sword.
The stoning of Stephen, the boiling of John, Nero using Christians as human torches, or those secular bullies using the "politics of personal destruction," it's all the same, and it must STOP!
Just like St. Hammer, the martyrs would rather die than renounce their relationship with a misunderstood and disgraced man, Jesus (Jack Abramoff).
I wish the persecution would end there, but it doesn't because attacking Christians has deep roots. Thinking of the hardship suffered by American "Christians" during this years particularly brutal "War on Christmas," I can't help being reminded of the suffering felt by Christians around the world who celebrate the birth of our Lord in fear for their lives.
Hearing Bill O'reilly wax poetic about a school district that may (or may not) have banned Christmas colors, or one that changed the name of Silent Night, sends my mind reeling with thoughts of a dispatch from my favorite news source, WorldNetDaily.
Terror also looms on a global scale – according to the World Evangelical Alliance, several radical Muslim groups have let it be known that they're planning attacks around Christmastime this year:
- Tensions are high in Indonesia, where police are guarding over 240 churches in and around Jakarta this Christmas: Jemaah Islamiya, the radical Muslim group that hopes to create an Islamic megastate in Southeast Asia, appears to be planning a coordinated bombing campaign against churches.
- In Iraq, meanwhile, radical Muslims have also threatened major attacks during the Christmas season, leading Christians to celebrate Christmas early and spend the big day hiding at home.
- Even in Italy, the Via della Conciliazione, the road that leads to St. Peter's Basilica, has been closed for the first time in anyone's memory in response to threats of Christmas season attacks by Islamic radicals against an unnamed "important symbol of Christianity."
These threats are just the latest in a long line. A Christmas attack against Christians making a pilgrimage to the Holy Land was headed off in 1999. The next year, 49 bombs were planted outside Indonesian churches just before Christmas – 18 exploded, killing 15 people and wounding almost 100 others. And on Christmas 2002, attackers threw hand-grenades into a Pakistani church, killing three and wounding 14.
So, I give a heartfelt thank you to those standing up for the "Christian Martyrs" of America: those who bravely wear a bracelet and adorn their SUV with a Jesus Fish eating a Darwin Fish. Thank you to all of you who fight your way through the busy parking lot of Lakewood Church in Houston to humbly sit at the feet of Joel Osteen while he teaches you how to bravely be a Christian in a Country that persecutes you daily.
You could take the easy route. You could be in Iraq helping citizens and even other Christians in that war-torn nation, but you are stronger than that. You could all go to Darfur and stand as human shields protecting the Christian refugees there, but you are braver than that. You could direct all your church's considerable wealth to ending poverty and the AIDS epidemic, but there are gays to keep from marrying, schools without prayer, unmarried women trying to take birth control, and TV shows to cancel. Thank you for living your radical faith in such a radical way. That one guy, (what's his name again?) would be so proud.