Tag Archives: persecution

Mar 3 2013

Dangerous to Devout: Some freestyle fun on fundamentalism

I was feeling creative the other day and decided to do some freestyle poetry, but the more I wrote, the more it appeared to be a “rap”. If you know me at all, you would know that that was not my intention at all since rap is a genre of music I try to stay very far from. But, if you know anyone who would want to use this, it’s all yours!
There is a great deal to tell you what I think of these two, the fundamentalist who judges man and the devout who loves you.

The fundamentalist will pick and choose what he wants use from the Bible to back his own perverse ways, to ridicule non-believers, hate on sinners, and to persecute women and gays. He ignores Christ’s teachings of love, choosing hate, to scold and scorn and retaliate. He wrongly hates God’s creature instead of man’s sin, unable to separate the evil from the good within.

The fundamentalist with a rigid finger, points to one Bible verse out of context and sends to hell a stranger. He is the opposite of God, unloving, unmerciful, unforgiving; more worried about how others offend him instead of how he himself is living. He is more interested in separating than bringing together, in dividing than loving one another. He memorizes some versus to use as knives; poking, sticking, stabbing untruths into your sides.

I can say all this because I was this man, thinking I knew it all, more than any could understand. Filled with pride, ego inexorably bloated, wanting a doctorate in theology to prove my own belief though I alone wrote it. I was anti-Christ in my evangelizing and witness, winning the debate as reward instead of showing the beauty of His gift.

The fundamentalist pushes souls away, is a thorn in your foot, an excuse for his opponent’s hate. The atheist is justified in his rebellion and disgust when he sees the fundamentalist condemning him and losing his trust.

I am no longer this man as now I am devout. I love as Christ loves and leave no one out. There is no offense that would lead me astray, to hate my neighbor or walk in my own way. I don’t need a degree in theology to witness to others. I need only to love them and treat them as my sisters and brothers.

I will take the Bible in its full original meaning, not build my own following after what I think is seeming. I will lead no one into error or anger those who oppose me. I will only pray for all, love all, and give all, so that when all view me, it will be Jesus they see.

Going from fundamentalist to devout has been an evolution, going from judging others and winning arguments to praying for peace as the solution. My eyes finally rest on the goal of God in heaven, to bring all souls to Him through living as brethren. To love efficiently one must practice to love. To know God in heaven, one must allow God in from above.

To sum up my thoughts about what I am saying, I can do no more than to continue praying. The greatest enemy to the Church is not the enemy outside but the fallen human nature that inside resides. It is easy to hate, to anger, to be selfish and hurt, but it takes a great saint to love and know that we were crafted from dirt. That humility and chastity and self-sacrifice are needed but wanting, and desires of the flesh, selfishness, and false witness are immediate and daunting.

A Marine hardly knows valor until he is broken down bloodied and pallor. To be devout one’s human nature must be broken down, studied and disgracefully found. Then after lots of study and prayer, one can begin to understand the Father’s affair.

The fundamentalist will hardly know God alive, until he turns from himself and kneels before our King, beats his chest, and cries “through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault, have I sinned.”

[END]

Sep 19 2012

Politicians Criticize Criticism of Islam, Fine Christians for Practicing Christianity

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Full story: Family Faces Fines for Bible Study, by Todd Starnes

A Florida family is facing fines for hosting a weekly Bible study in their home – an act that city officials argue violates zoning codes.

Shane and Marlen Roessiger, of Venice, Fla. are facing a $250 per day fine for hosting Friday night prayer and Bible study gatherings that are attended by as many as 10 people. Read more.

The abovementioned story doesn’t discuss Islam, but I will, in comparing America’s response to the uprisings and killings in the Middle East to how Christians are treated around the world and here in America.

The Obama Administration remains apologetic with the radicals who kill our ambassador and Navy Seals, torch our flag, and blow up our embassies. The President himself has come out numerous times and cited a short film on YouTube as the reason, or excuse, for the violence, in an attempt to rationalize the behavior of this overseas evil, as if there can be any reason whatsoever.

But, there is no rationalizing evil.

This is what the Obama Administration does not understand, and refuses to recognize. Instead, they make up excuses for the evil. What excuses evil but evil? Should I dare call our highest leaders seduced by evil?

Now, Americans such as myself have to take the word of an overseas Muslim leader that attacks against America were indeed planned attacks on the anniversary of 9/11, and not spontaneous like what my own President and his staff have said numerous times.

Further, about the Christians in the above article: Christian persecution is widespread. It is no longer kept to the holidays where yearly atheists try to get Christmas decorations removed or atheistic decorations added and so forth.

Nope. Not good enough.

Now, silencing Christians is for all seasons. At least the elk have a season to rest and recover before the shooting begins again!

And what better way to persecute Christianity than through one’s interpretation of the law? Ten people showing up for a Bible study is innocent, but gosh-darn-it, those Christians are so annoying! Oh, here we go. This zoning law might do the trick!

We must not say anything about Islam or Mohammed, but it is open-season on Christians. Why? Simply because the truth hurts, and the liberals in our country see the truth in Christianity. Also, the appeasement mentality says we shouldn’t say or do anything to injure the feelings of Muslims because they might kill us.

Christians won’t kill anybody for putting a crucifix in urine and calling it art, but paint a picture of Mohammed and see what happens. I double-dog-dare you!

I’ll show more respect for Mohammed than most radical Muslims will. How about this: I don’t think he was so darn thin-skinned and sensitive to what others thought of him. If Allah is God and Mohammed is His prophet, then show the world this is so. Share the truth with us. Show Allah’s love for all of his creation. Take persecution with love for your enemies and convert through the heart with Allah’s truth. Show the world that nothing can anger you on this earth because your treasures are waiting for you in heaven with Mohammed.

The uniting force between radical Islam and today’s liberalism is hatred. There is no room for the love of Christ in union with such hate for those who are different or who preach righteousness. The shadows scamper in fear when the light is shed on them, but they plot and deploy all kinds of destruction when the light is dimmed or out altogether. We see this in areas all around the world where Christ suffers most.

END

Apr 4 2012

”Spy” Wednesday. Was Judas alone in his betrayal?

It is ”spy” Wednesday today, when we reflect on the betrayal of Jesus by Judas. But who also betrayed Jesus? Peter denied, Thomas doubted, James and John vied for seats of power in heaven, all fled our Blessed Lord, and hid when He needed them most. This is why we must pray for all our religious leaders, who are human like the rest if us, like the first bishops. Their crosses are heavy. May God bless them with courage and strength in a world that holds them to such standards only met by the saints in heaven.

May our persecuted priests, deacons, and bishops be steadfast in their faith, and understand that faith, like a rope, is tested through tension.

The public scandal of Judas would not be the last, but promised to be the first of many, because the Church is filled with sinners striving for holiness, but first sinful.

A stain is most prominent in something of great beauty. This is why the Church and her leadership are persecuted greatly for all forms of misdeeds. Whereas, stains often don’t show at all, unless they’re very large, in the secular, unclean world, where sinful behavior is oftentimes paraded as good.

God love our priests and bishops.

Feb 27 2012

As NATO Calls for the Prosecution of American Soldiers, Christian Pastor in Iran Faces Death Penalty

…for Refusal to Recant his Religious Beliefs

Where is NATO? Where is America? The American President has apologized to the Muslim world and Afghanistan for the burning of Korans by oblivious American soldiers as our people are killed, yet he, and others in power, do not stand up for what is right in declaring that Christian persecution in all Muslim countries (especially and currently in Egypt against the Coptic Christians) must come to an end. The Western World has lost her way down a dark and steep path that is tangled with immorality, passiveness, and fear.

There were days when the evil in the Muslim ranks were in the minority even in their own Muslim countries, but that evil is spreading with the full deadly force of a plague, as the Western World decries neutrality, and relativism. Christianity, therefore, relative to Islam, can be seen as evil, so thinks the liberal, secularist, and relativist. For, if truth is relative, then the evil of Islam can be good, and the virtue of Christianity can be oppressive and bigoted. Therefore, people like Barak Obama, who hold this relativistic mentality, are okay with Christian persecution throughout the world, because in their minds, this equals fairness. It is fair that Christians should suffer, because Islam suffers.

But why does Islam suffer? Surely, I will be considered a hater because I see evil wherever she lays her head, and she is fully, bodily, rested on Islam. Islam is a religion born of hatred, blood, and violence. True Islam today, is the religion of martyrs. The faithful carry guns and kill in the name of Allah. This is true Islam. America arrogantly, for generations, has seen Islam as an equal in the world religious. Surely, there are many in Islam who are good, but they follow a religion not found on love, but on murder. The Pope is right to have talks with religious leaders of Islam, in order to share the love of the Catholic faith with all those who need to experience that love.

But this is not about Islam. There will always be evil in the world, and true Islam is only a branch on a despoiled vine. Much of the fault for the spread of evil of Islam in the world today, which sprouts from the Western World, is relativism. We have accepted Islam with all its baggage, and given power to radicals, supplied them with weapons, and trained them to kill, for this is fair. Relativism demands that all be as fair as possible, through the atriums of bleeding hearts, from guilt rather than love. As said before, the relativist is fine with Christian persecution.

Relativism says it is fine that Christian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani be executed in Iran out of respect for Iran’s right to execute him under their law. This, of course, is not rational, but relativism, or liberalism, is not rational. The secret of relativism is this: that the enemy of my enemy is my friend. The elites in the western world do not like Islam, but they will carry Islam’s water against Christians in order to eradicate Christianity from the western world. After then, these same elitists believe they will be able to do the same to Islam, of course using different, more militaristic tactics because Islam spreads by the sword as Christianity is spread through love.

Nevertheless, relativism and liberalism share still only a branch on this vine of malevolence. The vine, and the soil the vine sprouts from, we all know as evil. This evil is watered by passiveness of good people, and takes its nutrients from the anaesthetized spirit of the West. Too many today go about their lives complaining about traffic jams, stubbed toes, crying babies, and paying taxes, unimpressed with what is happening to the virtuous by evil forces throughout the world.

Let me finish by saying that I had the honor of working alongside some good, loving Muslims in Iraq, one of which was a very sweet man. He was a husband, and father of four. He did not show up for duty as my translator one day, and later we found that he had been gunned down on a street near his home in Tal’Afar. His bloodied lifeless body lay on the street half the day before somebody, possibly the military, had the courage to pick him up! Citizens, out of fear, hate, or passiveness, which are all equally evil, didn’t dare touch him.

We are directed by God to pray for our enemies, and our enemies are in dire necessity of our prayers. While we should pray for those who follow Islam, we would be equally tasked to pray for our enemies here in the West, those who allow and encourage evil throughout the world, whether it is true Islam, communism, racism, sexism, bigotry, religious persecution, and the like. And when we are done praying, we need to take real action; those Christians who are successful, need to seek political office. Leaders of religious communities need to plan events. Christians everywhere need to stand up against evil in all her forms, from hooded murderers to double-breasted suit-wearing politicians who have a skewed worldview.

God love you!