Excuse me, what about the Christians??

If there is one thing I believe all people have a right to in this world above every other right, it’s the right of life. Following very closely behind is the right of religious freedom. But where is religious freedom in this world? There are so many religions, sects and cults out there and yet religious freedom doesn’t truly exist, especially if you are a Christian. Get this round your head: Christianity is the most threatened religion because it is the most threatening religion.

What??

Christianity is the most threatened religion. Christians all over the world are being persecuted for their faith. Some of the stories I have read about Christians in China, for example, are quite sickening. Beatings, torture, false imprisonment, re-education through labour, death penalty etc. (Go to http://www.chinaaid.org and http://www.monitorchina.org to read stories for your self.)

Yeah so…?

One Hundred percent of the time these are innocent victims just trying to do something they enjoy: worshiping their God. Who has any right to take that right away? In fact it is more than a right. It is a duty! Yes, a duty to fulfil that instinctive need and desire to build a closer relationship with Jesus, with the Maker of heaven and earth! No-one has a right to take that duty away!  Hey, even in little old NZ, Christians are being persecuted: just look at some of the policies the Labour Government has bought in to undermine our moral beliefs that make up who we are as Christians – eg civil union, legalised prostitution…

Go on then.
Christianity is the most threatening religion because Christians worship Jesus Christ. He is real. He is ALIVE and reigns with God in Heaven and this is seen as a threat to governments and other religious groups all over the world. Yes, even the NZ government feels threatened by Christians. It all comes down to one simple fact: Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords! And a lot of people in power don’t like that fact. It is viewed as a threat to their own power.

What about Islam?
If Muslims want to worship freely, what country has a problem with them doing that? Even China allows their citizens to be Muslims but not Christians. (This is because Islam is no threat. It is the Radical Islamics who are the threat solely because many governments have chosen to be threatened by their threats of violence, and so they role over and let Islamics have their way.)  But I don’t want to talk about Islam. I want to talk about what’s going on here.  What is happening.  Christians have been persecuted since the beginning of the first church, so it’s nothing new.  And from what the bible tells us, the “end times” are going to be worse for Christians than any other time in life.

So I am I saying we should just sit back and let Christians currently being persecuted take it?  No I am not!  If, we in NZ who are Christians, don’t like what Labour and others are doing to undermine our rights to live in a moral society and are prepared to make a stand, how much more then should we make a stand for those who have no chance of standing up to their government officials.  China is an excellent example.  If  Christians, in these and other countries with little religious freedom, want to  have bible study in their home, take their kids to Sunday school, worship in church, evangelise and live out their christian life freely, then we as Christian who live in relatively free countries have a duty to help these Christians in any way we can.   We who are Christians need to get out there and spread the gospel truth.  We need to pray that prison doors may be opened and  prisoners set free.  Everyone who believes in the right to religious freedom, should do their bit – write to the Consulate General, boycott the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

I wasn’t going to talk about Islam, but I must make this comment:  Islam is a side issue.  Don’t be fooled.  While they are not to be offended, Christians take offence all time as they are often ridiculed in the media, in politics and in society.  While the world focuses on keeping one step ahead of terrorists (and so it should) and while Muslims become a dominating force, many more serious issues are being left to fix themselves.  Family Issues, Child poverty, health and well-being of our societies in general.  And then there are the Christians out there…  When will the right to religious freedom for Christians become the number one issue??

We can make a fuss (if we choose to) when Labour does something immoral but we don’t get electric shocks for doing so.  Time to start thinking more seriously about those Christians out there who do get tortured even before they have a chance to speak out.   Time to act!