In the course of 250 years of American history, Christianity has gone from being revered and the informing worldview of our constitution and culture to being cast aside from public life.
This devolution is occurring so rapidly now that Christians are openly persecuted for holding to orthodox biblical beliefs, particularly on the issue of marriage and morality. For instance, to reject the lie that homosexuality and transgenderism are as unchangeable and amoral as skin color is to be considered an evil racist, deserving of complete and utter expungement.
There are myriad examples of this, from Christian wedding service providers who are sued and fined, to Christian-owned businesses (like Chick-fil-A) who are denied building stores for their biblical views, to just regular Christians who must keep silent about their beliefs or else.
“Persecution” is a strong term. It means “to pursue with harassing or oppressive treatment; to annoy or trouble persistently.” But it’s an accurate way to describe what is happening to Christians in our country where freedom of religion stands atop our first principles.
Granted, persecution of Christians in America is not comparable to the physical torture, imprisonment, and death suffered by Christian brothers and sisters worldwide. But we are getting there, where non-politically approved beliefs are considered hate crimes deserving of jail time.
This weekend on The Christian Worldview, we will discuss how to be faithful in persecution in light of a sermon pastor Voddie Baucham delivered at Shepherds’ Conference last month.
