Is It Enough?

I know what everyone is trying to say. I know what everyone is trying to do. And on the surface showing solidarity with France during the crisis they are undergoing is good. But let's be honest, what good do the blue, white and red profile pictures really do?

Well, it IS a simple, easy way to show France how much we care about what happened to its people. It's kind of cool seeing everyone's profile picture "united" for a single cause. That is a good thing. But changing our profile pictures is also precisely the problem. It is a problem because it is both simple . . . and it is easy. We should be prepared and compelled to do more as Christians in honor of the 127 souls who perished in Paris.

Here's a testing question for us: This past April, 147 students in Kenya were killed by Al-Shabab. Where were the Facebook profile pictures with Kenyan flags back then? USA Today article.

And what about France's response to the terrorism on their, vowing "merciless" retaliation. And now they have officially declared was. It THAT right? From what I read in the Bible, it is not, as God told us.

"It is mine to avenge; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; their day of disaster is near and their doom rushes upon them." - Deuteronomy 32:35

So what should our response as Christians be when we encounter atrocities like those in Paris and Kenya. It IS right to speak out against such actions. It IS acceptable to change profile pictures to show we care, but let us do it EVERY time . . . for every people group who suffer. Let us do it for Kenya, let us do it for the earthquake victims in Nepal and Afghanistan where over 9,000 perished this year. The 224 people aboard the Russian airliner who died at the hands of an ISIS bomb. And let us do it for the 96,000 babies murdered in the world so far this year?

Don't get me wrong, I support a strong defense through offense. These people are fighting against God! But I also believe that we must seek God's direction and permission before we attack. Maybe that was done in France's case . . . but I doubt it.

Our response to ALL these things we see, seemingly each day on the news, is to respond with LOVE. Are we not called to LOVE our enemies? Yes, we are. We are not called to retaliate in kind, unmercifully. We are called to love - first, our God, and then, others. ALL others.

Now ISIS is one unlovable group. Earthquakes are one thing but terrorist attacks are another thing all together. We should defend ourselves and prepare diligently for such attacks but the thing we must remember, above all else, is that ISIS is fighting a religious war. Is France" The real question we need to be answering is "How are OUR religious defenses?" How are our religious beliefs?

They say that the best defense is a good offense. How are we doing at spreading the Gospel? Jesus is our warrior. He carries a two-edged sword. Let us support OUR king as ISIS fights for theirs. Our weapon is devotion, obedience and love. Are you in God's army?

"11 Then I saw heaven opened, and a white horse was standing there. Its rider was named Faithful and True, for he judges fairly and wages a righteous war. 12 His eyes were like flames of fire, and on his head were many crowns. A name was written on him that no one understood except himself. 13 He wore a robe dipped in blood, and his title was the Word of God. 14 The armies of heaven, dressed in the finest of pure white linen, followed him on white horses. 15 From his mouth came a sharp sword to strike down the nations. He will rule them with an iron rod. He will release the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty, like juice flowing from a winepress. 16 On his robe at his thigh was written this title: King of all kings and Lord of all lords." - Revelation 19:11-16

Operation Overlord - D-Day  - Normandy Beach

The Road The Damascus

It seems like every night or so there is a news story about terrorists killing Christians. We act like this is incredibly barbaric, which it is, and we react like these atrocities are something new. They are not. Rewind 2000 years or so. Stephen had just gotten done with an amazing speech to the religious rulers of his time, which started in Acts 7, verse one. It ended in verse 53. By verse 58 the crowd was rather angry, took Stephen outside of the city,  and began stoning him. But this story in not about Stephen.

"58 Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 And as they were stoning Stephen, he (Stephen) called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep." - Acts 7:58-60"58 Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep." - Acts 7:58-60

Saul was a rather ruthless man and he had a "thing" for persecuting Christians. Kind of like what is going on in the news these days in the Middle East. Early Christians were constantly persecuted and Saul was rather good at it.

In Acts 9 Saul headed for Damascus seeking Christians, people of "The Way," so he could bring them before the religious leaders in Jerusalem. Stoning Stephen was just one of many "treats" Saul had. Saul loves persecuting Christians.

"But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem." - Acts 9:1-2

Saul rather enjoyed what he was doing. One could even say he was obsessed with his persecution of Christians. Again, it sure sounds like something from the evening news these days, but there is something drastically different in Saul's story and his persecution of Christians - the Road to Damascus.

"3 Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. 4 And falling to the ground he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” 5 And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting." - Acts 9:3-5

Saul met Jesus and an incredible transformation took place. From that moment on Saul, whose name was changed to Paul by Jesus, began preaching the Gospel rather than persecuting Christians. The difference between our enemies of today and the enemiies of Saul back then  . . . . was Jesus.

What does Jesus ask of us concerning OUR enemies?

"43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers,[a] what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect." - Matthew 5:43-48

Only God has the power to change our enemies. There is no treaty, created by man, that will ever work. Not without the approval of God anyway. Only God can change the world in which we live. You and I need to pray.

Here is a question for you. I encourage you to examine yourself. Have you had "a Damascus road moment?" Was there a point in your life where you became transformed? Has there been a Damascus Road moment in which Jesus transformed YOUR life?

Here's another question. Whom are you persecuting today? Think about it. Are you "persecuting" Jesus Christ today by the way you live your life?

Looking at myself, before I had my Damascus Road moment, I WAS living a life contrary to God's will. I was only interested in what I wanted. I was only interested in satisfying MY needs. I was my own worst enemy. I was my own Saul - living a life that would only lead to death.

Pray for yourself today. Ask Jesus to transform YOUR life right now!

You say, I'm a Christian already. Why should I do that?

I examine myself daily to discover areas where I need to be transformed. In many ways I am still walking on that Damascus road, searching for things that I want to do. I need to repent of that, humble myself before God, and ask Him to transform MY life so I can be more like His Son, Jesus.

Then he rose and was baptized; 19 and taking food, he was strengthened.
Saul Proclaims Jesus in Synagogues

"For some days he (Paul) was with the disciples at Damascus. 20 And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.” 21 And all who heard him were amazed and said, “Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name? And has he not come here for this purpose, to bring them bound before the chief priests?” 22 But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ." - Acts 9:19-22

Transform YOUR life today by surrendering it to Jesus. Only God has the power to change lives. What God did for Saul He can do for you. Please, place your faith in Him today.

Homeless Veteran Timelapse Transformation

When Is Enough Enough?

Men lined up on a beach. Each one dressed in orange - a striking contrast to their captors, shrouded in black, knife blades glistening in the sunlight. DO yourself a favor. Do NOT search Google Images using the word "beheadings". The images will never leave your brain. It's real people. Men, women and children in this world are being killed because of their faith.

Mini rant here: When is this country going to stand up and defend religious liberty? When ISIS burned the Jordanian pilot alive there was much public outcry but we took no action. Jordan did. Good for them. They acted against a very real threat to them. But religious liberty has taken a vacation from most of the seemingly apathetic world and it is thinking about leaving US if we don't make a stand.

We still have religious liberty here in our country . .. at least for now, but it's only a matter of time before this right is taken away from us. Do you think I'm kidding? Do you think I am being an alarmist? Take a look at Europe. It's already happening there.

Here is a link to an article penned by the Catholic News Agency. [Note: Removing religious liberty in France has begun happening long before this article was written in 2012]

France's New "Monitoring" Policy

In that article you saw that "The State", France, is now determining which religious groups are mainstream and which are radical. They have a new governmental agency in France now called The Observatory of Secularism. This agency exists to promote secularism in France. They observe "radical groups" and then report to the government, who then decides if these groups should be shut down or not.

This "wonderful" French agency is mainly going after Islamic terrorists, but of course they don't want to single out an individual group so they are proposing to eliminate ALL religious groups. Religious Liberty = GONE!

And just who are these "religious extremists" that France thinks are simply too radical? Radical Islamists? Yes. One can easily understand that given all the beheadings and burning people alive. But check out these other "radical" groups that are also on France's list of extremists.

• Creatonists
• The Catholic Church
• Orthodox Jews

France has decided to weed out the extremists IT feels are unworthy by banning ALL religious groups. Are you ready to have your religious liberty taken away from you? Not me. That's the reason this country was founded!

Open up your Bibles. Let's see what Jesus thinks we should do about removing "the weeds" from our fields?

"24 Then Jesus used another story to teach them. Jesus said, “God’s kingdom is like a man who planted good seed in his field. 25 That night, while everyone was asleep, the man’s enemy came and planted weeds among the wheat and then left. 26 Later, the wheat grew, and heads of grain grew on the plants. But at the same time the weeds also grew. 27 Then the man’s servants came to him and said, ‘You planted good seed in your field. Where did the weeds come from?’

28 “The man answered, ‘An enemy planted weeds.’

“The servants asked, ‘Do you want us to go and pull up the weeds?’

29 “He answered, ‘No, because when you pull up the weeds, you might also pull up the wheat. 30 Let the weeds and the wheat grow together until the harvest time. At the harvest time I will tell the workers this: First, gather the weeds and tie them together to be burned. Then gather the wheat and bring it to my barn.’” - Matthew 13:24-30

Am I saying ISIS should be left alone to practice their version or "religion"? No. I am saying we shouldn't stop ANY religious group from "meeting." We should, however, stop them from KILLING.

Most religions are peaceful. Some are not. In the end, God will decide which belief system is right and which ones don't measure up. Are you sure of your beliefs? Dead sure?

Jesus told us we are to love our enemies. I'd say that even includes while they are holding a knife to our throats. And we are to forgive them, even if they are burying children alive. We are called as Christians to "love our neighbors" - even those dressed in black holding our brothers and sisters captive because of their faith. Our reward is in heaven, not here. We must pray for ISIS. Pray that they would see Jesus through the lives of those they are killing and that they then would repent. We need to be on our knees for our religious liberty.

"Give me liberty or give me death!" - Patrick Henry

And finally, there is this from Jesus . . .

"21 Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times." - Matthew 18:21-22