Live by Faith Not by Fear

Have you been following the story out of Houston about pastor's being issued subpoenas for sermons and other communications with church members?

As I read this, it is pretty scary stuff.  Just to give you a cliff notes version, the Houston City Council passed an ordinance that prohibits businesses with public bathrooms from denying people access to either gender's bathroom.  To put it simply, if they choose, a guy can use a women's bathroom and vice-versa.  It was a bill intended to give transgender people the option to use either bathroom.

Obviously, push back occurred and churches led the charge.  They filed a petition to get the issue on the ballot, which was dismissed a midst charges of fraudulent signatures.  The opposition then sued to get the petition validated with led to legal filings.  Part of the legal filings included the city attorney filing subpoenas with five local pastors asking for sermons and any other communications regarding homosexuality, transgender, the ordinance or the mayor.

Legally, this was part of the lawsuit.  They filed to see if pastors were telling congregation members to falsify names on the petition.  The problem is that none of the five pastors are part of the lawsuit.

To make matters worse, comments by several elected city officials (i. e. government officials) make it clear that they don't consider preaching about those topics as religious conversation but political conversation, and thus, not protected.

It makes it abundantly clear that some folks in power (not all, but some) view these issues as political issues and possibly as hate speech.  It's scary that government officials now issue legal documents seeking sermon notes in a country where we have the Freedom of Religion.

(As an aside, I find it funny that those who support a liberal interpretation of the Separation of Church and State now are try to impose the State upon the church.  Interesting, but I digress.)

While it is scary, it is tame compared to persecution Christians face around the world.  ISIS is attacking and killing Christians in the lands they conquer.  In many Muslim countries (even the ones "friendly" with the United States), converting to Christianity is illegal and punishable by prison and/or death.

Yet, we are not to fear.  Why?  Because Jesus is in control of everything.

He makes that clear in his message to the church at Philadelphia in Revelation 3:7-13.  They were doing good work and winning the lost because Jesus opened the door of opportunity for them.  They didn't see the obstacles facing them, but saw the opportunties Christ provided.  As a result, they even won over some of their enemies.

What a great example.  It's one for us to follow.  We must love our enemies and serve them.  We must live by faith and not by fear.  We must see opportunities and not obstacles.  We must trust Christ, because he is in control.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Devotion to a false god

Image
Last week, at Disney World, I went to retrieve our stroller from the stroller parking section.  As I searched among the hundred or so strollers, I finally found mine and started to move it.  As I pulled, it snagged on a woman's garment.  Panicked, I looked up and saw it was a Muslim women in full Muslin dress.  Her body was completely covered.  Only a slit for her eyes was visible.  I was careful not to yank, and I tried to apologize as the hook of the handle caught part of her garment.  She didn't say a word and we both quietly went on our ways. As I walked away, I felt pity on her.  For one, it's Disney World in June in Florida.  I strode along in shorts and a very thin T-shirt.  Both were soaked in sweat.  I had already consumed two bottles of water and still felt weary.  She was dressed head to toe in heavy garments.  I can't imagine how hot she was pushing a stroller with two kids through a mass of people in humid air and on hot pavement. Secondly, she dres
Read more

Time for an examination

Image
For my seminary class on counseling, I had to read a book about anxiety and worry.  In the book, the author, Archibald Hart, made the case that sometimes worry can be good. He gave the example of worrying about an illness - in the case a spot on the skin that could be cancerous.  Since skin cancer is a very real, and deadly, possibility, your worrying about it should spurn you to have it examined.  In that case, it's a healthy form of worrying.  It's more natural concern than worry, even when we dwell on it.  It's our brain's mechanism to check out anomalous things. For me, Matthew 7:21-23 is one of those "spots" you need to worry about.  In the passage, Jesus says many people who drive out demons, preach, teach and do miracles will not gain access into the Kingdom of Heaven.  They'll have all the outward signs of a believer but have no real, genuine relationship with Jesus Christ. That's a very scary proposition.  It addresses those of us who
Read more

God Uses Conflict

Image
I am not a big fan of conflict.  I don't know many people that are. Yet, one thing I learned in my communication classes in college is that in any human relationship or interaction, conflict is inevitable and unavoidable.  In fact, I teach in my marriage counseling that conflict, and how we handle it, can even strengthen our marriages. Conflict is not always a bad thing.  Through conflict, we see new points of view.  We grow as we weather the storm. We even strengthen our resolve. And, at time, God brings conflict into your life in order to move you from where you are to where he wants you to be. That's what happened with the Israelites.  In Exodus 14, we see that God moves to the Jewish people to the once place that means an unavoidable conflict with Egypt.  Surrounded by the Egyptian army, an impassible terrain and the Red Sea, Israel is forced into a confrontation with the Egyptian army.  They have no where to run and ultimately must listen to God as he directs the
Read more