#2 - A Patriot And A Christian Series

We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was "legal" and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was "illegal." It was "illegal" to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler's Germany. Even so, I am sure that, had I lived in Germany at the time, I would have aided and comforted my Jewish brothers. If today I lived in a Communist country where certain principles dear to the Christian faith are suppressed, I would openly advocate disobeying that country's antireligious laws.

If we will not fight injustice, then who will fight it when we experience it?

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—

Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—

Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—

Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

- Martin Neimoller , protestant pastor and nazi resistance member – spent the last 7 ears of his life in a Nazi concentration camp

2. Live holy, no matter the cost.

Sometimes, holiness is attractive:

POWERPOINT The impious Galileans support not only their own poor but ours as well. – Roman Emperor Julian

But that doesn’t mean that they don’t persecute anyway!

Holiness is a rebuke, and so it is at times repulsive to those who are blinded by Satan, who want you to participate in their sin, so that they might not feel the pangs of conscience caused by your not participating.

Ever wondered why LGBT activists want more than freedom to live and not be bothered?

I wrote this on the day after the Supreme Court legalized gay marriage.

“We can pass all of the laws we want and talk about public policy until we run out of air, but until our society stops thinking of queer people as deviant or corrupt or sinful or in any way less than non-queer people, nothing is going to change… It’s only after we’ve challenged and changed the most basic and fundamental viewpoints about who we are that we can really begin to think about true liberation and true equality.”

Did you catch it? True freedom for the LGBT community can only be found when Christians stop thinking they are sinful. Their fight only stops then. This is what insightful Christians have understood: that this was never the “final” battle — it was the first one.

#3: Show love, no matter the opponent.

ILLUS> I had a guy leave the church a few months ago because we are a tax-exempt organization. He said something to the effect of, “The pastors of tax-exempt churches are beholden to the government, and are required to lead their people to the prison camps when they are formed.”

Whoa.

SO let me be exceedingly clear:

We will never forsake or abandon the Bible’s clear teaching that homosexual activity is wrong.

When the day comes that churches lose their tax exemption for refusing to perform or host gay weddings, we will give up our tax exemption.