You can run but you can’t hide. That’s certainly true today, amen? They not only know where you live and work, but probably know what kind of car you drive, when you take a shower, what’s your favorite flavor of ice cream or your favorite show on TV, what station you listen to in the car. They probably know far more about us than we care for them to know, amen?
For example, have you heard of “doxing”? It’s spelled “d-o-x-x-i-n-g” but it means what the name sounds like … it’s the practice of going through your on-line “documents” to find any personal information about you that can be used to publicly embarrass, harass, and even threaten you. Computer hackers search for and publish your personal information, such as home address, workplace details, your personal phone number, your social security number, bank account or credit card information, private correspondence, criminal history … I know that none of you have to worry about that … personal photos, and embarrassing personal details on line for all the world to see (www.usa.kaspersky.com/resource-center/definitions/what-is-doxing).
The motivation behind doxing varies. A “doxer” may feel that someone has insulted them or attacked them and they are out for revenge. It could be someone who holds a strong controversial opinion that they don’t agree with or someone who doesn’t agree with their particular opinion. Doxing has become a terrifying threat in today’s political and polarized culture wars. Doxing used to be targeted at high-profile people … like politicians, celebrities, and journalists … but has been increasingly used against regular folks like you or me who have drawn the attention of the “on-line vigilante mobs” who constantly search the internet to silence anyone who offends them or disagrees with their social or political views. The objective of cyber-bullying … or the use of cyber-space or the internet to intimidate or silence opposing voices … as the name implies is to bully, to intimidate, or humiliate the victim in question. Doxing attacks can range from trivial attacks … like setting up fake email accounts in your name or ordering pizza delivery to your house … to making death threats, getting people fired from their jobs, or showing up at people’s houses.
Doxers believe that they are justified in what they are doing. For example, the nebulous on-line group known as “Anonymous” doxed hundreds of alleged KKK members … who cares, right? But they also released the details and personal information for over 7,000 law enforcement personal ( www.usa.kaspersky.com, ibid.) … putting both KKK members and law enforcement people at risk. Kyle Quinn, for example, is a professor from Arkansas who was wrongly accused of being a neo-Nazi who participated in the Charlottesville protests. Overnight, Mr. Quinn’s image was shared across social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram by literally thousands of people … many of whom contacted Mr. Quinn’s employer demanding that he be fired (Doxxing Can Ruin Your life. Here's How (You Can Avoid It) (heimdalsecurity.com).
Twenty-eight-year-old Andrew Finch was a big fan of an on-line video game called “Call of Duty.” Over time he got into repeated arguments with another player by the name of Tyler Barris. Enjoying the fight, another on-line player egged Barris on, suggesting that Barris “swat” Finch. You “swat” someone by making a fake emergency call to the police, giving them your victim’s address. Barris called the police and told them that Finch had broken into someone’s home and was holding them hostage. When the police arrived a Finch’s house, they accidently shot him dead. As if that weren’t bad enough, Barris bragged about his achievement on Twitter before the police came and arrested him.
Images of Mark and Patricia McCloskey defending their St. Louis home during a BLM protest went “viral” on the internet and resulted in doxers attacking them and not only threatening their home but posting the address of their law practice on-line. Thousands of people posted scathing one-star reviews on Yelp and Facebook accusing them of being racists (Charles, J. “Here are 10 Despicable Ways Far-Left Extremists Have Doxxed Conservatives. Red State, November 10, 2020).
Of course, you all remember Nick Sandmann … the young man who was confronted by a Native American drumming in his face during a high school trip to Washington, DC. Of course, the doxing community went to work, posting personal information about him and his family that resulted in hundreds of threats. What you may not know is that one doxer mistakenly identified the young man who was having a drum beat in his face as Andrew Hodge … another high school student who had absolutely nothing to do with the Covington High School field trip to the nation’s capital. None the less, Andrew Hodge and his family were threatened and were attacked and harassed on-line. (Otzerchowski, H. “Lunatic Leftists Doxed a Random Kid Thinking He Was in the Covington Video – Family now receiving violent threats. The Gateway Pundit, January 20, 2019).
Mob rule … trial by public opinion. That’s nothing new for us Christians, is it? John the Baptist was beheaded by Herod’s son, Herod Antipas, for proclaiming Christ (Mark 6:25-29). Angered over Jesus’ message and His rebuke, the Jewish leaders tried to seize Jesus and kill Him a number of times until they finally succeeded (Luke 4:28-30; 13:31; John 5:16,18; John 7:1,19,25, 44; 8:37,40; 11:53). A number of apostles were arrested, beaten, and imprisoned for preaching Christ (Acts 4:1-3; 5:17-18, 22-40; 7:54-60). Stephen was stoned to death for preaching about Christ (Acts 7:54-60). Early Christian communities were repeatedly attacked and forced to flee. Except for the Apostle John, all the other apostles died violent deaths at the hands of their persecutors. Paul suffered almost every kind of persecution practiced in his day. He was imprisoned many times, stoned almost to death, beaten with 39 stripes five times, beaten with rods three times, run out of a number of towns, and was often cold and hungry (2nd Corinthians 11:22-29).
And that was just the beginning. In his book, “Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places,” Eugene Peterson wrote:
“Eighteen hundred years or so of Hebrew history capped by a full exposition in Jesus Christ tells us that God’s revelation of Himself is rejected far more often than it is accepted, is dismissed by far more people than embrace it, and has been either attacked or ignored by every major culture or civilization which it has given its witness: magnificent Egypt, fierce Assyria, beautiful Babylon, artistic Greece, political Rome, Enlightenment France, Nazi Germany, Renaissance Italy, Marxist Russia, Maoist China, and pursuit-of-Happiness America” (2002, p. 288).
The Islamic Ottoman Empire had a long history of persecuting Christians. In 1915, for example, the Islamic Turks massacred 2.7 million Christians … possibly as many as 50 million during the 600 years that the Islamic Ottoman Empire lasted (www.serfes.org/orothodox/memoryof.htm).
In 17th century Japan, Christianity was illegal. Missionaries were expelled from the country and converts were either jailed or executed (Shellnut, K. “Why Japan Wants Its Past Persecution of Christians to Be World Renowned.” Christianity Today, May 29, 2018). Eighteenth century China followed their neighbor’s example and persecuted Christians and made Christianity illegal as well (Christianity in China - Wikipedia).
Christians weren’t just persecuted by foreign people in strange lands. In 1572, 3,000 French Protestants were killed by mobs in Paris during a riot that became known as the “St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre “(Manetsch, S. “St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre. Christianity Today, June 22, 2016). Between 1540 and 1685, the Catholic church martyred over 1.7 million Christians accused of heresy throughout Europe (www.exlibris.org/nonconform/engdis/lollards). Christianity was outlawed after the French Revolution in 1789 (Getros, G. “The French Revolution and the Catholic Church.” History Today, December 2010). Clergy were banished or killed. Churches were desecrated and the secularist attempted to remove any and all semblance of Christianity from French society. The Communist tried to do the same thing when they took over Russia in 1917 (Nelson, J. Psychology, Religion, and Spirituality. NY: Springer Science and Business Media. 2009, p. 427). Church attendance and all Christian teaching and training were made illegal. The Communist government confiscated all church property and millions of dissenters were executed. The same thing happened in China and Cuba when the Communist took over those countries.
“For nearly 250 years, Christians in America were able to live in relative freedom from persecution,” says Moody Bible Institute President Dr. Paul Nyquist. “We escaped because our society historically embraced and promoted Biblical values,” Dr. Nyquist goes on to explain. “Our founding fathers penned a Constitution esteeming religious freedom and establishing that rights come from God, not the government.” But that appears to be changing. Dr. Nyquist described a religious and spiritual shift that is threatening to reshape America and American life. “Hostility and intolerance are replacing toleration,” says Dr. Nyquist, and rejection and hatred are pushing aside acceptance (Nyquist, P. Prepare: Living Your Faith in an Increasingly Hostile Culture. Chicago: Moody Pub., 2005, p. 14).
Okay … so we’re not being rounded up and beheaded or fed to the lions. We’re not being used as human torches. But we are being targeted for persecution. Before we go any further, however, you need to understand what I mean by the word “persecution.” “Because of our relative inexperience,” says Dr. Nyquist, we tend to think of persecution “in physical terms” … such as imprisonment or martyrdom … “and as such, may question whether our experience truly qualifies as persecution” (Ibid, p. 16). Actually, says theologian Geoffrey Bromily, “Persecution is the suffering or pressure … mental, moral, or physical … which authorities, individuals, or crowds inflict on others, especially for opinions or beliefs, with a view to their subjection by recantation, silencing, or, as a last resort, execution” (The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Vol. 3. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans. 1986, p. 771).
Jesus criticized the Pharisees for their inability to discern the signs of the times (Matthew 16:3). The signs of our times seem to be indicating an increasing hostility toward Christianity, which has lost its place as the nation’s primary guiding ethic. “Laws and societal pressures have begun to encroach seriously on Christian freedom” and we may be in the “first stages of repression of Christian speech and actions,” says Dr. David Jeremiah … and “even stronger measures may follow,” he warns (Is this the End? Nashville: Thomas Nelson Pub. 2016, p. 59).
So, what are these five signs or stages of Christian persecution that are happening right now in America? Well, the first one is “stereotyping.” President George W. Bush described us as people who are “bitter,” who “cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them.” We are “anti-immigrant” and “anti-trade” (Voshell, F. “Persecution of Christians in America: It’s Not Just ‘Over There’.” American Thinker, May 10, 2015) … and this from a president who claims to be a Christian. And he’s not alone. Christians are usually accused of being ignorant, uneducated, backward, inhibited, homophobic, anti-science, hateful, and intolerant … a message that is repeated over and over again in the arts and media. How often have we been portrayed in various ways like the prison warden in The Shawshank Redemption … a tyrannical hypocrite who abuses the inmates under his care while he spouts Bible scripture?
While it is true that we’re not all saints and that some of us represent the faith poorly, these stereotypes do not reflect the reality of authentic Christianity. They arise, says Dr. Jeremiah, “out of the rising cultural prejudice against the Christian faith” (Ibid., p. 62).
“Marginalization” is another way of minimizing and slowly displacing Christianity from the center of American life. For now, we are allowed to practice our faith but more and more the message is: “Keep it to yourself.” That is why public prayers must be curtailed. That is why Christian holidays are being “secularized.” That is why openly professing Christians are being excluded from positions of power and influence in politics, academia, entertainment, and the media more and more. As MSNBC personality Chris Matthew put it: “If you’re a politician and believe in God first, that’s all good. Just don’t run for government office, run for church office” (Voshell, Ibid).
Christian beliefs and practices are being pushed out of public life more and more. “For example, Christian organizations are now barred from many university campuses” (Jeremiah, Ibid). New Jersey and Philadelphia have banned Christmas carols with religious content to be sung or played by their students in public schools (Chen, G. “Christmas Carols: Banned on Public School Campuses.” Public School Review, May 30, 2016). In 2016, a California appeals court upheld the verdict against two doctors who refused to artificially inseminate a lesbian woman. The woman’s attorney said: “When [a] doctor is in her church, she can do religion, but not in the medical office’” (Messner, T. “Same-Sex Marriage and the Threat to Religious Liberty. The Heritage Foundation, October 30, 2008).
Remember Jack Philips? He was the Colorado baker who refused to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple. Originally, the Colorado state court had found that baker Jack Phillips' decision to turn away David Mullins and Charlie Craig in 2012 was unlawful discrimination, but the Supreme Court later ruled in a 7-2 vote that that decision had violated Mr Phillips' rights. The article that I read on-line was quick to point out, however, that the Supreme Court's verdict only focused on Mr. Phillips’ case and did not give florists, photographers, or other services the right to refuse their services to gay couples (BBC News, June 4, 2018).
This will give you a good idea of what we’re dealing with today. According to a recent survey by the nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute, seventy-two percent of the more than 40,000 Americans surveyed said they favored nondiscrimination protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals, while 56 percent said that they opposed allowing small businesses to refuse products and services to gays if doing so would violate their religious beliefs … down from 61 percent in 2016 (NBC News, April 14, 2020).
Threats of banning religious expression within academic, institutional, corporate, or public arenas is another way of persecuting or squeezing us out of the mainstream of American life … and these threats are beginning to move from the public sphere into our private lives. An intern at California State University Long Beach, for example, was fired from her teaching position and told that she would be expelled from the graduate program if she didn’t stop discussing her faith with co-workers during her off hours … during her off hours!
(www.wnd.com/2007/03/40820/). A Maryland middle school student was forced to stop reading her Bible during her lunch hour … but she was allowed to read Harry Potter and other occult-oriented books (Rich, E. “Bible-Reading Student Gets Lesson in Litigation.” Washington Post, October 3, 2006). Brendan Eich, who was the chief executive of Mozilla, was forced to resign in 2014 because he had contributed a thousand dollars to support California’s Proposition 8, which defined marriage as the union between a man and woman (McBride, S. “Mozilla CEO Resigns, Opposition to Gay Marriage Drew Fire. Reuters, April 3, 2014).
Another favorite tool of the secularists is intimidation. Some of you may not remember this but it sure caused me a great deal of concern. In October of 2014, several Houston pastors encouraged their congregations to sign a petition calling for a referendum on a newly passed ordinance that allowed men and women to use one another’s restrooms. The mayor of Houston, Annise Parker, ordered the five pastors to turn over all their sermons, text messages, and e-mails that had anything to do with homosexuality or gender issues or get charged with contempt of court. Thankfully, she rescinded the subpoenas in the wake of nation-wide protests and push back (Nyquist, Ibid., p. 13).
And currently, the most aggressive form of persecution against Christians and Christian organizations are the courts themselves. Remember Jack Phillips, the Colorado baker I mentioned earlier? A Christian photograph in New Mexico was sued by a lesbian couple because he refused to photograph their “commitment ceremony.” He lost and was fined over $6,000. A Christian couple who ran a bakery in Oregon was fined $135,000 for refusing to bake a cake for a lesbian wedding. “In many of these cases, Christians have paid heavily for standing by their convictions. Some lost their life’s savings; others were forced out of business or into bankruptcy; and several received death threats from activists” (Jeremiah, Ibid., p. 65).
While we may be a long way from the kind of persecution that our Christian brothers and sisters had to face in the past or are facing now in other countries, we can expect lawsuits and court judgments against Christians who stand up for their faith to escalate. As one writer put it: “Persecution could well accelerate to include Henry VIII-style seizure of church property and money because of Christian leaders’ refusal to bow to the doctrines of the State. … Even jail time for Christians is quite possible” (Voshell, Ibid.). I hope not … but I have to agree with David Jeremiah that “I never in my wildest nightmares dreamed that Christianity would be under fire as it is now in the United States” (Jeremiah, Ibid., p. 66). I tried to discuss this with some other pastors not so long ago but was quickly told that I shouldn’t be in such a rush to be a martyr.
Paul, who experienced a great deal of persecution personally and saw many of his brothers and sisters suffer persecution as well, encourages us not to give up by pointing out that persecution produces some unexpected results. Speaking about us sharing in the future glory of God because of what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross, he points out that our suffering produces endurance, “and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us” (Romans 5:3-5). He not only describes the effects that persecution and suffering can produce in us but he also tells us how we will find the courage and the strength to persevere and endure.
As I mentioned earlier, we’ve had it pretty easy here in the United States. I’ve met many, many people who thought that Christianity would provide them with an easy life filled with nothing but green lights and smooth highways … only to give up their “faith” once they discover the truth. I love what Christian author and speaker John Ortberg says about the Christian life: “God isn’t at work producing the circumstances I want. God is at work in bad circumstances to produce the me [that] He wants” (Christianity Today, June 22, 2016).
Paul says that we need perseverance and we need courage. When the Sanhedrin ordered Peter and John to stop preaching, they didn’t stop. When the leaders and people of Lystra had stoned Paul and dragged his body to the city dump, he got back up and went back into Lystra and picked up where he left off. Jesus went to Jerusalem knowing that a cross awaited Him there.
Suffering can strengthen and purify our faith. Discipline … sometimes stern or severe … can be God’s way of rooting out everything in us that is not eternal or dedicated to Him. “For whom the LORD loves He chastens” (Hebrews 12:6). “If you are suffering as a Christian,” says Pastor D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, “and because you are a Christian, it is one of the surest proofs [that] you are a child of God” (Romans: An Exposition of Chapter 8:5-17. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1974, p. 433).
The fact that God disciplines us because He loves us should also bring us joy. I’m sure that the other inmates thought Silas and Paul were absolutely mad when they began singing in the Philippi hoosegow, am I right? As Paul himself put it: “All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” (2nd Timothy 3:12). After describing all of the suffering and ordeals that he went through, Paul was still able to say that he would he delighted in “weakness, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties” (2nd Corinthians 12:10) because he found that in his weakness, in his dependence on God, he was able to persevere and to stand strong.
Please understand. The source of our joy is not the persecution itself but the reason for our persecution. Stay with me on this. Think about it for a minute. Why are so many people openly hostile to Christians? Although they would never admit it, I believe it’s because they are jealous. Most of the people who live godless lives are pretty much unhappy, frightened people … though 99% of them would rather die than admit that. I know because I used to be one of them. You had something that I wanted. You had something that I couldn’t understand … a relationship with God. You had something that you were willing to be abused for, mocked for, persecuted for … which is why our courage and perseverance in the face of opposition and persecution is such a powerful witness … trust me.
I believe that another reason non-believers and secularists are so determined to silence us and ease us out of the picture is that we shine a light that pierces the darkness of the world’s lies and the lies that they have told themselves that they have bought into. I have found that the louder a person shouts at us the more they are trying to convince themselves of the lie that happiness only lies in the fulfillment of our selfish wants and desire. As I pointed out at the beginning of this series, the world can deny God all they want but the truth of His existence is all around us and you have to work really, really hard to deny His existence. Again, I’m speaking from personal experience.
When a non-Christian or secularist is around us, they feel judged … which is ironic because they don’t realize that it is actually they who are judging themselves, amen? By trying to silence us … kill the “messenger,” if you will … they are actually trying to silence or bury the moral accountability that God has planted firmly in every human heart. “Silencing us allows them to stifle the latent knowledge of truth resurrected by our behavior,” says Dr. Jeremiah. “This is why persecution has been a persistent counterpoint to Christianity throughout its entire history” (Ibid., p. 68).
In one of our Bible studies, we’re working our way through the Book of Revelation … which speaks a great deal about the tribulation and persecution that God’s people will face as we approach the end times and, naturally, it struck a little fear in some of our hearts. All of this is easy to talk about, but how will we do if and when real trials show up? As I pointed out, we’ve been blessed in this country. Basically untried and untested, I wonder just how strong I’ll be when it’s my freedom or my job or my pocketbook or my life that is on the line. It’s easy to speak brave words about how I’ll die for my faith and my love of Christ, but I don’t have a gun stuck in my face right now. Will I be able to sing like Paul and Silas in prison and keep on witnessing and professing my faith to the guards and other inmates?
Here’s the thing, my Christian sisters and brothers, remember our scripture reading for today: “…hope does not disappoint us because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us” (Romans 5:5). Criticism and opposition should not cause us to fear or to cower because we do not stand alone! When Home and Garden TV canceled David and Jason Benham’s series “Flip It Forward” because of their stance on abortion and gay marriage, David Benham didn’t sing but he didn’t cower either. “I believe that God looks down from Heaven,” said David, “and He sees men and women that will stand in the gap on behalf of the land and will rebuild the wall and get back to the foundations of true Biblical Christianity” (Hannigan, J. “Cultural ‘Resistance’ Not ‘Relevance’ is Biblical Approach to Reach Millennials, Behnam says.” Christian Examiner, November 11, 2014).
Even the tiniest acts of courage and faith can reap tremendous rewards. As the young woman sat in the waiting room of a Maryland abortion clinic, she looked out the window and saw a man kneeling in the snow praying. His simply act of piety convicted her and she canceled her appointment and had the baby (Fernandez, K. “How the Nine Days of Prayers Comforted Me While I Fought Demons.” Patheos, January 19, 2013). God can use your courage in little things to accomplish bigger things, amen?
If God has called us to be His agents, then don’t think about the cost … don’t think about the results … just think about what you decided in advance that you would do when you were tested … and remember, God will be there and through His Holy Spirit, He will give you the courage or the wisdom or the strength or whatever you need to witness to your faith and to accomplish His purposes.
This means being willing to be labeled a prude for avoiding certain movies or books or TV shows, or avoid activities that promote immorality, sacrilege, or ungodly values. It means being willing to be labeled stupid for believing in creationism, being called homophobic for rejecting homosexuality, anti-feminist for rejecting abortion, or intolerant for professing the exclusivity of Christ. We must be willing, as Paul was, to be “fools for Christ” while being scorned as scum or filth by the world (1st Corinthians 4:10, 13).
Our first reaction to the slander and attacks of the world might be anger, but the Bible gives us a more constructive response. While it is our duty to stand up and speak out for Biblical truth, the Bible tells us that we must stand and we must confront these slurs and attacks with love so that we do not justify the labels of hate and intolerance that some people have slapped on us. “Being reviled, we bless,” says Paul, “being persecuted, we endure; being defamed, we entreat” (1st Corinthians 4:12-13). When faced with persecution, says Paul, we must be prepared to defend our faith with reason and civility: “Always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed” (1st Peter 3:15-16).
Our strength must also come from our ability to stand together. We must do more than just come to church once in a while … we need to surround and immerse ourselves in the church, amen? Regular church attendance, attending Bible study, getting involved in outreach and ministry in the surrounding community, and just plain hanging out and socializing together. As Dr. Jeremiah puts it: “In order to sail through today’s troubled waters, the church needs all hands on deck. The church needs you, and you need the church” (Jeremiah, Ibid., p.84).
In the end, what the world has to offer is cheap and tawdry compared to what God has to offer us, amen? “Following Jesus means that wherever obedience requires it, we will accept betrayal and rejection and beating and mockery and crucifixion and death,” says John Piper. “Jesus gives us the assurance that if we will follow Him to Golgotha during all the Good Fridays of this life, we will also rise with Him on the last Easter day of the resurrection” (“Let the Nations Be Glad.” Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Pub. 2010, p. 75).
“Get ready,” says Dr. Nyquist. “An exciting, yet terrifying era is beginning for American believers. As cultural changes sweep our country, we’ll soon be challenged to live out what the Bible says about confronting and responding to persecution” (Nyquist, Ibid., p. 14).
I want to close with a story from Richard Wurmbrand … an evangelical minister who spent 14 years being tortured and imprisoned in a Communist prison in his homeland of Romania.
“I remember my last Confirmation class before I left Romania. I took a group of ten to fifteen boys and girls on a Sunday morning, not to church, but to the zoo. Before the cage of lions, I told them, ‘Your forefathers in faith were thrown before such wild beasts for their faith. Know that you also will have to suffer. You will not be thrown before lions, but you will have to do with men who would be much worse than lions. Decide here and now if you wish to pledge allegiance to Christ.’ They had tears in their eyes when they said yes” (Piper, Ibid., p. 101).
And I am asking you the same thing this morning: “Decide here and now if you wish to pledge allegiance to Christ.”
Let us pray. Pray it out loud with me or silently to yourself but, please, take this prayer very seriously.
