Daily Devotional for Friday November 9, 2007
Banning the Bible at the Olympics
(2 Timothy 3:16; Psalms 119:140; Romans 1:16)
If they ban the Bible at the Olympics, we need to boycott the 2008 Summer Games! China has chosen to ban the Bible from the upcoming Olympics, stating it is a "security risk!" Monday, China released a list of prohibited items at the 2008 Olympics. The Bible is one of the banned items! Olympic athletes will not be allowed to have Bibles at Olympic Village. God's Word is joining video cameras and cups on China's list of items banned, all for security reasons.
On Monday morning, I sent a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, urging her to get involved and seriously consider a United States boycott of the upcoming Summer Games in Beijing if the Chinese government is going to enforce this ridiculous ban on the Bible. If they want our athletes, our citizens to come to their country, our television viewers, OUR MONEY, then they need to allow us to bring our Bibles!!!
*An interesting observation, I noticed the Qu'ran was not on this "banned" list!
Many people are incredulous that China would have the audacity to ban the Bible during the Olympics. I'm not. They are an atheistic and Godless communist nation, so it shouldn't be such a shock. The fact is, we ban the Bible often right here in our own country, and this nation is supposed to promote and embrace freedom of religion!!! It is almost hard to go after the Chinese government for banning the Bible when our own government has banned the Bible in many places and settings right here on our own soil.
I have no doubt that the Chinese government made this decision based on what they observe happening here in the United States. They see the Christian faith mocked and ridiculed. I'm sure they are aware of people like Bill Maher, Christopher Hitchens, George Carlin, Rosie O'Donnell, and a host of others who routinely slam Christians and our faith while dismissing the Bible as a book of fables. I'm certain that they expect, and I hate to say it, will probably receive NO NEGATIVE REPERCUSSIONS at all from this ban on the Bible from us or anyone else!
You'll be excited to know that there is a large and fast growing group of sold-out Believers in Christ in China. There is tremendous persecution of Christians in China. Many men and women of God are imprisoned, tortured, and even killed for just being a follower of Jesus Christ. But God's Spirit is moving throughout that great nation! The underground church in China is growing each day, and more and more Chinese are coming to know Jesus Christ as their Savior.
I have not spoken of it much, but Liveprayer has been actively sending millions of emails for many years into China with the basic Gospel message in Chinese. Within the last year, we have found it virtually impossible to get most of our emails delivered since the government monitors and censors ALL incoming emails and simply deletes those that contain Christian content. One of these days I'll share some of the many stories of blasting the Gospel into China over the Internet. Talk about a technical and spiritual war! Since these are one-way blasts, only eternity will tell the number of souls who found Christ on their computer screen from one of these emails.
It is very frustrating for me, knowing that there is a nation full of Christians who with one voice, could slowly turn this nation back to God and our culture back to Biblical values. No country, even a communist and Godless nation like China would EVER have the guts to ban the Bible if we were united. There are enough of us, that speaking with one voice we could see the legal slaughter of babies ended, just like it was the church who ended the abominable practice of slavery, NOT the government. We don't have to live in a nation immersed in pornography and gambling. We don't have to live in a nation that redefines God's Holy Institution of Marriage or the family.
This current political race for the next President is such a great example of how bad we need to be one. We are watching daily one supposed Christian leader after another sell out the faith and our Lord to back those who support killing babies, special rights for homosexuals, gay marriage and adoption, while others support the member of a satanic cult whose influence as President will lead the souls of men to hell!
Again, this is why God won't leave me alone. It was the ultimate vision from the incredible marriage of the Internet and secular television when Liveprayer began. It is now time for that vision to become a reality and for Liveprayer to take the lead in bringing God's people together as ONE and help to lead this nation back to God and Biblical values. In less than a year we will elect a new President, and that is only going to reinforce that we can no longer count on a politician to lead us back to righteousness. For 7 years now we have had an openly Christian President who claimed to share our values, yet this nation has only gone deeper into the spiritual abyss during his time in office because at the end of the day he was more concerned about the business of politics than in the business of God.
It is time to quit whining about the way things are and begin to change them. It is time to stop looking to people who aren't serving God but themselves for leadership. The fact is, despite the fact we are a minority, we still have enough Believers in Jesus Christ who can with one voice bring this nation back to the God of the Bible and Biblical standards back into our culture. Our voice CAN change the media. Our voice CAN change the social ills we face today. Most important, our voice CAN help the hurting and lost masses find an everlasting relationship with Jesus Christ. If we don't rise up now, the next country to ban the Bible will be the United States!!!
I love you and care about you so much. Be praying that Secretary of State Rice will get involved and that she will put pressure on the Chinese government to get the ban on Bibles at this summer's Olympics overturned. I pray that it will be a time where those who know the Lord will flood into Beijing and bring the Truth of God's Word and the hope and love of Christ to the Chinese people. Also be praying for me. These next 3 weeks will be critical as we prepare for the Liveprayer TV program to go back on nationwide this January 7th. Now more than ever this nation needs to hear God's Truth and needs His Son. Liveprayer is going to be that vehicle to unify God's people and help lead our nation back to God and His Truth!!!