Daily Devotional for Tuesday March 25, 2014

Free Speech under Attack

(Luke 19:40)

***ASK BILL: Pastor Bill, when attending church last Sunday I found out that my church is promoting Rick Warren's "40 Days in the Word" program for our church home study groups, After hearing all the New Age heresies he's bringing to the churches this got me pretty upset. Then I was watching Jack Van Impe and he showed a news report about Rick Warren calling God Allah and cozying up to Muslims. What should I do?

ANSWER: I have been warning people for the past decade about Warren's man-made Purpose Driven marketing scheme and subsequent "plans" that have destroyed many churches and is designed to fill pews with warm bodies, not converts. I have also detailed over the years his unGodly associations to enable him to pursue his global social agenda, including his fear of telling the truth about Islam. I find it sad that ANY church has to use materials from someone else. It simply tells me the pastor and staff are too lazy to get their own vision from God for their church. A church is NOT a McDonalds franchise, though people like Warren would like you to think so, and that they are the owner of the franchise! Pray, I know God will guide you what to do.

Free speech under attack! I remember many years ago telling the readers of the Daily Devotional that it would soon be legal in this nation for men to marry men and women to marry women. I still remember the onslaught of emails telling me that I was crazy, that it would never happen. Well, it has happened in 20% of our states and more to come.

I have also been trying to warn you that our most basic freedom to proclaim the Gospel would soon be in jeopardy. Sadly, most people are so apathetic or simply out of touch that they don't even realize that day is now upon us. We all assume that based on our Constitutional right to freedom of speech, we will never have to worry about having the ability to proclaim God's Truth and the Gospel message. My friend, the very first group who will be targeted in an attempt to stifle free speech will be Christians because we are the weakest!

I realize that most people may think I am being paranoid and have lost my mind, but you haven't lived, breathed, and operated 24/7/365 the last 10 years preaching Biblical Truth and the hope of Christ in the marketplace like I have. I've not only experienced the attacks each day, but see clearly how the world wants to desperately silence our message.

The fact is those who oppose God DO want to silence us. Now please understand me. As long as we stay inside our churches, as long as we stay in our own little Christian media world that NOBODY outside of a small minority of Christians pays attention to, we are fine. However, once we venture into the marketplace, into the mainstream media, we have problems. The new hate crime legislation is designed for one purpose, and that is to silence anyone from speaking out on the sin of homosexuality, even from the Bible.

The case will be made that anyone who calls this act a sin is spewing hate speech designed to incite people to violence against homosexuals, even though there will be no proof of that happening. This is the same tactic other groups like the Muslims, the baby killers, and others who oppose God will use to silence those who take a stand for God's Truth in the marketplace. Calling hate speech the basic truths of the Bible is exactly how those who oppose God will seek to silence anyone who goes into the public arena to take a stand for Biblical Truth.

The reality is, we have nobody to blame but ourselves. We extracted ourselves from the marketplace a long time ago. Those who do venture into the public arena, are more concerned with being politically correct than Biblically correct. We have a generation of gutless pastors who have been weaned on these seeker/purpose driven/emerging church marketing strategies that are designed to put warm bodies in their pews at the expense of the Truth of the Bible and the Gospel.

It is no longer about sin, sacrifice, and service, but tickling ears, entertaining, and making people feel good. Church is no longer about preaching and teaching the Bible to equip the saints and save souls, but is little more than a social setting that is a big business fraught with politics and lots of flesh. The irrelevance of the modern church in the real daily lives of people is why you have the better percentage of two full generations who have never even been to a church in their life.

It is the weak, apathetic, and in many cases, apostate church that is largely to blame for the lack of courage most people have in sharing their faith with the world. The world is a bully. Like a classic bully, they smell fear and weakness. The world has intimidated most Christians into silence, and in so doing, has made it that much easier to now make a real move on taking away one of our most foundations rights in this nation, the freedom of speech.

I love you and care about you so much. This is a wake-up call today to all of those who love the Lord. You no longer have the luxury of being silent. The reality is, it will soon cost you to speak out for Christ. However, regardless of the personal consequences, you have no choice. Sadly, we are at a stage in this nation's history where people of faith will pay a price for speaking out for their faith. It is a reality many of our brothers and sisters in other parts of the world face daily.

Regardless of the price, we can't be silent and must speak out or the very rocks will cry out!!!

I pay a price daily to do what God has called me to do. I could have taken the same road most do, stay in the Christian trough, preach to the choir, build buildings and fly around in private jets. But that is the mindset that has put us in a position where in the very near future we won't even be able to preach from the Bible without repercussions.

Our ability to freely share the Gospel will be gone one day very soon. We MUST make the most of what little time we have left. The window to turn this nation back to God and to His Truth, to freely bring the lost to Christ, is almost closed. Now is the time, this is the moment, while we still have it, we must exercise our right to free speech!

In His love and service, Your friend and brother in Christ, Bill Keller