Daily Devotional for Tuesday June 10, 2014
The Thought Police
(Luke 19:40)
***ASK BILL: Pastor Bill, I teach a class of children each week at church. My kids are second graders to 5th graders. They have asked me a couple of questions . And I'm not sure as how to answer them so they can understand what I'm saying . They two questions are does God die and was God born?
ANSWER: Great questions and here are the answers. God always was, God is, and God will always be. That means God has always been, is now, and always will be. He is from everlasting to everlasting!
"The Justice Department is resurrecting a program designed to thwart domestic threats to the United States, and Attorney General Eric Holder says those threats include individuals the government deems anti-government or racially prejudiced. In his statement announcing the return of the committee, Holder said he remains concerned about the specter of attacks prompted by Islamic extremists, but he said this committee will be tasked with identifying other threats. "We must also concern ourselves with the continued danger we face from individuals within our own borders who may be motivated by a variety of other causes from anti-government animus to racial prejudice," Holder said."
The "thought police," part of the United States government Department of Justice, is alive and well and nobody should be fooled by their stated goals. The First Lady was brutally honest in a recent commencement address when she exhorted graduating high schoolers to monitor their families for politically incorrect thoughts and behaviors! "Politically incorrect thoughts and behaviors" is weasel language for "anyone declaring Biblical Truth!!!" It is clear that the government is out to silence anyone, LIKE BILL KELLER, who refuses to trumpet the company line.
Do you finally begin to understand why for the past 15 years now I have blasted and warned about this generation of gutless, compromised preachers? Along with those who actually preach a gospel of "sin acceptance," it has clearly isolated those few like myself who are foolish enough to take a stand for Biblical Truth on the issues of the day. It is that stand for Truth against sins like homosexuality, same-sex marriage, killing babies, those who follow the lies of the cults, false religions like Islam, New Age philosophies, which isolates us and makes us a perfect target for the "thought police" in order to silence our "racial (and soon gender/sexual) prejudice!!!"
I have 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 15 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