“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances,“ states the First Amendment.
I was raised with the thought that we as American citizens had rights to speak our opinions (within respect of course) without fear of persecution. Yes, our words may trigger anger within people, but prison or death sentences were not a thought.
Even as a high school senior I challenged my Principal in a column due to differing opinions of her cancelling the journalism program. Numerous columnists, television reporters and talk radio hosts would be jobless as they’re employed to present their critical opinions.
Where would America be without Rush Limbaugh, Jon Stewart and Saturday Night Live?
Considering I am a product of my surroundings I struggle with understanding that I could be put to death for raising Jesus Christ above Islam, or placed in prison as Liu Xianbin was in China, for writing articles that were contrary to Chinas opinion.
Xianbin was sentenced for ten years for this offense. Bob Fu of ChinaAid was quoted by OneNewsNow that Liu has been consistently a thorn to the Chinese government since 1989.
“...Liu has been persecuted since 1989 when he was a student. ‘As a result of that he was sentenced to more than two years,’ Fu states, ‘and after that in 1999 he was sentenced to another 13 years... basically if you want to speak up your mind or write a few articles deferring from the party line,’ he says, ‘this is the way they will handle you-put you in jail,’”
I am beginning to see how the favor of the Lord is upon us in free countries during this time. I understand that the freedom to speak the name of Jesus may be under attack in America, but the door has not been shut and locked to this point.
We’re not being imprisoned for speaking the name of Christ nor put to death. We have an open door to speak His name which many of our contemporaries do not have. While we have these freedoms we should take every advantage of them.
And we should consider joining the fight to preserve the freedoms we have, a cause that is as worthy as any other, because it is the gospel message that saves lives and sets people free from all kinds of traps, additions and distresses.
What good is the gospel if we cannot share it or teach it to our children? The culture war what has our nation divided, with freedom lovers on one side and freedom restrictors on the other, is really a holy war being played out in our nation with God lovers on one side and those that despise God on the other.
What we must remember is that our faith determines our outcome and with faith in God we have the highest power and can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. It is only through fear and intimidation that we lose faith and begin to compromise and give up our freedoms.
If our nation loses its God given freedoms, it is only because we lost faith in our God. It would not be because they over powered us, but that we surrendered. As the verse goes, ... we will live by faith... (Romans 1:17)