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 - First amendment of the Bill of Rights.

Rev. D. James Kennedy has stated,

 

“The federal government has proved a tremendous impediment to the ongoing work of Christians. In all the laws that they have passed against Christian schools, gagging the church, taxation, and all kinds of things that they have done, they have made it harder for the church to exercise its prerogatives and to preach the gospel.

 

"Take the last presidential election. There were numbers of things that I knew that I was never able to say from the pulpit because if you advance the cause of one candidate or impede the cause of the other you can lose your tax exemption. That would have been disastrous not only for the church, but for our school and our seminary, everything. So you are gagged. You cannot do that. The IRS, a branch of our government, has succeeded in gagging Christians."

http://hushmoney.org/

 

U.S.-based Christian biologist fired for rejecting evolution, lawsuit claims - Reuters, December 08, 2007

BOSTON (Reuters) -- A Christian biologist is suing the prestigious Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, claiming he was fired for refusing to accept evolution, lawyers involved in the case said on yesterday.

Nathaniel Abraham, an Indian national who describes himself as a "Bible-believing Christian," said in the suit filed on Monday in U.S. District Court in Boston that he was fired in 2004 because he would not accept evolution as scientific fact. [full report]

PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS GROWING IN THE UNITED STATES
by Thomas Horn

More Christians died for their faith in the twentieth century than at any other time in history, says Christian Solidarity International. Global reports indicate that over 150,000 Christians were martyred last year, chiefly outside of the United States. However, statistics are changing: persecution of Christians is on the increase in the United States. What's happening to bring about this change?

According to some experts a pattern is emerging reminiscent of Jewish persecution in post war Germany. "Isolation of, and discrimination against Christians is growing almost geometrically" says Don McAlvany in The Midnight Herald. "This is the way it started in Germany against the Jews. As they became more isolated and marginalized by the Nazi propaganda machine, as popular hatred and prejudice against the Jews increased among the German people, wholesale persecution followed. Could this be where the growing anti-Christian consensus in America is taking us?"

Tolerance of anti-Christian attitudes in the United States is escalating. Recently, a woman in Houston, Texas was ordered by local police to stop handing out gospel tracts to children who knocked on her door during Halloween. Officers informed her that such activity is illegal (not true), and that she would be arrested if she continued. In Madison, Wisconsin, the Freedom from Religion Foundation distributes anti-Christian pamphlets to public school children entitled, "We Can Be Good Without God." The entertainment industry and syndicated media increasingly vilify Christians as sewer rats, vultures, and simple-minded social ingrates. The FBI and the Clinton White House brand fundamentalist Christian groups as hate mongers and potential terrorists. The Council of Religious Leaders of Metropolitan Chicago warns that plans by Southern Baptists to hold a convention in the Windy City next year might foment "hate crimes" against minorities, causing some Christians to fear that speaking openly about their religious beliefs will soon be considered a crime. All this, while Christianity itself is often a target of hate-crime violence. We remember the students at Columbine, and the United Methodist minister who was fatally beaten and burned in a remote part of Chattanooga, Tennessee, to name a few of the recent examples of interpersonal violence aimed at believers.

Read the rest of this article at link below:
http://www.nextcrusade.com/linkout/o.php?out=http://www.raidersnewsupdate.com/opinion.htm

"Whereas the Bible, the Word of God, has made a unique contribution in shaping the United States as a distinctive and blessed nation of people. Whereas Biblical teachings inspired concepts of civil government that are contained in our Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of The United States ... Whereas that renewing our knowledge of, and faith in God through Holy Scriptures can strengthen us as a nation and a people.

Now therefore be it resolved ... that the President is authorized and
requested to designate 1983 as a national "Year of the Bible" in
recognition of both the formative influence the Bible has been for our
nation, and our national need to study and apply the teachings of the
Holy Scriptures."

February 3, 1983 - President Ronald Reagan issued the above requested proclamation.

After all, the intentions were to advance Christianity from the getgo:

"In the name of God, Amen, We whose names are underwritten, the loyal
subjects of our dread sovereign lord King James, by the grace of God,
of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, king, defender of the faith,
etc., having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the
Christian Faith and the honor of our king and country, a Voyage to
plant the first colony in the northern Parts of Virginia; do by the
presents, solemnly and mutually in the presence of God and one
another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body
politick, for our better ordering and preservation and Furtherance of
other Ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof do enact, constitute and
frame such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions and
offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most [suitable] and
convenient for the general good of the colony; unto which we promise
all due submission and obedience." Mayflower Compact (1620)
 

Micah 7 writes:

Woe is me! For I have become like one who, after the summer fruit has
been gathered, after the vintage has been gleaned, finds no cluster to
eat; there is no first-ripe fig for which I hunger. The faithful have
disappeared from the land, and there is no one left who is upright;
they all lie in wait for blood, and they hunt each other with nets.

Their hands are skilled to do evil; the official and the judge ask for
a bribe, and the powerful dictate what they desire; thus they pervert justice. The best of them is like a brier, the most upright of them a thorn hedge. The day of their sentinels, of their punishment, has
come; now their confusion is at hand. Put no trust in a friend, have
no confidence in a loved one; guard the doors of your mouth from her
who lies in your embrace; for the son treats the father with contempt,
the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against
her mother-in-law; your enemies are members of your own household.

But as for me, I will look to the LORD, I will wait for the God of my
salvation; my God will hear me. Do not rejoice over me, O my enemy;
when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD will be a
light to me. I must bear the indignation of the LORD, because I have
sinned against him, until he takes my side and executes judgment for
me. He will bring me out to the light; I shall see his vindication.

Then my enemy will see, and shame will cover her who said to me,
"Where is the LORD your God?" My eyes will see her downfall; now she
will be trodden down like the mire of the streets. (Micah 7:1-10)

 

Chuck Baldwin | April 29 2006

An upcoming birthday reminds me that I have lived to pass the half-century mark. During those years, I have seen people at their best and at their worst. I believe I am also witnessing the impact that a vast cultural revolution is having on people.

There is always an ebb and flow to people's lives and to the life of a nation, for that matter. However, if I were to report on the general state of people's lives today in meteorological terms, I would say a ubiquitous low pressure system envelops the entire country.

By low pressure I mean the daily emotional, psychological, mental, and spiritual stress brought to bear upon people. In fact, it seems that the stress (low pressure) with which people are daily engulfed these days could be categorized as a hurricane of Category 5 proportions! I've never seen anything like it!

For the most part, family life is as turbulent as ocean waves in the midst of a storm. In fact, stormy would be a very descriptive word for most modern families.

Pervasive divorce has alienated children from parents and parents from children. Children seldom have the luxury of growing up with biological parents, much less grandparents. Fathers are seldom the disciplinarians at home. Before the average American child is a teenager, he or she has become thoroughly spoiled, selfish, and sinful. Furthermore, the lust for material prosperity seems to burn far stronger in the average parent's heart than the desire to teach and train their own offspring!

Add to family stress vocational and economic uncertainty. How many people across our once great land clocked out on Friday evening only to return Monday morning to a job site with empty buildings and locked gates? How many have seen their pensions and insurance plans disappear overnight? How many have worked their whole lives for a company only to have the management abruptly say, "Sorry, we're moving to Mexico. You're on your own"?

Then, of course, there is the heavy spiritual stress that people of faith, especially Christians, are currently subjected to as their country's institutions (at every level and at every turn) are progressively intolerant and hostile to their values. How many people have lost jobs or promotions because of a perceived "politically incorrect" (but Biblically sound) point of view? How many Christian children in our public schools are ridiculed, scorned, and humiliated by teachers and professors because they will not submit their hearts and minds to godless evolution and other humanistic philosophies? How many churches are staggering under the burden of restrictive and punitive rules and regulations which serve only to choke the life out of spiritual service and commitment?

However, Americans of every generation have faced, fought, and defeated these kinds of enemies for over 300 years. Yet, it seems to me that something much different is in the air today. The stress to which I allude is much deeper, much more sinister, and much more prevalent than anything this nation has ever faced before.

It seems to me that people of faith in America are now at the same place that the Pilgrims were at back in Europe in the 1600's. Those people were enduring such intolerable circumstances that they had to make drastic decisions: Do we stay and endure increasing hostility, resentment, and even persecution, or do we move to another land in search of peace and freedom?

I was speaking to a missionary from Central America recently, and he told me, "Chuck, you would not believe how many Americans (especially Christians) are moving to Central America. They have had it." He further said, "And Chuck, you might be surprised to learn that for the most part, they are finding more peace and more freedom than they had in the States."

Has it come to that? Has it come to the time in America when Christian people must again entertain the idea of becoming pilgrims? Perhaps it has.

Remember that America was born in the spirit of Christian revival. The Protestant Reformation in Europe and the Great Awakenings in America gave birth to this land of liberty. However, America rejected the faith of our fathers long ago. Multiculturalism is the new national religion in America. Wealth and power is our new god. We have lost our Christian culture and our national identity.

Furthermore, America has lost its borders and is fast losing its language. Politicians from both parties are about as corrupt, contemptible, and criminal as they can possibly be. And the greed and corruption within big business staggers the imagination and strains the conscience. I tell you the truth, it's getting harder and harder to tell the difference between the good guys and the bad guys, and that includes our religious leaders!

Remember, the reason the Pilgrims came to America was two-fold: to find a quiet and peaceful place in which to raise Christian children and to find a place where they could freely proclaim the Word of God. Both opportunities are quickly disappearing in America! And, personally, the only light I see at the end of the tunnel is the light of an oncoming train!

One thing is certain: God can (and will) accomplish His will in the world with or without the help of the United States. God doesn't need America; America needs God! And if God wants to disperse the Christians of America into a world more eager to receive the truth of His Word, He is certainly able to do it. After all, England was once a hot-bed of revival and evangelism, and now it is as dead as four o'clock in the morning, spiritually. The same thing could happen here.

Yes, America has certainly changed during my fifty plus years of living, mostly for the worse. However, it is not up to us to judge these matters, is it? As John Quincy Adams put it, "Duty is ours; results are God's." Indeed. It is enough to simply know one's duty. For the Pilgrims, duty meant leaving Europe and coming to America. For the colonial patriots, duty meant fighting for independence. What will duty mean for us? We shall see.