Let's Pray

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Good morning church,
Acts 2:18-20 (KJV)
And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. 19 But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. 20 For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard

Some background.
Peter and John had healed a paralytic and the news spread mighty fast. The religious leaders seeing the 'notable' miracle call them and demand to know the source of their power. Peter and John are like, Jesus Christ, in his name/authority does this man stand healed. This rattles the authorities for they had just killed Jesus and they don't want to believe they was wrong. So to contain the good news, they command them to cease preaching that name.

This is not an empty threat, the Jewish authorities had some sweeping powers even under the Roman rule. The disciples chose to ignore them. Later on they went on to pray for boldness in the face of these threats. The early church thrived in an extremely hostile environment with limited technology-transport and communication and in the face of open hostilities from the pagan religions of the day.

Christian persecution is a real threat and over 2000 years it has been varying in extent and severity all over the world. Somewhat Communism deemed all religions as a threat to their ideals and they banned or oppressed Christianity. Other competing religions such as Islam are least interested in 'reason' as one pope put it. So they resort to repression.

So when I sat with some friends over the recent developments in the U.S. , I was shocked that they are panicking. I can't see how legislating homosexuality is an affront to Christianity. I reminded them that over these 2000 years, God accomplished his purposes even with extremely repressive pagan governments in place let alone secular democratic ones like the U.S. Is there anything shocking than finding Christian communities in the heart of ISIS strongholds?

Hebrews put it this way;
Hebrews 12: (KJV)
 Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin
By and large very few Christians have had to choose between life and renouncing they faith. It has not gotten that bad is the point of this verse. Once it gets to that point, we can talk, otherwise, these legislations should least concern us. The only thing I see as alarming is treatment of the anti-homosexuality stance in the scriptures. Are these messages now hate speech?

Have a blessed Lord's Day as we worship the Most High