The Real Threat...

...apparently is "Christian" extremism.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2014/10/21/christian-extremists-threat-muslims-homegrown-cliven-bundy-column/17679789/

I find this interesting and, along with the recent kerfuffle down in Houston, got me thinking.

This supposed professor of religion blithely lumps libertarians, racists, militia and neo-Nazi's together and claims they all represent Christianity. Obviously we all know that is nonsense, but the fact is that MANY in this country name the name of Christ and are nothing but evil men who do not know God. We know this, however we can't expect the wider secular culture to even accept the idea of genuine Christian versus false profession. The No True Scotsman 'fallacy' is often brought up in this kind of conversation. So we need to be ready and willing to debate at length why these people do not truly represent Christ. We need to know what we believe, and why we believe it and why they have no part in our faith. I don't expect that we will ever convince people like this op-ed author, however we should be able and willing to engage in the debate and hope to convince and win some.

Second, I believe that this is the way persecution will come in the States. The faith will not be outlawed per se, nor will the churches be closed en masse. Instead the faithful will be lumped together with the extremists who falsely claim Christ and will be charged as rebels, as threats to national security. The genuinely converted will be seen as too repressive for modern society and there will even be so-called believers who will claim that we faithful are the ones who do not truly know God (as we see already beginning). As we are pushed more and more to the edge of society the true believers continue to affirm "we must obey God rather than man." That will actually be seen as confirmation that we are threats to the nation since we acknowledge that we serve another King in a higher Kingdom.

But that's OK. The first 300 years of church history saw the same thing and though many were martyred, the gospel spread like wildfire. So even though we (or our children/grandchildren) may suffer, the gospel will go out and God will accomplish all that He has purposed.