The brutal killings in Orlando cause concern in all Americans. We all wonder how safe we really are from terrorist attacks.
In many ways, America has become a dangerous place. Yes, we can still go out to dinner with our families or host neighborhood cookouts and we’ll remain safe. But if you’re like me, sometimes in the back of your mind, you think about the “what if” scenarios that have become actualities for way too many of our fellow citizens.
The fact is that there are ruthless terrorists in this world and they despise our nation and our freedoms. Dr. Sebastian Gorka of Marine Corp University said this week of the Orlando attack, “This isn’t to be called a tragedy, like a train being derailed. This is part of the Global Jihadi strategy. It’s not an accident — it’s a war against America.”
Every believer needs to be on his/her knees before God, humbly asking Him to protect and bless our nation (II Chronicles 7:14) and to protect and bless our families (II Samuel 7:29).
There is another war we must be concerned with too. As believers, we face an advancing war on our cherished beliefs. Mary Eberstadt, author of “It’s Dangerous to Believe: Religious Freedom and Its Enemies,” wrote a column this week for National Review in which she described how those supporting the modern “secularist orthodoxy” are pressing an increasingly dangerous agenda. She wrote that “they believe both that they are right, and that people who disagree are wrong — and that those other people ought to think differently.” This is why Christian bakers come under ruthless attack when they say they cannot, in goodconscience, prepare a cake for a same-sex wedding that compromises their faith.
And so, if you love Jesus and desire to follow biblical tenets, you need to “think differently.” I believe this will become a mounting problem for Christians in the days to come as the war on our faith accelerates.
Are you prepared?
You know, the early church went through perilous times and saw many of their members persecuted, even killed. Yet, they carried on. And that’s what we must do; it’s our calling.
As His followers today, we can’t get bogged down with worry. As the late, great evangelist Vance Havner stated, “Worry, like a rocking chair, will give you something to do, but it won’t get you anywhere.” Don’t worry about what might come, friends, because God knows and He is there for us, no matter what is on the horizon.
We have a great promise to encourage us each day and it is found in I John 4:18: “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love” (NKJV).
Christ loves us with perfect, infinite, unconditional love. With this kind of love flowing through us, empowering us, there is no reason to fear anything. No terrorist can kill God’s love. No angry politician can silence God’s saving message. No secularist dogma can defeat the cause of the Gospel. We are endowed by a love that has no limits, so don’t live in fear.
Never forget what God proclaimed to Isaiah (41:10), my friends: “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” May God be magnified in all that we do for Him without fear or apology.