Cultivate

 

The attack on Christianity intensifies.

The Supreme Court of Maine upheld a ruling from a lower court that prohibited a divorced mother of a 13-year-old girl from attending a Christian church, describing it as a cult. Emily Westbrook was denied the right to choose a school that instills a Christian education to her child. If that doesn’t send shivers down the back of the community of believers, nothing will. Calvary Chapel in Portland, Maine is your garden variety parochial school that provides the standard education fare while instilling Christian values to their students. This is not some far right, hell and brimstone sect that protests at the funerals of fallen soldiers.

From Global Christian Relief;

• 4,849 Christians were killed for their faith during the 2026 reporting period
• 388 million believers face high levels of persecution globally
• 224,129 Christians were internally displaced or became refugees
• 67,843 Christians were physically or mentally abused for faith-related reasons
• 15 countries now rank at "extreme" persecution levels, up from 13

It is time to wake up and understand that leftists are in league with Satan and are in the process of coming for the followers of Jesus Christ. It has been a slow and gradual shift, but the left has become very effective in villainizing their “enemies”. Christianity poses a grave threat to the left’s goal of fundamentally transforming this nation. Grace, forgiveness, truth, and love are antithetical to the invective spewed by the purveyors of democratic socialism, Marxism, and communism. Persecution is an expected result for those who practice what our Savior preached. But the extent of the assault on the religious freedom of Christians in the United States is stunning, and how it is advancing here is troubling.

In can only be described as “strange bedfellows,” democratic socialists align with the followers of Islam. Although Islam rejects a majority of the DSA platform, they are quite useful as they too denigrate Christianity and hate Jews. To the left, Christians equate to systemic racism, hate, white privilege, and exclusivity. That the two greatest commandments are to love God and your neighbor and forgiveness and mercy are paramount, are simply ignored by the left. To them, Christians are no more than knuckle dragging Bible thumpers that use Scripture as a bludgeon. While there certainly are Christians that fall into this category, Christ calls us to embrace a much different tact.

Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you not to resist an evil person. If someone slaps you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also; if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well; and if someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor’ and ‘Hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Do not even tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others?” Matthew 5:38-47.

According to Jesus, hate has no part in the life of His followers. Christianity, as Christ taught, is tolerant, loving, forgiving, and inclusive. God loves everyone of His children equally. In His eyes, no one is better than any other. Everyone is welcome to accept a place in heaven, just as everyone is free to reject salvation. Christianity is absolutely not a cult. All are free to accept the Father’s love, mercy, and grace along with His Son’s lifesaving sacrifice or reject it. Free will. The penalty for sin is death, but faith in the living Christ forfeits that penalty. Compared to other religions, Christianity is far from cult-like.

Marxism is a system that replaces God with the state and the ruling class that dictates how the people are to live. It eliminates freedom. It eliminates choice. It eliminates your chosen path to the pursuit of happiness. What we see happening in the streets of our nation is an exercise to pursue the cult of totalitarianism, falsely blanketed in the benign words, democratic socialism. We are experiencing the results of misguided voters electing leftists that are harming this nation. In turn, radicalized judges that disregard the rule of law are appointed to the bench and issue rulings that they have no authority to render. Conservatives rule according to the law; leftists rule according to ideology.

This November’s mid-term elections will determine the trajectory of this nation. We are at a tipping point in society. Socialism leads to Marxism that leads to communism. We cannot allow the left to triumph. We have the ability to shut this madness down, but that means we need to get to the polls and make our voices heard. We must reject the cult that is “democratic socialism.” Part of loving your enemy entails showing them the error of their way. Your vote is important. Don’t sit back and allow evil to win.

“But reject foolish and ignorant speculation, for you know that it breeds quarreling. And a servant of the Lord must not be quarrelsome, but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, and forbearing. He must gently reprove those who oppose him, in the hope that God may grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth. Then they will come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, who has taken them captive to his will.” 2 Timothy 2:23-26.

 

 

Sticks and Stones

Sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me. This phrase, spoken at those who intend to demean or humiliate another, are meant to say that the person verbally assaulted is secure enough to see themselves as they are, rather than as the hurtful words spoken against them. In this new enlightened age words are judged to be just as violent as the actions taken to cause actual physical harm against another. Say what you will. Those that feel the need to belittle someone else in order to make themselves feel superior does not bother the vast majority of their targets in the least. Unfortunately, those few that are actually offended and especially those that take umbrage for other “protected” classes, drive society’s attitudes. The word police are out in force as more and more words are added to the list of “hate speech” as society creates more and more protected classes. With all the “haters” that are branded by our evermore intolerant culture, it is a wonder that humanity can coexist at all. But, it is even more telling as to who, and why someone can become labeled as a “hater”. Phil Robertson, patriarch of the “Duck Dynasty” reality TV show family, really stuck his foot in his mouth, according to those more enlightened than I.

Seems that stating a personal conviction, based upon his Christian faith, upholding the authority of Scripture by quoting the Apostle Paul, was beyond the pale of acceptable behavior and speech today. As our society accepts an ever expanding list of what was previously unacceptable and aberrant conduct, it casts its’ aspersions in an unrelenting wave of skepticism against those they view as naive and gullible enough to profess faith in the Risen Christ. Those enlightened in our society look at Christians as judgmental, homophobic, exclusionary, hypocritical and hateful as they stand in judgment of those who dare to hold an opinion contrary to their own. While, we as Christians, stand convicted, we have a Savior who took our sins upon His shoulders, endured our punishment upon that cross, and now sits upon the throne, advocating for us to our Father. Jesus said in Matthew 5:11-12, “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

So, in this day and age where truth is confused and the selfish cravings of a sinful humanity overtake our society, how does a Christian maintain sanity in this upside down world? Do we simply turn the other cheek and let those who would do us harm, slap us down, again and again? Especially troubling are the supposed leaders of God’s churches that look to ingratiate themselves with the world by minimizing or disregarding His will for us. Is God’s kingdom advanced when the leaders of the ELCA continually support the terrorist regime, Hamas, and Palestine, while casting stones at Israel? Is God’s kingdom advanced when the leaders of the ELCA support a women’s choice to end her pregnancy, or what is in reality, complicity in the murder of her unborn child? Is God’s kingdom advanced when the leaders of the ELCA lift up the homosexual lifestyle while chiding those that support the sanctity of marriage and call for the protection of a family with one man as the father and one woman as the mother?

The secular world looks down upon Christians as backward dim-witted rubes, easily duped by a religion they believe is simply meant to control them, while their own religion, that is all about pleasing oneself, is acclaimed as ideal. By invoking doctrine meant to affirm the selfish nature of humanity, it would appear that the leaders of the ELCA would have their members embrace the same ideals as secular society. In Robertson’s incident, reason prevails and “Duck Dynasty” is made whole again. This all has been played out before. The ending to this story has already been written. Evil does not win. Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ is victorious over the forces of the evil one and will ultimately usher in a new beginning for all believers. We needn’t be concerned with the small victories that the evil one wins here on earth because he will not win the war. Proclaim the power of the Gospel throughout the world. Let the love of Christ pour out of your heart. Let everyone see Him in your actions. Let everyone hear Him when you speak. Pray long and hard for our brothers and sisters in Christ to be delivered from the clutches of the ELCA and other misguided churches. Matthew 16, 24-29, “Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.” Stand strong for the Lord and when He comes, you will receive the ultimate reward, eternal life with Him.

Sweet Surrender

To fall in love is to give oneself completely to that person. That person becomes central to your world, your very reason to live. We feel that we are not worthy of that person’s love and we fall all over ourselves to make certain that we meet that person’s every need. We will do whatever it is that is necessary to make our lover complete. We put aside our own desires to try to anticipate the wants and needs of our lover. We surrender completely to our lover. The term “sweet surrender” is usually applied to the absolute submission of a bride to her husband and husband to his new wife on their wedding night. As lovers of Christ, we are called to surrender ourselves to His will. We are called to follow our Savior’s lead and endeavor to become “Christ like”. Jesus said in Matthew 5:17-20, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. 19 Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.” While the Gospel frees us from the penalty of the law, we are still called to not only obey God’s law, but the church is charged to promote the truth of God’s word, not promoting that God is now saying a "new thing" in order to placate worldly desires.

The new doctrines promoted by the leaders and scholars of the ELCA surrender not to our Lord, but to the proclivities of the flesh. Bound conscience allows one to choose their own interpretation of Scripture and directs those that disagree to respect that interpretation, not to gently correct, rebuke, or encourage those that are in obvious error. This doctrine places human opinion and experience above the authority of Scripture. There are those that place conditions upon God, that their chosen lifestyle must be affirmed by His church in order that they feel welcome. In order to more politically correct the leaders of the ELCA brush God’s law aside and proclaim that He is now telling them a new thing, and by a vote of imperfect and sinful humans, God’s law is amended. Galatians 3:23-25, “Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. 24 So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. 25 Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.” So, where does this “new thing” lead those that accept this doctrine? If the law leads us to Christ, where does deliberately disobeying His law lead? It is clear that this “new thing” is of man and not of God and those that accept this errant doctrine are sure to fall away from Him.

Bishop Mark Hanson naively supports Palestine when their leadership, Hamas, has the stated intent to eliminate Israel, God’s chosen, from the face of the earth. Psalm 14:4-6, “Will evildoers never learn—those who devour my people as men eat bread and who do not call on the Lord? 5 There they are, overwhelmed with dread, for God is present in the company of the righteous. 6 You evildoers frustrate the plans of the poor, but the Lordis their refuge.” The leadership of the ELCA continues to support immorality and disparage our Lord’s word while promoting “new”doctrine that disregards His word. Human depravity is rampant and the leaders of the ELCA are preoccupied with the things of this world, or political correctness, instead of performing the tasks our Lord has placed before His church. All humankind has the opportunity to gain the knowledge of God if they so choose. The leadership of the ELCA has chosen to deliberately neglect those opportunities and allow those in sin to remain apart from God. That the leadership of the ELCA would choose to promote the welfare of Palestine while promoting actions against Israel is unconscionable and contrary to God’s will.

The leaders of the ELCA provide insurance to their employees that subsidizes abortion procedures, tacitly authorizing the murder of unborn children. In Matthew 5:21, Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago,‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.” What is troubling is that the leadership of the ELCA does not understand or simply chooses to ignore the contradiction of that policy. Continue to pray for those trapped within the ELCA. Pray that their leadership opens their minds, eyes and hearts and choose to surrender their lives back to the Lord. Pray that one day the leadership of the ELCA will uphold their responsibility to their membership. Far too many of our brothers and sisters in Christ are at risk to simply walk away.

Pray for Lutherans in Ethiopia

Brothers and sisters in Christ, what follows is an email received from Gemichis Buba, mission director for the North American Lutheran Church. This is an urgent call to pray for our brothers and sisters in Ethiopia who are once again experiencing persecution, this time at the hands of Muslim extremists. Please lift up our brothers and sisters in Ethiopia in prayer that the Lord may protect them from the evil confronting them and to allow them to worship in peace. See the Christian Today article.

From: Gemechis Buba
Date: March 9, 2011 8:44:02 PM CST
Subject: Prayer Call from Mekane Yesus Church in Ethiopia

Dearly beloved,

Grace and peace to you,

I am sure by now you have all come back to your normal routines and back to the family and ministry you love. Thanks be to God for the privilege of having most you in Ethiopia on those historic few days in Addis Ababa.

I am writing this email to share with a prayer call I am asked to pass on to you by the President of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus, the Rev. Dr. Wakseyoum Idossa.

In the last few days over 41 churches and several evangelical mission stations or mission congregations were burned down. There are thousands of people expelled from their homes and some who are even badly beaten and killed. The perpetrators are Radical Islamist and Jihadist elements who are now operating in the western and south western parts of Ethiopia. I have spoken with Rev. Wakseyoum as he was visiting Mekane Yesus Churches and Synods close to the border of Sudan. The Voice of America (VOA) called, got in touch with him and interviewed him today and he spoke to the world from that remote spot through this international VOA radio streamed out of Washington DC.

On that interview given in Amharic he stated that, the Mekane Yesus have intentionally worked hard to establish good relationships with Muslim Ethiopians and that work have resulted in so much good and positive relationship. However he is shocked and saddened by this outbreak lashing out in heartbreaking atrocities. This brutal act is not the first of its kind. Three years ago Muslim fundamentalists have burned down several churches, killed evangelists, pastors and lay leaders. They are now repeating the same attacks. Today thousands have lost their homes, churches, family members and their rights to safely worship and conduct their ministries.

The Ethiopian government officials and security forces have intervened. The out come of their work is yet to be known. Some leaders from the central office of the Mekane Yesus Church in Addis Ababa have traveled to the area today to start getting help to the victims. There are many people who are now waiting to get some emergency aid in a camp. President Idossa is going to release another statement in the next few days as the investigation continues and as the government tries to bring these acts under control and bring the perpetrators to justice.

Please pray about this!! I also suggest that we send letters carrying words of encouragement and stating our commitment to pray for them. In order to do this in a coherent form I suggest that these letters come from;

Lutheran Church - Canada; Rev. Robert Bugbee or Rev. Dr. Leonardo Netzel
Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ LCMC; Rev. Mark Vander Tuig
North American Lutheran Church; Bishop Paull Spring

Persecution is not new to our church, however every time it happens it opens up old wounds and breaks the hearts of many. In the middle all these our brothers and sisters are walking into this holy Lenten season not with ashes on their forehead but carrying the cross of Christ and confessing their faith in the words of Psalm 23:1, "The Lord is my shepherd!"

May God renew our world in this Lenten season through the Holy Word of God and through power grace of God through Christ, Amen!!

Peace and Blessings,

The Rev. Dr. Gemechis D. Buba
Living in God's Amazing Grace