Accelerating Toward Real Persecution, Hold On To Joy

By Tom Gilson Published on August 20, 2017

If there’s a tipping point coming soon for Christians in America to experience real persecution, we’ve just moved a lot closer to it this week. I’m not trying to predict the future, and I’d be glad to be totally wrong. But it seems possible that one day we’ll look back at Charlottesville as the hinge it all turned upon.

Leftist Violence Gets a Pass

Note what’s happened in just the past week.

  • Media and commentators have solidly refused to acknowledge that BLM and Antifa are responsible for their own actions there. This isn’t a question of groups’ moral equivalency, but of personal responsibility. Yes, it’s important to point out the evil of white supremacists; but does their evil mean others aren’t accountable for their choices? The left has consistently said no, we need to give them a pass. Violence done by the left simply wasn’t wrong there. Will it ever be?

Violence from the left has been getting a pass for some time now.

  • The Associated Press is reporting on students who are worried about safety on campus after Charlottesville. This one-sided report completely fails to mention any of the violent protests recently carried out against conservatives. Violence from the left has been getting silent consent from the media for some time now.

Christian Groups Called “Hate Groups”

  • The AP is reporting on tech companies banishing “hate groups” from their sites. These companies include Facebook, Google, Behind-the-scenes internet giant CloudFlare is reportedly doing the same.

Normally this should seem like a good idea, except for the high potential for arbitrary and/or prejudiced designations of “hate groups.” Which is in fact happening:

  • CNN published a list of “hate groups” this week, apparently to warn the country against violence in the wake of events in Virginia. The list includes several Christian groups whose only crime has been to disagree with the leftist politics of the list’s provider, the Southern Poverty Law Center. Even non-violence from the right gets treated like violence.

There’s an ominous recipe there for causing conservative Christianity to disappear from the public internet.

Are you feeling vulnerable yet?

Are you feeling vulnerable yet? Leftist violence is fine; peace-loving Christian groups could disappear from the web at just about any moment.

Speaking of which,

  • Just last week, Google-owned YouTube removed advertising from the vast majority of Stream contributing editor Dr. Michael Brown’s 900 videos. The videos themselves remain for now, but not their advertising connections — apparently because someone flagged him as offensive.

How Strange Is This?

All of this is completely startling to people of my generation. We grew up in a world where such deep anti-Christian hostility was unimaginable. Now it’s upon us – not in full force yet, but definitely accelerating in that direction. Something very strange is happening to us!

But God has a word for us in these unexpected days. 1 Peter 4:12-13 tells us,

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal which comes upon you to prove you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice in so far as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.

God knows what he’s doing. We can rejoice in spite of these ominous signs of a tipping point.

Case in point: When Dr. Brown emailed us here at The Stream about his videos, he said, “I’m actually laughing and smiling about it – but talk about a wild surprise!” A short time later he added, “So, the videos didn’t get flagged – many of which answer Bible questions and the like – I got flagged. On with the revolution!”

Joy Regardless!

He didn’t know those words would be re-published here. (Don’t worry, I got his permission first.) He was just being himself: rejoicing as far as he was sharing in Christ’s sufferings, ready to rejoice and be glad when His glory is revealed.

“I’m actually laughing and smiling about it – but talk about a wild surprise!”

Knowing Dr. Brown, I know that his joy comes from a calm and settled assurance that God is real and He is really good; that Jesus Christ is very much alive; and that our Lord will be faithful now as He has always been.

This week’s events could be signaling more active hostility coming our way. We may think we’re solid in our faith that God is real, He is good, Jesus is very much alive, God is faithful — but that could soon be put to the test like we’d never imagined. Let’s commit ourselves to knowing and living these truths, so we can be ready for whatever may come.

 

Tom Gilson is a senior editor with The Stream and the author of Critical Conversations: A Christian Parents’ Guide to Discussing Homosexuality with Teens (Kregel Publications, 2016). Follow him on Twitter: @TomGilsonAuthor.

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