Instead of the normal references to scripture and context here please see this link to our series on Beatitudes “Persecution.” (note that the series pulls up in reverse order.)
The other day we had a post entitled War on Prayer by Atheists, Socialists & Communists: (update). To that post, we received an interesting response on a social media platform:
There is no ‘war on prayer’… thats just BS. In the US we are free to pray to a god at any time of day whether at home, in public, in school or at work.
The US was founded on religious freedom.. not on any one religion. We are free to choose any religion (or no religion) we want…
This is why our founding document – The Constitution – does not mention god, jesus, the bible or even christianity.
I replied:
(Name hidden), First thank you for commenting. The Constitution is but one of our “Founding Documents.” The Declaration of Independence clearly mentions God. Even a brief google search can bring up MANY incidents of religious freedom of expression (with the overwhelming majority being Judeo-Christian) being squashed in America in the past decade or so. Also, I completely AGREE, we were not ever founded as a “Christian Nation” that would have made the USA a theocracy, not the Republic that it is.
I write this to make note of the fact that many here in the US and in fact worldwide deny that a war against prayer and Judeo-Christian persecution, in general, exists at all. I am blessed to live in the USA where religious liberty at least for now still has some rights. We do not have to meet in underground churches like our Chinese brothers and sisters or face execution as many in Muslim theocracies.
Yet Jesu made it clear “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake…” all TRUE believers should expect some level of persecution in their lives. If life is the proverbial bed of roses then you are not living for …the kingdom of heaven.
Faithful Steward Ministries and FSM Women's Outreach 