"Father Hollywood"
I read a remarkable post from a Lutheran pastor from New Orleans called "Father Hollywood," called "Orthodox Christianity is Hated." His real name is Rev. Larry Beane, and he's not rolling over and playing dead:
It has been a long time since the days of persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire, when the faithful were crucified, tortured in the arena, and martyred for refusing to bend the knee to the false god Caesar. But the time of ease for the Church is at an end, and in fact, it is long since past in many places of the world where the Church is under physical duress. Christians are still arrested, tortured, and martyred in places like Sudan and China.
But in "civilized" countries, we see the hostility against the Church take a different tack. It is what our suffering brethren in Sweden call a "gray martyrdom." No-one is being sent to the arena or burned at the stake in Scandinavia for preaching the Christian faith - but we do see a marginalization of Christians, a social and political apartheid, and even charges of "hate speech" for proclaiming Christian truth as revealed in Scripture that conflicts with the Official Party Line of the Government.
Once again, the Christians are told to burn just a wee bit of incense before the false god of Government. Be patriotic. Be good citizens.
In the U.S., we don't even have the "gray martyrdom" of Sweden - not yet. What we have instead is an Orwellian redefinition of right and wrong, a reordering of morality that conflicts with the built-in sense of propriety that has been shared by civilized people for centuries.
Rev. Beane is one of many who are giving voice and definition to a movement of those who are now consciously facing "gray martyrdom" - a useful expression if ever there was one.
Read the whole post.
Tags: Christianity, News, Politics
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