Being a True Christian is Quickly Becoming a Crime
By Todd Strandberg
There has always been some place in the world where being a Christian was outlawed by the local government. Since the vast majority of Christians for two centuries were located in the free Western world, the church as a whole, was in little danger. Today, even liberty stalwarts like England and America are becoming hostile to the followers of Jesus Christ.
A couple weeks ago, Franklin Graham was in the news because his planned eight-date tour through the United Kingdom was in doubt. The preacher was dropped by all of his scheduled venues for making homophobic and Islamophobic comments.
Franklin, who is the son of the late prominent Christian evangelist Billy Graham, was expected to tour the U.K. in May, June, and October, making stops in Glasgow, Newcastle, Sheffield, Milton Keynes, Liverpool, Cardiff, Birmingham, and London, according to his website. All eight venues canceled his upcoming appearances due to intervention by an LGBTQ group.
Some of those remarks included how same-sex marriage was a “sin,” that the Islam religion was “behind the violence” around the world, and that conversion therapy is possible through accepting Jesus, as those in the LGBTQ community were “misled.”
Following the cancellation, Franklin’s team addressed the status of the Graham Tour on his website, telling his followers that his appearances would still take place on their original dates but that they were considering and “finalizing” new sites.
The ACC Liverpool Group, based in Liverpool, announced last week that they were no longer going to hold the Graham Tour UK event as previously planned.
“Over the past few days we have been made aware of a number of statements which we consider to be incompatible with our values,” stated the venue.
“In light of this we can no longer reconcile the balance between freedom of speech and the divisive impact this event is having in our city. We have informed the organizers of the event that the booking will no longer be fulfilled.”
The venue went on to claim that they “are proud to represent all communities and will continue to move forward with our aim as a business to drive profile major events and economic impact for Liverpool City Region.”
Most organizations in Europe and North America have become absolutely fixated on anything that can be labeled a hate crime. If you don’t fit with the growing list of rules, you can be denied treatment at a UK hospital. “Currently, staff can refuse to treat non-critical patients who are verbally aggressive or physically violent towards them,” reports Sky News. Starting in April, Patients deemed to be “racist,” “sexist”, or “homophobic” will be denied care in some British hospitals.
There is a huge push to establish rules for what can be said on the internet. Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg has called for regulation of harmful online content, saying it was not for companies like his to decide what counts as legitimate free speech. The Facebook founder urged governments to come up with a new regulatory system for social media, suggesting it should be a mix of existing rules for telecoms and media companies.
“We don’t want private companies making so many decisions about how to balance social equities without any more democratic process,” he said.
Zuckerberg is all for government rules because he has been under continuous pressure from liberals who claim his company allowed Russia to post information that influenced the 2016 election. The simple solution is to do away with free speech by allowing all grievance groups a veto right over everyone else.
We are quickly headed down a path that will outlaw Christianity. Once the government is able to make hate speech a capital offense, they will create the setting where Christians can be murdered for their faith. Since all true believers hold the view that Jesus is the only way to God, the left will use equality as their excuse for persecution of end-time saints.
“For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths” (2 Timothy 4:3-4).
“I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6).
— Todd