John 12:13b “Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.”
Mark 15:13 “And they cried out again, Crucify him.”
Society can change quickly, though it shouldn’t surprise us. After all, in a few short days the people of Jerusalem changed their cries about Jesus from “Hosanna” to “Crucify him.”
The cultural change in our society regarding the preeminence of religious freedom has been rapid. On November 16, 1993, The New York Times reported the following about the Religious Freedom Restoration Act: “President Clinton today signed into law legislation requiring the Government to meet stringent standards before instituting measures that might interfere with religious practices.”
On that day, President Clinton said the following:
“The free exercise of religion has been called the first freedom, that which originally sparked the development of the full range of the Bill of Rights.”
“What this law basically says is that the Government should be held to a very high level of proof before it interferes with someone’s free exercise of religion. This judgment is shared by the people of the United States as well as by the Congress. We believe strongly that we can never, we can never be too vigilant in this work.”
“Let us instead respect one another’s faiths, fight to the death to preserve the right of every American to practice whatever convictions he or she has, but bring our values back to the table of American discourse to heal our troubled land.”
Amen Bill Clinton!
Sadly, these same sentiments are now being called hateful, bigoted, and discriminatory. Attempts to implement similar legislation at the state level are prompting protests and boycotts sanctioned at times by government itself. How quickly we have drifted and how far have we fallen. PLEASE PRAY THAT AMERICANS WOULD REALIZE THE VITAL IMPORTANCE OF OUR FIRST FREEDOM, RELIGIOUS LIBERTY.
Christian citizen, this has all happened on our watch. We have failed to be vigilant, and society has shifted in a generation. We shouldn’t be surprised that such things could happen, but we haven’t faithfully fought to prevent it. PLEASE ALSO PRAY THAT AMERICAN CHRISTIANS WOULD BE VIGILANT AND DILIGENT IN OUR FIGHT FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM. We can never to too vigilant in this work.
SET YOUR ALARM: If you’re alarmed (at the hopelessness, divisiveness and anger in America), set your alarm (to pray for our nation)!
For a related thought, please see: https://prayatlunch.us/complicit/
