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| Bishop Umar Mulinde |
Had Pentecostal Bishop Umar Mulinde been a Muslim who had
just suffered from an acid attack by a professing Christian, you can well
understand what sort of international outrage that would’ve generated.
However, Mulinde is a Christian rather than a Muslim so the
international community simply looks the other way when Christians are abused
and persecuted by the fundamental members of the “Religion of Peace.”
Fortunately, Mulinde still has one eye and he can still preach the Gospel in
his nation of Uganda
despite being threatened daily by Islamists who only believe that peace will
come when all the Jews and Christians on earth have been murdered in Allah’s
name.
Mulinde fully intends to continue preaching the Gospel in Uganda
because he serves a greater God who sent his One and Only Son Jesus Christ into
the world to die for the sins of mankind. That’s the kind of courage that comes
with true faith; the type of faith that Christ had in mind when he said this: “Do
not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be
afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Matthew
10:28) Mulinde believes that and that’s why he refuses to allow Muslims to
silence him through intimidation and shut him down through physical attacks.
Mulinde’s persecution isn’t an anachronism or the act of a
few “radical extremist nuts” that sully the sparkling image of Islam. Mulinde’s
persecution is a microcosm of what’s ahead for true Christians around the
world. And in many ways, that persecution has been going on for quite some
time. According to Al Jazeera, the Middle Eastern news agency, someone tossed a
hand grenade into a church in Nairobi , Kenya Kenya
is a hotbed of Islamic fundamentalism,
so it doesn’t take a proverbial rocket scientist to figure out who was likely
behind that attack.
And in Egypt ,
several Coptic Christian families have been forced to flee their homes in the Sinai
Peninsula after Muslims threatened to kill them and burn their
homes. Christians
'flee Egypt town after death threats' - FRANCE 24 And not to be outdone,
the atheistic Chinese government recently arrested four Christians and
confiscated their bibles in the province
of Northwestern Xinjang
Biblical prophecy reveals that Christians are going to
persecuted severely in the last days directly preceding the return of Christ.
In fact, Christ himself warned about that in a prophecy he gave to his
disciples shortly before his crucifixion: “Then you will be handed over to be
persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of
me.” (Matthew 24:9) Indeed, Christians are hated across the world
because of Jesus Christ, and they are hated for a multitude of reasons.
In the United States ,
Canada and in Western
Europe , Christians are hated because they reject the homosexual
lifestyle based upon biblical reasons. They are also hated in those areas
because they rightly condemn abortion as cold-blooded murder. And Christians
realize that the term “pro-choice” is merely a sophistic euphemism designed to be
a substitute for murder. And so, Christians are bullied away from abortion
clinics and gay parades via the threat of prosecution and incarceration even
though the U.S. Constitution protects their right to free speech under the
First Amendment. And Christians are mocked by their buffoonish and inept President
Barack Obama as knuckle-dragging cretins who “cling to their guns and religion”
in times of trouble.
In the Middle East , Africa
and throughout much of Asia , Christians are viewed as
soft and lazy who have allowed their faith to be corrupted by the world. America
is still viewed as the most Christian nation on earth and that has become the
Islamic world’s greatest recruiting tool. When the most Christian nation on
earth has murdered 40 million unborn babies since 1973 and increasingly allows
for gay marriage to become the law of its land, then the Taliban to al Qaeda to
the Muslim Brotherhood to Hamas to Hezbollah have all the rationale they need
to attack and persecute Christians as apostates. There’s a reason why the United
States is denigrated as the “Great Satan”
across the Muslim world; because in many ways the most Christian nation on
earth acts like a great Satan.
Certainly, the real Satan doesn’t need any additional
ammunition in his arsenal to persecute true Christians. True Christians are a
danger to the devil because they hold the keys to eternal life through the
Gospel of Jesus Christ. As such, the apostle Paul recognized that the real
battle that Christians face emanates in the heavenly realms rather than on
earth: “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the
rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and
against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 6:12)
Those spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms are demons
that are under Satan’s authority. They have one goal; to prevent the salvation
of every human being on earth by silencing true believers in Christ who preach
the Gospel. And they work through unrepentant sinners to achieve that goal;
from fomenting violence and persecution against Christians such as Umar Mulinde
to silence them to promoting intellectual fairy tales such as Darwinian
evolution to deceive the world into believing that life occurred by accident
without the design of a Creator God. And certainly, Satan’s demons willingly
work through false religions to deceive multitudes into following counterfeit
paths to salvation.
Biblical prophecy reveals that persecution of Christians is
going to continue to worsen across the world until the Antichrist appears and
institutes a barcode system that will identify his followers. (Revelation 13:16-17) True Christians
will refuse to receive this mark because they will know who the Antichrist is
when he’s revealed and they’ll know what will happen to them if they take his
mark: “If anyone worships the beast (Antichrist) and his image and receives
his mark on the forehead or on the hand, he, too, will drink the wine of God’s
fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath.”
(Revelation 14:9-10)
Persecution comes with being a true believer in Jesus
Christ. It also provides a true test that determines whether one is a genuine
believer in Christ as opposed to someone who attends a church occasionally. The
apostle Paul warned that “everyone who wants to live a godly life in
Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” (2Timothy 3:12 ) Christ issued this caveat concerning
the persecution of his true followers in the last days: “In fact, a time is coming when
anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God.” (John
16:2)
That time is now. Muslims believe that they are offering a
service to Allah by killing Christians. Secularists believe that they are
offering a service to the world by silencing Christians and stamping out their
faith. If you call yourself a Christian and truly believe in what Christ did
for you on Calvary ’s cross, then are you ready for
persecution? Because it’s coming. In many places, it’s already happening. And
in Western Europe and North America ,
it’s just beginning. So be ready.
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