Freedom Strikes Out

Curt Schilling

When Curt Schilling pitched, he possessed one of the best fastballs in the major leagues. He used that fastball to strike out over 3,000 hitters in a successful career that resulted in 216 regular season wins and 11 postseason victories.

Those are good totals, but probably not quite good enough to earn him a place in Major League Baseball's coveted Hall of Fame. And his chances for the Hall probably became slimmer after he recently posted some controversial comments on his Facebook page that cost him his job as a baseball analyst at ESPN.

What did Schilling say that so angered his bosses at the sports network? Did he denigrate an ethnic group or make homophobic comments? Did he malign a non-Christian religion? Did he insult the Great and Mighty Barack Obama?

He did none of that. Rather, he had the audacity to proclaim that transgender restrooms are an extremely bad idea. He defended traditional separate bathrooms for men and women.

Schilling also punctuated his opinion by posting a picture on Facebook of a corpulent man wearing a long blond wig and women’s clothing. Schilling said sarcastically: "Let him in! To the restroom with your daughter or else you’re a narrow minded, judgmental, unloving, racist bigot who needs to die!!!"  

Schilling spiced his commentary with this statement: A man is a man no matter what they call themselves...Now you need laws telling us differently? Pathetic. 

For that, Schilling was terminated by ESPN, even though he posted his opinion on his own social media outlet and not on ESPN or on one of its social media outlets. Evidently, the First Amendment doesn't apply to employees at the sports network where having a Judeo-Christian worldview can cost you your job.

Schilling is no stranger to controversy. He was disciplined in the past by ESPN honchos for sharing his conservative opinions. Last year, he compared Muslim extremists to Nazis, a comparison that seemed to shock only the secular left.

For the record, Schilling stated that he believed that 5-10 percent of Muslims are extremists, which seems plausible considering Islam's violent theology. The left skewered Schilling's remarks to make them sound as though he had equated Islam with Nazism. He didn't, but he was torched nevertheless by the Marxist media and subsequently suspended by ESPN.

And after he voiced his opinion on transgender bathrooms, Schilling was finally canned by ESPN. However, the real reason why the sports network cut Schilling loose was because of fear.

Fear? Yes fear. Fear of bad publicity, boycotts and the threat of lawsuits from Big Gay enforcers and powerful Muslim groups such as CAIR. ESPN doesn't want to lose viewers and advertising revenue, and conservative Christian commentators--especially those like Schilling who openly share their faith--have become increasingly bad for business these days.

Schilling has become yet another example of the fulfillment of end-time biblical prophecy concerning the persecution of Christians. Two thousand years ago, Jesus Christ warned: "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)

The apostle Peter wrote this: "Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you." (1 Peter 4:12-14)

The apostle Paul prophesied this: "In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived." (2 Timothy 3:12-13)

Who are the evildoers and impostors? They are phonies such as the Rev. Al Sharpton, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Barack Obama and his fire-breathing pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright who claim to be Christians, but persecute genuine Christians and promote a very anti-Christian message. Keep in mind how hostile the Obama administration has been toward conservatives and Christians. That's not a coincidence. 

For his part, Schilling's taking his dismissal well. He has ample resources and doesn't need the ESPN job nor the money. He said this: 

I'll always love talking about pitching. I thought I was good at it. But at a company where the rules are different based completely and solely on your perspective and your beliefs, it didn't work. They didn't like that.

No, they didn't. And that's become the norm rather than the exception in today's increasingly secular, anti-Christian world where "tolerance" means that everything's acceptable. Everything that is, except traditional Judeo-Christian values.