National Day of Prayer

It's that time of year again. A time when our President and politicians all look for a reason to ignore, not attend and try to remove The National Day of Prayer from our country. Never mind the fact that this country was built on the backs of persecuted people who came here to be free from religious persecution. Or maybe it would be better said that they fled to be free of religious CENSORSHIP. The issue wasn't about believing in God, just that they chose to express it in a different way than their government saw fit. And the government didn't like it. Sound familiar?

Censorship is a very delicate thing to talk about. I as a Christian must be careful what I say so as not to offend somebody. I believe if you sin you are going to hell unless you ask God for forgiveness. That is what the Bible says, right? That is what I believe in. But... if I were to say that to somebody, I would be called bigot, hateful, intolerant, etc... I'm not allowed to do that. I am censored. But if you tell me you are gay or want to have an abortion, I can't have an opinion. Why can't I call them "heterophobes" or 'baby killers"? I am censored. And because my God tells me it is wrong to be that way. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

The government gets to legislate morality in our country. They believe that they have the right to tell us what we can and should believe in. If any other groups of people get to believe what they want to, why can't I? Oh yeah, that's right. There is that old pesky "separation of church and state" thing. You can't pray in school or have Bible Clubs there, because it is a government institution. Forget that your tax dollars are paying for it all. You can't have an opinion. OH WAIT!!! The separation of church and state isn't about not allowing God in government institutions, BUT KEEPING THE GOVERNMENT FROM SETTING A PARTICULAR RELIGION AS THE ONLY ONE ALLOWED IN THIS COUNTRY. That's why people left England and came here in the first place, right?

I believe that religious censorship is the best way to keep anybody from questioning somebodies twisting of the Constitution to make it say what they want it to say. To stand for what they believe, not what the founding fathers of our nation believed. Shame on us for allowing our government to be by the special interests, for the special interests.

Maybe that is why our country seems so weak anymore. We are too afraid to stand on our convictions because we don't want to upset anybody. Guess what? In order to make an omelet, you've gotta break some eggs. No other country will see us as a voice of reason in all of the chaos if we can't take care of our business at home. The odds were against our forefathers, but because of their convictions about what they believed, we broke free of British rule and became independent.

Okay, I'm getting down off of my soap box now. It's National Day of Prayer, and I will be spending it praying for all of you. Those I know, and those I don't. Those who think like me, and those who don't. From the cashier at the grocery store, to the President of the United States. Why? Because I should be free to do so.

Serving Him,

Pastor Brian