"We Hate Christians."

Wow. Already May 1st which means SOOOOOOO close to seeing my love. I could burst. 

Whoever told me that the last two weeks of deployment were the hardest couldn't have been more correct. I'm about ready for these shenans to be over and to not have an empty house 24/7. But soon, my friends, so soon. Praise Jesus. 

The deployment has been honestly, surprisingly awesome so far. God's been up to some pretty great stuff. Being around family has helped quite a bit & Bill has been able to get mentored by a rando Chaplain out in the desert, God's been doing some awesome stuff in his heart as well in these meetings with the great Chaplain & it's cool to hear about it from afar. 

SPEAKING of Chaplains. 

Apparently a lot of things are beginning to change in this wonderful world that I love called the military. 

An article has been floating around today that's caught my eye... with the title: 

"Breaking: Pentagon confirms May Court Martial Soldiers Who Share Christian Faith." 

uhhhhh. Ok. So what does that mean? 

You can read the article here for yourself, but essentially here's what I got from it: 

- Someone, I believed named "Weinstein" or something like that, literally STRONGLY DISLIKES (aka hates) Christians.

- Weinstein, who has influence in the military as being the head of the "Military Religious FREEDOM Foundation." (ya that's right.) considers Christians to be "monsters" and "enemies of the constitution." 

- Chaplains who share their faith... either from the pulpit, a counseling session, or even from a friend-to-friend scenario, are committing "treason" and "spiritual rape." Hm. 

- Christians in the military (and even the normal civilian ones) are kind of sort of freeeeaaakkking out about it. 

(Did I read it wrong, or was I spot on? This question is genuine & far from sarcastic, really.)

So far, I've gotten to read some amusing comments on the article feed that include but are not limited to: 

"Good news, they are letting the gays in now, so you can finally join." (< hateful attempt at being a smart-arse.)

"More room in the closet... looks like that's where the Christians will have to go!" (< well, funny guy.)

"Good reason for people of FAITH not to serve." (< ignorant.)

"Ain't ever gonna happen bloodlessly. Jefferson said freedom must occasionally be cleansed with the blood of patriots. We are not going to get our rights restored any other way." ( < whoa. Chill.) 

"Obama is not a good politician. The worst president in history. He makes Carter look good." ( < repub.)

In response to the ^ republican: "What about Nixon? Try educating yourself." ( < great point.)

And my personal favorite comeback: 

"EDUCATE YOURSELF? I think that's the trash calling the can stinky." ( < winner winner.)

~~~~~~

SO. Stuff is passing, laws are changing. 

People are sharing their opinions (which are ALWAYS the right one.) 

I'm on my way home today thinking about all of this crap, getting riled up & probably slightly deep down a teeny-weeny little bit scared. 

I'm seeing people post stuff about this, "rallying the Christian troops" to stand up and FIGHT! DO SOMETHING! DON'T JUST ROLL OVER AND LET THE CHRISTIAN-HATERS WIN!!!!

I decided I was going to join in on this rally, because I (most days) love the influence of social media.... so there I was, driving home & mentally preparing the words that I was going to put in my status so that I, too could spread the article to raise awareness of the INJUSTICE and the HYPOCRISY and the DISCRIMINATION against us poor little Christians. 

So I ask God aloud in my car.... 

"WELL?? So what now? What do we do? God, how do we "FIGHT?"

Honest question I suppose. 

The mix of Christianity into governmental issues has been on my mind quite a lot recently. 

It's all part of my testimony which I'm planning on sharing in an upcoming post, but the gist of where I've been at is: WHAT, HOW, WHEN are Christians supposed to ACTUPON/VOTEFOR/STANDFOR/STANDAGAINST & HOW does that play into society/politics/social CHANGES today? 

I thought about it with the recent supreme court ruling marriage equality gig that exploded on social media... (I hope a lot of people reading this post still have red equal signs profile pix, to be honest...) and I thought about this again today. 

In His AMAZING GRACE, God was able to save a wretch like me from myself.

Don't get me wrong, on paper & especially according to church people I was as good as they come. 

BUT thankfully, God opened my eyes (due to the recent political shenans of the last election & then some) in a different way & I'm now, for once, trying my best to see things a little more His way (which is a way I get from actually READING my Bible, and not just digesting & regurgitating "Christianeze" that I've grown up believing.) Still SUCH a pitiful work in progress... but there's progress!
But that's for another post...

I digress. 

So we're here. 

And the world hates us. 

And the government says we can't share our faith. 

And some people are cheering & some people are throwing a fit. 

And it is very possible that some crazy crap can happen down the road that involves Chaplain's being "caught" sharing their faith and being court-marshaled for committing treason. 

And that is a little bit scary to think about. 

So again, I ask God, and YOU (whoever you are, reading this.) 

HOW DO WE FIGHT??? 

What does that even look like? 

Well the first thought that popped into my head while I was trying to think of a clever, inspiring, Christian-rallying status that I was going to post to facebook when I got home was... 

"Hey Jo, how about you pray about it instead of post about it?" 

...

Yeeeeeah. 

Wanna know what that was? That was a mini Holy Spirit slap in the face. 

I mean, I'm sure He doesn't do that, but if He did, I think I caught a glimpse of what that felt like.

(and it was not awesome.) 

"Fine God." 

(I kinda got all smart-alikey cuz He just hurt my pride a little bit.) 

"This is me praying. And I'll ask You again. HOW DO WE FIGHT???" 

Here are the verses that immediately popped into my little brain: 

Ephesians 6:12 - "For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil-rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places." 

&

Matthew 6:33 - "Seek first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you." 

Then, another thought popped into my mind. 

I'm not sure where I read/heard it, but I remember it being very convicting to my Christian-republican-wannatakeAmericabackforJesus little self. 

This comment was in regards to the past election, where Christians/military members were freaking out at the thought of Obama winning another election: 

"4 years of an Presidential campaign cannot unravel the eternal work of Jesus and His Kingdom." 

Yes. Great reminder at this moment. 

Thought Process Continues: 

Well, how did Jesus fight? (Other than with probably a trillion billion million angels destroying the works of the devil.) 

- The only picture I got was praying. Praying.  

Hm. Ok, moving on... continuing thought process.

Now, a little disclaimer, I'm way past the "take America back for Christ" Christian mentality quite a bit - I'm honestly not completely sure yet where I stand as far as certain issues & how my personal beliefs can mesh into politics in a Jesus way. 

(Don't freak out. Let God do His work & trust that He's got me!!) 

That being said, my next thought wasn't so much with the "take America back for Christ" process, but more just, in my opinion, common-sensey. I thought: 

"But God! It ISN'T FAIR. It's NOT FAIR for them to put these limitations on us. 

It's NOT FAIR for Christian-haters to scream "TOLERANCE" down our throats and then in the same breathe say "FOR EVERYONE ELSE BUT YOU!" 

It's a hypocritical double standard and.... wait a second... isn't that the EXACT thing that Christian-haters HATE about Christians? That we're a bunch of hypocrites with double-standards??" 

So, God prompted me to think about what happened in Jesus' life that wasn't "FAIR." 

Welp. Didn't take long for that one to come up. 

Jesus was CRUCIFIED because He CLAIMED to be THE SON OF GOD. 

That, seems a little unfair to me. 

I mean, do we really think He was the FIRST person in the history of the world to claim to be the son of God?

Since when is the standard of "claiming to be the Son of God" earn you a crucified spot on a cross? 

A slap on the wrist, a head-shake, maybe. 

But a crucifixion? A bloody, brutal, painful, devastating and humiliating crucifixion?

That wasn't fair. That REALLY wasn't fair.

Now, I know this comparison is a bit of a stretch. 

Jesus didn't live in a time of history that proclaimed "FREEDOM" from the rooftops.

And yet, the funny thing is, He didn't need to... because HIS LIFE PROCLAIMS FREEDOM. 

(proclaims, as in PRESENT tense, not past.)

Jesus doesn't need a government to determine the standard FREEDOM that we can live in!

Wow. 

So, as hard as it is to see our perfect little Christian right's crumble to the ground, I guess for me it is to be expected. 

And I think, based on the thought process of today's events, that it's REALLY going to be OK.

I think, the resounding response I got from the questions I asked God today was:

 "SEEK. FIRST. HIS. KINGDOM." 

and WHY should we do that FIRST? 

Because: HE. GIVES. YOU. EVERYTHING. YOU. NEED. (Matthew 6:33). 

Haters-hate. 

And for the first time in a quite a while, a "hater" with a LOT of influence has the microphone & we're all left a little bit intimidated & shocked by his claims & suggestions. 

But I guess, it'll be ok. 

"One law change can NOT & will NOT unravel the work of Jesus & the advancement of His Kingdom." 

Stand on it. Believe it. 

Now, I do sympathize. Because:

- Yes, it's not fair. 

- Yes, it's going to be uncomfortable (but really, only uncomfortable to the Christians who are vocal, bold and outspoken about Jesus in their life... I'm pretty sure the rest of us American Christians will be just fine in light of this law change, TBH. Ouch.) 

- Yes, things will probably change & the change will not be in "our favor." 

- Yes, a lot of unjust, hypocritical things will take place and the word "tolerance" will conveniently be forgotten.

HOWEVER. 

Those aren't the only things we have to say "yes" to. 

Thanks to what Jesus did on the Cross, we have a few more things to say "YES!" to: 

- YES, Jesus is the ONLY way, truth and life. 

- YES, HE is the GOOD shepherd and we LACK NOTHING.

-YES, Jesus gives us EVERYTHING WE NEED FOR LIFE. 

- YES, one day EVERY KNEE WILL BOW and every single tongue will CONFESS that Jesus Christ is LORD!

- YES, God is currently in the process of building a church AND THE GATES OF HELL WILL NOT PREVAIL AGAINST IT! (please cheer for that one.)

- YES, without love, we are NO-THING. NOTHING. but an annoying loud clanging cymbal. 

- YES, the way to "fight against this age" involves a BELT of truth, a BREASTPLATE of righteousness, the gospel of PEACE, the SHIELD of faith, HELMET of salvation, SWORD of the Spirit, which is the word of God!

And oh my word.... I just read the remainder of that above Ephesians 6 "armor of God" reference again... and do YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT IT SAYS??

(Verse 18) - praying at all times in the Spirit, with ALL prayer & supplication. To that end, keep alert with ALL PERSEVERANCE, making supplication for ALL the saints... 

And then, (Verse 19), Paul asks.... "pray also for me, that WORDS MAY BE GIVEN TO ME IN OPENING MY MOUTH BOLDLY TO PROCLAIM THE MYSTERY OF THE GOSPEL... for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak." 

I'm sorry, but isn't this what we were JUST TALKING ABOUT?? :) I love God! 

So yes. 

I hope this is at least a little bit encouraging & far from condescending. 

My conclusion I came to today: 

1) Seek His Kingdom. 

2) Fight by PRAYING. 

And, I hope that that fun little lesson that the Holy Spirit so gently taught me today speaks to you too...

 instead of posting about it, PRAY. 

Not to say don't post anything ever, I mean, I think a petition is going around to combat the changes Mr. Weinstein is trying to implement & I'm sure I will sign it, HOWEVER, don't get rattled. 

Don't get scared. 

And DON'T LET a post replace a prayer. 

He is so worthy. 

Love you all.