Church Leaders, It's Your Time For Action Volume 11 -When Will You Stand Up? We Are The Watchmen Weekly - February 3, 2024
We Take A Look At Two Stories Of Faithful Men Taking A Stand - Read, Share, & Subscribe - WeAreTheWatchmen.org
Will The Ekklesia Stand For Those Who Have Stood Up?
This week, we’ll take a look at two stories in which believers stood up, followed the word of God, and now face persecution for doing so.
While we may use “Church” and “Ekklesia” interchangeably, it’s important to understand that there’s a difference.
Think about it like this:
Church = Location.
Ekklesia = The People/The Body, a powerful gathering of people united by identity and purpose.
It’s critical that we understand our role and the “hands and feet” and how the Lord has called us to stand up.
As the Apostle Paul told us in Acts 20:28-31:
28 Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.
29 I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock.
30 Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them.
31 So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.
We’ll take a look at those two stories after this.
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“A Mississippi man accused of destroying a statue of a pagan idol at Iowa's state Capitol is now being charged with a hate crime.
The statue was brought to the Capitol by the Satanic Temple of Iowa under state rules allowing religious displays in the building during the holidays.
The move drew strong criticism from state and national leaders, including Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds and Florida Gov. and presidential candidate Ron DeSantis, both Republicans. On Dec. 14, the figure depicting the horned deity Baphomet was ‘destroyed beyond repair,’ according to the group.
Michael Cassidy, a former congressional and legislative candidate from Mississippi, was charged the next day with fourth-degree criminal mischief, a misdemeanor. He told the conservative website The Sentinel that ‘my conscience is held captive to the word of God, not to bureaucratic decree. And so I acted.’
Hard Stop. Commentary:
First, ask yourself this question: In today’s climate, if the roles had been reversed, would Mr. Cassidy have been charged with a hate crime?
As you work to resolve that question, what we see here is Mr. Cassidy taking the concept of being a believer seriously, as we’re told in scripture:
13 Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong.
And in Ephesians 6:13:
13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.
Pro Tip: Standing up for the faith means you will be in uncomfortable positions, often.
Let’s continue.
Now, Polk County prosecutors have charged Cassidy with a more serious offense, the Des Moines Register reported. A document made public Tuesday charged him with felony third-degree criminal mischief. It alleges the act was committed ‘in violation of individual rights’ under Iowa’s hate crime statute.
‘Evidence shows the defendant made statements to law enforcement and the public indicating he destroyed the property because of the victim’s religion,’
Lynn Hicks, a spokesman for the Polk County Attorney’s Office, said in a statement.
Cassidy’s attorney, Sara Pasquale, declined to comment on the new charge. In previous court filings, she has accused the Satanic Temple of making filings that ‘are only meant to evoke strong emotions and incite others.’”
Hard Stop. Commentary:
We Are The Watchmen Weekly has covered the Satanic Temple extensively (Click HERE and HERE) and what Mr. Cassidy’s attorney said is true: she has accused the Satanic Temple of making filings that ‘are only meant to evoke strong emotions and incite others.’
Here’s an example:
She listened with curiosity as the nurse described the optional ceremonial aspects of the Satanic abortion ritual:
First, you find a quiet space. Bring a mirror if you can. Just before taking the medication, gaze at your reflection and focus on your personhood. Home in on your intent, your responsibility to you. Take a few deep, relaxing breaths. When you’re ready, read the following tenet aloud: One’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone. Take the medication and immediately afterward, recite, Beliefs should conform to one’s best scientific understanding of the world. One should take care never to distort scientific facts to fit one’s beliefs.
Later, once your body expels the aborted tissue, return to your reflection. Focus again on your personhood, your power in making this decision. Complete the ritual by reciting a personal affirmation: By my body, my blood; by my will, it is done.
If you don’t stand against this, you are complicit - period. And the Lord is clear on this in Matthew 12:37:
37 For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.
Homework: Share this article with everyone you know, and keep it front page news with a scriptural foundation. If you “flood the zone” with this information, the Lord will work through us all.
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“Campaigners on Friday called for more consistent protection for women facing harassment while trying access abortion services in the UK after a Christian preacher was convicted over a protest outside a clinic.
Stephen Green, 72, who says his prosecution was an ‘attack on the Bible and free speech,’ held up a placard with a religious text during his protest in west London last February.
The protest took place in a so-called buffer zone around the clinic put in place by the local Ealing council, the first in the UK surrounding such a facility.
Buffer zones around abortion clinics were brought in across the UK in January 2023, after complaints from women of intimidation and harassment from anti-abortion groups and protesters.
Green’s sign, quoting Psalm 139, read: ‘For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb.’
A judge in Uxbridge, northwest London, on Thursday said he had ‘pointedly and intentionally’ included the words ‘in my mother’s womb’ as ‘an act of protest.’
The words amounted to an ‘expression of disapproval’ of abortion and therefore were in breach of a public spaces protection order used to set up the buffer zone, district judge Kathryn Verghis said.
Louise McCudden, UK head of external affairs at the charity MSI Reproductive Choices, welcomed Green’s conviction but called on the government to end the geographical game of chance surrounding safe access to clinics.
Campaigners have been calling for national legislation on the issue, arguing that the current reliance on public space protection orders, which can be imposed in England and Wales under 2014 anti-social behaviour legislation, depends on the willingness of individual local authorities to act.
Hard Stop. Commentary:
It may feel like you’re reading a story from a dystopian future book… but what you’ve just read is happening right now.
And, if you’re a reader in the US thinking “Oh, that can’t happen here!,” you might want to think again.
Given that, as it stands today, you don’t even know IF what you say next may result in a visit from the FBI. It’s chilling to think that the result of free speech and protecting the lives of the unborn can result in something like this:
A judge in Uxbridge, northwest London, on Thursday said he had ‘pointedly and intentionally’ included the words ‘in my mother’s womb’ as ‘an act of protest.’
The words amounted to an ‘expression of disapproval’ of abortion and therefore were in breach of a public spaces protection order used to set up the buffer zone, district judge Kathryn Verghis said.
You see, Mr. Green not only committed a “thought crime,” he also “expressed disapproval.”
This is what it’s come to, Church. As a believer, you may be forced to make the same decision sooner than you think.
Honestly, it’s not even about what the world will do to you… take a look at what the Lord says:
In Leviticus 18:21:
Do not give any of your children to be sacrificed to Molek, for you must not profane the name of your God. I am the Lord.
And in Deuteronomy 12:31:
You must not worship the Lord your God in their way, because in worshiping their gods, they do all kinds of detestable things the Lord hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods.
And in Jeremiah 32:35:
They built high places for Baal in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to sacrifice their sons and daughters to Molek, though I never commanded—nor did it enter my mind—that they should do such a detestable thing and so make Judah sin.
I’m WAY more worried about what the Lord will do to me for not standing up than anything earthly that could happen to me. Let’s be real about the situation, shall we? The Lord matters. The rest? NOT!
There’s no way to misinterpret the word of God…
And Satan knows it… which is why he misleads the lost into committing acts that God hates.
Homework: While you’re preparing yourself for something like this, also support those who are already out there fighting.
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