You've heard the expression.
"Use it or lose it."
It applies to a very important aspect of American life – your right to exercise your faith.
Americans are losing that right – and when they do they won't be able to blame the American Civil Liberties Union alone.
They will have themselves to blame.
All over this country, the small minority of American Christians who ever share their faith with others are learning of the country's growing intolerance of personal evangelism – something the Bible commands believers to do.
But because only 2 percent of American Christians ever share the Gospel with others, most of them have no idea just how tenuous is our hold on religious freedom.
Let me give you a few examples:
- John Schaffer, a sixth-grade schoolteacher in Jacksonville, Fla., decided to follow that biblical edict to spread the Good News. So he took some Gospel tracts and headed over to a complex of downtown riverfront restaurants and shops on Friday night, Oct. 7. There he was instructed by a police officer that he could not approach patrons to talk about religion. When he questioned the decision, he was arrested and spent the night in jail.
- Ray Comfort is one of the leading evangelists in the world – an author of several books on personal evangelism and co-host with actor Kirk Cameron of a weekly television show on the subject. For the last two and half years, every morning for about 20 minutes, he has been sharing the Gospel with people outside the Los Angeles County courthouse in Bellflower. But on Sept. 13, California Superior Court Judge William MacLaughlin issued a general order declaring the public courthouse area a "no-speech zone." The order "prohibits such free speech activities as picketing, distribution of literature and demonstrations."
- In Boston, a pair of sidewalk evangelists – one who uses a wheelchair – say they were roughed up by city police for passing out religious literature. Because one of the women reportedly audiotaped the abuse, she has now also been charged with "illegal wiretapping."
Now, we can blame activist judges for this kind of insanity. We can blame overzealous police officers. We can blame a new form of intolerance raging through our country. We can blame legislators and local officials. And, of course, we can blame the ACLU and other organizations like it that seek to snuff out all expression of Christianity in the public square.
And we should blame all of those people.
But there is one more group that deserves special blame for allowing our country to go so far down this road of bigotry and persecution.
We need to blame the church.
We need to blame the 98 percent of Christians who never heed the biblical commandment to share the Gospel.
We need to blame believers who are not exercising their civil rights and their duty to God.
I know one thing that would stop this insanity real fast – millions of Christians getting off their duffs and sharing the Good News with their neighbors.
That's all it would take. It would cause a social and spiritual revolution in this country.
This isn't the job of the clergy class alone. This isn't the job of professional priests. This isn't the job of Billy Graham alone. It's the job of every believer to share the Gospel.
And, believe me when I tell you this, if you are not obedient to that commandment, it will only get more difficult for those who are.
If you want to take America back, this is the way – one precious soul at a time.
If you want to lose our rich heritage of freedom forever, just sit back and keep your faith a private matter between you and God.
Special offer! Get Farah's updated paperback version of "Taking America Back" now – a must-read for those who value freedom and self-government.
If you'd rather order by phone, call WND's toll-free customer service line at 1-800-4WND-COM (1-800-496-3266).