Prepare to Stand — The Edwards Family

Prepare to Stand was the name of our conference at The Cove this past week. Our speaker was a missionary who was imprisoned in Turkey for two years after being falsely accused of terrorism. The topic was basically how to stand strong in the face of persecution. While none of us may ever have to face what he did, religious persecution on certainly on the rise in the US and is something that we all will face in one way or another. Maybe we already have.

At one time in the US, Christian morality was the societal standard of behavior. Even if you weren’t necessarily a Christian, most still understood certain norms of behavior - honesty, property rights and sanctity of creation/life. While these were often violated, there was never really a question of whether they were right or not. They were just accepted as true and, in some cases, were the law.

This is not the case anymore. Not only is Christian morality in question, it is even viewed as hostile by some. Strict beliefs of Christian morals can make one an intolerant “hater.” Biblical standards can be called hate speech. As such, there are many who believe that those holding such views need to be silenced and even cancelled.

We naturally think that there will be a political rescue from all of this at some point. We’ll get the right administration elected and they will fix everything. While a morally sound administration would be wonderful, our issues go far deeper that that. We need to be aware of the incredible control that is exercised by a few in our economy. The elite in our country are largely anti-Christian and they have the largest platform of influence.

There are three very large financial investment forms in the US that control about 20% of the stock in the companies that make up the S&P 500 - basically the 500 most influential companies. 20% ownership gives them a lot of control including the ability to remove their leaders. This means that a total of about 12 people from these 3 firms have a strong say in the agendas for these companies. This is arguably more power than our Gov’t has.

As AI (Artificial Intelligence) becomes more of a mainstay in our culture, the influence of the big tech companies will grow even greater. They are the ones developing and programming the “brains” for the information that AI will produce. China is already using AI to help the Gov’t identify citizens that stray from Communist ideology. You can get flagged by the Gov’t and lose all sorts of rights if you don’t conform to their ideals. AI finds you out.

Could this happen in the US? You could argue that we are already in the early stages of this. Christians have already been persecuted by refusing do things that are against their beliefs. Small businesses have been targeted and major banks have already dropped certain clients because of their religious beliefs and refusal to jump on board with the banks progressive views. Social and financial pressure will likely increase.

I am not trying to be an alarmist. I just believe that this topic is real and is going to have to be addressed one way or another. However, we do not need to live in fear. The Christian faith is one of hope and hope builds courage in all of us. Our “fear” of God must be stronger than our fear of man.

With all of this in mind, it’s more important than ever to know what we believe and why. Following Jesus comes with a cost. Not following Jesus carries a far greater cost. One of the things that our speaker said that stood out to me was that he didn’t want to stand before Jesus as a coward. Neither do I.

John 16:33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Stay hungry,

Big E

Matt. 5:6