That’s what Franklin D. Roosevelt said in his inaugural speech during the great depression of 1933.
Today there is a different type of fear gripping people than just the fear of financial meltdown. This fear is much more pervasive as it seems that a great deal of the modern world is under its grip, it’s the fear of Islam, or so called ‘Militant Islam’
Why should a nation like Great Britain which has stood against the onslaught of Nazi Germany and the Axis powers for 5 years, held its nerve against the former USSR for 40 years and throughout history has successfully fended off those nations which would have enslaved or subjugated the people had they been successful in their endeavours?
The answer is a simple one, the people of Britain have been robbed of their faith in an Almighty God and in his Son the Lord Jesus Christ.
Humanism has made great advances in Britain since the end of the 2nd World War. The permissive society and all of its excesses have robbed normal people of any confidence that they may have had towards God and as a result of people constantly violating their consciences, the idea that once our physical bodies die then that is the end has seemingly become not just fashionable but widely believed in British society.
If a person does not believe that there is anything to look forward to beyond their earthly sojourn then there is neither reason to deny themselves any pleasure available, and to do anything which may in any way risk shortening or harming that all too brief span of life.
Muslims on the other hand believe that there is life to be lived after they shuffle off this mortal coil and that the more infidels which they kill in the name of Allah whilst inhabiting this earth then greater will be their reward in Paradise.
Now here is the really sad part of the story, Christians believe that the unbelieving atheists and misguided Muslims are both wrong, but because the spirit of cowardice has so effectively entered the Church, then in general there is no way that Christian leaders are going to go public and say so.
Rev Terry Jones the infamous preacher from Florida who recently held a mock trial which culminated in the burning of a copy of the Koran is unsurprisingly being lambasted across the world for his actions and probably in any other nation of the world would have been arrested for carrying out such a spectacle. I personally do not agree that his actions were in keeping with the behaviour expected of a leader in the Body of Christ, BUT I do think that at least he has the courage of his convictions.
Many Christian believers today in Britain are ashamed of their faith in Jesus christ; they don’t talk about their relationship with their Heavenly Father, they wouldn’t be seen publically carrying a copy of the bible through the streets, in fact I have observed on several occasions in London people walking along on a Sunday morning dressed in a smart suit carrying their bible in a carrier bag. Why is this the case? Before I answer that I want to make one more comment. When you ask Christians are they ready to go to Glory? The response often is, “I have too much to do for the Lord to die yet”. The Apostle Paul said in Philippians 1:23 that he longed to depart to be with the Lord which is better by far.
Atheists and humanists are understandably risk averse but sadly many Christian believers are also. As we have discussed earlier, there are good reasons for people who believe that this life is all there is, but why should people who have had their understanding enlightened to believe that the life we now life in the body is a very poor second for the life which we shall live when we receive our resurrection bodies and our eternal habitation?
The NIV translation of the bible renders Proverbs 29:18 like this. “where there is no revelation (vision), the people cast off restraint”.
If the content of our Sunday sermons is all about us, our blessings and how we can live lives of prosperity, have better jobs, better houses, better cars, enjoy good health, rebuke any and everything which comes against our comfort and then in by and by we can enter into our eternal reward then this is surely another gospel to the one which the Apostle Paul preached and for which he suffered greatly.
During the last few months I have ordered several copies of a book entitled ‘Vanya’ be shipped to different pastors who I have met in my promotion of Operation – Great Britain. This book tells the true story of a 19 year old Russian boy who during the Cold War was conscripted into the Russian Army. one morning Vanya was late for muster, when asked by the Sergeant Major why he was late, he sreplied. “I am sorry for being late sir, I was praying”. This response started a process of every weapon in Satan’s arsenal being levelled aainst this young Christian believer until at the last he was murdered by his tormentors for refusing to deny his Lord.
The parents of Vanya after arriving at the army camp to collect the body of their son, where told by the Commandant who had instigated the torture and ultimate murder of their son, “Your son died a Christian”.
During the course of the book you can read how everytime that a real trial of Vanya’s faith happened, that the Lors stood by his side prior to the event to give him the courage and faith needed to withstand the ordeal.
Dear Christian brother or sister, if you have read this far then please let us not settle for a supposedly comfortable existence on this earth, because that is just what it is – an existence and not a life.
To Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us …..
The whole of the world is waiting for us, the Church of the Living God to be manifested, let us like the early church when it was under siege cry out to the Lord to give us boldness and courage so that we can do what Charles Wesley wrote about in his wonderful battle cry Stand up, stand up for Jesus – “Let courage rise with danger and strngth to strength oppose”.
