VIEWPOINT with Chuck Crismier
THE PERSECUTION PROJECT
This is viewpoint with attorney and author Chuck Chris Meyer. Viewpoint is a one hour talk show confronting the issues of America's heart and home and now with today's edition of Viewpoint here is Chuck Chris Meyer. There's an alarming rise of anti-Christian hate crimes worldwide, crosses that were burned seen outside the Sylmar Christian Fellowship Church, where Los Angeles Fire Department arson units personnel were gathering forensic evidence in the Sylmar section of Los Angeles just earlier last year. More than 365 billion Christians or one in seven worldwide face high levels of persecution and discrimination because of their faith, according to a new report by Open Doors International. Another report, the left's latest attack on Christianity and natural law. We're going to take a look at that. I have on the broadcast desk today a vast array of articles from throughout the country and around the world concerning the, dare we say, advancing, in fact, rapidly advancing hostility toward Christians and Christian churches. Persecution around the world highlighted in the new report that came from the Family Research Council. It's called hostility against churches. It's for the calendar year 2023. The rise in hostility against U.S. churches has accelerated rapidly. The FRC Family Research Council identified 436 hostility incidents toward churches alone in 2023. More than doubled the number identified in 2022 and more than eight times the number identified in 2018, the first year for which FRC collected the data. Over the past six years, FRC has identified 915 acts of open hostility against U.S. churches. The types of acts identified in journalism, arson, gun related incidents, bomb threats and more. In 2023, at least 436 acts of hostility against churches occurred in the United States more than doubled the number identified just the year before. These are happening rapidly, my friends, and that's the reason why we launched the persecution project. It's the reason why we launched the persecution project. We'll talk more about that here on the program today. We've referred to it a number of times over the past week or so, but today we're going to put particular focus on it. You'll understand why. Because Christian persecution around the world is rapidly increasing. In fact, a Fox News report says Christians are being seriously hurt all over the world. Now, that's coming from Fox News. Another report states expect to be persecuted. They don't hear many sermons from 1 Peter 4 these days and the reason, maybe it's because chapter 4 focuses on believers suffering persecution for following Christ. Saved to suffer is not exactly a pleasant concept, doesn't sell well, but it still is true, but Scripture shows us that God has reasons for permitting His children to be persecuted. The Apostle Paul has a lot to say about persecution in his letter. It was just written just before the outbreak of the Roman oppression under Nero in 64 AD. It's applicable to all Christians, so believers today can expect some form of persecution for their faith. Jesus said so, Paul said so, Peter said so, so what do you say? The world's word suffering comes up often in 1 Peter, but it's important to note that it's not about car problems, poverty or health issues, it's about persecution that comes into the lives of Christians simply because they are true followers of Christ, slander, reproach, mockery, scorn, put downs, cut downs, verbal abuse, social ostracism, torture and sometimes even martyrdom and certainly cancel culture. In some countries, violent physical persecution is a way of life for Christians. And Peter, the Apostle Peter said, hey, don't be surprised. This is part of what it means to be a Christian and it should be expected. The obvious question is, why does God let this happen? Well, maybe we should talk about that a little bit more here on the program, which we will do. Why would God allow this to happen? And why is it if God is allowing it to happen that we're not out of here before it happens? And it's already happening friends. You may not feel it yet in America, but it is happening all over America as we reported. You may not feel it because it's happening in Pakistan or Iran or in Europe in various places. You may not understand it yet, but you will. And that's why we began the persecution project. So I welcome you to viewpoint its conversation with ever increasing conviction, talk that transforms and I trust that today will be no exception. You see, if we're not prepared for the times that Jesus said, we're going to come upon the earth, perilous times the Apostle Paul called them. He described what a lot of that behaviorally would look like, and he wasn't even talking about persecution at that time in his letter to Timothy when he talked about the perilous times. But the Apostle Peter did talk about it and he understood what persecution was like because history says tradition says he actually was crucified upside down. We know that the ancient prophets were persecuted terribly. Perhaps you did not know this, but the prophet Isaiah was put in a log and saw in half because the king, the NASA didn't want to hear what he had to say. And he's the one that told us more than any of the other prophets concerning the identity of the coming Messiah. As we found in Isaiah chapter 52 and 53, or in Isaiah chapter nine, verses six and seven for unto us a child is born unto us, a son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulder, not upon Manasseh shoulder, not upon Biden's shoulder, not upon Obama's shoulder, not upon even Trump's shoulder, but upon the king of King's shoulder. His name shall be called wonderful counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting father, the prince of peace and upon his government and peace, there should be no end upon the throne of David to order and to establish it with judgment and justice for this time forth and even forever more. And the world doesn't want that doesn't like that. The world economic forum despises that language. That's right because it goes against globalism. It goes against the trajectory of humankind under technology to become God in his own right. All of that must be put down, must be resisted and it is and it's called persecution. Now, you may think that it's not here in America, but how about our neighbor? A long-running government campaign in Canada to stir hate is now reaching its end goal. We'll talk about that when we get back from this broadcast, from this break, my friend. The persecution project, we'll talk a little bit more about that when we get back from this break. We're at a moment of truth of the valley of decision and it's time for Christian believers to wake up, wake up for our redemption draws not into the meantime, so does persecution. Once upon a time children could pray and read their Bibles in school, divorces were practically unknown as was child abuse. In our once great America, virginity and chastity were popular virtues and homosexuality was an abomination. So what happened in just one generation? Hi, I'm Chuck Chrismeyer and I urge you to join me daily on viewpoint where we discuss the most challenging issues touching our hearts and homes. Could America's moral slide relate to the fourth commandment? Listen to viewpoint on this radio station or any time at saveus.org. Along with persecution comes anti-Semitism. Have you noticed the language in the last four months? Had months increasing anti-Semitism in America and all over the world, it's become viral. An article statement from ADL CEO Greenblott concerning the rabid anti-Semitism explained in Harvard at Harvard University said failing to stand up against anti-Semitism at Harvard is showing the university and its leadership are not only clearly quite depraved but incompetent according to the anti-definition league CEO Jonathan Greenblott. The ADL is the nation's oldest civil rights organization and is focused on combating growing anti-Semitism not around the world but in the United States. So as with the persecution of Christians comes the anti-Semitism which is a unique form of persecution of the Jewish people. Now what is the persecution project about? The persecution project is about raising the necessary resource. It's about two things, one, raising the necessary resources to most quickly expeditiously get into print my next book. I've got about two chapters to go. It's going to be about 25 chapters. It's dealing with the whole issue of persecution in ways that you have never ever encountered. It's in depth to understand not just detailing all the persecution happening around the world, but what do we do then? How do we identify it? What are we to do as husbands, as wives, as parents? We have an entire chapter dealing with parents and persecution. We have an entire chapter dealing with fathers and persecution. Why? Because parents and fathers don't know what to do. They're at loose ends, and they're certainly not getting any direction from their pastors and parachurch leaders and priests. They're just not. And so this book is a very unique book for such a time as this. In fact, as one listener said yesterday called in and said, Chuck, you've got to get this book out very, very quickly because we're in the midst of this right now. This isn't something that's just coming. It's here right now. And I could sense his sense of urgency, and he's right. So here's what the project is about, two things. Number one, to help raise sufficient resources in advance very quickly to expedite the printing, publishing, and yes, a promotion of the book, to get it out as broadly as possible financially. Because it's very difficult, you see, to gain finances for this kind of message. It's not the kind of thing that sells well. So if it doesn't sell well, then how do you get the message out? That's where you come in. That's where you come in as an agent of God's hand is extended to gather together enough books when persecution comes as the title, enough books that you can give out to people in your sphere of influence, whether they're your relatives, your children, your pastor, your study school teacher, you might even want to get a large enough group, a number of books to use in your small group for study, because every single chapter is followed with piercing questions for application, but we've got to get the message out quickly. And for every person who gives $250 as a donation to Save America Ministries, you will, when the book first comes out, you will receive 10 copies of the book for purposes of your distributing it. In other words, you become a minister of our God to woo, to warn, to prepare with love those in your sphere of influence. For those who give $500, you'll get 20 books, $750, you'll get 30 books, $1,000, you'll get 40 books. So far, we've had people, a number who have contributed $250, they'll be getting 10 books, a number, maybe four or five, a contributed $500, they will get 20 books. At least one, if not two, have already contributed $1,000. So what we're trying to do is get this thing in motion so that we're prepared. We cannot wait. We must be prepared to move quickly as quickly as possible. So how do you do that? If you write a check, you can write a check to Save America Ministries. And you put on your check, or in a note, for persecution project. Because if you don't put persecution project, then it will just go into the general support for Save America Ministries, which is fine. One lady just sent $1,000, she says, "You know what? I want to just give you $1,000, but I don't want any books yet. I'll order the book separately when they come out." That's fine too. But what we're trying to do at this moment is raise sufficient resources to really catapult this as expeditiously as possible. You can call us 1-800-SAVE-USA just before broadcast time, a gentleman from Pennsylvania called and said, "I want to participate in that." Or you can write to us at Save America Ministries, PO Box 70879, Richmond, Virginia 23255. Or you can go to the website, saveus.org, saveus.org, and there's a special place there for the persecution project, and you can place your commitment there. Now, we don't want you to do something that God doesn't inspire you to do. If God doesn't move in your heart to do this, then don't do it. But if He does, you dare not hesitate to do it. Now how urgent is it? Well, the issue is urgent, but your resources may not be immediately available. For instance, one man called yesterday and he said, "You know what, can I donate half?" No, it's got to be in $250 increments to serve the purpose of this project. So if you want to do it and you don't have 250 today, well, maybe by the end of the month you will. In other words, do it when the Lord makes the funds available to you, okay? All right, let's move forward now concerning what was going on in Canada, what is going on in Canada, our next door neighbor. They have a plan to criminalize Christianity with Bible reading and prayer considered hate speech, a crime punishable with prison time. In blunt terms, the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's World Economic Forum controlled government is planning to outlaw Christianity with the introduction of an amendment to the criminal code that could see believers face jail time for expressing historic Christian teachings. The problems are found in Canada's bill, C-367, that will make it illegal to reiterate parts of the Bible stripping away the good faith defense for what is deemed by the state as hate speech or anti-Semitism. The result, if ratified, will be the willful and knowing prosecution and persecution of Christians in Canada. That's our neighbor, my friends. Can we ever expect this to come from Canada? If ratified, Canada's anti-Christian legal apparatus created over the last decade will overtly persecute Christians with the force of criminal law. Heavy fines or jail time will be imposed on those participating in evangelism, preaching, counseling, statements in the workplace on social media in books that condemn homosexuality or transgenderism on biblical grounds. A report said that the G-A-B-C-E-O Andrew Torba warned, "Christians who maintain traditional orthodox perspectives about Jews, views that have been part of our faith for 2,000 years, are the primary obstacle to the ruling regime." So this is something that both Jews and Christians are going to have to be concerned about. A prominent Christian group sent a letter to Politico demanding an apology for what they call the smearing of the Christian faith following comments made by one of its top reporters. So what's this about? Well, the letter that was sent was in response to Priscillas, I'm not sure how you pronounce her name, viral remarks last week on MSNBC bashing Christian nationalists, bashing Christian nationalists. Well, what is that? What are Christian nationalists? Llora Hollis, on World Ed Daily, gave us this interesting response. The left's latest attack on Christianity and natural law, it's Christian nationalism. They've been tossing this term around for a while, but has picked up steam in recent weeks. It attracted widespread tension last week when political reporter Heidi Priscilla appeared on MSNBC to expound upon the article she penned, warning of the presence of Christian nationalists in America who she said are flexing their political muscles. Priscilla explained ominously that Christian nationalists believe that our rights as Americans as all human beings don't come from any earthly authority. They don't come from Congress, they don't come from the Supreme Court, they come from God. That was highly offensive to Heidi Priscilla, embedded in her comments. She purports to distinguish between ordinary Christians and Christian nationalists. Now the difference between so-called ordinary Christians and Christian nationalists is do you even believe what the Bible says or not? You claim to be a Christian, but you don't necessarily believe what the Bible says and you don't hold to it, so you're an ordinary Christian. So everybody else is an extraordinary Christian if you actually believe what the Bible says and act accordingly. The implicit assumption is that the sort of Christians who are inoffensive and unthreatening are those who do not expect American society or government to reflect their values. This is to say the very least hypocritical coming from those on the political and cultural left who demand that American culture and government reflect their values. Secondly, the epithet Christian nationalists will not remain confined to what are currently being called extreme viewpoints among Christians. The left will do what it always does. Coin a new term, gin up public hysteria about its definition, and then having created widespread negative consensus around the term, expanded its application to encompass many more people. Somehow it applies to just about anyone including conservative black people, even though the phrase white Christian nationalists seems to be the predominant phrase. So white Christian nationalism actually includes conservative black people. So then it refers to these views that is real Christianity as a deviant strain or religion that has infected US politics. Finally, it reports on a 2023 poll in which two thirds of white evangelical Protestants qualified as sympathizers or adherents to Christian nationalism. Well, it's not Christian nationalism, it's Christianity. And just because you think that the Christian faith should be applied and lived out in our culture doesn't mean it's Christian nationalism, it's Christianity. It goes all the way back, not to George Washington or Thomas Jefferson or Benjamin Franklin or any of those boys. It goes all the way back to 1607 and 1620 and 1630, where the original founders of this country founded it on the basis of the expression of the Christian faith in the culture. So much so that 12 of the original 13 colonies in their founding documents said that their reason for being was to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ around the world. Hmm, interesting. Today we're talking about exploding persecution and what to do about it. There is so much more about Chuck Chris Meyer and Save America Ministries. On our website, SaveUS.org. For example, under the marriage section, God has marriage on his mind. Chuck has some great resources to strengthen your marriage. First off, a fact sheet on the state of the marital union, a fact sheet on the state of ministry, marriage and morals. SaveUS.org, marriage divorce and remarriage. What does the Bible really teach about this? Find all of this at SaveUS.org. Also, a letter to pastors, the Hosea project, SaveUS.org and many more resources to strengthen your marriage. It's all on Chuck's website, SaveUS.org. Again, you can listen to Chuck's viewpoint broadcast live and archive, Save America Ministries website at SaveUS.org. The force of rising persecution against Christians and anti-Semitism against Jews is rising dramatically in our world. It's rising dramatically in America. In Nashville, just a few weeks ago, six pro-life activists, all Christians, one of them, a good friend of mine and a friend of this ministry, were convicted in federal court of conspiracy to violate the freedom of access to clinic entrances act when they peaceably prayed and sang at the entrance to an abortion clinic in Mount Juliet, Tennessee, right there the Bible built. Those convicted now face a possible prison sentence of 10 and a half years and up to $250,000 in fines. So it seems the Biden administration and its Department of Justice is on a full court press to prosecute Christians, anyone who will stand for biblical righteousness. It seems they seem to view some Christians specifically as a subset of conservative Americans generally as a threat to the peace and security of the United States. That's how it's being framed. So if you don't shed the active and open expression of your Christian faith, you are by definition then to the Biden Department of Justice a potential terrorist and a threat to national security. I want you to consider where this is going. When government, when government under a man who actually likes to tout his so-called Catholicism is willing and able to take the Department of Justice to persecute Christians to use law as a weapon against Christians to silence them, what in the world will happen when the new world order comes in by 2030, the great reset. You think we're playing games here, my friend? No, this is the real deal. This is the biblical deal and nobody wants to talk about it. Why do pastors not want to talk about it? Because they know that people don't want to hear it. They know people don't want to agree. They don't want to hear it, so they're going to play the game and continue to feed them pabble them like babies until it's too late. And then all of a sudden there'll be a hue and cry, but it will be way too late. That's why we have the persecution project going as we speak. It's not because anybody's trying to make money. They don't make any money for these books, never have and never will. It's not about money. You have to have money to get the books printed, to get typesetting done, to get cover design, to get a certain amount of publicity out there. You have to have money to do those things. But it's not about making money for years truly who has written these books. A Colorado coffee shop in Colorado faces continued attacks from communist and LGBTQ protesters who desire to shut down the establishment. J.B. Sanchez, his founder of Recycle God's Love, he shared that his coffee shop is being driven out of business, but it's there for the express purpose to help out the homeless and to train them with jobs and to somehow bring them back into society to get work experience, to get used to socializing at a normal setting. But the coffee shop happens to be led by a Christian who believes that the practice of homosexuality and transgenderism is contrary to the word will and ways of God. So he faces protests from LGBTQ and communist protesters who are trying to shut him down. In fact, the protesters come out and actually quote the Bible and mock it. Why do they mock it? Because they say that's not where we are as a culture today. We don't believe those things anymore. So anybody who does must be shut down. In Pakistan, the Christian Post reports Christian brothers were abducted, tortured and forcibly converted to Islam. Two brothers. We don't want to go into the details of this. It's not necessary, but it was a violent incident that caused fear and outrage in the local Christian community with the brothers presently in hiding seeking justice, but it's almost impossible to get justice in Pakistan because it's exclusively Muslim. But how about Finland? In Finland, an interfaith coalition has offered prayers of solidarity to two evangelical Christians facing their third trial for declaring that homosexuality violates the Bible, a position that the prosecutors call quote war crimes and crimes against humanity, proclaiming that homosexuality is contrary to the Bible. Despite having been acquitted twice before, Finland state prosecutors taken up a third case against these. Dr. Pavi Razanen, who has served in Parliament for 29 years, and Bishop Yuhana Pohola of the evangelical Lutheran mission, facing spiritual persecution for upholding the scripture. Two trials exonerated, acquitted, but the prosecutor's not going to give up. You talk about hatred, my friends. Hatred for Christ and his truth drives persecution. The hatred for Christ translates into hatred for anyone who embraces Jesus Christ and his cross. And wonder Jesus said, "If you will not take up your cross daily, you cannot be my disciple." What does it mean to take up your cross? What does it mean to take up your cross? Christian doors, the Baptist press quotes open doors saying that technology is advancing Christian persecution. Christian faith is under attack and the methods of that persecution are becoming more sophisticated and thus pose a greater threat because they have the ability to oppress on a massive scale and now it's becoming a blueprint for others. In Nigeria, one of the worst countries for persecution, one of the five worst persecuted Christian countries, live in Africa right there in Nigeria. Persecution there has reached new heights, gathering people together in churches and burning them alive. Hundreds. It's unbelievable and you would think, well, maybe, just maybe if a country was standing for Christ, if a country was really standing for Christ and was spiritually minded, that they might, in Africa, might escape that. No. Here's the latest report. We know of what happened in Uganda and now the same thing is happening in Ghana. I've been to Ghana twice. I spoke there to pastors twice up and down the country to try to prepare them for the times that were coming. Ghana is risking losing the World Bank international monetary funding over an anti-LGBTQ bill. Now, what is an anti-LGBTQ bill? It's a bill that says we're not going to cooperate with any effort in our country to undermine what God the Creator says about the practice of sexuality. That's what it is. Simple. Ghana now could lose $3.8 billion of World Bank funding in its LGBTQ legislation if it's signed into law. The parliament of Ghana passed the proper human sexual rights and family values bill a week ago to toughen a crackdown on homosexual activity. The measure now requires the signature of the president that will impose up to a three-year jail sentence on anyone identifying as LGBTQ. It also criminalizes gay rights advocacy with a maximum five-year jail term for establishing or funding homosexual groups. So Ghana could lose billions of dollars. Now when Ghana is not exactly a first world country, they're trying to do their best over there, but it's not exactly a first world country. And believe it or not, the motto of Ghana is "Ginamee", "Ginamee", do you know what "Ginamee" means? It means "but for God". In other words, except for God, we couldn't be doing any of these things. Except for God. We couldn't be. Except for God. We couldn't prosper. But for God. And so my son-in-law, one of my son-in-laws, who is black as the ace of spades, his father was a chief in Ghana. His license plate has the motto of Ghana on it, "Ginamee", "but for God". Ghana is standing as did Uganda, for Christian truth, and the world, and the global system now is persecuting them financially as a result. Stay tuned. Have you ever considered what the early church was like? Many people are developing a heart longing for a greater fulfillment in our practices as Christians. A recent study showed 53,000 people a week are leaving the back door of America's churches in frustration. What is going on? Why has there not been even a 1% gain among followers of Christ in the last 25 years? Could it be that God is seeking to restore 1st century Christianity for the 21st century? Jesus said, "I'll build my church." Is Christ by His Spirit stirring to prepare the church for the 21st century? The early church prayed together and broke bread from house to house. They were family, and it was said by all who observed, "Behold how they loved one another." Incredible. But the same can be found right now. Go to saveus.org and click sell church. We can revive 1st century Christianity for the 21st century. It's about people, not programs. It's about a body, not a building. That's saveus.org. Click sell church. What will you do, my friends, when the pressure increases? Do you know what the biblical Greek translation of the word pressure is in the Bible? Tribulation. Do you think that Christians are not going to experience increasing pressure and persecution? If you think that, you disagree with what Jesus said, you disagree with what Paul said, you disagree with what James said, you disagree with what Peter said, you disagree. And you will bear the consequences of that disagreement, because when everything comes apart, you will not be ready. You'll be like the five foolish virgins, remember the ten virgins? Five were foolish and five were ready. They had oil in their lamps, and the five that were foolish were not prepared, and with the bridegroom came, they were not prepared. The door was shut, and they had to suffer the consequences. That unfortunately is what's happening. The majority of professing Christians are not going to be prepared. Part of the reason they're not going to be prepared is because their pastors and parachurch leaders and broadcasters and so on are not truly preparing them. They're not getting serious about this. They talk about persecution out there somewhere, but they don't help the people to understand that persecution is here, and now what do we do about it? How do we handle it? This is not a matter to be responded to with legalities, friends. It's not a matter to be responded to by going out and buying vast amounts of food, emergency food, or by building a bomb shelter. That's not the kind of preparation that God calls us to. He calls us to spiritual preparation, that we have to be strong in the Lord into the power of His might. We have to have the whole armor of God and be walking in it. Like the prophet Daniel said, that amid the terrifying times of persecution, the people who do know they're God will be the ones who will be strong and do exploits. What will happen to the rest? They'll capitulate. They will, and so will you. You will capitulate if you don't take this seriously. You will receive the mark of the beast. Your friends, your relatives will receive the mark of the beast. That's the ultimate pressure that's going to be brought to bear. If the World Economic Forum or the International Monetary Bank or any of these other major global enterprises can put pressure on nations who are trying to follow Christ and follow a biblical standard can put economic pressure on them to the tune of billions and billions and billions of dollars, what do you think they're going to do? They've got a choice to make. We either suffer and try to make it or we capitulate to get the money, and once you capitulate to get the money, they already have the hook of unbelief, disbelief and rebellion in your jaw and you will do what they say, including receiving the mark. Now, I'm spritzing these things with some serious degree of solemnity here, as you can see, there's no screaming and hollering here. It's a matter of encouraging God's people to take this seriously. It's like a team that has been working hard, maybe it's a football team or whatever it is, we'll say it's a high school team, it's been working hard during the season, trying to win, trying to win and they're facing the final test. The final test, now what are they going to do? What is the coach going to do? Is he going to put his arms around the team and just say, "You know, you guys, I love you so much. You're just wonderful." I'll tell you what, I've got a whole bag full of candy here for you and we're just going to go out and we get pizza, we're going to have a good time and is that what he's going to do? No, the coach knows how serious this particular game is. This is the final game. You're either going to fish or cut bait. You're either going to be successful or you're going to fail. You're either going to win or you're going to lose. It's the status that we're in right now, my friends. You can try to soft pedal it. You can try to make it sound sweet and nice. But persecution is not sweet and nice. Why don't you get a copy of Fox's Book of Martyrs that I read when I was 12 years of age? I've never forgotten it. You owe it to yourself to read that book. It's one of history's greatest books in the Christian faith, Fox's Book of Martyrs. And then you take what those people experienced in that time and then amplify it to what is happening already right now in our time. And you have to ask yourself, how shall we then live? Everything that these things are going to happen and are happening. Now what? That's what this book, when persecution comes, is about. It's not just about listing hundreds and hundreds of examples of persecution. Oh, we've got plenty of those. But beyond that, that's not what the book is about. The book is about now what? Now what do we do? How do we respond? How does this persecution come in upon us, surreptitiously, like the fog, as Robert Frost once said, comes in on a little cat feet until all of a sudden you're surrounded by it. You can't see straight. This book is a seriously, application book to prepare true followers of Jesus Christ for that which is coming rapidly. I believe that it's an act of mercy on God's part to even inspire me to write the book. No, I'm not God, not claiming to be God. But I do seek to hear His voice and proclaim His truth. And I think when you read the book, you will find that out. So you might want to seriously consider becoming a part of the persecution project for $250. Within the next 30 days, we will provide to you 10 copies of the book when it comes out hopefully in August. The purpose of that is twofold. Number one, to raise the resources necessary to move this quickly. Number two is to enable you to become a partner, God's hand extended to get His message out concerning preparing the way of the Lord in the lives of those in your sphere of influence. Here it happens to be a pastor, a paratrooch leader, a broadcaster, your family, somebody that you work with, your neighbor, whatever, as the Lord puts the person on your heart, you pray about it. You don't want to just spuriously hand out the book, but you want to give it to people that God may well have prepared their hearts to receive. People pray about it first, but that's what this project is about. In $250 increments, we will provide 10 copies each. We're not selling books now. This is a ministry effort to facilitate getting a message out as quickly as possible and you become a partner in that enterprise. I hope you can see it that way. You can call us at 1-800-SAVE-USA. You can write to us at Save America Ministries. He will box 70879 Richmond, Virginia, 23255. Make sure you put on your check Persecution Project or you can go to the website saveus.org and follow through there. There's a very special section called the Persecution Project. Did you know that a senior center in Missouri, in America, is facing a massive fight after an abruptly halted and banned a Bible study being held by residents in a senior center? The manager of the center said, "Well, we accept federal funds so the Bible studies are banned under federal housing administration rules." Really? And you think Christian persecution isn't happening in America? And that's just the early stages, friends. Several months ago, I received an email, says, "Standing firm amid rising darkness." My friend Dr. Robert Jeffress had written a book and the title of this particular article is "All I Want to Focus On Right Now, Standing Firm Amid Rising Darkness." In other words, he's admitting that darkness is rising. There is a path to severe persecution in this country. Another article that came out in exactly the same time that that statement concerning Dr. Robert Jeffress, standing firm amid rising persecution. So I want to go back to the article "Expect to Be Persecuted." Why does God let this happen? Why does God allow His people to be persecuted? Why has He allowed His people, His chiefess of saints to be persecuted historically? Well, the blessings of present and future glory are promised in the Bible. If we're willing to suffer with Christ now, then we'll share in His glory when He returns. As Paul said in Romans, "If we're to share His glory, we must also share His suffering." Jesus said God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right. He said, "Be happy about it for greatest reward in heaven." Now, the Bible doesn't tell us exactly what's involved in sharing Christ's glory. We have the opportunity of investing in that future glory today. One way is by helping to get this project going. The other is realizing, coming to grips with what this means in your life and mind. Now that high calling will help us then to endure the scorn that we often experience as Christ followers in a secular culture. Sharing in the sufferings of Christ has nothing to do with Christ's sufferings on the cross. His suffering for our sins was completed, it was finished. The sufferings of Christ that we share now are sufferings for the sake of Christ. We're not here to flagellate ourselves. The Holy Spirit of glory will rest upon us when we are despised for the name of Christ. Persecuted Christians come to know more of the reality of the presence of God. The relationship becomes much deeper and more intimate than when a believer is unwilling to suffer. We have the privilege of growing our relationship with the Lord in this was only during our earthly life that we have no persecution in heaven see. They're not going to be persecution in heaven. Persecution has a purifying effect on the church. It's a safeguard against worldliness and waywardness and throughout history the church has not only survived during times of persecution but it's been purified. So if the church in America today were to undergo physical persecution quite a few people would surely jump ship wouldn't they because persecution is the test by fire that proves our faith. If you're not willing to take up your cross Jesus said you cannot be my disciple. Thanks for joining us. Become a partner friend, send your gifts by faith to save America ministries. Do it today. Don't delay. Become a part of the persecution project. I believe God will bless you for it. You will be a participant in his kingdom until Jesus comes. You've been listening to Viewpoint with Chuck Chris Meyer. Viewpoint is supported by the faithful gifts of our listeners. Let me urge you to become a partner with Chuck as a voice to the church declaring vision for the nation. Join us again next time on Viewpoint as we confront the issues of America's heart and home. [MUSIC] [BLANK_AUDIO]