You shall not be afraid of them

you shall not be afraid of them, but you shall remember well what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt: the great trials which your eyes saw, the signs and the wonders, the mighty hand and the outstretched arm, by which the LORD your God brought you out. So shall the LORD your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid. – Deuteronomy 7v18-19

It is a good thing we are constantly reminded in God’s to ‘not be afraid of them.’ There is a lot going on today that would make us afraid if we did not have His promise of being in the midst of His people.

There was a meeting of the Christian Institute in Newbridge this week. I couldn’t make it, but there were couple of shocking topics for discussion. The Oireachtas is the Irish parliament. Two of the bills now under consideration are of special concern to Christians. One of them would make it illegal for anyone performing a legal marriage ceremony to refuse to marry anyone. Christians who refused to marry a homosexual couple, for example, could face a fine of up to €2000 and six months in jail. Another bill under consideration is the ‘Gender Recognition Bill.’ This would allow any person to declare their gender despite physical characteristics and have their birth cert changed to reflect it. This bill originated when a man in nearby Wales sued a church because they would not let him use the ladies’ toilet.

In the UK any foreign religious workers now must be sponsored by a church with special permission. The law requires that that recognised churched advertise for any open position and that they cannot refuse employment based on race, gender, creed, or sexual preference. Recently a Baptist church was registering an American missionary to work with them and had two Muslims apply for the job. They are required to submit regular forms detailing exactly what any foreign worker is doing. This has serious consequences for missionaries in the UK.

With this kind of thing happening all over the world we might be tempted to say that these are scary days. Indeed, in the flesh they are scary days.

But we need not fear because our focus is to not be on these things, but on eternity. This world is not our home. We have to live here and we have to find a way to deal with these laws, but our citizenship is in Heaven and our King is with us here. Don’t be afraid. The real victory is already won!