Who Is Our Enemy? :: By Ron Ferguson
Many of the Rapture Ready writers, including myself, continue to point out the growing ills in the world; the development of more and more wicked policies as mankind progresses on its downward way. I do not need to point out the extent of evil in the world from the very heart of our governments right through the whole spectrum of society that embraces every individual living in this corrupt world.
Is it corruption in high places we see as the enemy and detrimental to our faith? Is it Satan, evil people who hate the gospel, the demonic princes we battle, or governments who are evil?
Because Christianity is being squeezed and persecuted more and more these days, Christians tend to say that our enemy is the government because it is the government that legislates policies that we know are downright wicked and destructive. Most of the world today lies in confusion and increasing turmoil, and true Christians have hope, and the Christians in society are the ones who suffer more and more through the abolition of the freedom of speech and expression. In fact, in some areas, even Christian meetings are being discouraged and banned, and even in parts of the Western world, restricted.
In certain places in Australia when the great lockdowns occurred during the Covid pandemic, certain sponsored government programs, especially sporting functions, were allowed to proceed, but Christians were forbidden to gather together on Sunday. This is only the tip of the iceberg, and we may be absolutely certain that this will continue and get progressively worse very quickly in the next few years if the Lord tarries.
Going back to the initial question, “Who is our enemy?” the simple answer would be Satan. The devil and his billions of demons are today extremely active in the world, for they know their time is short, and they will try to destroy any Christian testimony. They do this by the promotion of evil men and women.
The prime centers of satanic attack spring from our government and the church. Both the government and the church are riddled with wicked people implementing policies that promote godlessness, whether these people are aware of it or not.
However, it would be too simplistic for us to say that our enemy is the State or the elected officials and then set out to attack them. We know the corruption, to some extent, that exists in the White House, throughout the judiciary, and in the organizations that are supposed to uphold goodness, law and order (FBI), and equality in our nations. I am not American, as some of you know, but my own nation has become so wicked that I think, in some areas, it is leading the world in the promotion of some of the most evil policies, especially in the area of the promotion of Aboriginal spiritism and Satanism into the nation – being forced onto us; “abortion” even the first day of birth, and the absolute insanity of promoted homosexuality everywhere (mostly called rainbow pride now). Climate change, as it is called, is at fever pitch and is set to send the nation bankrupt.
I want to point out the growing tendency of a certain group in society that has been empowered to lord it over the rest of society. I would advocate that this group is at the forefront of government policy-making and the very clear enemy of Christians in our days.
The group I am referring to is the homosexual lobby with its power promotion groups, which has now taken over many of the sporting bodies in my nation, and includes large companies that promote rainbow pride and are beginning to dictate wicked policies to the government that promotes them. This is an extremely slippery slope, for in Romans chapter 1, we read of the decline of the human race, step-by-step, there being six steps of decline that any group of people will progress through until the last one is reached. The last one is the societal acceptance of homosexuality. Once a nation begins to promote this perversion among its people and legislates for it while legislating against those who don’t accept it, then that is as far as a nation will decline; from that point, it will only progressively get worse on a lateral basis.
There is one thing that the United States has that does not operate in the United Kingdom and Australia, and that is the freedom of speech and expression that is enshrined in the American Constitution. I am not all that familiar with the Constitution, but I think it is Amendment One that will allow for the freedom of self-expression. Over recent years, in Australia, and in particular my own state of Queensland, hundreds of expressions and freedoms of expression have been lost and abolished by law. So many freedoms of movement have been regulated, and we are seeing the abolition of so many rights that years ago we took for granted.
I want to recount to you two examples that have been receiving publicity in very recent times, of persecution against Christian freedom. In the past, brave men of God would stand up publicly and proclaim the gospel with all the freedom that was available to them. People like John and Charles Wesley traveled 250,000 miles on horseback throughout Britain, proclaiming the gospel for the conversion of millions. The same happened in the United States with chosen men of God.
I remember back to 1954 when one-quarter of the people of Sydney attended the Billy Graham crusade that ran for a few weeks. Great conversions came out of that Crusade, and it influenced public life and opinion throughout Australia for decades. Those converts now are around 80 years of age and above, a generation that is passing, being replaced by a godless and wicked generation with its promotion of homosexuality and every sort of perversion that the devil constructs. It is based on socialism with its humanism. Today, such meetings as that 1954 Crusade would be banned, citing a whole number of reasons such as law and order, public nuisance, causing offense to others, and the list would be endless.
TERRIBLE THINGS ARE AFOOT
Britain used to be the bastion of freedom, but the freedom of the gospel is becoming a thing of the past with anti-God legislation sweeping the hierarchy. Street preachers in Britain are being arrested while criminals are being overlooked. Australia is the same. I cannot at this time speak of the USA, but I think this persecution is present there as well.
I want to cite a couple of examples I saw on television and YouTube footage. There are far more on the internet you will call up with a search, such as “the arrest of street preachers in Britain.”
================
[1]. 28 April 2021. From the “Daily Mail,” a moderate British media outlet:
Christian Pastor Arrested After Making ‘Homophobic Statements’ After Preaching from the Bible Says He Was Treated ‘Shamefully’ – And Was ‘Doing What My Job Description Says’
* Women heard shouting, ‘This is a Christian country’ as the preacher is led away
* Police said they had received complaints about his ‘homophobic comments.’
* Preacher arrested under Public Order Act before being released without charge
A Christian pastor who was arrested after he preached from the Bible said yesterday he had been treated ‘shamefully.’
John Sherwood, 71, was led away in handcuffs, questioned in a police station, and held overnight after being accused of making homophobic comments outside Uxbridge Station in west London. The grandfather claimed he was left bruised after police pulled him from a mini-stepladder he was using and cuffed his hands behind his back.
Police said they had received complaints the man had been making ‘allegedly homophobic comments’ and arrested him under the Public Order Act, which can be used under the vague proviso that someone is using ‘abusive or insulting words’ that cause ‘harm’ to someone else. He was later released without charge.
Mr. Sherwood, a pastor for 35 years, said: ‘I wasn’t making any homophobic comments. I was just defining marriage as a relationship between a man and a woman. I was only saying what the Bible says – I wasn’t wanting to hurt anyone or cause offense.
‘I was doing what my job description says, which is to preach the gospel in open air as well as in a church building.
‘When the police approached me, I explained that I was exercising my religious liberty and my conscience. I was forcibly pulled down from the steps and suffered some injury to my wrist and to my elbow. I do believe I was treated shamefully. It should never have happened.’
Mr. Sherwood, who preaches at an independent evangelical church in north London, was arrested under the Public Order Act for allegedly causing alarm or distress. He was released without charge, but a file has now been passed to the Crown Prosecution Service for review.
The Metropolitan Police said a member of the public flagged down patrol officers and alleged Mr. Sherwood had made homophobic comments.
Mobile phone footage of Friday’s arrest shows Mr. Sherwood standing on the stepladder with a Bible in his hand outside a Tube station in Uxbridge, West London. Officers can be heard telling him to get off his steps before they appear to grasp his hands and pull him down.
Onlookers can be heard shouting, ‘He’s an elderly man – take it easy with him,’ before officers put Mr. Sherwood in handcuffs and take him to a police car.
Mr. Sherwood said officers grilled him over his attitude to gay people. He was even asked what he would do if his children were gay. The married father of two said: ‘The question was irrelevant to the allegation against me. I said I would seek to bring them to Christ, but of course, I would love them no matter what because they’re my children.’
================
[2]. FROM “SPIKED” – 17th March 2023 ANDREW TETTENBORN
* The state’s crackdown on street preachers
* Time and again, preachers are being arrested and silenced under Britain’s draconian hate-speech laws.
A lot has changed over the past 100 years in the battle for free speech. Where blaspheming against God could once land you in trouble with the law, today it is often those with strong religious convictions who are having their collars felt – especially street preachers, who seem to continually fall foul of modern Britain’s hate-speech laws. Last week, they won a small legal victory, but the fight is far from over.
In 2021, David McConnell, a street preacher of 15 years, was preaching in Briggate, Leeds. He was approached by a transwoman, Farrah Munir, who asked him whether God accepts the LGBT community. He told Munir, ‘Homosexuality is an abomination in the eyes of God.’ He then made matters worse by calling Munir a ‘gentleman’ and ‘a man dressed in women’s clothes.’ For this, McConnell was reported to police, arrested, and thrown in a cell for 14 hours. He was then convicted of deliberately causing harassment or distress and handed 80 hours of community service. He was also reported to the Prevent counter-extremism programme by the probation service for ‘persistently and illegally espousing an extreme point of view.’ The CPS even put out a triumphant press release, warning that his calling a transgender woman a man constituted a ‘distressing personal attack’ and thus a hate crime.
A Christian who was the first street preacher to be prosecuted and reported to a U.K. counterterrorism watchdog for allegedly misgendering a transgender person won his appeal Thursday.
Dave McConnell, 42, was convicted in August under section 4A Public Order Act 1986 after he referred to a biological male who presented as a female by addressing the individual as “he” during a conversation with a police officer, according to his legal counsel at the London-based Christian Legal Centre.
McConnell was delivering an outdoor sermon on June 8, 2021, in Briggate, Leeds, when the transgender individual asked him whether God accepts the LGBTQ community.
When McConnell, who encouraged members of the public to ask him questions during his preaching, responded by stating that God hates sin and referred to the individual as a “gentleman,” the crowd reportedly grew larger while erupting in disapproval and profane denunciation, drawing police attention.
=================
WHAT WE HAVE HAD IS BAD ENOUGH, BUT IT GETS EVEN WORSE –
AUTISTIC GIRL SCREAMS AND CRIES AS POLICE ARREST HER AFTER COMMENT ABOUT OFFICER LOOKING LIKE A LESBIAN By Hannah Grossman, Fox News – August 11, 2023 – Fox News.
An autistic teenage girl (she is 16) was arrested for saying one of the officers resembled a lesbian.
Police in the United Kingdom arrested a teenage girl, whose mother said she has Autism, after the child made remarks that one of the officers resembled a lesbian on Monday, according to a video of the incident.
“She’s getting arrested,” a West Yorkshire police officer told the child’s mother.
“She’s autistic,” the mother replied.
“I don’t care,” an officer said.
Autism, or Autism Spectrum Disorder, can cause misunderstanding among neurotypical individuals since individuals with ASD may have different ways of learning, moving, or paying attention.
ASD can also cause challenges with social skills, speech, and nonverbal communication, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
When the autistic girl proceeded to hit herself in the head, the mother pleaded with police to maintain their distance.
“She’s in her cupboard; she can’t go anywhere,” the mom said, explaining that her child was being triggered into a mental health crisis by direct contact.
She explained that the child’s “nanna” is a lesbian and married to a woman.
“Go away,” the mom said. “She’s not homophobic. Go away from my teenage daughter.”
“There’s something wrong with you,” the mom told an officer.
West Yorkshire Police had brought the girl home after a relative of the girl contacted them that she was intoxicated at a nearby shopping hub, authorities said.
“Upon returning her to the address, comments were made which resulted in the girl being arrested on suspicion of a homophobic public order offense. The nature of the comments made was fully captured on body-worn video,” police said.
A complaint regarding the incident was referred to their professional standards department, police said.
While being arrested, the autistic girl hit herself in the head. The girl was released after being interviewed pending further guidance from the local prosecution office.
“West Yorkshire Police takes its responsibilities around the welfare of young people taken into custody and around neurodiversity very seriously,” West Yorkshire Police Assistant Chief Constable Oz Khan said.
“We also maintain that our officers and staff should not have to face abuse while working to keep our communities safe. We are fully reviewing the circumstances of this incident and ask that people avoid reaching any conclusions about it solely on the basis of the social media video.”
ASD can also cause challenges with social skills, speech, and nonverbal communication, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The mother had a different take on the matter.
“This is what police do when dealing with autistic children,” her mother said.
“My daughter [said]… the police officer looked like her nanna, who is a lesbian. The officer obviously took it the wrong way and said it was a homophobic comment (it wasn’t).”
“The officer then entered my home and assaulted me. My daughter was having panic attacks from being touched by them, and they still continued to manhandle her.”
Fox News Digital reached out to police for comment and did not immediately receive a response.
================
What can we gather from events such as the ones cited and the present state of the world in so-called democratic nations?
> Our governments are now pro-homosexual; that is, they legislate and protect the LGBTQIA+ agenda.
> There is an anti-Christian sentiment sweeping society.
> The police force is becoming more intolerant of Christians, even hateful toward them.
> The LGBTQIA+ activists have had legislation enshrined as enemies of Christians.
> Christians being arrested will increase as wickedness becomes all-invasive. This will be enacted against any Christian expression. It begins now and blossoms in the Tribulation, especially under the mark of the beast.
> Do not look for equity. There is not going to be any. In Australia, a person can lodge a complaint against a Christian for any sort of reason, saying he/she/” it” felt uncomfortable or caused offense through quoting scripture, and the Christian is “dealt with.” However, when Christians are offended about the Sydney Mardi-Gras, the biggest in the world, then no action will be taken even though the marches blaspheme Christ in the most filthy way.
> The Rapture must be so close, as we are in the last days of the Church age.
> Just to disagree with homosexuality makes you a hateful, homophobic person according to law and society, and if the person is non-Caucasian, then add to that racist and terrorist. The word “homophobic” is utterly misused as it means, by derivation, “fear of the male species/men.”
> “Causing distress” is one of the reasons given for the pursuit of Christians and persecution against them. It matters not what distress or offense is given to the Christian.
> Police are becoming more militant, unhinged, and unreasonable, while city officials and lawmakers are more evil.
> We need to be realists and understand that things will get worse, not better. President Trump is using the acronym for his catchphrase in the 2024 election, “Make America Great Again” (MAGA), which is a great sentiment, but the reality of the situation is that the USA will never be great again. The termites have riddled right through the framework, and all is about to collapse, I feel.
> What we are seeing is the truth of 2 Timothy 3 verse 1 – “In the last days [of the Church age] difficult times will come.” Christian, you live in difficult times.
=================
I JUST CAME UPON THIS – IN THE UNITED STATES
The horrible persecution of those who preach the gospel is active in the USA. On 29 July 2023 a courageous Christian teen was arrested in Watertown, Wisconsin, and this is the report in “The Christian Post.”
Marcus Schroeder doesn’t talk like your typical 19-year-old male — and certainly not like someone who’s been arrested for standing up for their Christian faith.
“My vision personally, for my life, is to inspire other young people to engage in the spiritual war that is going on in our nation and to inspire young people to join this reformation that’s taking place amongst American Christianity.”
Schroeder was among one of four protesters who were arrested July 29 at a “Pride in the Park” event in Watertown, Wisconsin, a roughly 40-minute drive from his home in Waukesha.
While he estimated there were about 200 protesters at the event from various churches, ministries, and activist groups, Schroeder said the turnout was more divine providence than community organizing.
“A lot of us weren’t connected with each other in any way,” he told The Christian Post via phone Tuesday. “We just showed up to the same event to protest it.”
Video footage of the event and ensuing protests quickly went viral, along with Schroder’s confrontation with police while sharing the Gospel over a loudspeaker.
When it was over, four people were arrested, two of whom received citations. Schroeder was the only one who was handcuffed and taken to the police station.
But despite the ensuing national media coverage, Schroder says it wasn’t attention-seeking that drew him to the event.
“‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ — that’s the second greatest Christian command in Scripture,” he said. “So if we actually love these children, whose minds are being perverted, who are being taken down this path of destruction, then we ought to say something about it. Love can’t stay silent on this issue.”
He specifically pointed to disturbing footage shared by Gays Against Groomers, which posted a video of children watching as men dressed in lingerie danced around and collected money from the audience. Seeing kids giving these drag performers dollar bills, said Schroeder, made the whole thing feel like it was “being run like a strip show.”
“If we know that something like that is being accepted in our culture, and we as Christians do nothing about it, what is our Christianity worth?” he said. “We are the salt of the earth; we are a city on a hill.”
Schroeder said it was “frustrating” to see police officers at the event standing idly by as protesters cited a specific local statute prohibiting the behavior they saw at the pride event.
A video shared on social media from the event showed Pastor Matt Trewhella of Mercy Seat Christian Church in nearby Richfield preaching out of Romans 13 as officers looked on.
Schroeder said it’s one thing for the police to be ignorant of an alleged crime and quite another for them to stand and watch as it happens.
“Just look at the law; read the law. Pretty much every single part of that law the drag queens that day broke in some form or another,” he said. “To see them be so negligent in their duty in the face of children’s minds being perverted, the children are the most vulnerable among us, and so they’re the ones who need to be protected the most.”
Schroeder, who is part of the Warriors For Christ ministry, which held an event in Milwaukee in June, said he was initially drawn to street preaching by the fight against abortion when he was around 14 years old.
As a lover of history books, Schroeder said he particularly enjoyed The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom and other tales about Christians who resisted the Nazi movement.
It wasn’t until he watched a documentary about abortion and saw it “for what it was” that he realized that “millions of children are being murdered every single day in my nation, and I’ve done nothing about it.”
He began standing outside abortion clinics, ministering to women as they came in and out, pleading with them, offering alternative resources for their pregnancy.
After one particular abortion protest, Schroeder said he realized many of the same folks who advocated for abortion were supporting drag events.
“We found out that a lot of these same people who were working for the abortion clinic would come out there to support the drag queen event too,” he said. “It’s a demonic stronghold in our nation; it’s a spiritual war that we’re in.”
And while he can’t speak much about his pending legal case, Schroeder said he has “quite a few offers” from attorneys who want to take the case.
More importantly, he said, he knows the people of Watertown have his back, especially after the mayor and police were “exploding with phone calls” with what he called “immense support” from the people of Watertown.
It’s for those folks, said Schroder, that this crusade continues.
“My goal would be to do what I can to make sure this does not happen again, that grown men in lingerie are no longer allowed to do sexual dances in front of children in the city of Watertown.”
==================
There are many YouTube videos on this, this being but one of many if you are interested.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_9vmvVo2-Q
In researching this further, I was astounded to see that the persecution of the gospel and its preachers in public witness is widespread in almost every nation. It certainly is the last days. Our enemy is a multi-headed Gorgon, but we battle every head.
Coming back to our question, “Who is our enemy?” – I will let you decide but note carefully that the LGBTQIA+ agenda is one of our worst enemies. It hates Christians with a demonic hatred.
The post Who Is Our Enemy? :: By Ron Ferguson appeared first on Rapture Ready.
