*Important Update* Canadian, British Free Speech Victories

Praise the Lord for these victories may they continue.

"We see what is happening to our nation and our hearts are grieved."

This should not be "our nation". We as believing followers of Jesus Christ are a holy nation, and America has always been a pluralistic country. We should be a law abiding and peaceful people, but we should give no allegiance to anything and anyone but Jesus Christ.

Your reference to Hitler is a good example. As Ingrid has said consistently, America has murdered more people (babies) than Nazi Germany. Let us not deceive ourselves with innaccurate visions of what America was and is. God has used the church that lives here in many ways, but America has never been the church and has in many ways attacked and marginalized her. And the tacit and tepid references to Christianity by conservative presidents are sometimes more deceptive than those spoken by men like Obama.

America doesn't need revival, it is not a church. The church that lives in America needs a massive revival.

Ingrid is to be commended for publishing my comment. In full disclosure I do not observe Christmas, but if I receive some coal I will gladly give it to you who live up north since Florida doesn't require the burning of coal very often. :)

"This should not be "our' nation.

Yeah, well, I am not living in China so I guess this IS my nation though my first allegience is of course to the Lord. Because this is my nation, I do care about what happens here because it will affect my children and generations to come. So you believe, as Christians, we just stay in our churches, mind our own business, and just wait around for Christ's return? We are blessed with a representative gov't, shouldn't we as good citizens exercise the rights God has so graciously afforded us in this country? So we should not contact our congressmen regarding abortion coverage in health care? We should just sit back and let homosexuals take over the public school system teaching our children vile things. We just let government turn into a dictatorship demolishing the constitution...not make a peep...because we are going to suffer persecution anyway? (That was probably the mindset in Hilter's day.) Yes, millions have been aborted in this country...BECAUSE Christians have been uninvolved or late getting involved. Yes, I totally agree...America doesn't need a revival...the church needs it...desperately. That is why we are in the mess we are in today. Our salt has lost its saltiness.

As an ex-Catholic, now appointed (by another) "soap box" blogger, I want to thank you for your detailed, heartfelt posts and retorts. I really appreciate them. They are specific and outspoken. RickFrueh quotes "our hearts are grieved". Yes, they are, but we also have a responsibility to act while we still have the freedom to do so, for all the reasons you cite, and more. What you are encountering is nothing less than the fatalistic, defeatist, pacifist, passive gospel of Baptists, Anabaptists, and the contemplative leaning denominations who see America as a hopeless basket case, while enjoying citizenship in this land. That's why, as one Southern Baptist pastor proclaimed from a local pulpit last November: "It doesn't matter who you vote for; one party is as corrupt as the other". (Then why vote at all, I say). The "inaccurate visions of what America was and is" is nothing less than the typical revisionist mindset of social justice enablers who applaud the so-called "Christian" redistribution of wealth as the change gospel Obama is implementing. We certainly need Ingrid's blog, and all the input of concerned Bible-believing Christians who take their faith and their citizenship seriously. My position is that America was founded by Godly people, our laws and founding documents based on Godly principles, and an inheritance from God that we are charged to guard and protect.

Thank you for your response and I totally agree with your comments as well. (I am an ex-Catholic too!)

I guess Rick gave up on us and is bugging some other bloggers today.

I think there will likely be a double standard here. The Muslims whose belief is based on hatred and violence toward non-Muslims and who believe homosexuality is wrong, will be protected. Everybody is afraid of them. While the Christians face the brunt of persecution because our beliefs are based on love and non-violence, because we want non-believers to be saved. We are the conscience to the world, that the world does not want to hear. Never mind that in reality non-believers often perpetrate their hatred toward Christians.

"The Canadian lawyer who handled the case of the pastor is warning Americans that due to hate crimes laws, Americans can expect ‘witch hunts’ under the Obama Administration."

Oh no, not persecution. We deserve better. Go ahead and speak what you believe and sing hymns as you go to prison. (if your wolf cries are accurate) You do not rejoice in persecution for Christ, you wail and moan even before it gets here. You deserve better than what Jesus got.

I think your comments are unfair and extremely sanctimonious. Of course, we expect at some point to be persecuted for our faith. We do not feel that, as Christ followers, we "deserve better than Jesus got". (A disgusting and ridiculous thing to say in response to this article.) We see what is happening to our nation and our hearts are grieved. It is no different from what Christians in Europe felt during the years of Hilter's rise to power. I am reading 'Things We Couldn't Say' by Diet Eman who was a hero in the resistance movement in the Netherlands and was eventually jailed for hiding Jews. In the first part of the book, she describes what happened after the invasion and take over by the Germans. Christians didn't get all giddy and jump for joy at the situation they found themselves in. Not at all.They were grieved...they were angry, frightened...they struggled with their feelings... some wavered...not knowing at first exactly what their response should be. Some chose compromise, but many brave Christians ended up risking all to save Jews. Many did end up in camps and many died serving the Lord. The Resistance movement in the Netherlands actually began before the Germans started persecuting the Jews there. Diet writes: "What had aroused us was other things: laws against radios; rules about what we could listen to; laws forcing us to hand in copper, brass, and other metals; laws against everything! We the people of the Netherlands were accustomed to being free." We, as Americans are accustomed to being free and there is no reason why, as Christians, we can't speak out on issues, such as Hate Crimes, while we still have a voice to do it. Doing so does not make us the mamby-pamby whiners you describe. Not at all! If it comes to being forced to pay for the killing of the unborn, I believe many of us will gladly go to jail instead. But we SHOULD fight tooth and nail in the meantime to prevent our tax dollars being used in that way. We can stand up for our freedoms and still be Christians who are committed to suffering for Christ when we are called upon to do so...when things truly do deteriorate to that point. We know it is coming...but we don't have to lay down right now and play dead waiting for it to happen. We can be busy exposing the evil, being salt and light in the world, and witnessing for Christ to win as many as possible to the Lord before He comes.

By the way, don't think someone really liked your post. When I went to reply to you, I accidently click on 'like' instead of 'reply'.

Written like someone sitting in the warmth and comfort of an American home, LOL. Rick Frueh, what are you doing on a blog that you called a "worthless political whine bag?" As someone who has publicly slandered, mocked and otherwise attacked Crosstalk and the work I do for several years, I would suggest you find out if there is a soup kitchen or food pantry in town that might use your services during the holidays. It would give you something useful to do that would encourage others, and it would keep you from being a naughty boy at the keyboard. Santa is going to leave coal in your stocking, Rick, if you keep this up.

Well said, Weary Mom. FYI, Rick Frueh is a full time troll on conservative sites. He fancies himself something of a one-man magisterium, even though he's a baptist, and he believes his job is correct other Christians which he does on a regular basis, especially if the person in question is female. I allowed his comment only to get the chance to expose his sanctimony which knows no bounds.