I’m not in favor of freedom of worship.

Earlier in the week one of my friends wrote to me (and other pastors, I’m sure) about the persecution of Christians going on around the world. He wanted to make sure our churches understand people are facing great persecution and need the prayers of other believers.

Let me give you some examples.

First, there’s what happened in Mosul, Iraq, in the last week. With ISIS taking over Mosul, believers in that ancient Iraqi city were given an ultimatum. They had three choices. They could pay, die, or leave. The reports that I received indicated that most left. Now, Mosul no longer has any Christians living in the city.

We can be thankful that conditions in our own country are not that dire. At the same time, my friend wanted me to remind our readers and our church that there’s only a small step between the situation in our country and persecuted believers around the world.

In our country, the push is for the church to have freedom to worship but not freedom to practice our beliefs openly as God has commanded us. In other words, whatever we do inside our buildings on Sunday is fine as long as we don’t try to practice that faith Monday through Saturday.

Fortunately, the Hobby Lobby case has shown that the Constitution supports freedom of religion–the freedom to practice our faith at home, at work, and in the public places of society.

Those who advocate a freedom of worship want to allow the church to say and do whatever it wishes within the church buildings on Sunday mornings, but they don’t want to allow the church to get outside its walls.

Has the church ever seen this before? Well, yes it has. This was the tactic of Adolph Hitler and the Nazi party of Germany. They didn’t seek to destroy the church; they sought to muzzle the church. They allowed the church to do what it does: worship, pray, baptize, marry, and bury. They did not allow the church to speak its conscience. The only real freedom is the freedom of conscience–the freedom to speak God’s message in God’s time.

Where do we get the idea we should have freedom of religion and freedom of conscience?

You simply have to look to the Bible. Look at the Prophets of the Old Testament. These were people who spoke the truth and often were persecuted because they did. Elijah was a man who spoke the message of God to his time. Because he spoke God’s Word, Jezebel vowed to kill him.

Jesus spoke the message of God in opposition to the religious authorities of his day. Paul experienced prison and martyrdom because he dared to speak the message of God. When Peter and John spoke words unpopular with the authorities, the leaders called them in and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. The answer of Peter and John should be our words today: “We cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4: 20).

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