Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Persecution: Increasing in America?

I ran across an interesting yet disturbing commentary by author Chuck Baldwin with the title:

"Army Report Says Christians Threaten U.S. Foreign Policy"

This is a relatively long article which is worth reading. Below are a few quotes from the article:


Last Friday, I told readers of this column that I had come across a very disturbing government report and that I would be exposing that report

The report's header reads, "Strategic Implications of American Millennialism, A Monograph by MAJOR Brian L. Stuckert, U.S. Army. This monograph was defended by the degree candidate on 01 May 2008 and approved by the monograph director and reader named below. Approved by: Timothy Challans, Ph.D., Monograph Director; Robert Taylor, COL, MI, Monograph Reader; Stefan J. Banach, COL, IN, Director, School of Advanced Military Studies; Robert F. Baumann, Ph.D., Director, Graduate Degree Programs." The School of Advanced Military Studies, United States Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, produced the report.

Remember, this is not a Christian university report or even a secular university's religion department report, but rather a report written by an active duty Army major (who is now stationed in Afghanistan, I am told) for one of America's war colleges. Before analyzing this report, here are some questions to ponder. Whose brainchild was this report? Did the major select the topic himself or did a superior assign it to him? To whom exactly was the report distributed? How was the report used? What are the interconnections between this report and the MIAC and Department of Homeland Security reports that draw similar conclusions? And perhaps the biggest question is, What does this report portend for government action in the future?


And one more early observation: there is an eerie and uncanny connection between the verbiage and spirit of Stuckert's report and the now-infamous MIAC and Homeland Security reports. The timing, too, is significant. The MIAC and Homeland Security reports were produced shortly after Major Stuckert's report was produced. A coincidence? Not on your life!


Notice that from the very outset of this report, Stuckert asserts that Christians who believe in the Second Coming create circumstances or conditions that might be "problematic" for America's military leaders. We Christians also create "potential vulnerabilities" that America's enemies may "exploit," according to Stuckert. Furthermore, Stuckert laments that we Christians may even interfere with "U.S. Government policy objectives."

Pray tell, exactly what are those "U.S. Government policy objectives" that Christians might prove to be "problematic" for? And is Major Stuckert suggesting that those Christian military officers currently serving in the US armed forces are somehow "problematic" to "U.S. Government policy objectives"?

Is he suggesting that military officers in the US armed forces who believe in the Second Coming of Jesus Christ be expunged from military service, because of their beliefs?

As one will observe when reading the 61-page treatise, Major Stuckert, with a broad brush, paints millennialist Christians as being serious problems for America's foreign policy and for "U.S. Government policy objectives," and that we must be dealt with; but he offers no details on what, exactly, should be done. Or if he did, that part of his treatise is not a matter of public record.

Stuckert also berates Millennialists for "[driving] the U.S. further from the U.N. in the near future since many pre-millennialists have to come to view that body as a platform for the Anti-Christ." He went on to say, "American pre-millennialists will also feel increasingly threatened by the E.U. in coming years." And, "Pre-millennial interpretations of biblical prophecy that predict the emergence of a one-world government led by an anti-Christ causes distrust and even antagonism toward organizations like the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the European Union, NAFTA and OPEC." (Page 52)

In other words, folks, Stuckert is greatly chagrined that we Christians do not, and will not, accept the push toward global government being orchestrated by institutions such as the UN, the EU, et al. He feels that because we oppose NAFTA, GATT, the WTO, the FTAA, and the overall NEW WORLD ORDER agenda, we are "problematic" and must be "mitigated."

Stuckert goes on to blame Christians for "problems for relations between the U.S. and Russia" (Page 53), problems in the Middle East and China (Page 56), as well as coming "global disaster (page 55)."


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There is so much more to this highly germane commentary. It represents just one of many such perspectives on how we, as Christians are losing freedoms every day. Christians are often painted as "the enemy" of the progressive movement, and painted as an obstruction to global governance.

To a large degree this is true. The Church and the Holy Spirit is described by the apostle Paul as the "restrainer" - a restraining force on the earth that prevents evil from running unabated. But some day that restrainer will be removed and evil will have the earth without anything holding it back. It will be the perfect environment for the antichrist to reign.

What we are seeing now is just part of the build-up of what will happen in the not-too-distant-future. Foreshadowing of a future in which anyone who doesn't worship the antichrist will be put to death.

This is just the beginning of what is to come.

1 comment:

Joe Agnello said...

Thanks for posting this Scott. I've been following your blog for awhile now, and like the stuff you draw attention to. This one just absolutely blows me away.

I've heard preachers like Paul Washer, James MacDonald, and some others all warn that the persecution is coming, but despite the signs, I had a hard time believing it could be in our lifetime. That Homeland Security report shook me up quite a bit several months ago, but this is more than shocking!

It's so heartbreaking to see how blind unsaved people are to the truth about Jesus and His Gospel. But seeing how blind these people are makes me thank the Lord all the more for opening my eyes!

I pray He comes back before we see the violent persecution become commonplace. But if He delays, I pray that He gives us, His People, a spirit of bravery like the Reformers and early Church. Not to be like these paramilitary groups wanting to spill blood, but willing to testify to our Lord despite the risk that our blood will be spilled.

Thanks again Scott, and keep sounding the alarm by drawing attention to what's happening.

Joe Agnello
Chicago, IL