Both Christianity and the Bible are under attack in these last days in ways we could never have imagined just a generation ago. Dan Cathy, CEO of the Chick-fil-A restaurant chain is learning that unfortunate fact the hard way.
In an interview with the "Baptist Press," Mr. Cathy ventured to express his personal opinion about traditional marriage. Uh oh. That was a mistake, because Mr. Cathy believes in the Biblical definition of marriage: one man and one woman. Further, Cathy believes that this generation's "prideful, arrogant attitude to think that we have the audacity to define what marriage is about," just may be inviting God's judgment on our nation.
Them's fightin' words for the Left, the national mainstream media, and the powerful LGBT lobby. They quickly mobilized to punish the entire corporation and its 50,000 employees because its chief dared have a personal opinion that differed from theirs.
To add a more sinister tone to the threats, the mayors of Chicago, Boston, and San Francisco publicly threatened to prevent the restaurant chain from expanding in their cities. These forces are doing their level best to silence their opponents, i.e., most Americans, by intimidation. The clear objective is to make any criticism of same-sex marriage -- whether by direct criticism or by voicing support for the traditional, Biblical definition of marriage -- "hate speech." That's right! They want supporting traditional marriage to be labeled "hate speech." That's the first step toward criminalizing individual thought. And once individual opinion has been "criminalized," it can be punished.
Don't think this can happen in America? It is happening in Canada. It's already happened in "enlightened" Europe.
Folks, this situation is so potentially threatening to the religious liberties and individual freedoms of Americans, that it's almost surrealistic. How bizarre is it? So bizarre that even the ACLU has had to speak out in defense of Dan Cathy and Chick-fil-A! That alone may be a telling sign that we are in the end-times!
Supporters of freedom of opinion, individual liberty, and traditional marriage organized a "Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day" last August 1. Hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, of people lined up for hours at Chick-fil-A restaurants across the nation to purchase chicken sandwiches and express their support for the company and its leadership. They did so politely, calmly, and cleanly -- meaning they bagged their trash when they left. (Not like some of the infamous protests staged by the Left.)
There was local media coverage in many cities, sometimes because the long lines caused traffic tie-ups, but the massive, impressive turnout was largely ignored by the national media. However, two days later, the gay rights community staged "kiss-ins" at Chick-fil-A locations across America. Well, at a few of them, anyway. And even in such large markets as Los Angeles, the protests amounted to very few picketers who turned out to wave some signs and make public kissing displays. But they got national media coverage.
As Gomer Pyle, USMC, used to exclaim, "Surprise, surprise, surprise!"
To prove my point: Here at "The Hal Lindsey Report," we subscribe to Reuters News Service. That's where we get the news video that we feature on the show most weeks. Reuters provided its media customers with two separate stories on the Chick-fil-A controversy. Both of them covered the sparse, anemic "kiss-ins." Nothing on the massive, unprecedented outpouring of support for Chick-fil-A just two days earlier.
Folks, the bottom line is this. If city officials across America are allowed to use the power of their offices to stop Chick-fil-A from expanding in their communities because the CEO of this privately-held company believes in traditional marriage, then they can deny your church -- which probably publicly supports Biblical marriage -- the right to expand, relocate, or build for the first time. Or even promote Biblical marriage from the pulpit. Once again, see Canada and some European nations.
It's time to pray as never before for our nation.
But that's not all I talk about on this week's program.
Last week, I discussed how the announcement of the possible confirmation of the theoretical "Higgs boson" had rocked the scientific world. Remember that I said that the existence of the "Higgs boson" only proved what the Bible had revealed 20 centuries ago? Well, this week's program is last week's program on steroids!
Not only did the Scriptures allude to the forces that bind everything together and make the invisible visible (which is what the Higgs Field supposedly does), but examination of the Word of God confirms that truly "science is God's evidence."
Further, the Book of Job, the oldest in the Bible, is chock full of evidence of God's truth. In it, God reveals much about science, nature, physics, astronomy, and geography. It is rife with details that no single person living in the Middle Eastern desert 4,000 years ago could have known.
I'll also discuss the dilemma of the skeptic. His or her judgment of God is rendered according to his or her limited understanding. In order to believe that there is no God, the skeptic has to accept and believe a number of simply outrageous suppositions, some of which I'll discuss this week.
And if science is God's evidence, then Bible prophecy is God's signature.
God revealed through His prophet, in no uncertain terms, that the mysteries contained in the Scriptures could not be "revealed" until the time of the end when "knowledge will increase" and men will travel "back and forth."
Moore's Law says that computer capacity doubles every 18 months. That's why your laptop is obsolete by the time you figure it out! Columbus sailed to the new world 1,500 years after the Apostle Paul made his Mediterranean journey. Both sailed on wooden ships with sails. In fact, men traveled in wooden sailing ships until the end of the 19th century. One hundred years later, those same weeks-long trips take a few hours by air. 1,900 years from Paul's ship to the Titanic. 60 years later, Neil Armstrong is walking on the moon.
As the angel promised the prophet Daniel, knowledge is increasing, men are traveling "back and forth," and the things that were "shut up" are now being revealed.
Time is short! Get ready! Jesus is coming!
Don't miss this week's Report on TBN, Daystar, Inspiration Network, CPM Network, various local stations, www.hallindsey.com or www.hischannel.com. Please check
your local listings.
God Bless,
Hal Lindsey
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