The Best News Ever in a World Filled with Bad News

Much of the world will be celebrating Easter this week. Unfortunately, in the West, secular humanism has relegated the Christian Easter to mere “Easter bunnies” and “Easter eggs.”

That degeneration can be closely linked to Western society’s replacement of “thinking” with “feeling.” We have replaced the thermostat with the thermometer. We have given up on rigorous intellectual debate of facts and irrefutable truth and replaced it with “that’s fine if that’s how you feel about it.”

Perhaps the trend is no clearer than when the media—and consequently, the man on the street—expresses an opinion on the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

In the past, people either accepted or rejected Christ’s resurrection as a fact of history. But in today’s post-modern culture—where most of the “thinking” takes place between the nose and the chin—people are apt to say, “Jesus rose from the dead? So what?”

That attitude perpetuates apathy about the most important event in human history, which in turn causes people to miss out on the greatest news they could ever personally experience—news that brought about Western civilization itself.

For the thinking person, Christ’s resurrection is the best news ever because the evidence for it is overwhelming:

It was recorded by four independent accounts, which accurately reported many small details, such as the number of angels at the tomb, the number of women who went to the tomb, the time of their arrival, and the overall sequence of events. All the accounts are easily harmonized.
The removal of the tombstone and the presence of the grave cloth proved that Jesus’ body was no longer in the tomb. In the culture of that day, and with such a dense population, it would have been impossible to hide a body if it were stolen. The authorities could have easily produced it.
After Jesus’ resurrection, He appeared to not just a few women in the garden, but to a wide variety of people, including a group of 500. Surely 500 people could not have suffered a hallucination at the same time.
The resurrection changed things in dramatic ways, such as the change in the day of worship from Saturday to Sunday. But the greatest evidence of all might be how it changed the disciples and instilled in them a willingness to die a martyr’s death. Surely they would not have been willing to die a decade or two later for a lie or hallucination.

As English educator and historian Thomas Arnold once said: “I know of no one fact in the history of mankind which is proved by better and fuller evidence of every sort . . . than the great sign which God hath given us that Christ died and rose again from the dead.”

In fact, some of the best books on the resurrection were written by lawyers (Frank Morison, Gilbert West, J.N.D. Anderson, among others)—some of whom had originally set out to disprove the resurrection.

Sir Edward Clark, another English jurist, once wrote: “As a lawyer I have made a prolonged study of the evidences of the first Easter day. To me the evidence is conclusive and over and over again in the high court, I secured the verdict on evidence not nearly as compelling…”

That’s why the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the greatest news of all—it is indeed great news, not just a great story. It is the ultimate truth, not just an opportunity to eat chocolate bunnies.

And because it is true, every human on the face of the earth must respond to it one way or another. Our individual eternal future, and the future of civilization, depends on it.

http://www.michaelyoussef.com/michaels-blogs/the-best-news-ever-in-a-world-filled-with-bad-news.html

Obama/Kerry: Foreign Policy Bullies?

 While many pundits lament the fact that the Obama/Kerry foreign policy is timid, confused, and easily intimidated by strongmen like Vladimir Putin, I submit that it is best compared to a mediocre schoolyard bully.

A mediocre bully is the weak kid who attempts to project strength by picking on those weaker than him. He spews all sorts of threats (i.e., sets “red lines”), but he immediately backs down when a bigger bully shows up.

Why? The mediocre bully knows he’s no match for the stronger one, so he avoids going “mano a mano” with him.

A perfect example of that is when the U.S. State Department’s Marie Harf recently reacted to the decision by an independent Egyptian court to sentence 529 criminals and terrorists to death. Ms. Harf described the decision as “unconscionable” and threatened that the sentence would impact future American aid.

Unfortunately, it’s all too easy for the State Department to forget what those terrorists did:

They killed Christians in cold blood.
They pillaged and burned hundreds of homes, churches, and Christian schools.
They kidnapped and otherwise terrorized people from Minya, one of the larger provinces of Egypt.
And as the Muslim Brotherhood rained down its persecution on Christians, all that one heard from the White House and the State Department was a deafening silence.

Those criminals got their day in court—a privilege the victims never enjoyed. Then, when the case appeared to be open-and-shut, the defendants’ lawyers decided to boycott the proceedings—a move designed to solicit protests from the U.S. government once the sentence was handed down.

With such strong Islamist-friendly elements within the Obama Administration, it was hardly surprising when the schoolyard bully in the form of the State Department announced that the verdict and sentence “represents a flagrant disregard for basic standards of justice.”

Really? What did we do when Zacarias Moussaoui was indicted as a co-conspirator in the September 11th attack and then refused the aid of a lawyer? The trial went on. No one questioned the court’s verdict and sentence.

To be sure, no country offers the leniency and patience of the American justice system. But our system would not waver in the slightest if lawyers boycotted its proceedings. It is deaf to such ingenuous protests, and we should be equally deaf to the berating comments of a mediocre bully that has been hoodwinked by the trickery of the guilty.

As a lover of the real America, the Obama/Kerry foreign policy breaks my heart. It is unrepresentative of the American heartland. But ultimately God’s judgment will fall on all bullies—the strong and the mediocre—and maybe sooner than we think. Being mediocre at mistreatment hardly makes one innocent.

Until then, however, we must pray for the persecuted innocents who suffered under the Muslim Brotherhood, and those who continue to suffer throughout the Middle East today.

http://www.michaelyoussef.com/michaels-blogs/obamakerry-foreign-policy-bullies.html

Making Sense of an Apparently Senseless Foreign Policy

A segment of the American public must be yelling expletives whenever the results of our apparently incoherent foreign policy show up on their TV screens. Many can only react to our dealings with Syria, Iran, Libya, Israel, and now Russia with bewilderment and anger.

The news outlets that are balanced keep replaying the words of Sarah Palin and Mitt Romney, four years apart, predicting Russia’s intentions toward Ukraine. Watching those statements leaves us baffled as to why the mainstream media lampooned them when they accurately and perceptively anticipated Russia’s deviant move.

But let me explain what’s going on. It does make sense if you understand the perspective:

Obama/Clinton/Kerry, et al, represent a segment of society with a worldview that churns the stomach of anyone with a Judeo-Christian worldview. Their worldview was known in the 20^th century as “secular humanism.” Now it is called “progressive ideology,” but the only thing progressive about it is its name.

During the 1930s and 40s, that worldview began to invade the church. In 1943, the Archbishop of Canterbury, William Temple, alerted Christendom to the danger, warning that it would result in some churches retaining “Christian values without Christian faith.”

How prophetic was that?

The heart of secular humanism presents an opinion on “man” that directly contradicts the Bible. The Bible clearly shows that after the fall of man in Eden, man became capable of great evil. History offers a long, long list of people that have demonstrated that fact (see: Hitler, Stalin, etc.).

The secular humanists developed an opposite view, however, that man is innately good—and education and enlightenment can even make man very good. In fact, the motto of the American Humanist Association is “Good without a God.” Go figure.

We can now understand why, when President Reagan referred to the Soviet Union as the “evil empire,” the three major American TV networks went apoplectic. His statement directly contradicted their creed. No wonder the State Department tried to have that statement removed from Reagan’s speech (Reagan insisted that it remain).

A recent example of this is MSNBC’s Joy Reid, who as a guest on Hugh Hewitt’s radio show, was unwilling to brand either Putin or Assad as evil.

Now that much of our society has moved far away from the biblical worldview of good and evil, it is shocked when it sees evil penetrating the headlines. Evil doesn’t jive with the humanist mish-mash that has been taught for generations.

Obama/Clinton/Kerry, et al, are products of this “Good without a God” ideology. Now, with them in charge of our foreign policy, the most powerful nation is in danger. Under their stewardship, soon we will be a powerful nation no longer.

To them, since there is no evil, all nations and national leaders are good. And America is no better than anyone else. Therefore, America should not have such power, and instead, should lead from behind (if at all). They are bringing the greatest experiment in all of humanity down into the dirty mire that engulfed other great nations in the past.

Those who believe in an all-powerful God who rules the universe can still take comfort. They must keep insisting that there is good and evil, for surely Judgment Day will come and prove them right.

http://www.michaelyoussef.com/michaels-blogs/making-sense-of-an-apparently-senseless-foreign-policy.html

The Fallacy of Being Economically but Not Morally Conservative

Regular readers of my column know that I usually don’t use the words “conservative” and “liberal.” Why is that?

Because those words in today’s lingo—like the words “love” and “democracy”—can mean almost anything you want. Unlike past times when precision in meanings was important, we have now produced a generation that no longer understands the historic or political meaning of those words.

Within the population of the confused, however, my greatest disappointment is held for those who describe themselves as economically conservative, but socially liberal. But do they even know what that means?

On the economics side, this is what I think they mean:

• They believe in capitalism and the free market economy.
• They believe in hard work and accomplishing (financially, at least) the American dream.
• They believe in smaller government and private enterprise.
• They believe in fewer taxes and more opportunities for creating jobs.

On the social, or moral, side, I think it normally boils down to two issues:

• They believe in abortion-on-demand.
• They believe that homosexual marriage should be equal to heterosexual marriage.

However, there’s a major problem in trying to fit those two sides together. In God’s economy, total acceptance of Judeo-Christian morals has usually accompanied true blessings and economic prosperity.

As American history has shown, when people are committed to God and His moral laws, they become fully blessed. Likewise, a review of God’s history with the Israelites reveals this principle: Obedience to God’s moral absolutes brings about economic prosperity, but ignoring them brings economic disaster. The two are intertwined.

Scripture shows us a glaringly obvious trend—when God’s people dismissed His moral absolutes, the scourge of violence by the Assyrians, Babylonians, and Persians was their fate.

Sometimes the judgment wasn’t immediate. God is patient and long-suffering, and He would sometimes wait a long time for them to turn away from their foolishness. But eventually the judgment would come.

Make no mistake about it, God is consistent. He will not bless a nation that sheds the blood of innocents and shakes its fist at His purpose for the gift of human sexuality.

Of course, such a tight correlation may prompt one question: How can countries like China and Japan prosper without even a thought of God?

The answer is the same as to why God judged His people more strictly than the pagan empires of the time—His people should have known better. To be in covenant with God and then disregard that covenant carries a far greater judgment than not knowing God at all.

For America, the $100 trillion unfunded liability and the soon to be $20 trillion debt is only the beginning of the judgment we have brought upon ourselves. We have bought the fallacy that we can be economically-oriented without regard to God’s moral laws, and we will have to pay the price.

We should have known better.

http://www.michaelyoussef.com/michaels-blogs/the-fallacy-of-being-economically-but-not-morally-conservati.html

Hillary Clinton’s Foreign Policy Blunder of Historic Proportions

It is easy to question Hillary Clinton’s competence during her tenure as Secretary of State. U.S. relations with Russia have deteriorated, Iran and North Korea have not been restrained, and Syria has fallen into chaos.

And as far as blunders go, it’s hard to compete with her revealing congressional testimony about the reason for the Benghazi attack, during which she heartlessly asked, “What difference does it make?”

But her greatest blunder was failing to recognize the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt for what it was: a terror organization.

The Muslim Brotherhood is just like its kissing cousin, Hamas. Their definition of democracy is: one man, one vote, one time. After the first election, you’ll never see another.

Clinton’s unbridled support for the Brotherhood leader and now-disgraced former Egyptian President, Mohamed Morsi, was inexcusable. A freshman in Foreign Policy 101 would have seen through the charade that led to her historic miscalculation.

Tapes recently released by Egyptian intelligence reveal that the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas were working hand-in-glove together.

Let me summarize this disgraceful drama, act by act:

Act One

The Muslim Brotherhood gets Hamas to lob a few missiles toward Israel, thus setting the trap.

Act Two

The U.S. asks Morsi to intervene and stop Hamas from lobbing said missiles toward Israel. The Obama Administration is motivated, not out of a love for Israel, but to prevent it from retaliating.

Act Three

With the missiles stopped, Hillary is lured to Egypt, where she declares Morsi (and by inference, the Muslim Brotherhood) as a great statesman and lover of peace.

Act Four

Along with that unbridled praise, a few billion dollars is sent to Egypt—most of which ends up lining the pockets of the Brotherhood high command.

Act Five

The Western media declares that Mrs. Clinton is a statesperson of heroic proportion. Everyone lives happily ever after.

Well, maybe not that last part.

So much for Clinton’s “experience.” She fell for the Brotherhood trap—hook, line, and sinker. She failed to understand that she was praising an aspiring dictator (brought to power with the help of the American Embassy) who the majority of Egyptians loathed.

But even after that five-act blunder, her mistakes continued. When 33 million Egyptian patriots took to the streets and rejected Morsi and his Islamist deception, the Obama Administration sat on its hands. And it remained aloof after a temporary government took over and made a commitment to bring Egypt into the 21^st century.

So as Mrs. Clinton might ask, “What difference does it make?”

The chain of blunders made a historic difference. The new, temporary leader of Egypt, General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi—Now field Marshal-who had acted as a steward to protect the freedom of the Egyptian people—saw no hope in dealing with the Obama Administration.

So on February 12, 2014, he visited Russia. There he was hailed as a hero and given a reception appropriate for a head of state. While President Obama felt the need to lecture Sisi, Putin declared him the up and coming leader of Egypt.

As the U.S. government continues to offer the cold shoulder, 22 million Egyptians have signed a petition to draft Sisi to run for president. No wonder the Egyptian public detests Obama more than his most ardent opponents in the U.S. are capable of doing.

Clinton may be made of Teflon when it comes to her responsibility and response to the Benghazi attack. But her culpability in losing a key U.S. ally to Russia is not only unforgettable, it should be politically unforgiveable.

http://www.michaelyoussef.com/michaels-blogs/hillary-clintons-foreign-policy-blunder-of-historic-proporti.html

Are True Christians Persecuted in America?

You better believe it!

Sure, if you only equate persecution with those who are burned alive inside churches like Islamists do to Christians in Nigeria, then we are not.

If you mean persecution only applies to those who are beheaded with a dull-edge sword as Islamists do to Christians in Syria, then again, no.

If you mean it is only about crucifying people alive as Islamists do to Christians in Pakistan and elsewhere, then that doesn’t apply either.

The subtler persecution of Christians in America, which began mildly with the media mocking Jimmy Carter’s “born again” claim, has escalated rapidly in the last five years.

If Christians in a social gathering, or on the Piers Morgan show, say they believe that Jesus is the only Savior and Lord, they will incite the most venomous verbal attack. If Christians speak out against Islamism or the celebration of homosexuality, they will be attacked with labels such as “Islamophobe” or “homophobe”—words manufactured by two groups that would normally hate each other, but join forces for the purposes of eliminating the true Christian point of view.

Our nation once rejoiced to send loving Christian missionaries to alleviate suffering and bring the good news of the Gospel to a world filled with darkness and unbelief. Now, our leaders refuse to condemn the genocide taking place against Christians around the world, while condemning nations for enacting moral laws against the act of homosexuality.

A nation once admired for the peaceful missions of its Peace Corps, now exports the most violent and immoral movies—so much so that America is now synonymous with violence, pornography, and immorality in general.

America once stood up for the suffering and persecuted. Today, however, if you ask any non-Islamist Egyptian (most of the country), they will tell you that the Obama Administration would rather side with terrorists than true freedom-loving citizens.

How could this have happened to a great nation in such a short period of time?

I have communicated with thousands of Twitter and Facebook followers about this, as well as with others in face-to-face settings. It is safe to say that committed and nominal Christians alike are bewildered.

People who have not been involved in politics are becoming more politically-minded, wanting to ensure through future elections that we choose leaders who share America’s founding values.

And many who are spiritually inclined are beginning to focus their prayers on America—that God may save her from a path that leads to an inevitable abyss.

Either way, we know something is drastically wrong. And as some believe, it may take a major crisis to return us from the consequences of such political and social arrogance. In that way, we may be humbled enough to repent and return to God.

http://www.michaelyoussef.com/michaels-blogs/are-true-christians-persecuted-in-america.html

Mr. Obama’s Brand of “Christianity”

For twenty years, Mr. Obama drank from a particular brand of religion—Liberal Christianity. To be sure, most Bible-believing Christians would not consider that brand to be Christianity at all. But liberal Christians would consider their brand to actually be the enlightened one.

Over time, Liberal Christianity has developed a humanistic understanding of what the Christian faith is about. They claim that Christians who still believe the Bible is God’s perfect self-revelation are stuck back in the 1^st century. Society has evolved, they say. And because society has evolved, God must be evolving also. After all, why else would He allow such change to occur?

Thus, people who take the Bible as the absolute truth for all time are branded as rigid and unenlightened.

Not surprisingly, such liberal thinkers have similar views about the U.S. Constitution. They claim that our founders never intended for the Constitution to be absolute for all time; it was only relevant for their time period. Therefore, it ought to be modified or done away with.

Extreme arrogance is at the core of that thinking—whether it be about the Constitution or the Bible. Pride drives them to consider their ideas to be better than the founders, or better than the Spirit-directed writers of the Bible. Although no one can judge their motives, Jesus did say, “You know a tree by its fruit.”

From their “elite” perch, they refuse to accept the biblical claim of absolute truth, affording them the “permission” they need to declare what is right or wrong—not what God declares.

So back to Mr. Obama. If he decides that he has evolved his thoughts on homosexual marriage and is now okay with it, God must be cool with it too. After all, God is also evolving.

And if he decides that smoking marijuana is no worse than smoking or drinking alcohol, then God must be okay with that as well.

According to their counter-biblical thinking, God permits those things to happen because He is  “progressive” also like them. He is changeable.

But God doesn’t evolve; instead he is patient and long-suffering. Liberal Christians ignore or reject this core of biblical Christianity: God is patient and long-suffering with people who ignore His Word because He deeply desires that they see their insolence for what it is and repent of it.

However, that patience comes with a warning. If it does not lead to repentance, then judgment will most surely follow. The judgment that such people mock will be poured out with vengeance later.

That judgment is clearly spelled out in Scripture. Hence, people who believe the Word is outdated are taking a big gamble. Sadly, although they mistake God’s patience for a reluctance to judge, that judgment will surely come. They will surely lose their gamble.

http://www.michaelyoussef.com/michaels-blogs/mr-obamas-brand-of-christianity.html

The Big Story that the Media Deliberately Missed

The media always misses the big stories of historic proportion. Only years later do they reluctantly admit it.

Here are some examples of globally-significant stories that the anti-Christian mainstream media deliberately lost in the shuffle. The stories have to do with events in Egypt during the last few years—events that I am very familiar with.

It is impossible to ascertain whether they refuse to report these stories because of their anti-Christian bias, or because the stories run contrary to the narrative propagated by the current White House. Either way, the omissions are no accident.

The Egyptian Revolution of January 2011 was fully covered—every media outlet had reporters on the ground in Tahrir Square. It was a story that executive producers in New York and London could embrace with gusto: Masses of people demonstrating against a secular dictator.

The White House believed that Mubarak should be replaced by an Islamist, and the media fell right in line. The State Department had long felt that an Islamist government was inevitable, so they might as well support it now by supporting the uprising. Even the European Union, to pacify its burgeoning Islamist population, got on the bandwagon.

But we all know the results now:

 

• The Obama Administration got its wish and Mubarak resigned.
• An Islamist, Mohamed Morsi, ran for president, even though he was in prison at the time of the revolution and illegally broke out.
• Through a series of campaign lies, Morsi was elected, despite only receiving 11 million votes out of a population of 90 million.
• The Muslim Brotherhood members who advised President Obama propagated a message of “democracy in our time” to the Western media.
• The media ran with the story: “The First Democratically Elected President in Egyptian History.” That sounded good to the uninformed.

 

Then soon after Morsi get into office, he declared himself a dictator and above the law. Did we hear even the softest grumble of opposition from the White House or other Western capitals? No, not a word.

Within twelve months of Morsi’s reign, Egypt was brought to its knees economically, socially, and politically. A result far more disastrous than anything its secular predecessor could have possibly accomplished.

But the media covered up that disaster. Why? It didn’t fit the narrative. The White House and its aligned media executives believed Islamists would be good for Egypt and good for the Middle East.

Then came June 30, 2013, when more than 30 million people, from all walks of life and religious persuasions, angrily demanded new elections. But dictators, especially Islamist dictators (as we have seen with Hamas), detest re-elections.

Thus when the army acted as steward of stability and stood by the protesters (the size of the mass protests were unprecedented in human history), the White House condemned the army’s action as a military coup. In order to punish Egypt, Obama took the law into his own hands and cut aid to Egypt—aid that was agreed to back at the 1978 Camp David Accords.

But there’s even another big story that the media missed.

During the twelve months of the Islamist dictatorship, the Christian minority, which numbers between 10 and 17 million, were openly persecuted. Throughout the Islamist reign, they went to their churches in enormous numbers, packing them for prayer meetings. Some of those prayer meetings witnessed thousands upon thousands of people praying 24/7—crying out to God to hear their pleas.

Even many non-Christians believe that the demise of the Muslim Brotherhood government came as a direct answer to the prayers of those believers. But try explaining that to the BBC, NBC, ABC, CBS, or CNN.

Of course, the now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood punished the Christians by burning many of their churches, homes, and businesses. Yet the Christians saw that as a small price to pay for a better future for their country.

But here’s the biggest story that the media kept locked away:

During the recent Christmas and New Year celebrations in Egypt, the interim president, Adly Mansour, went to the Coptic Cathedral. There, he met and embraced the patriarch and expressed the good wishes of all Egyptians for Christmas and the New Year.

That had never happened before in the past 1,400 years of majority-Islamic rule.

That meeting was of great significance, not only for Egypt or the region, but for all Muslims who are truly moderates. It was a gesture that can help to ultimately fulfill the dreams of all peace-loving people.

But the media deliberately ignored that possible world-impacting and future-altering event.

Will those who control most of the dissemination of news in the West ever turn back to the honest and transparent reporting of such history-making events? Unfortunately, I doubt it.

http://www.michaelyoussef.com/

Preparing for Our Audience of One

Listening to most of the pundits and tea-leaf readers, you might think that 2014 will follow a doomsday scenario. I don’t know who is right and who is wrong, but I am looking forward to experiencing the coming year through the eyes of eternity.

For some people, 2014 will be just another uneventful year. For others, it may be joyous and blessed. Still for others, it may bring tragedy and difficult circumstances. That’s how life is and always will be. There is nothing new under the sun.

But when seeing circumstances through God’s eyes—whether they be good or bad, joyful or sorrowful—they are just that: circumstances. What matters to God is how we faithfully persist in serving Him and others.

We press on by focusing on the following facts:

1. God is, and always will be, on His throne. He is working out His plan, and no catastrophic event can change that.
2. God’s power and the power of His Word will continue to work in millions of lives around the world.
3. Like last year and the year before, millions of people will come to Christ, responding to the supernatural love He displayed on the cross.
4. Many of those millions of new Christians will choose to follow Christ with the full knowledge that they are risking their lives.
5. Millions of faithful believers will sacrifice their resources, their health, and even their lives to reach those who are in desperate need.
6. As we begin another year, God will continue to separate His sheep from the goats—meaning He will separate the blessed from the cursed based on faithfulness to Him getting us ready for the final day.

If I am one of the people to face death this year (or more accurately, enter into the true eternal life), I want to make sure that I do what I have been doing, but with more intensity, more passion, and more faith.

Why?

Because I am primarily concerned with the one and only event that will follow my physical death. It is what I often call the “audience of one.”

You may not believe it, but God will indeed meet each of us after our death. Then, He will ask us to give an account of how we invested the life and resources that He placed in our hands.

Mercifully, God gives us seasons and years so we can take stock of our lives, and when we come up short, we can start anew. This New Year, instead of just ringing out the old and ringing in the new, we all need to do an audit of our lives. We should determine, with God’s help, how we can re-up our purpose for living.

Remember, it is never too late with God.

So whatever the coming year brings, I am re-upping my commitment and my passion. If I know anything about God’s Word, I know He rejoices in our Godly desire, and He will supernaturally empower it to become a reality.

Have a faith-full New Year!

http://www.michaelyoussef.com/michaels-blogs/preparing-for-our-audience-of-one.html

Mr. Obama’s Deafening Silence

“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”

– Martin Luther King, Jr.

Dr. King envisioned the day when the black community would be at equal footing with those who oppressed them. And yet, I wonder if even Dr. King could have dreamed of an African-American president so few years after paying the ultimate price for seeking equality.

But to say that the occupant of the White House is in the same category of Dr. King and his many colleagues who suffered humiliation and persecution would be wildly inaccurate.

I wish that Mr. Obama had heeded the wise words of Dr. King regarding “silence,” but alas, when it comes to the persecution of Christians around the world, he has not.

One longs to hear a word of compassion from our president for Christians who are being killed or mutilated, and for the churches being destroyed—some of them ancient churches with great historic significance.

One would love to hear a word of sympathy for Christians burned alive or crucified in Nigeria, Central African Republic, Syria, Iraq, Egypt, and Pakistan; or a simple word of concern for the Christians being persecuted in earnest in more than sixty countries.

One would love to hear even the mildest of protests against the Iranians (for whom he lifted sanctions) on behalf of tortured and imprisoned pastors, such as Pastor Saeed.

One would have expected his conscience, as an act of integrity, to compel him to some modest level of fair-mindedness—if anything just to balance the advice he receives from the Muslim Brotherhood, the now-outlawed terrorist organization in Egypt.

But all we hear is the sound of silence.

Mr. President, if you claim to be a Christian and a friend of Christians, like Dr. King, then please heed his advice and break your silence.

Christians expect evil words and deeds from the enemies of Christ. But surely the silence of a world leader such as yourself, who claims to have knelt before the cross and asked for Christ’s forgiveness, is a more powerful statement.

We all know the mainstream media and the ACLU will go after Christians with a vengeance, depriving them of any right of the public expression of their faith. At the same time, those groups will maintain the silence of cowards in the face of Islamist tyranny.

But even those who have supported you, Mr. Obama, must have thought that all those sweet words of the campaigns would have translated into fair-mindedness in governing.

But who can really blame you when so many evangelical leaders are right there with you, also falling silent about the persecution of Christians? As some of them hawk their self-help books, or even diet books, they become tongue-tied when faced with the plight of their fellow believers.

It is difficult to know if the president is influencing them, or if they are influencing him. Only God knows.

Regardless of who starts it, however, their message is loud and clear; their silence is deafening. But they must never forget that there is a God in heaven who will reward the faithfulness of the martyrs, and who will never forget the sealed lips of the earthly powerful.

http://www.michaelyoussef.com/