Don’t for a second allow the thought…“This could never happen here, no, not here!” or, “This is on the other side of the world, why should I even pay any attention to this!?” to enter your mind.
The machinations, the movements, the work of doing just this is already at work in this land, in wherever your fleshly body happens to reside. Make no mistake. No error in judgment, and do not hesitate to judge wisely, judge well — look, listen, and know! Know the Biblical times in which we live. Know history. Pay close attention. Not foolishly thinking an election, “Oh this politician, that one will make it all better, oh, I really admire and would love to see ___________ in office! They would make a difference!”
Let’s stop the idol worship, the placing our faith in worldly institutions, shall we? Letting men and women on TV, on the Internet, in false teaching churches, the foolish and the ignorant capture our attention and mind and lead us astray. Rather than gravitating to and living among and with the Word of God!
No government consisting of men is ever going to make things better, more godly, right on this earth. Don’t think that’s true? I would ask doubters to examine history for even 10 minutes and they could not help but conclude what I wrote is true.
Because the hearts, the minds of men and women are evil all the day long. That’s according to God. Look it up if you refuse to acknowledge this FACT and you are indoctrinated in the delusions, the lies of the latter 20th and early 21st centuries.
And what is taking place in Finland and happening to Päivi Räsänen is of the utmost importance in your life, in my life, in the life of any and all true believers. Make no mistake.
Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven. But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name’s sake. This will be your opportunity to bear witness. Settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand how to answer, for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death. You will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your lives.”
Luke 21:10-19 — English Standard Version
And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains. Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”
Matthew 24:4-14 — English Standard Version
“And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”
Luke 12:11-12 — English Standard Version
I have searched the Scriptures. And nowhere have I found where it states that America is exempt and spared these things — the coming Great Tribulation, Christian persecution, great suffering, and trials, the from the words spoken and written above. Or where you may reside.
Nor have I found in my searching that the key to success, of avoiding the fulfillment of Biblical prophecy to making things better, making things right comes via worldly elections, nationalism, idol worship of certain men or women, putting one’s faith in the worldly systems in place.
Have you found those in the Bible? If so, please let me know where so I can correct the errors of my ways!
For all along I have been of the belief we’re to abide in the Word. Know the Word. Follow the Word. Obey the Word. Have the Word be a lamp unto our feet and guide us through this perilous life?
What is taking place in Finland matters wherever you live. Whoever you may be.
Everyone, it appears, wants to make and keep everything political. When it ought to be — everything is spiritual. Of and in the ongoing raging escalating spiritual war every person on earth is enlisted in!
Ken Pullen
Thursday, January 27th, 2022
ACP — A Crooked Path
Finland Puts the Bible on Trial – All Christians Should Be Watching
Thursday, January 27, 2022
By Tony Perkins, Family Research Council
Reprinted from Prophecy News Watch
Yesterday, Europe’s biggest religious freedom case went to trial. A Finnish member of parliament, Päivi Räsänen, has been charged by the Finnish prosecutor general with three counts of “ethnic agitation,” a hate speech provision in Finland’s criminal code. Each count relates to Räsänen’s respectful expression of widely-held Christian beliefs.
The first charge concerns a 2019 tweet in which Räsänen questioned the decision of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland (her own denomination) to partner with Helsinki’s homosexual pride parade; this tweet also featured an image of Romans 1:24-27. Räsänen had moved on and forgotten about this tweet — until she learned that the police were investigating her over it.
On “Washington Watch,” Paul Coleman, Räsänen’s lawyer from Alliance Defending Freedom International, explained the process: “[Räsänen] was invited to the police station. She was interrogated, asked about her Christian beliefs, asked about what the Bible taught, about what she meant by this tweet, and then in the process of this investigation, they then started digging up many other things that she has said and written over the years.
They went back almost two decades. They found a pamphlet that she wrote for her church in 2004. They extracted three minutes of a radio debate, took it out of context, and used that. And they compiled all of these things together and then charged her with hate speech.”
In addition to the 2019 tweet, Räsänen is also charged over comments she made on the radio in 2019 about homosexuality and over a 2004 booklet articulating her church’s teaching on sexuality titled, “Male and Female He Created Them: Homosexual Relations Challenge the Christian Concept of Humanity.”
Lutheran Bishop Juhana Pohjola, who published the booklet, is himself being charged with one count of ethnic agitation. For these acts, Räsänen, a soft-spoken 62-year-old grandmother and trained medical doctor, could end up spending two years in jail.
While the Finnish government had argued the case was not about Räsänen’s use of the Bible or about her Christian faith, what took place in the courtroom yesterday told a different story. Coleman said, “The prosecutor began the day by stating that this wasn’t a case about Christianity. This wasn’t a case about the Bible.
This wasn’t a case about her beliefs and then immediately started to make it all about the Bible, all about her beliefs, all about Christianity; and I’m not kidding, began the day by reading passages of scripture, reading Old Testament verses.” From his vantage point, Coleman said, “There is no question that as you sat in the courtroom today and watched this case unfold, what was on trial is really biblical teaching itself.”
The case has drawn international scrutiny. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and four other Republican senators sent a letter this week to the Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, Rashad Hussain, urging him to raise concerns about Räsänen and Bishop Pohjola’s cases with the Finnish government.
The senators wrote, “We are greatly concerned that the use of Finnish law is tantamount to a secular blasphemy law. It could open the door for the prosecution of other devout Christians, Muslims, Jews and adherents of other faiths for publicly stating their religious beliefs that may conflict with secular trends.”
In Finland, the ability for Christians to speak biblical truth is on the line due to an overly broad hate speech provision in Finnish law. Yet, the Finnish government, like all governments, is incompetent to rule on “hate speech” because they cannot know or regulate what is in the human heart. That’s on full display here. Governments should not be in the business of determining which religious beliefs are considered offensive, or even criminal.
Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) joined “Washington Watch” to explain why he believes people around the world should defend Räsänen and Bishop Pohjola. He said, “We have a duty to stand up for religious liberty and stand up for people to be able to speak the truth around the world. Whether it was that young man in front of the tank in Tiananmen Square, or whether it’s these two individuals, in particular, facing this absurd prosecution in Finland for daring just to speak their faith, the truth of man and woman and their belief about marriage.”
For Räsänen, this case is far bigger than herself. It’s about the defense of basic human rights, for the Finnish people and people everywhere. She has stated, “I cannot accept that voicing religious beliefs could mean imprisonment. I will defend my right to confess my faith, so that no one else would be deprived of their right to freedom of religion and speech.”
Päivi Räsänen is not a firebrand. She wasn’t looking to cause a stir, and she didn’t want this fight; the Finnish prosecutor-general targeted her. Since then, Räsänen has taken up the role of a gracious advocate for free speech, including the expression of sincerely-held religious beliefs now considered culturally taboo in the West.
Please pray for Räsänen and Bishop Pohjola as they await the court’s ruling, that the court will ultimately side with freedom of religion and speech.
Originally published at Family Research Council
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