Mine Eyes Have Seen The Glory

Back when I was a boy, I learned and loved the "Battle Hymn of the Republic". With it's military cadence and religious fervor, what was there not to love. It has a theme that while Christianity is a religion of love and Christians are willing to turn the other cheek, they are willing to go to war and die, if need be, to protect their faith and their homelands.

Today, Christianity is under attack like it has never been before. In America it is under attack by atheists who have turned their lack of religion into a religion. Never forget that America was founded by Christians based on Christian principles. The heart of these freedoms are found and codified in the Bill of Rights. Everyone was given the right to practice their own religion or none at all. Every one was given the freedom to worship as they please and to speak their mind as they please.

Today there are those that would over extend freedom to some by taking away the freedom of others. There used to be a phrase, "live and let live". Now, to some, the very sight of a Christian cross in public visibility offends them. Children are forbidden the comfort of reading their Bible in school. There is nothing in the Bill of Rights that says, you need never be offended. If a person is so small minded and self aggrandizing that they find the rights of another offensive, I recommend another Biblical verse. That would be Matthew 18:9, "If thy eye offend thee, pluck it out."

Then in the rest of the world, the radical Muslim population is waging war on Christians. The middle east always had a healthy and productive Christian population. The Coptic Christians of Egypt were living there long before the Muslim arrived. Now the Christians are being killed and their churches are being destroyed. Lebanon and Iran both have just about destroyed their Christian population, just because they hate.

Most Muslims claim their hatred of Christians come from the Crusades. If fact they still refer to Christians as the Crusaders. They tell us the unwarranted attacks against Muslims in the Holy land was to destroy Islam. So, let's look a a little history that the politically correct tend to ignore. By the year 716, Muslims controlled most of Iberia by sword. For those geographically deprived, that is Spain and Portugal. By 721 they had taken their war into France, Gaul in those days, and controlled France as far as Avignon, Arles, and Lyon.

The First Crusade was not until 1096. That was just a rag tag bunch of lords and soldiers and peasants that wanted to regain Jerusalem for their faith. For the next few hundred years things got heated. But that was the way of the world in those days.

The point is, that Christians were always willing to share. But they would also stand up for themselves. For some unearthly reason, they have allowed themselves to be intimidated into submission. This cannot continue. Christians are, by and large, good people with a strong and good religious philosophy. If they wish to outlast these assaults, they must go back to being Christian Soldiers.