3-10-25

I make no bones about the fact that I am a Christian…..I love the Lord, I believe

that Jesus is Lord and that no man comes to the Father except through Him…..it’s

real to me….it’s more than my faith, its about a real lasting relationship with a God

who loves me in spite of myself…..and because of that I am inclined to want to

know about What happens with Christians worldwide…..and this past weekend a

tragedy began unfolding that bears some discussion….some prayer…..and really, it

bears some outrage…..because Christians are being massacred right now in

Syria….it is wholesale slaughter and the world is largely remaining silent…..

Charlene showed me a video yesterday of radical Islamists herding Syrian

Christians into piles in pickup trucks…..they were mocked….their faces

slapped…..many have been beheaded, raped, their homes pillaged, their churches

burned……Reports indicate that coordinated attacks took place in Syria’s regions,

where Christian and Alawite communities have historically lived….. Armed

groups, of Islamist factions stormed villages, leaving death and destruction in their

wake……Men, women, and children were executed, homes were torched, and

churches were desecrated…..340 innocent people were killed in one night just this

past weekend for the simple fact that they were Christians…..Eyewitness accounts

describe harrowing scenes of terror—entire families gunned down, children burned

alive, and priests slaughtered at the altar……. Yet, despite the scale of this tragedy,

the world seemingly remains indifferent…… There have been no emergency UN

Security Council meetings, no mass demonstrations in Western capitals, and barely

a mention from major news outlets……Christian persecution by Muslims in the

Middle East has reached genocidal levels in recent years, with ISIS conducting

mass executions against Christian communities….. The attacks in Syria follows the

same pattern of terror that has been used against Christians in Iraq, Egypt, Nigeria,

and other regions dominated by radical Islamists…..over 4,000 Christians were

killed for their faith in Nigeria in 2024 alone…..records kept by World Watch

indicate that nearly 15,000 churches and Christian properties were attacked in

2024…..

I can also turn my attention to the overtly anti-semitic protests that have been

allowed right here in the US at college campuses, especially in some of our elite

Universities…..at Columbia University in New York Jewish students have been

openly harassed…..impeded from their education….threatened….calls for intifada

on campus, violent takeovers of buildings, vandalism…..have all gone largely

unaddressed by the administration who seemed to turn a blind eye….but this week

President Trump announced that he was ending over $400million in grants to

Columbia and ICE agents went on campus and detained a radical middle eastern

student who had been organizing the anti-Jew rallies and he now faces

deportation…..its about time!....finally, somebody is taking action….but we

shouldn’t have to wait until the government gets involved….

What is really missing……what is needed more than ever…..is for good people to

just speak up! Really speak up! Throughout history it is the failure of good people

to speak that has allowed for bad things to happen. …..don’t get me wrong, bad

actors bear responsibility for what they do……but good people who could have

intervened and chose not to because it was uncomfortable….because it was

scary…..because it might hurt their business….or their standing in the

community…..or because they just shrugged their shoulders and said, “not my

problem”……well, they deserve some recompense themselves.

You’ve all heard the old quote, “the only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for

good men to do nothing.”…….so true….But think of this…..what if it was you that

was bearing the brunt of the actions of the bad actors……what if it was you or

your family facing some kind of adverse action, public backlash, unjustified

consequences, or actual planned genocide…….who would speak for you?

There is a wonderful but sobering old poem by a German Lutheran Minister named

Martin Niemoller……let me read it to you:

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—

     Because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—

     Because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—

     Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

But Niemoller’s extended commentary is what really got me……he spoke in the

form of a question…..and really a confession……I wouldn’t normally do this but

let me just read to you what Niemoller said just after WWII:

“We preferred to keep silent. We are certainly not without guilt/fault, and I ask

myself again and again, what would have happened, if in the year 1933 or

1934—there must have been a possibility—14,000 Protestant pastors and all

Protestant communities in Germany had defended the truth until their deaths? If

we had said back then, it is not right when Hermann Göring simply puts 100,000

Communists in the concentration camps, in order to let them die. I can imagine

that perhaps 30,000 to 40,000 Protestant Christians would have had their heads

cut off, but I can also imagine that we would have rescued 30–40,000 million [sic]

people, because that is what it is costing us now.”

In Niemoller’s view the price of staying silent wound up being greater than the

price of speaking up…..But speaking up……that takes practice…..think of

“resolve” and “courage” as if they are a muscle group. If left untrained then they

grow flaccid and weak……it takes exercising your “resolve” and “courage” to be

able to be effective at employing them.

do this one simple exercise:

- Ask yourself: “What would I say if……?”

Take a little time to think of your answer…..maybe read up on comments made by

other folks who do a good job at addressing it……ask a friend or family

member…..and then just dialogue it in your own mind…..”what would I say

if….?”

One of my favorite authors happens to be from Alabama……Andy

Andrews…..also one of the best public speakers I have ever heard……amazing

personal story…..but he wrote a book that I have on the Rightside Radio website

right now called “How Do You Kill 11 Million People?” ……referring again to the

nazi extermination camps……A quote from Andy Andrews is right on point for

this discussion today:

Every man of character will have that character questioned. Every man of honor

and courage will be faced with unjust criticism, but never forget that unjust

criticism has no impact whatsoever upon the truth. And the only sure way to avoid

criticism is to do nothing and be nothing.

What would you say if…..?

You don’t have to be famous……don’t have to be well educated……don’t have to

be an elected official…..or a business leader……Acts 4 – Peter and John spoke to

the leaders of the day and it says that they were noted as speaking with authority

even though they were “unlearned and uneducated men”

Resolve and courage are things that become a part of your character…..you will be

known for them……or you can also easily be known for being without them……

Just a thought…..or you could just do nothing…..say nothing…..and when they

come for you……who will speak for you then?

The bottom line here is that Christians and Jews are being

persecuted…..murdered….right now. And in Syria it is reaching epic

proportions…..do we need Government to speak up? Sure…..but what we also

really need is for good people to find their resolve, their courage, and speak up

themselves…..otherwise the day may come when there is no one left to speak for

you……

And that’s a wrap for the Rightside Way!