Put on Your Armor and Take Your Stand This Battle is Coming Your Way

Put on Your Armor and Take Your Stand This Battle is Coming Your Way

In what is becoming common place in cities across America , City Councils in both Waco , Texas and Charlotte, North Carolina are crafting legislation (city ordinances) to remove the free proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ from their public sidewalks.

These ordinances seek to have those who pass out literature on the public sidewalk, picket public forums, proclaim the Gospel at public schools, or, in any way, act like Christians - have a permit to do so. Yes, if one has more than 25 people on a Gospel witness team, they must request a permit at least two weeks in advance. If there are more than four people gathered to publicly witness for Christ, they must give at least two hours notice to local police departments.

Of course the caveat is that these absurd ordinances are designed for all groups, not just Christians. Please! Sodomites gather in public parks across this country and sodomize each other. They are passing out condoms. Will the police departments apply such ordinances to them? Not Likely!

The homosexual community has become so arrogant in Dallas , Texas , that our kids, for whom the parks were originally intended, are not able to use the public bathrooms because of what is going on in there. " The wicked freely strut about when what is vile is honored among men."

Our First Amendment rights and our duty before God to be witnesses for Him – to gather, pass out literature, and proclaim that Jesus is Lord, is a casualty of this legislation. This was not by accident. It is a planned and very deliberate attempt to remove Christianity from the public square.

The battle is on, and it must be fought and won. Rusty Thomas and brothers and sisters from around the country gathered in Waco yesterday February 18, to draw the Sword of the Spirit from its sheath. On the very day the new Waco City ordinance went into effect Rusty, Pastors Mark Holic and Daniel Thompson, John Reyes, and a host of others set the ordinance on fire in front of the abortion mill and left it in a tin can.

They gathered without asking anyone's permission. Why? They have a mandate from God Himself to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves. They would never heed an unlawful, unconstitutional, abhorrent dictum.

There was no enforcement of this unconstitutional ordinance because, although the Waco Police Department was there and was witness to the event, these stalwart Christians took a stand. They stood strong and Jesus moved. We are so proud of them.

As you who bring the Gospel to the gates of hell know, City Councils have become very bold recently as "tolerance" has become the mantra of the land. Their animus toward Christianity is impossible to conceal. While working actively to promote every behavior, no matter how perverse, city councils are working overtime to remove Christianity from the public forum. " Why don't you just pray in your closet and leave us alone?" they whine.

Our battle begins in Charlotte on February 23, as the City Council has its first hearing on these new and unconstitutional ordinances. Please pray for us as we give them heaven in the City Council Meeting in Charlotte . - Flip

Below are two updates from Waco. Part 1 is Wednesday's challenge while Part 2 is the City of Waco's response and challenge to the Church. Both are must reading.

Tyranny in Waco Update, Part 1
Wednesday February 18

Dear Champion of the Lord and the Unborn,

The Lord richly bless you! Today was an historical day for the Church of Jesus Christ in the city of Waco. Local saints, pastors, and Christians from Waco, several cities in Texas, and folks as far away as Wichita, KS. came to stand in the gap and make up the hedge for the Gospel, freedom, and for the little babies in the womb of their mothers.

Over a hundred folks gathered in the name of Jesus. We worshipped the Lord, honored His authority, and declared that sidewalk was holy ground. Afterward, we pointed the finger in the direction where it was needed most, at ourselves, the Church of Jesus Christ. We began by prayers of repentance based on Lamentations 4:12,13, "The kings of the earth, and all the inhabitants of the world, would not have believed that the adversary and the enemy should have entered into the gates of Jerusalem. For the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests, that have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her."

Before we dealt with the speck of tyranny from our city government's eyes, we first sought to remove the plank of the church's disobedience from our eyes. We took ownership for the sin and failures of the Church that has created the environment of tyranny that is now stalking the land. The salt has lost its flavor and the enemies of the cross and the powers of darkness are emboldened to legislate the Gospel and expunge the Pro-life message from the streets of Waco. We cannot have tyrannical civil government, without an apostate Church. The two walk hand in hand and you cannot have one without the other. We pleaded on bended knee in front of Planned Parenthood that God would be merciful and forgive us for allowing the sin of shedding of innocent blood that has produced the wretched condition of the wicked ruling over us.

We stood up and took the unjust ordinance and burned it. As we did, we prayed Isaiah 4:4, "When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning." And Isaiah 28:16-18, "Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste. Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place. And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it."

We prayed as that ordinance burned that God would burn in our hearts a new birth of freedom. We prayed that the spirit of burning and judgment would purge Waco of Planned Parenthood and child-murder. We prayed that God would burn away the chaff of tyranny that has risen its ugly head in our city.

From there, several pastors exhorted the saints to stand strong and be vigilant against the arbitrary city, state, and federal decisions that seek to suppress Christianity and Christians. They challenged those gathered not to allow this gathering to be a flash in the pan or some knee-jerk reaction. They encouraged the saints to keep coming out and never surrender the sidewalk in front of Planned Parenthood. It truly is a matter of life and death and if it is inevitable that little children die, it is imperative Christians love their neighbor enough to plead their cause and seek to save their lives.

The police did show up and demonstrated the utmost respect towards us. They patiently stood by while I ministered to the saints on how the church submits to civil government, especially, when government becomes tyrannical. The Biblical teaching is Christians must first entrust themselves to God and then continue to good, regardless of the cost. The police tried to pass out the ordinance and I recommended to the folks that they decline it. We then showed them the pail where the ashes remained of the ordinance we previously burned.

We told those officers that we loved them, pray for them, and respected them. We let them know that we understand this did not spring from them and we are also aware this places them in a difficult situation. They left without citing or arresting anyone for being in violation of the ordinance. When you read the enclosed article that came out today, you will read between the lines and find that police themselves are struggling over this injustice. The police chief mentioned there would be a police presence and that they would act responsibly. But when push came to shove and he was asked what the police would do if they ordered us away, and we didn't disperse, he did not give a direct response. Please continue to pray for them.

Brethren, it is extremely important that the saints in Waco and the surrounding areas come back next Wednesday at 7:30 am. Next week, in some aspects, is more important than this week. Pastors need to lead their flocks out and never surrender that sidewalk to this tyranny. We have lawyers that are going to challenge this in court and by God's grace crush it once and for all. Please continue to pray for us and come out next Wednesday to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves.

IN KING JESUS' SERVICE,

Rusty

Tyranny in Waco Update, Part 2
Thursday, February 19

Dear Champion of the Lord and the Unborn,

The Lord richly bless you! The battle is raging in Waco. The lines are being drawn. Goliath has risen his ugly head and taunts the army of the living God. Read the enclosed article and hear his challenge "Give me a man." The tyrants in Waco are daring the saints of God to relinquish the public sidewalks, our Constitutional rights, and our duty to preach the Gospel to every creature. Our rights, however, didn't come from government and they will not be the ones to take them away. According to the Declaration of Independence bequeathed to us by our Founding Fathers, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government."

The Church in Waco must respond like David of old and sound the alarm "Is there not a cause." There is indeed a cause. Our right to life has been violated by the American holocaust called abortion. If that first and foremost right has been removed by judicial fiat, what other right stands secure. The city government in Waco, state government, and our federal government have codified evil into law. They find themselves in the precarious position of defending the indefensible. Thus, instead of dealing with the source of what afflicts Waco, child-murder and Planned Parenthood, their solution is to crush the freedom of speech and our right to peaceably assemble on the streets of Waco. This cannot and must not stand!

Church in Waco, if we falter at this point, if we shrink back in this day of adversity, future generations will curse our memory. Instead of passing a legacy of freedom, we will pass to them chains of tyrannical bondage. Hearken to the word of the Lord, "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. It is this very liberty that with a stroke of the pen has been removed in the city of Waco.

Saints, the time has come for us to move from reading about the great men and women of faith in the Bible and history and now start to live out their godly examples. They have run their lap of the race. They fought the battles for freedom and liberty. It is our turn now. Pick up the cross and follow hard after Jesus. Make your stand next Wednesday at 7:30 am. in front of the local death camp, Planned Parenthood at 1927 Columbus Ave. You have come into the Kingdom for such a time as this. Put your hand to the Gospel plow and there is no looking back. Love ya!

IN KING JESUS' SERVICE,

Rusty