Speak and Do Not Hold Your Peace!

A public school teacher’s assistant was put on leave for something very distressing—mentioning the name of Jesus to a student, affirming the student’s faith. Much consternation has taken hold of many state legislatures across the country. Why? Because invited preachers dared to mention Jesus in their invocation.

It really has come to this, that the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth is not welcome in many public circles. Used to be, only the infidel, pagan, and filthy places were worried about hearing Jesus’ name. Now this is the case in many “respectable” circles of American society. In fact, in certain disreputable areas, you can have more freedom to mention Jesus than is found in the halls of dignity.

Many of those scandalized by Jesus’ name are unbelievers, refusing to give believers the same courtesy and freedom which believers have given them. I always knew that only a faith built on the Bible alone could engender a freedom-loving society. But it is still shocking to see such brazen disregard for others’ faith allowed so much power to silence.

In all my years, I never remember one who claimed faith in Jesus as the Christ to be so discourteous as to disallow an unbeliever a conscientious opportunity for public expression, especially if that person were invited.

Now what we must not do is allow their intimidation tactics to work. We must speak up and speak out—not in arrogance or self-righteousness, not in discourtesy or in an inappropriate way for the circumstance. But we must let them know that the Lord says, go into all the world and preach the gospel of Jesus to every creature! And we will obey!

Terry