“Holy War” might make you want to say, “ok, next.” But look at it from the other side for a minute. What are groups like the Islamic State thinking when they persecute Christians? They are engaging in “Holy War” for their religion—so how should Christians respond?

One courageous response was given by journalist Faith Goldy, at a political conference called, The Rebel Live, in Toronto recently. Like many journalists, she works on many different kinds of stories, from illegal immigration, to political responses to terrorism, but when she took the stage at this event, she gave a message to the Christians in the crowd. In fact, she courageously gave a speech—to a mixed crowd of over 850—about the persecution of Christians that few pastors give to their congregations.

You can see highlights from the speech or watch the whole thing if you are a Rebel subscriber. Throughout her speech, there are places where her words are blunt and her tone is challenging. But, you will have to agree that she addressed this topic with courage when so many Christians, even pastors, are unaware or speak only in generalities.

Faith gave many specifics, too many shocking statistics to absorb or list here, but here is one: “We have gone from 20% Christianity in the Middle East to 4%…”

Some have left, but many have been killed. Those who have left as refugees have not been given preferential treatment by countries such as the USA and Canada, though it is obvious that they are the most severely persecuted!

Much of the violence in the Middle East is Muslim factions fighting each other, while slaughtering religious and ethnic minorities like Christians and Yazidis along the way. Outside forces such as Russia and the USA are helping the different factions to fight with arms, training, intelligence, and by conducting airstrikes. Are they making it worse rather than helping it to end? The conflict in the Middle East is longstanding and it’s nearly impossible to disentangle, let alone resolve with politics and military efforts.

The net result for people living on the ground is that homes have been destroyed and people have fled. But when Christians have been so disproportionately persecuted, why is it that Muslim refugees have been given preference by “Christian” countries like ours?

The darker question is whether some of the refugees are coming to Canada to continue their “Holy War” here and in the USA. Last week’s attack on a police officer in Flint, Michigan, by a Canadian Muslim, is not comforting.

If you are a Muslim who disagrees with the violence being committed in the name of Islam, you must speak out and denounce these actions because despicable acts of terror by some Muslims are creating an atmosphere of mistrust for all. Don’t let your silence be counted as approval. Speak up if you do not approve.

In the aftermath of the attack in Flint, the premier of Quebec, Philippe Couillard, broke with political correctness and said: “Unfortunately, you cannot separate this kind of an event—terrorism—from Islam in general.” That is blunt and it is up to Muslims to prove him wrong.

Our Prime Minister did not echo these words or make any statement on the attack at all. His office did release a statement the following day, on the “National Day for Remembrance of Victims of Terrorism” that mentioned several specific attacks. It did not mention the previous day’s attack…not even a word of comfort to the family of the injured officer, Lt Jeff Neville. May the Lord grant him a full recovery.

One biblical verse on which Faith Goldy commented is the command for Christians to “love our neighbours as we love ourselves.” She said that we are failing in this because we are not even loving ourselves—the Body of Christ, our persecuted brothers and sisters in the Middle East.

Let’s reflect on that. These are serious words in a serious time.

In Canada, we have not been killed for our faith—yet. We still must train and be equipped for the spiritual war that we are fighting.

Do you have the courage to speak out like Faith Goldy? Are you ready to train and work so that you can represent all that we believe in? If you are, we need you to contact CHP Canada.

Would you like to be a candidate who represents the Christian worldview in the next election? Election 2019 is coming. The time to prepare is now. Please contact CHP Canada if you have the courage to serve as a candidate!

For more information on freedom of speech and Islamophobia in Canada, please read:

Canadian Citizens for Charter Rights & Freedoms Newsletter June 2017

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