How many times have we seen it? We go out to lunch or shopping with our families and on some street corner there is one or two people with big signs that read "Your going to hell", and our stomachs churn because part of us wants to resonate with the biblical reality that many people will be separated from God in an awful eternal state of punishment. However, the means by which these people go out and beat people over the head with fire and brimstone is completely antithetical to the Bible's admonition for us to speak the truth in love. Do not misunderstand me, I believe in a literal hell, but telling a nonbeliever about hell should always be in the context of the gospel presentation. You might ask "what on earth does that have to do with a story on persecution"? Well, in order to answer that question let me tell you what exactly happened with Mr. Salman.
Michael Salman and his wife live in Phoenix Arizona on about four acres of land. He is a Christian and likes to have people over for bible studies every now and again. In fact, he likes having these bible studies so much that he built a two thousand square foot facility on his front lawn to mitigate his growing "bible study". He then proceeded to put a big cross with a bible board (you know the things that other bible study groups with their own large buildings have out front to put scripture and announcements on). Now what does it sound like Mr. Salman built on his front lawn? Which consequently is very visible from the neighborhood street. Well, I can tell you what the municipal authorities thought in the greater Phoenix area: they thought Mr.Salman had constructed his very own church in his front lawn, which was strictly zoned for residential purposes. In fact, this sounds like a very logical conclusion from the municipal authorities. However, Mr. Salman did not see it their way. So, after repeated warnings, and consequent refusals to comply with the county and state ordinances he was sentenced to sixty days in jail.
If you go to the article posted at the bottom of this page you can read about how Mr. Salman has cried persecution in light of the governments action. He has done various interviews and appeared in several articles in order to make the American people aware of the new wave pf tyranny that is coming to the church. After all, to quote Mr. Salman, "I was just trying to have a bible study in my own home".
Now, let's do what we do with all our stories and try to examine this from a biblical perspective. 1st Peter 2:13-14 says this "Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to Governor, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of those who do good.". Now drop down to v.18 where the context changes a little, but the theme remains the same:
"Servants be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle but also to the harsh, for this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully." Now, here is the really relevant part: "For what credit is it, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently?" Michael Salman did not have the Government come to his house in the middle of the night, throw a hood over his head, and drag to a rural concentration camp in the mountains like they do to Christians in China. Michael Salman did not have the government fly airplanes over his new church and drop bombs on it like the Muslim regime currently in power in Sudan. He had a run of the mill government employee send him a letter politely asking him to follow the proper channels for commercial zoning. In response to the governments request, Michael Salman refused, and created unnecessary tension and hostility between him and the government by saying that they were infringing on his rights by singling out his church and engaging in some kind of conspiracy to shut it down. Clearly, he violated the biblical exhortation to submit to the ordinances of government to the best of our ability, as long as they do not contradict scripture (Acts 5:29 "We ought to obey God rather than men"). This law however in no way contradicts scripture, and therefore Mr. Salman broke the law, refused to make recompense and is now being punished.
To bring it back to my original comment on hostile, unnecessarily aggressive evangelism, the real tragedy, in both instances, is the reason that I believe them to be analogous. The world looks at these people who bombard the lost with hell and judgement quite unlovingly, and quite removed from Christ and Him crucified and they say, "Man, are all Christians like this"? Similarly, the local and state governments are looking at Michael Salman and saying, "My goodness, are all Christians this non-compliant, and so quick to make much of nothing"? In both instances, a behavior is exhibited which the culture believes to be the norm for fundamental Christians (or Christians who take God's word literally and seriously). They see a people over and over again who are irrational, unreasonable, and unloving. Do not get me wrong, there are plenty of Godly people who strive to exhibit these qualities, but we must be more concerted in our efforts to "live Godly in Christ Jesus" especially before such an ungodly culture. In fact, the truth is that God has said that "all those who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution"(2nd Tim. 3:12). Perhaps it is the utter lack of true persecution from the culture against the those claiming to be Christians that is ultimately the greatest indictment against American Christianity. Just a thought.
You can read the article that the Christian post did on Michael Salman at: http://global.christianpost.com/news/arizona-pastor-goes-to-jail-holding-home-bible-study-religious-freedom-77909/
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