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"So you understand the roaring wave of fear that swept through the greatest city in the world just as Monday was dawning -- the stream of flight rising swiftly to a torrent, lashing in a foaming tumult round the railway stations, banked up into a horrible struggle about the shipping in the Thames and hurrying by every available channel northward and eastward." In this descriptive passage, H.G. Wells in his book, The War of the Worlds, describes the fear of the Londoners as the Martians approach their city. Terrorized, the residents scurry to leave the city. Their movement is so fast and furious it is as if the people have become a stream of rushing water.
There is a story that we avoid telling in the Bible, because it is so horrific. It is the story of the slaughter of the innocents. By the order of Herod all children under the age of two were stolen from the bosoms of their mothers and killed, with the intent that the new king foretold by the prophets would perish during the ensuing holocaust. One can only imagine that day in Jerusalem when fear swept through the city like a stream of rushing water.
In this season of Christmas holiday merriment we can never forget that Christianity is not a benign religion. There are Christians in foreign countries who suffer for the faith. There are missionaries in foreign lands who suffer for the faith. And there will be a day when you and I will be persecuted by friend and neighbor for taking an uncompromising stance for the values of our Christian beliefs.
There is a story that we avoid telling in the Bible, because it is so horrific. It is the story of the slaughter of the innocents. By the order of Herod all children under the age of two were stolen from the bosoms of their mothers and killed, with the intent that the new king foretold by the prophets would perish during the ensuing holocaust. One can only imagine that day in Jerusalem when fear swept through the city like a stream of rushing water.
In this season of Christmas holiday merriment we can never forget that Christianity is not a benign religion. There are Christians in foreign countries who suffer for the faith. There are missionaries in foreign lands who suffer for the faith. And there will be a day when you and I will be persecuted by friend and neighbor for taking an uncompromising stance for the values of our Christian beliefs.
