Answers
By BGEA Staff • October 3, 2024 • Topics: Evangelism, Holidays
Q:
As we celebrate Veterans Day, it’s grieving to watch our country—our national treasures of liberty and freedom—our foundation being destroyed. We immigrated to the United States in the early 20th century and have been blessed to become citizens of America and serve in the U.S. military. We’re grateful for a local church who put their arms around us and loved us to Jesus. As time grows dark in America, and holding up the name of Jesus can land us in court, are we right to keep sharing the Gospel?
A:
From the writings of the Rev. Billy Graham
The Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor has greeted immigrants to the United States since 1886. Newcomers arrived with only the clothes they were wearing. They valued freedom more highly than everything they had left behind. They didn’t take freedom for granted—and neither must we.
The experience of those immigrants is a picture of what we do when we come to Jesus. We decide to leave sin behind, we turn from belonging to this world, and we become citizens of a new kingdom—the kingdom of God. In God’s kingdom, the “statue of liberty” is the cross and promises the ultimate freedom from sin.
When Jesus walked on Earth, He warned that persecution will come because of His word (Matthew 13:21). While Christians in America have, for the most part, lived for Christ without the fear or threat of abuse for their beliefs, thousands of other believers have been tortured the world over for confessing the name of Christ. But we must be faithful in speaking God’s truth, and this is what is meant by “bearing the cross.”
The statue in New York Harbor shines her lamp for people coming into America. But the cross of Jesus lights our way into a life with God in Heaven!
(This column is based on the words and writings of the late Rev. Billy Graham.)
