From word crimes to Thoughtcrime.

Many people argue that real persecution could not come to the United States but we are watching the world around us get harsher and harsher towards Christians and Christianity. God has been kicked out of the government. The 

town square and schools and they are coming for Christianity as a whole. What started as a trickle that no one believed could happen here is gaining speed and progressing pretty quickly. We have pastors like Paul Washer who warn against this and yet the vast majority of people deny that it is coming to the US. They think that we are protected but unfortunately we are seeing our established protection that was built into our law crumbling. Our law is only as good as those willing to enforce it. 

If you have been watching, we have seen people jailed simply for preaching in places like Canada. Where your very words are being monitored and scrutinized. There are hate speech laws where the government can deem what they want “hate speech” and arrest you for the words that come out of your mouth. Something as simple as “marriage is between a man and a woman” or “men are not to lie with men” can get you arrested. If you do not use the proper gender pronouns you can and in many cases are jailed. Parents are being jailed for calling their children by the “wrong gender pronoun or name.” They have passed laws that equate to hate speech if you so much as say what the bible says. 

We see people pushing for the same laws to be passed in the US and it seems that more and more people are giving into the push. 

There is a bill that was passed in the UK is the first Bill that parliament has introduced into the UK law that is a “thought crime” law. If you don’t know what that is.

According to wikipedia.  Thoughtcrime is a word coined by George Orwell in his 1949 dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. It describes a person’s politically unorthodox thoughts, such as beliefs and doubts that contradict the tenets of Ingsoc (English Socialism), the dominant ideology of Oceania. In the official language of Newspeak, the word crimethink describes the intellectual actions of a person who entertains and holds politically unacceptable thoughts; thus the government of the Party controls the speech, the actions, and the thoughts of the citizens of Oceania. In contemporary English usage, the word thoughtcrime describes beliefs that are contrary to accepted norms of society, and is used to describe theological concepts, such as disbelief and idolatry, and the rejection of an ideology.

So a thought crime describes a person’s politically unorthodox thoughts and laws that are thought crime laws are the government’s attempt to control your very thoughts. The fact that this was a word coined in George Orwell’s 1984 should say something all in and of itself. If you have not read that book I would highly suggest reading it for we see it being played out to some degree in the world around us. 

Recently a video went around of a UK woman who was arrested for silently praying across from an abortion clinic. Yes you heard that right she was arrested for SILENTLY praying. This happened in December of 2022. 

According to Alliance Defending Freedom UK (ADF UK), Vaughan-Spruce “was standing near the BPAS Robert Clinic in Kings Norton, Birmingham in an area ADF UK called a ‘censorship zone,’ when police approached her after an onlooker complained she might be praying outside the abortion facility.”

According to ADF UK, Birmingham authorities have established buffer zones near abortion clinics, making it illegal for people to engage in behavior disapproving or approving of abortion. This includes “graphic, verbal or written means, prayer or counseling.”

The clip shows the woman silently standing on a curb across from an abortion clinic as British law enforcement officers approach her. One asks why she is standing there and responds that she’s there because of the abortion clinic. She denies that she is part of any protest.

The officer then asks, “Are you praying?” to which she responds, “I might be praying in my head.” The officer then asks her if she’d be willing to go to the station for questioning about her actions. “If I’ve got a choice, then no,” she responds, after which the officer states, “You’re under arrest” and claims she’s charged with “suspicion of failing to comply with Public Spaces Protection Order.”

Her charges were dropped and the court ruled that “silent prayers were not a crime,” but this shows the push that was already happening and what happens next is worse in my opinion. 

Mere weeks later She was praying silently outside of another baby mill and yet again she was arrested. One of the officers admitted that her prayer was the offense she was being arrested for. 

In a press release from ADF UK, the arrest was announced, with Vaughan-Spruce admitting that she was praying silently inside her head within a buffer zone. Six police officers responded to her presence, and in a video of her arrest, one officer admitted outright that Vaughan-Spruce’s silent prayer was the offense.

After she pointed out she wasn’t protesting or engaging in any of the banned activities within the buffer zone, the officer responded, “But you’ve said you’re engaging in prayer, which is the offense.”

“Silent prayer,” Vaughan-Spruce responded, to which the officer replied, “No, but you were still engaging in prayer. It is an offense.”

This is horrifying. The Idea that your very thoughts are able to have you jailed, that quiet prayer is being deemed dangerous is insane. What has our world come to when you cannot silently pray in your head without fear of punishment. Persecution is coming and my fear is for the church. Are people ready for what is around the corner?

With how fast things have changed in the past 20 years I would be surprised if this kind of thing isn’t normative in the United States in my lifetime. How much do we love the Lord and how far will we go to stand up for our rights to follow him?

The House of Commons voted 116-299 to criminalize all forms of “influence” near abortion facilities across England and Wales. This includes silent prayer and consentual conversations.

On March 7th 2023 members of parliament approved the introduction of censorship zones (also known as “buffer zones”) outside of abortion facilities across England and Wales. 

A clause of the public order bill could criminalize any form of “influence” outside of abortion facilities and that includes silent prayer. An amendment was proposed to permit silent prayer and consensual conversations but was not passed. 

we already see them exercising this, so it is not a reach to say this is exactly what they are intending.

This is only one bill among many that are attempting to make any form of Christian worship illegal. We have watched as our rights have been stripped in the United States already. Where public schools restrict prayer, scripture reading and any kind of evangelism at school.

Our laws are being formed in such a way that leave us no right to adhere to our religious beliefs in many cases. Deeming them discrimination to LGBTQIA individuals. At what point will this stop?

Jesus says to count the cost. We must love him more than what the world thinks and says. More than any relationship we have on earth. There is a cost for following God. The earthly cost seems so high but the eternal Gain so much more. 

““If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions. “Therefore, salt is good; but if even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned? It is useless either for the soil or for the manure pile; it is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”” Luke‬ ‭14‬:‭26‬-‭35‬ 

We are warned that all who follow Christ will be persecuted. So many brush off the signs of real persecution coming but we are not to be ignorant of the truth. 

“Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” ‭‭2 Timothy‬ ‭3‬:‭12‬-‭17‬ 

We are told that it will come. Get ready and build your faith strong in Christ Jesus. Root yourself deep in the word. Be built by prayer and pure devotion of Christ knowing the cost. Knowing what he has said and what your eternal kingdom looks like. 

““Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves. But beware of men, for they will hand you over to the courts and scourge you in their synagogues; and you will even be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. But when they hand you over, do not worry about how or what you are to say; for it will be given you in that hour what you are to say. For it is not you who speak, but it is the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you. “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. You will be hated by all because of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved.” Matthew‬ ‭10‬:‭16‬-‭22‬ 

Stand strong Brothers and Sisters and do not back down. I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. The strength to endure trials and tribulations. For the birth pangs are getting nearer.

~Take Me To Eternity