“Better you should pray to God, the Father and the Spirit, will guide you and protect from up here.”

By Shawn A. Akers

If you consider yourself a conservative, and you are either a member of the media or use social media extensively, you may be in for a rude awakening very soon.

Conservative author, blogger and now Congressional candidate Michael Snyder recently detailed in his blog theeconomiccollapseblog.com that conservative voices in this country are suffering from a social media crackdown by the ultra-liberal left wing owners of such websites as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and others. Snyder writes:

“There appears to be a coordinated effort to target conservative viewpoints, because similar voices on the left are not receiving equal treatment. … How would you feel if you spent years creating videos and building up a subscriber base, only to have all of that work wiped out in a single moment by a leftist YouTube moderator?’ Sadly, that is precisely what is happening to dozens upon dozens of conservatives right now.”

Check out this story from CBNnews. It’s frightening.

From abortion to the LGBT agenda, anything on the conservative side that doesn’t agree with the leftist point of view has become a target of censorship. There is the ongoing battle between Infowars’ Alex Jones and YouTube, which saw 33,000 videos and 16,000 subscribers wiped out when YouTube decided that Jones’ content was too “right wing” for its taste.

A friend of Snyder’s named Mark Adams, who ran a YouTube channel called Health Ranger with more than 1,700 videos and 350,000 subscribers, saw his entire fan base purged in one fail swoop.

Right Wing News, whose site grew to massive proportions (133 million followers) over the past few years due in part to its popularity on Facebook, saw Facebook begin to block traffic to its site. The site’s owner, John Hawkins, announced he would shut the site down in January due to Facebook restrictions (it is still online but the content is not regularly updated).

While I have recently taken a stand (in which the Holy Spirit adamantly convicted me) not to speak out anymore about controversial subjects such as abortion and the LGBT agenda or to express opinions that Jesus wouldn’t be proud of, this is a different subject. This is about religious liberty, religious freedom, or whatever you want to call it. Is this not still a free country, a country in which we are allowed to (although sometimes we shouldn’t) express our thoughts and actions in any legal means which we see fit? Has the 1st Amendment of the Constitution been repealed?

Aren’t we within our rights to stand up to the type of censorship citizens of the Soviet Union endured under Stalin, Germany under Hitler and China under Mao Zedong? North Korea under Kim Jong Un?

If someone persecutes you because of your allegiance to Jesus, be blessed. The Bible promises you will be. Don’t retaliate or fire back at them, just love them as the Bible instructs us to. Jesus is not thin-skinned; he can take it. If He can, then you can, too.

But when it comes to the liberal left trying to take away your rights as an American citizen—including your right to spread the gospel on the internet—then it is time for us to take a stand and fight.

We cannot allow this to happen.  Do what you must. Blog, write your congressman—only don’t be silent. Anyone remember the 1980s song, “Silent Running” by Mike and the Mechanics? It might simply be coming to that—a time when our voice will be silenced, with prayer as our only weapon.

Take the children and yourself
And hide out in the cellar
By now the fighting will be close at hand
Don’t believe the church and state
And everything they tell you
Believe in me, I’m with the high command

Can you hear me, can you hear me running?
Can you hear me running, can you hear me calling you?
Can you hear me, can you hear me running?
Can you hear me running, can you hear me calling you?

There’s a gun and ammunition
Just inside the doorway
Use it only in emergency
Better you should pray to God
The Father and the Spirit
Will guide you and protect from up here

Can you hear me, can you hear me running?
Can you hear me running, can you hear me calling you?
Can you hear me, can you hear me running?
Can you hear me running, can you hear me calling you?

Swear allegiance to the flag
Whatever flag they offer
Never hint at what you really feel
Teach the children quietly
For some day sons and daughters
Will rise up and fight while we stand still

Can you hear me, can you hear me running?
Can you hear me running, can you hear me calling you?
Can you hear me, can you hear me running?
Can you hear me running, can you hear me calling you?

“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.  If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me.”

Remember to do something today to come up higher in your calling.

Step Out of the Boat is a ministry created by Charisma Media Content Development Editor Shawn A. Akers and dedicated to help Christ followers to become spiritual champions and come to a more intimate relationship with Jesus. With its articles, podcasts and other forms of media, Step Out of the Boat encourages Christ followers to daily reach to a higher level in their calling. Shawn is a 35-year veteran sportswriter, a published poet and he published a story about Dale Earnhardt in NASCAR Chicken Soup for the Soul. You can read his blog here. You can also listen to his podcasts, the Javelin Sports Show, on the Charisma Podcast Network.