The quiet rise of authoritarianism!

As concerns about freedom and truth grow worldwide, discover how to respond to rising authoritarianism with prayer and courage. Drawing parallels to historical trends including anti-Semitism and societal shifts, this prayer strategy equips believers to stand firm in faith rather than fear during these critical times.

Transcript

Last week we had a really exciting week and we were invited to the Canada Strong and Free Network conference here in Ottawa. We were invited by our friend Michael Westcott who leads Allied Allies for a strong Canada. I'm a friend with a lot of allies of allies. Anyway, uh it was great. It was a real eye-opening experience. We got to talk with many leaders, politicians, MPs, uh prime premiers. I even got to talk to Mike Pompeo, the former CIA director and secretary of state. Great conversation with him. It was really great to be there and I would really suggest that you take a look at the conference because we saw a lot of great areas that we can be pressing in on prayer.

And uh so you can find these conversations, many of these speeches and panels on CPAC. Uh that's the uh government website. You can see it on YouTube, CPAC. Uh look up Canada Strong and Free Network. And one of the one of the things that they spoke about, um one of the panels that they had, uh they had Rick Eckstein, uh my friend Rick Eckstein speaking and they brought in Mishaal Wunch um from Israel to talk about anti-Semitism and the rise of anti-Semitism. And many times people ask us, "Why are you pressing in so much on anti-Semitism in Canada?" And it's a very simple answer. It's the Jewish community are the canary in the coal mine. Right? When we see the rise of

anti-Semitism, we also see other things happen in conjunction. And we're starting to see this again. Like we've been here before. Back in Nat- Na- Nazi Germany, uh we saw, you know, violence against Jews on the streets. Jews not allowed to even be in places. They use the excuse and if you're a Zionist, we don't want to talk about you. And it's And it's kind of interesting. It's because you you hear this these two narratives that are out there. We don't want Jews here in our land and we don't want them in Israel. It's kind of funny. But we're going to do some videos and talk about this. But anyway, back to to historically what has happened. So even when we take a look at

the rise of anti-Semitism, we saw this before, like I said, during Nazi Nazi in Nazi Germany. When we saw the equivalent of medical assistance in dying. That was introduced there. And there they were, you know, it was considered mercy killing and then they thought, "Okay, well, you know, maybe we'll help those people with mental illness. We'll take them out of their misery. And perhaps people with born with with defects, we can get that or disabilities. Well, the state doesn't really want to pay for those disabilities. So let's see if we can get rid of them." And then they started to move into people that made them uncomfortable. It was actually Jews, the Roma or Gypsies,

others and others and even Christians to to a certain extent, to a big extent I actually I should say. We started to see this under the guise of the equivalent of medical assistance in dying. So when you see this rise of of anti-Semitism, there is an element of authoritarianism connected and we've seen this in history. And are we seeing it today? Even the CBC, right? The CBC actually said this on two occasions just a couple of weeks ago questioning questioning the direction of our Prime Minister, and is he moving into these spheres of authoritarianism as well as other global leaders. Other leaders in the West that are traditionally people of freedom, are they moving this way? I'm not saying

this to to to make you afraid. All right? Because we don't want to be afraid. We are not afraid. We are not ruled by the spirit of fear, but of a power, of power, love, and a sound mind, or self-discipline. So, we are not ruled by that. And in fact, one of my favorite chapters right now is out of Acts chapter 4. In Acts chapter 4, just it's Peter and John. Um they are brought before some leaders. They're They're They're telling we don't like that you're preaching. We don't like this stuff that you're doing. We're not doing this. And so, they stand up and they stand up and they speak out against the the this authority. And then they pray this prayer. Right? They speak the word of the Lord

with boldness. And this is where we're supposed to be. It was great to be at Canada Strong and Free because I was able to speak the word of the Lord with boldness. To teenagers, to university students, to those all those around who even with those in in in authority we're speaking the word of God to them. And like I said, we were the only ministry that were there. Cardus was there. They're not really a ministry, they're more of a think tank, but we were there and we were there to speak the word of the Lord. >> [snorts] >> And to encourage and to and and to pray. I mean, the the main thing when you're embedded in a a situation like this, you're not there just to be observers.

Anybody can be an observer. The main reason why we're there is so we're picking up and learning how to pray and what to pray for. That's why you should be engaging in society. But not only because you're going to speak the word, but you're going to take those things that you see to the Lord and come into agreement with his plans and his purposes for those things. So So I I I want to encourage you. Don't be riled up about this arising authoritarianism. We're going to do a podcast on it coming up. We're going to do a podcast on anti-Semitism and bringing some guests. But I just want to say to you, be bold and courageous for you The Lord your God will go with you

wherever you go. And I just want to remind you one thing out of 2 Timothy 2. There's something there. Even the Paul The Apostle Paul says this and it's and it's just glorious. And this needs to be our posture cuz many of us are too often ruled by fear. And the Apostle Paul says that even though I'm in chains, right? Unjustly in chains, he says. Even though it's not fair that I'm in chains. I haven't done anything wrong. I haven't broken the law. But I'm in chains. But it's this that the word of the Lord is not in chains. And remember that that when you speak the word of the Lord, it is not in chains. And in fact, it sets captives free. I'm Chris Byrnes, the director of the

National House of Prayer. And we'll see you next time. Bye for now.