Growing Persecution

We seem to be seeing more and more evidence of persecution - right here in the U.S.

Two stories in the news serve to make this point:

IRS accused of targeting Jews

An attorney for an educational organization called Z Street says there's now evidence Internal Revenue Service agents under the direction of the Obama administration intentionally are targeting the free speech and religious rights of American Jews.

WND reported only weeks ago when the IRS delayed approval of a tax-exempt status for a private organization and was reviewing its educational work after explaining it must be examined by Washington because its activities may "contradict the administration's public policies."

Did I just read that correctly? The IRS now reviews tax-exempt status based upon activities that may "contradict the administration's public policies" ? Really? That is a very very scary scenario for so many reasons.

That allegation was contained in a federal lawsuit filed in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania by Z Street, a Merion Station, Pa., group that educates on the statehood and status of Israel.

Now Jerome M. Marcus, an attorney for Z Street, has revealed to WND that additional documents have been found demonstrating how the IRS has moved "beyond the pale" by cracking down on education groups that focus on Israel.

He said the government isn't allowed to weigh the religious viewpoints of educational organizations when deciding whether to grant them tax exempt status under federal charity laws.

"This information indicates that this is a policy that the IRS is pursuing. It is not an appropriate inquiry asking about someone's religious beliefs or political beliefs."

In his brief, Marcus details the "wildly improper" questioning by the IRS of yet another Jewish organization.

It gets worse:

While the application was pending, its representative received a letter from the IRS, all but the first page of which appears as Exhibit 1 to Mr. Marcus's declaration. The letter, sent not by Agent Gentry, who was handling Plaintiff's application, but by a different IRS agent, inquires of the applicant: 'Does your organization support the existence of the land of Israel? Describe your organization's religious belief system towards the land of Israel.'"

This paragraph says it all:

"This is not an appropriate inquiry – what are your religious beliefs," Marcus told WND. "As long as one's beliefs are factually based, IRS has no business questioning them. Inquiring into the substance of one's political beliefs is beyond the pale. It's pure viewpoint discrimination and a violation of the First Amendment."

It is both timely and germane that the following article also came out today:

Holocaust Denial From U.S. Professors: Academic Freedom?

What are the limits to academic discourse?

Consider the case of Kaukab Siddique, professor of literature and communications at Lincoln University near Philadelphia. In a now widely broadcast video he stated to an approving crowd protesting near the White House:

"For the Jews, I would say, see what could happen to you if the Muslims wake up. And I say to the Muslims, dear brothers and sisters, unite and rise up against this hydra-headed monster which calls itself Zionism. … It is obvious to us that Zionism is racism. … It is obvious to us that Zionism is genocide. It is obvious to us that Zionism is terrorism.

This is hardly new. What makes Siddique different are a series of discovered emails in which Siddique called the Holocaust a “hoax” and “invented,” and states that Jews have “taken over America” by “devious and immoral means.”

The article is thought-provoking and brings a stark reality to the table. A reality that includes so many professors at U.S. universities preaching against Israel. The concluding paragraph presents an appropriate summary of the situation:

Israel and Jews are demonized in crude ways, and critics of this are accused of being infringers of academic freedom and Zionist propagandists. But the pairing of official diffidence and the disinhibition of anti-Semites in academia is ultimately opportune. The “higher education bubble” is already under scrutiny for grotesquely inflated costs and empty promises of useful skills. Closer examination of its localized cultures of hate, and attitudes of both entitlement and impunity, will not help its case. Such examinations are precisely required. What comes after that, however, is unknown.

But we do know what comes "after that", and it includes a growing persecution against both Christians and Jews. Persecution that will continue to increase until the tribulation period and then reaches epic degrees and will include widespread rounding up of Christians and Jews and putting them to death in massive numbers. The book of Revelation gives us all the details that we need to know, and it isn't pretty.

We're just seeing the early stages of this coming persecution.