Posted in Free Republic, March 28, 2004

     I once heard a prophetic sermon about these times we are living through.

     The priest was comparing the slaughter of pigs to the slaughter of lambs. When he was growing up he lived near a pig farm. At slaughter, pigs kick, bite, squeel, fight...anything to avoid the coming slaughter. Its a loud bloody ugly mess.

     Conversely sheep, like the ones he saw while pastoring a church in Yugoslavia, lay down in their masters' arms while the shepherd slits their throat.

     The priest, speaking in an openly and clearly apocalyptic fashion, said, "When your time comes, and it will come, are you going to go out like a pig, or like The Lamb?"

     Many years --and gun purchases and shooting courses-- later, I had forgotten this sermon. After seeing The Passion of The Christ, and how Our Lord crawled onto His cross and spread His arms to be crucified, it hit me like a ton of bricks.

     Obviously, we live in another age of despots and tyrants. But this time around, we Christians will be naked before the world, technology and ID chips and a Big Brother guaranteeing there will be no place to hide. There will be no revolution against the despots and tyrants, for the lambs, their guns confiscated and their Constitutional rights gone, will be defenseless.

     No, no revolution, only the slaughter of the innocents by a New World Order.

     What good will it do to try to fight the forces of anti-Christ in the worldly way of war? We already know if we follow Him, we will be persecuted.

     But when our time comes, and it will come, will we go out like a pig or like The Lamb?

     We may not know it yet, but that might just be the central question posed by The Passion of The Christ.