“I submit to you that if a man hasn’t discovered something he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.”– Martin Luther King Jr.

On April 20, 2010, six gay rights activists were arrested after chaining themselves to the White House fence to protest the fact that the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy has yet to be repealed by President Obama. The ringleader, Lt. Dan Choi, was also arrested the month before for the very same thing. Not surprisingly, the arrests barely made the news–owing to the fact that park police had imposed a media blackout by banning reporters from the scene of the protest and closing Lafayette Park. Even so, these gay activists were willing to risk arrest and jail to make their point.

This raises a serious question. How far would you go to stand up for what you believe? Would you be willing to get arrested and go to jail?

As a constitutional attorney, I’ve defended a lot of individuals over the years who were not only willing to get arrested for what they believed–they did get arrested and considered it a badge of honor. I came of age during the 1960s, when Americans of all ages staged sit-ins to protest such things as racial segregation and war. If we had a grievance with the government, we made it known, either by taking to the streets or engaging in some other form of protest–even civil disobedience.

Americans today, by and large, are as compliant as they come. While they may moan and complain about the state of affairs, few are willing to go to the mat for their beliefs or rock the boat in any way in order to challenge the status quo. Yet between the failing economy, the depressed job market, the rise of an ominous surveillance state and government officials who often seem clueless about the people’s growing frustration, Americans have good reason to be unhappy with their government right now. In fact, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey, nearly 80 percent of Americans do not trust their government to do what is right. Sixty-five percent hold an unfavorable opinion of Congress. And nearly a third of those surveyed view the federal government as a major threat to their personal freedom.

So why is there so little resistance? And why is the little that is being done not more effective? Where are the marches, the sit-ins, the demonstrations? Why hasn’t this brewing discontent bubbled over into the kind of civic unrest that forces change? Even the Tea Party protesters, despite accusations of incivility from those on the left, seem content to safely operate within the realms of the political system.

Is it that we don’t care enough about our freedoms to risk arrest and going to jail? If prominent leftist thinkers such as Noam Chomsky and Naomi Wolfe are correct, we may well be moving toward a fascist government–even under the Obama administration. If so, then what’s left for us to do when speech is not enough? How can we get the government to change and protect our freedoms?

Simply put, there are times when it is necessary to rage at injustice. Martin Luther King Jr. changed history by doing so, which in turn gave rise to a social revolution. King was the ultimate radical, a self-styled extremist for love and nonviolence who operated under the belief that “injustice must be rooted out by strong, persistent and determined action” and that “freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.”

It was 47 years ago, in April 1963, that King wrote his famous “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” after being arrested, jailed and then subsequently criticized for his part in a planned non-violent protest against racial segregation in Birmingham, Alabama. King responded with a blistering indictment of those so-called moderates who are “more devoted to ‘order’ than to ‘justice’” and “the appalling silence of the good people,” which he equated with the “hateful words and actions of the bad people.”

These are strong words from a man who not only faced down club-swinging cops, snarling police dogs and fire hoses shooting out crushing streams of water in a later march on Birmingham but, amazingly enough, enlisted schoolchildren, some as young as 6 years old, to do the same. King was soundly criticized for using youngsters as troops. As Robert F. Kennedy, then serving as U.S. Attorney General, stated, “Schoolchildren participating in street demonstrations is a dangerous business. An injured, maimed or dead child is a price that none of us can afford to pay.”

“The Negro children of Birmingham, however, kept right on marching,” reported Time. Clearly, King disagreed with Kennedy’s assessment. “The eyes of the world are on Birmingham,” King urged his followers after the first day’s demonstrations resulted in 250 youngsters being jailed. “We’re going on in spite of dogs and fire hoses. We’ve gone too far to turn back.” And go on they did, reported Time, “despite all they were up against, despite hoses and clubs and police dogs and hate and folly.”

Whether you agree with King’s methods or not, there can be no denying that his use of militant nonviolence, creative extremism and civil disobedience was extremely effective. Then again, King believed deeply in the cause he was fighting for and was adamant about using only the weapons of love and nonviolence in his crusade for freedom–so much so that he was willing to risk not only his own life but the lives of his youngest followers.

King was also a master strategist who understood that government is reactive not proactive. In other words, government moves only when we make it move. As King wrote in an article that was published after he was murdered:

We need to put pressure on Congress to get things done. We will do this with First Amendment activity. If Congress is unresponsive, we’ll have to escalate in order to keep the issue alive and before it. This action may take on disruptive dimensions, but not violent in the sense of destroying life or property: it will be militant nonviolence.

King knew very well that politicians could not be relied upon for any real solutions. Meaningful change, if it was to be effected, depended on the involvement and activism of the citizenry. That’s why King encouraged a form of activism that was disruptive but nonviolent–militant nonviolence.

Sadly, activist movements today pale in comparison, and that restraint may lead to our downfall, not only in terms of failing to challenge the status quo but in bottling up frustrations that would be better expressed. As King explained in his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”:

Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The yearning for freedom eventually manifests itself, and that is what has happened to the American Negro….If one recognizes this vital urge that has engulfed the Negro community, one should readily understand why public demonstrations are taking place. The Negro has many pent up resentments and latent frustrations, and he must release them. So let him march; let him make prayer pilgrimages to the city hall; let him go on freedom rides -and try to understand why he must do so. If his repressed emotions are not released in nonviolent ways, they will seek expression through violence; this is not a threat but a fact of history. So I have not said to my people: “Get rid of your discontent.” Rather, I have tried to say that this normal and healthy discontent can be channeled into the creative outlet of nonviolent direct action. And now this approach is being termed extremist. But though I was initially disappointed at being categorized as an extremist, as I continued to think about the matter I gradually gained a measure of satisfaction from the label. Was not Jesus an extremist for love: “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” Was not Amos an extremist for justice: “Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream.” Was not Paul an extremist for the Christian gospel: “I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.” Was not Martin Luther an extremist: “Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise, so help me God.” And John Bunyan: “I will stay in jail to the end of my days before I make a butchery of my conscience.” And Abraham Lincoln: “This nation cannot survive half slave and half free.” And Thomas Jefferson: “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal…” So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate or for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice? In that dramatic scene on Calvary’s hill three men were crucified. We must never forget that all three were crucified for the same crime–the crime of extremism. Two were extremists for immorality, and thus fell below their environment. The other, Jesus Christ, was an extremist for love, truth and goodness, and thereby rose above his environment. Perhaps the South, the nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.

Sadly, almost half a century after King penned those words from his solitary cell in a Birmingham city jail, we are still in dire need of creative extremists.

Last week, ABC News interviewed evangelist Benny Hinn on their Faith Matters series. If you haven’t seen the interview, you can view it above. You can also read the article online at ABCNews.com.

Just today, we received an email from one of our readers who shared their thoughts on the interview:

I have never been an advocate for Benny Hinn. I believe that he elevates healing of the physical body and human emotional response to spiritual stimulus above the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Ultimately he gives a bad name to Christians and his elaborate fundraising and spending habits don’t seem to help any. But I have to be honest, I felt sorry for Hinn as I watched this interview.

First of all Dan Harris of ABC’s Nightline did not walk into the interview as a true journalist. He was skeptical and arrogant from the beginning. He had automatically discounted anything (including healing) that Benny Hinn stood for before he started the interview – that was very evident and lacked journalism integrity.

Second (and the highlight of the interview), Hinn’s publicist badgers Harris from the sidelines and tries to prevent Hinn from answering questions that Harris wanted to address. It is almost as if Hinn has a force of people controlling him from behind the scenes in order to protect the financial empire he has built. And it appears that Hinn has grown tired of it.

The substance of the interview which was most disturbing, however, was Hinn’s total defense of his elaborate lifestyle – including the fact that he flies in a private jet paid for by the donations of his followers. At one point Hinn made a preposterous statement,” Every man of God I know today has a nice house.” He said it’s a tool that must be used in order to minister in the culture we find ourselves in. I don’t have a nice house. Does this mean I’m not a “man of God?”

The bottom line is that when prosperity and spiritual-feeding-frenzies become the focus of anything, Jesus is never lifted up.

We know you have an opinion. What are your thoughts on the interview?

Recently we came across a great online video magazine called Enoch Magazine. It intrigued us. So we decided to find out more. After finding out more about them, the more we liked them and their vision. Here is an interview we recently had with Nate Smith, Managing Editor of Enoch Magazine.

Tell us a little about Enoch Magazine. What is it? And why is it?

Enoch Magazine is a non profit media movement that exists online. We travel and film documentaries that show God’s glory in unique and different ways. We also interview bands, have dj mixes, articles, and more. Our big focuses are the homeless and finding out what people’s perception of Jesus is. We started Enoch because we were frustrated with a lot of the Christian Media available out there. It seemed so much of it was living in the Christian bubble and it was frustrating. We wanted to take a different angle. We wanted to find people who are truly serving God but their not famous or anybody special and document that.

What obsticles do you face with running the magazine?

Well honestly finances and time. Its hard to fund all of our trips when we give all our content away for free. That’s ok though. Look in the Bible and never once did they charge to hear Jesus speak or did the disciples ever ask to be paid. We live in an age where we are constantly being bombarded by the digital and print world. If you don’t have a lot of money than you can’t advertise or if you don’t have a lot of time to post your content all over the internet people might not find it. I still work a part time to help fund trips and its hard sometimes to find a good balance.

How has Enoch challenged your faith?

That’s a great question. It seems with Enoch I take it a day at time. Most of the time you don’t know who is reading the articles or watching the videos so you can’t directly see God working. It’s made me remember that in faith God is always behind the scenes and always working and many people don’t give him the credit he deserves. Its made me grow in my trust in finances. We are moving our magazine to Skid Row in Downtown Los Angeles and I have no money and barely enough to cover the gas to get there but I am trusting God a day at a time. It makes me realize he will take care of me. It sounds cliché but he seems to always come through. I definitely have thrown in all my cards with God so I have no choice but to be faithful.

Tell us more about the documentary Skid Row is Holyground that you guys created a few months ago.

A little over a year and a half ago my partner in the magazine Carter Theis wanted to go to a place he was scared of and see God show up. He wanted to go to Skid Row in Downtown Los Angeles and film a documentary about what the need was there. For those of you who don’t know Skid Row is a 9 by 9 block in Downtown Los Angeles where they estimate 15,000 to 20,000 homeless people are living. For us it was about also growing in faith and trusting that the Lord would protect us in what is considered one of the most dangerous places in the United States. That was out first trip and we’ve been back 4 times since then. Over the last year and a half we have released a series of videos called Skid Row is Holyground on the Enoch Web Site. We hope to eventually put out a DVD of our whole experience. We are moving there in a few weeks and we will putting out weekly videos on the Enoch Magazine site and also on Skidrowisholyground.com.

Enoch is moving their headquarters to Skid Row in LA. Why the move and how did the passion develop within you guys for one of the most dangerous communities in California?

Every time we were out there on the streets we hated leaving after we had connected with that community. By just making videos we felt we were not doing enough. We wanted to be down there every day truly making a difference. So, after a few trips we decided that we should move Enoch Magazine to Skid Row. There is never a dull day on Skid Row. It’s exciting! There are so many ministry opportunities down there too. You can do anything from Street Evangelism to music to feeding to discipleship and so much more.

What are some of the needs you are facing?

Well our number one need right now is finances. We have partnered with a ministry called the Jonah Project (jonahproject.org) and we are in the process of buying a building on Skid Row. This building will not only serve as the Enoch Magazine Headquarters but also as a place that will be open for the homeless everyday. They will be able to get fed, get new clothes, go to bible studies and services on Sundays. We also want to have a place to throw concerts that are specficially for the homeless. This building will also be a place that mission groups can come and serve and stay. We want people to come to Skid Row and have the same experience we had on our first few trips. We actually have a website for the building called Skidrowisholyground.com

How can people connect with you?

People can connect with us by going to Enochmagazine.com or Skidrowisholyground.com. You can also connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, and Myspace or email us at info@enochmagazine.com.

SONSOFDAY is not your typical Christian band. The four-piece alternative rock group based out of Portland, Oregon, is unique, and their story reads more like a screenplay than a typical band bio. They immigrated from Ukraine to the United States in 1992 in pursuit of a better life and religious freedom, which Ukraine was only just beginning to experience after.

The four Belonozhko brothers make up SONSOFDAY, the Red Hammer Records band now traveling the country to promote their debut album Fragile People, which is now in stores. The quartet is comprised of Vlad, age 21, on vocals and guitar; Roman, age 24, on lead guitar; Bogdan, age 19, on drums; and Scott, age 17, on bass… Read More

“…a remarkable band that displays the best of what Christian music has to offer.” — Jesusfreakhideout.com Read Full Article

SONSOFDAY wants to give you a chance to not just pre-order the new album but be a part of it. When you pre-order the new album, your photo and name will be included in the album artwork booklet and you’ll receive a signed copy of “Autumn Heart” before it’s release date, October 12th 2009.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNnS35HEqS4&hl=en&fs=1&]

The fine folks of Lighthouse Christian Fellowship in Chula Vista, California have come up with this clever little video. They have set out to ask the everyone: “If you could ask God one question, what would it be?”

Take a minute, watch the video, and then leave us a comment with the one question you’d like to ask God.