Hobby Lobby and the Beginning of the EndDr. Randy WhiteThe fight between Hobby Lobby and the U.S. Government portends difficult days ahead for people of faith. If you are not aware, Hobby Lobby has chosen to defy the new U.S. Government mandate that requires companies like Hobby Lobby to provide "emergency contraceptives" to their employees through their company-provided health insurance.  The owners of Hobby Lobby, operating out of Christian convictions, refuse to provide "the morning-after pill" and other "contraceptives" that abort unborn children medically.   By defying the Obama-inspired government mandate, the company is in danger of being fined over $1 million every day.What does this say to those who will listen?First, it says that our Government is hell-bent on baby-killing.  It is now government mandated that large corporations provide the means to the early death of these unborn.  It was just a few years ago that the morning-after pill (often called "Plan B" in its early days) was very controversial in American society.  Now it is mandated.Second, it says that religious convictions are unwelcome in business, government, and society.  Secularism is now the state-sponsored religion.  Hobby Lobby is a privately owned corporation that is unashamed in its Christian values.  Anyone shopping, or working, in a Hobby Lobby will soon discover that faith is part of the everyday culture of the corporation.  If homosexuality, feminism, socialism, or any other anti-god philosophy were the corporate culture, there would be no fuss at all.  Any faith expression that believes in a higher being (and especially Christianity and Judaism) will be increasingly unwelcome in the public discourse.  It is only a matter of time before those who express Christian convictions are arrested under spurious charges and placed in prisons.  Far fetched?  Only if you ignore history.  Mark my words:  In coming days, high-profile Christians will be framed, charged, and sentenced for crimes.  The papers will present the evidence, the public will accept it, and Christians will sit in prisons, their only crime being their faith.  In advance, you need to recognize that the crime and the charge will not be the same thing.  The charge will be spurious, but the crime will be faith, and you'll never read about the real crime in the newspaper.  Therefore, you need to be suspicious when Christian leaders are arrested and sentence for criminal activity.Third, it says that health-care will be the modus opperandis for government intrusion.  The omnibus health-care act is an opportunity for the Government to interact with every area of our lives. For now, it  targets large corporations, but who really believes it will end there?  The Big Brother of 1984 fame has now arrived.  George Orwell may have been right, just early in his predictions.Third, it says that no corporation, family business, local government, church, or family is safe from government mandates.  In the olden days, we would have called this dictatorship-even if it is a majority of 535 dictators working in unison.   When government rather than market-driven forces force a corporation into certain behavior, dictatorship has arrived.What to do?Some say that Christians are to obey the government because it is the agent of God.  However, I would challenge them to show me that government is the agent of God for providing abortion pills to society. Is government the agent of God for providing health-care?  What is outside the parameters of God-ordained government?  Are Christians mandated to obey the government in anything and everything the government declares?  I think not!  Peter received a mandate to cease and desist from preaching the Gospel.  His response:  We must obey God rather than man.So I think it's time for true Believers to prepare for the possibility of being charged with civil disobedience, the subsequent public shame of being charged and sentenced for crimes we did not commit, and receiving severe punishment that would appear, in a former day, to be "cruel and unusual."Finally, it is time to learn who we can trust, who is a true believer, who totally trusts the Word of God. Find ways to ask people about their values, motivations, and convictions.  The day may come when we need to know who is with us.Am I a conspiracy theorist, scared of my shadow?  Only time will tell.  I am reminded of the young rabbinical student in Fiddler on the Roof who kept announcing news of Jewish pogroms in other places, each announcement met with light-hearted dismissal.  Whatever comes, I do know that I will face the future with conviction and honor to my God.  I want to be like Casper Ten Boom, Corrie's father, who was famously imprisoned for harboring Jews.  When a Nazi officer gave him opportunity to go free because of his age, he replied, "If I go home today…tomorrow I will open my door again to any man in need who knocks."___Dr. Randy White is Pastor of First Baptist Church of Katy, TX and the daily Bible teacher on the Word for the World radio program.