Benham Brothers: It's the First Time in American History Being a Christian Will Cost Something (Interview)
ORLANDO — Identical twins David Benham and Jason Benham, known as The Benham Brothers, want Americans to understand that there is an attack on Christians' religious liberty in the country and for the first time ever they believe it will cost something to live out their faith.
The former professional baseball players have become well known Christian activists since losing their reality television show on HGTV, which was canceled due to comments made by the Benhams regarding abortion and same-sex marriage.
"We've been speaking at men's conferences in various churches and different events across the country and the common theme that constantly comes up is that now is the time for Christians to stand boldly for their faith whatever the cost," David told The Christian Post at Proclaim 17, NRB International Christian Media Convention in Orlando last week.
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"It may cost us something," he warned. "This is the first time in our generation and in our parents generation that it's actually going to cost us something to truly live out our biblical faith."
The older brother went on to reference Hebrews 11 which talks about all the men and women in the Bible who lived their faith in different ways.
"They ran their race and it cost them something, [For some, it] cost them their very lives but then Hebrews 12 says, 'Now it's our time. Since we are surrounded by this great cloud of witnesses, let us run the race with perseverance that is set before us.' So it's our turn, we've got the baton and we are going to win this."
"One thing we want you to understand is that there is an attack on religious liberty in this country," David stressed.
Jason echoed his brother and referenced the scripture found in Luke 14:33-34.
"It talks about, if the salt loses its saltiness it can't be made salty again. It's no good for anything but to be thrown out in the manure pile, but the verse proceeding that said if you are not willing to give up everything you cannot be my disciple," Jason explained.
He emphasized that like salt, people of faith should give up everything to keep their flavor.
"That is the word for Christians today, let it go! Let go of your platform, let go of your reputation, Pastor, let go of your congregation; mom, let go of your great reputation as the mommy blogger that everybody loves. Just die to all that you love and speak the truth in love. Then let the perception be whatever the perception is because perception is not reality; truth is reality. If you focus on perception you're going to miss the truth so let's die to that and continue to be salty," Jason maintained.
The real estate entrepreneurs have become quite the activists for freedom of speech and religion, and were featured speakers at NRB to encourage the Christian leaders, broadcasters and people from all different forms of media who were in attendance.
When asked if the Benham brothers had advice for people of faith who might not be as confident to speak out, David told CP that Christians have to remember who they are in Christ.
"First and foremost, for those that are discouraged we have to understand we don't fight for victory, we fight from victory! Jesus has already won the victory at the cross and it's our lives lived for Him that are going to transform the culture," the 42-year-old said. "Trust me, the persecution that we see overseas is nothing like we see over here. It's just pressure here, so now that we have these rights, let's keep standing and living our lives every day."
He also provided advice for anyone who might be on the other side of that and a bit too overzealous.
"Remember when Peter was awakened and captors were upon Jesus? The first thing he reached for was his sword and he cut off the dude's ear. Jesus said, 'We don't fight like that.' So quite often we can reach for political vengeance, or we can reach for verbal vengeance on whatever social media outlet, [but] we don't fight like that, we don't speak like that. We speak in love first and foremost through our lives and secondly through our mouths," he concluded.
David and Jason Benham are authors of the books Whatever the Cost: Facing Your Fears, Dying to Your Dreams, and Living Powerfully." For information on the popular twins, visit their website.
NRB celebrated the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation at this year's convention, which along with The Benham Brothers featured such speakers as Devon Franklin, Kevin Sorbo, Lee Strobel and Eric Metaxas. The theme verse for NRB's Proclaim 17 conference came from Leviticus 25:10, which says, "Proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants."
