Enough
with the religious fluff, legalism, showmanship, politicizing, racism, and
the like. “The devil’s trademark attack is to draw us away from the simplicity
of faith in Christ…Satan’s strategy is to use the educated elite, the mind
manipulators, and the brilliant thinkers of history to lure people away from
simplicity of devotion to Christ and biblical authority.” Chuck Swindoll
On
the same hand, we have some amazing Christian minds from history and today who
were/are educated, brilliant thinkers, and non-mind manipulators, who
intelligently lead people to this simple faith in absolute truth.
2
Corinthians 13:3-4 “But I fear that
somehow your pure and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted, just as
Eve was deceived by the cunning ways of the serpent. You happily put up with
whatever anyone tells you, even if they preach a different Jesus than the one
we preach, or a different kind of Spirit than the one you received, or a
different kind of gospel than the one you believed.”
I
never post anything political or controversial on Facebook because I don’t like
the hatred that is expressed and spewed by both Democrats and Republicans, diverse
ethnicities, Christians and non-Christians, etc. I appreciate good, hearty
debate if exercised in love with the end desire being peace and unity. It just
never appears to be that way. One of the things that really bothers me is the
Christian who criticizes without praying for the person they judge. If they do,
you would never know it by the things they post. Is it really too hard to pray for our President and other Republicans, that God would give him (them) wisdom, clarity, and proper judgment, instead of ripping him (them) to shreds like the media does? Whether you agree with him or not, God is using our President. Would it be too difficult to
pray for the former Democratic Presidential Candidate or other Democrats that
if it’s God’s will, and they stand for godly principles, to be put into office? The bottom line: Do we pray for peace
and unity on all sides or just for “my side?” Jesus said, “Love your enemies!
Pray for those who persecute you!” (Matthew 5:44). He took no political sides,
when it came to paying taxes, He even said, “give to Caesar what belongs to
Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God.” (Matthew 22:21)
“Everyone must submit to governing
authorities. For all authority comes
from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God…The authorities are God’s servants, sent for
your good.” Romans 13:1,4 God even allows evil rulers to reign to show
countries and the world how deprave mankind can really be which proves our
desperate need of Him and godly leadership. King Saul was dethroned by King
David because David was a “man after God’s own heart.”
No
matter what our belief, our political authorities have been placed there by
God. So, if we really believe this and have attitudes that actually abide in this
reality, maybe, just maybe, we will begin to sow the seeds of peace and unity through
our prayer life for this divided country.
Don’t
be deceived, remember, “Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.” 2
Corinthians 13:14 Let none of us be deceived by the sound bites the media
continually force feeds us. So much stuff is taken out of context (on all sides).
All the while, we may never know the absolute truth or motivation. Yet we get
sucked in. King David had every right to retaliate, spew dissent and hatred
when being hunted by Saul and later by his own son Absalom. But he always
submitted. Always trusted that God was in control. Psalm 115:3 says it well: “Our
God is in the heavens, and he does as he wishes.”
Like I said, I’m really getting sick of
all of hatred spewed on Facebook. When I read this quote by Thomas Merton, the
truth hit me like a runaway train: “Man
is not at peace with his fellow man because he is not at peace with himself. He
is not at peace with himself because he is not at peace with God.” If only we
would see this truth as the reason for so much tension in this country it would
drive us to our knees! We would tremble at the reality of it! We’re so busy
complaining that we’re forgetting our mandate to be those who bring
reconciliation between God and man.
Where is your energy being spent?
Tearing down or building up? Like Jesus, be used by the Spirit to change a
person’s heart, then the mind will change. Jesus told us our energy should be spent on going into all the world and making disciples (Matthew 28) and that we would receive power when the Holy Spirit would come upon us so that we would be His witnesses in our community, in our country, and around the world (Acts 1:8). That is awesome energy spent!
These turbulent days it’s difficult for
me to have political conversations because people tend to judge, jump to conclusions,
make assumptions, with no resolve the result. And those, my friend, are what sow seeds of disunity. The only way we will find unity, unconditional love, and
peace with fellow man is when we are truly at peace with God through Christ. And
sometimes finding that peace with God is submitting to the plan of authority He
has ordained whether we like it or not. And either way, we must pray for our
elected officials not to do what we want, rather what God wants for this
country.
You see, Jesus is the unifier, yet our
culture looks at Him as the divider. He is the healer, yet our culture looks at
Him as the disease. He is pure love, yet our culture looks at Him as the root
of hatred and religious bigotry. He sees no color, died for all tribes and nations,
yet our culture considers Him the western white man’s bigoted god.
As the Unifier, if we all look to Him, and
allow His Spirit to illuminate our hearts; we therefore cannot, will not, and would
not, be able able to respond by hatred causing discord and disunity. Our only response
would be love causing peace and unity.
Read these almost prophetic words
by the Christian mystic Thomas Merton over 50 years ago:
“It always gets back to the same
thing. I have dutifully done my bit. I have been “open to the world.” That is
to say, I have undergone my dose of exposure to American society in the ’60s—particularly in these last weeks.
I love the people I run into, but I
pity them for having to live as they do, and I think the world of U.S.A.
in 1967 is a world of crass, blind, overstimulated, phony, lying stupidity. The
war in Asia slowly gets worse—and almost
more inane. The temper of the country is one of blindness, fat, self-satisfied,
ruthless, mindless corruption. A lot of people are uneasy about it but helpless
to do anything against it. The rest are perfectly content with the rat race as
it is, and with its competitive, acquisitive, hurtling, souped-up drive into nowhere.
A massively aimless, baseless, shrewd cockiness that simply exalts itself without
purpose. The mindless orgasm, in which there is no satisfaction, only spasm.” May 27, 1967
