Today is one of those days where my head feels like it is about to explode again, and it's time for a good rant. If you don't like rants, you can quit reading now. Don't say you weren't warned.
I'll admit it, I read some alternative news sources that most Americans don't. The Blaze. The Drudge Report. Fox News. I like real news, not what the mainstream media wants me to believe is happening. I'm not into conspiracies and I don't wear a tinfoil hat - well at least not around other people.
I've read quite a few things this week that have greatly troubled my spirit. First of all, as a Christian. Secondly as an American. As a Christian, I don't expect it to be easy to live my faith in a culture that is at best indifferent to the message of the cross and its foolishness. I don't expect every person in America to believe in Jesus or to embrace his message of salvation and eternal life. I don't expect people to have the same values that I do, or to believe the same truths that I do. This is one of the great things about America - we are free to believe whatever we want to believe and we are free to live our lives as we see fit, within certain parameters to protect public safety of course.
But more and more, I see a presidential administration and state and local governments that are slowly, but deliberately, usurping our First Amendment rights. The First Amendment protects our rights as Americans to freedom of thought, speech and conscience. Go here and here for two recent examples of how President Obama and like minded politicians are becoming increasing hostile towards Christianity.
Before I go on, let me say this: This isn't persecution. This is.
But we're getting there in this country. And what I read this week is the strongest proof yet. You see, this administration's Pentagon officials have been meeting with an extreme anti-Christian activist, Mikey Weinstein and are now set to make it a punshable offense for a member of our military to talk about their faith. We're talking possible court martial or dishonorable discharge. Not just publicly. But in private conversation. Read this article if you don't believe it.
This is a week in which President Obama has become the first sitting President to address the national gathering of Planned Parenthood, and in his address concluded with these words: "Thank you Planned Parenthood. God bless you. God bless you." I can't think of anything more disgusting for a President to do than to ask God to bless an organization that was responsible for the murder of 300,000 innocent babies in the last year, can you?
This is a week in which President Obama called Jason Collins, who was the first active NBA player to announce that he is gay, to congratulate him on being a hero. This picture sums it up well:
I believe that we are a nation, led by the words and actions of this presidential administration, that is inviting the judgment of God to fall on us. Isaiah 5 says this:
20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. 21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight. 22 Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine and champions at mixing drinks, 23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice to the innocent. 24 Therefore, as tongues of fire lick up straw and as dry grass sinks down in the flames, so their roots will decay and their flowers blow away like dust; for they have rejected the law of the LORD Almighty and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel. 25 Therefore the LORD's anger burns against his people; his hand is raised and he strikes them down. The mountains shake, and the dead bodies are like refuse in the streets. Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away, his hand is still upraised. Darkness and distress; even the light will be darkened by the clouds.
Scripture is clear in Romans 13 that government is one of the ways that God can bring blessing or woe to people. This isn't about donkeys and elephants. If a Republican or Libertarian or Tea Partier was doing the same things, I'd be ranting about it. This is about people who have been elected and chosen by other people to represent them. This is what we have chosen. We have chosen leaders who call evil good and good evil. We have chosen leaders who think they are smarter than they really are, and have no fear of God's wisdom. We have chosen leaders that have no regard for the most innocent of our citizens.
And because we have chosen this, we will see decay and rot in our country because we have chosen leaders who have not only rejected the law of God, but are trying to eliminate the law of God from having any bearing on individuals and institutions in our country. It's not a pretty picture that God's Word paints in Isaiah for the nation that rejects God and chooses our own foolishness over his wisdom.
Rants without solutions are useless and hopeless. The solution is not going to be found in more government. The solution to cultural decay and rot is The Church of Jesus Christ. We may not have the power or influence to change an entire culture or the direction of a government, but we have the opportunity and the power to change the lives of individuals. Our current leaders will try to silence us through legislating away our freedom. Our current culture will try to silence us by saying that we are bigots and intolerant. But Jesus made a promise about His Church.
Jesus said these words to Peter in Matthew 16:18: "And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it."
Jesus doesn't make that promise about anything else. He doesn't promise that the gates of hell won't prevail against governments or nations. He doesn't promise that the gates of hell won't prevail against civic and service organizations. He doesn't promise that the gates of hell won't prevail against even as great a nation as America. He only promises that the gates of hell with not overcome His Church.
The gates of hell are pressing in on us on all sides, Church! Do you see it? Do you care? Sin and evil are rampant in our culture and government. Sin and evil are rampant in our lives, and we are sitting idly by pretending that everything is OK. I don't know about you, but it makes me furious. I'm furious that we're losing our religious freedom. I'm furious that our culture is awash in evil and sin. But I'm more furious that I could be doing more to share the Good News of Jesus Christ. If we remain silent as The Church, we are complicit in the woe that is being brought upon us by our leaders and our culture.
The gates of hell are pressing in on us on all sides. Do you care? Do you care about people that are hopeless without Jesus? Do you care about people that are on the path to destruction? Do you care about people that don't know the love of Jesus? Do you care about the fact that God wants everybody to repent and trust Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
In Luke 15, we see a powerful picture of the heart of God towards sinners and the lost. Jesus tells 3 parables about things and people that are lost. The greatest joy of heaven is when ONE sinner repents and trusts in the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. Is this your greatest joy, Christian? It should be!
Although the gates of hell may press in, they will not prevail. We don't win the battle of evil through more politics and boycotts or violence. We win the battle of evil with love, with prayer, and with the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God! It's time Church! It's time to rise up and raise our voices about the greatness of Jesus and His love and truth! The proclamation of the Gospel with the motivation of love is the greatest tool that the Church has to beat back the gates of Hell. If you are in Christ, you are in the battle. You are a part of his means to change the world, one life at a time!
We are not helpless! We have a Savior who has conquered sin, death and Hell! This is why the gates of Hell will not and cannot prevail against His Church! He is still alive. The tomb is still empty. Raise your voice against sin and evil! Raise your voice of love and truth! Raise the banner of our conquering, living King!
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