February 16, 2021 – Click here to listen
As anticipated, I received a flurry of letters about my zealot comments yesterday. One fiery zealot wrote:
“He said turn the other cheek, but I’m not sure that means in the collective.
The Bible also says there’s a time for war. We are in one, whether we want to face it or not. The left is at war with America. Not a war of bombs and guns. A war of ideas, and right now their ideas are taking over, big time.
Hmmm . . . Jesus didn’t mention spending time in a communist collective in His instructions to His people, but I believe it was implied that our conduct should be what He desires wherever we find ourselves. My point was and is that He was more concerned with winning souls for the kingdom than earthly matters. He wishes us to “wage our war of ideas” with that in mind. And doing so while abiding by the ideas promoted in the “Sermon on the Mount.” I do think He meant what He said and no doubt foresaw our current situation.
So I suppose that I see the methods that we use to fight the enemies of the light to be the real issue. Should we resort to the same tactics they use? Should we lie and rig elections? Should we put ourselves in a situation whereby God’s children cannot be distinguished from Satan’s?
Another person wrote:
“Interesting timing for your WFTD. For the first time in my life I am working for myself and not collecting a check from someone else. On occasion I have people pay me in cash. Feeling the way I do about the government, federal funding of abortion, taxes, how it is spent . . . yada, yada, yada . . . all the stuff you touch on. I find myself very tempted to “not” report everything . . . to lower my taxable footprint.
I tithe, I pay taxes. I have always conducted my affairs above board, but recently have caught myself thinking . . . Well they stole the election, they’re Censoring me/us, spending my money on all the things I find abhorrent, why send them a dime more than I have to??
I cannot bear the thought of “a Roman type” dictatorship, but I feel like a modern version of that is not far off potentially. My gut and head tell me to continue to do what is right and God will sort things out, to give unto Caesar what is Caesars, but obviously our revolutionary forefathers got to the point where they said, “enough is enough” . . . Care to share any of that wisdom or thoughts on this topic?”
My comments are that I share the same frustration. I don’t think it is so much your “gut and head” as the Holy Spirit nudging you and telling you what Satan is tempting you to do is wrong. I don’t recommend breaking the law and cheating on taxes. Seizing my guns, eliminating my free speech, using my taxes to pay for abortions, restricting freedom to worship are all things worth fighting and dying for. So should we raid the United States Capital to glorify God? That is what the zealot’s advocated and look where it got them. Rome killed off the zealots and destroyed Jerusalem and the temple and scattered the Jews all over the world as slaves.
My Bible study lesson of Job chapter 30 this morning took me back to one of the worst tragedies of my life. Today’s read was the opposite of the last chapter we studied where Job recounted his exalted past. He laments the present days he was enduring where even kids and the lowest rung of society made fun of him. He blamed God for losing his health and being cast aside. He felt abandoned by God with no hope. I can’t imagine anyone today doing much different in the same situation. When my brother’s five-year old died of a brain tumor after suffering unbearable excruciating pain for 3 months there were plenty of “F” God remarks going around our family especially by his in-laws. I was extremely sad and hurt by this tragedy as I loved that little boy like he was my own, but I blamed Satan and not God. Sure, God could have ended his suffering and miraculously healed him, but He chose not to for reasons known only to Him that I will only become privy to when I die and join Him. I never did blame God for that little boy’s terrible death. Faith is an amazing tool to help one get over the worst of things.
I continue to maintain that in spite of serious and even tragic setbacks in life we must maintain our faith and trust in God in every situation. We must obey His commands and focus on building His kingdom. In this humble writer’s opinion that will not be accomplished by using the tactics of Satan’s children, as tempting as that might be. The Capitol rioters are being hunted down and prosecuted and all it did was set us back in our war and make us look like terrorists. Martin Luther King Jr. demonstrated how nonviolent solutions advocated by Jesus could bring about a huge change in our culture. If only we had such a leader to organize millions of people to peacefully protest in the streets. And yes, it got him assassinated, but he is home with Jesus as we speak.
Okay enough rambling have a good day today.
2 Corinthians 10:4
“The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”