…we act not from…conviction…but from a feeling that the opposite is wrong…we are driven to our positions by the enemy rather than led to them by truth…the way to be right, so we reason, is to watch the enemy, discover what he favors, then choose the opposite. AWTozer
So quickly we find ourselves on the plane of feelings being driven by that enemy by yet another act of one’s rightness. A man was murdered; some wish to call it an assassination; a position taken to fit a paradigm. It was an act of a man driven by evil, an evil embraced that fits another position, another paradigm. We have reduced it to this; a position. A man has died, and we choose sides washing our hands for any part played, directly or indirectly, claiming no responsibility; but something has happened.
And we; right/left, atheist/agnostic, Christian/unitarian simply decry, opine or spue our position. What is being called reason or truth we are unable to claim as our prejudices beget manipulation beget position; the opposition becomes the enemy, the target that consumes in our rightness. We have politicized this rather than examining ourselves as we know we must. The truth stares us in the face. Something has happened. We must examine ourselves.
Leonard Ravenhill in his book Meat for Men asks, “When are we going to stop playing church?” He speaks of a generation (s) mesmerized by materialism, tantalized by TV (social media et al) as being jeopardized by evils no other age has known; prescient as he passed away in 1994. He even spoke of the religious jackanapes (look it up), attracting the crowd to his revival jamboree with the lure of miracles, as a cover up for his itch for gold. I do not discount the evil the world has just witnessed. I ask the church if you can see and hear.
Some claim that our eyes and ears have been opened, that now we can honestly and forthrightly address the problem because it cannot be denied. What cannot be denied? Our focus is political correctness in and outside the church. Ravenhill’s question was directed to the church that has become an institution, no longer the living body of Christ. Christian nationalism is no more the answer than is civil transformation; eyes wide shut. We have mistaken our rightness as God’s righteousness. We seem to no longer need the message of the cross, only our interpretation, our justification, our position.
In America we are committing spiritual suicide though we have more gospel broadcasts per day and per week than any other nation in the world (along with more false doctrine, more tickling of the ear). We have mountains of bibles, rivers of printer’s ink dedicated to publication of tracts, books, and periodicals calling her back to God….an endless belt of Bible conferences circling the nation (shall we add the globetrotting pastors social media posts, the endless offerings to earn an MDiv or learn how to be a pastor for today, the church of today; relevant, tolerant, worldly). “…believe not every spirit, but try the spirits…”
Ravenhill rightly says God has a controversy with the nations but more so with His Church. We have substituted organizing for agonizing, equipment with enduement, rightness for righteousness. Our churches have become realms of legalism, empires of correctness and plenaries of position. We are pompous and pious, pat ourselves on the back for teaching through the bible, we wield discipline without reconciliation; we have become salt-less…we are driven to our positions by the enemy rather than led to them by truth…so we…watch the enemy, discover what he favors, then choose the opposite.
A friend of mine and I were sitting in my kitchen Saturday afternoon discussing these events, certain that this will bring glory to God, that many will come to salvation (what the church should be concerned with). I can’t remember if he was repeating a story or was reasoning for himself when he said, “If God had said to Charlie, “Your life will become all these things that you have accomplished; marriage, children, influencer but there is one thing I need to do. I need to take your life. Your wife will be a widow, your children will no longer have a father, but thousands will come to a saving knowledge of the Lord and confess Jesus as savior. OK?”“ What would your answer…my answer be? Are we about our Father’s business?
This evil is becoming an American identity; palpable, insidious, common. We claim to be the light of the world, the city set on a hill, yet we fight against flesh and blood; because we are blind to principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness…spiritual wickedness in high places. God is sovereign. What man meant for evil,…God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. God was not caught off guard by this event. It will be for His glory and the salvation of many.
Church, christian, awake! Don’t be driven…by the enemy rather than led…by truth…do not get involved in the arguments, the politics, the self-righteousness positions or with those pronouncing, those stirring up strife, or those manipulating on the right or the left; both inside and outside the church. We need to be the church. We are not against something but for God.
He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end. Eccl 3:11
…we speak truth, not a position…by faith, in love…stay strong! …just a thought…