Romans 5:3 (NKJV): “We also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance.”
1 Peter 4:16 (NET): “But if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but glorify God that you bear such a name.”
1 John 3:13 (CSB): “Do not be surprised, brothers and sisters, if the world hates you.”
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PROCLAIMING UNITY WHILE PRACTICING ENMITY
ALTHOUGH THE 2020 US presidential election results have not been finalized, the apparent winning team of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as president and vice president, respectively, could usher in a much harsher environment for believing Christians.
I look forward to the battle.
I must be crazy, right?
Maybe so, but my thought is that the Christian church in America is too lazy. We need a wake-up call. We need to become bold witnesses for our Lord and Savior.
Professing Christians are lazy Christians. Most are unwilling to do more than squeeze into the pews or comfy chairs on Sunday morning, enjoy some music, half-listen to a sermon (preferably short, with jokes and stories), and spend most of their energy greeting friends, neighbors, and business associates.
That’s not Christianity as our Savior commissioned us in Matthew 28:18-20 and Acts 1:8 … not by a long shot. He told us to “go” and “tell” everyone we meet, the whole world, about Him and what the Lord has done for us. (Mark 5:19)
How many professing Christians are sharing their faith with anyone? How many professing Christians understand the basic doctrines of their faith? How many professing Christians even care to change?
GOD’S WAKE-UP CALL
THIS COULD BE God’s wake-up call for His church.
After dislocating us from our comfortable church buildings because of Covid restrictions, His next move might well be dislocating us from our comfortable federal government administration because of election results.
A double whammy smack alongside the head to send some sense into us.
There’s plenty of precedent for this. God’s judgment of the Israelites permeates the Old Testament as God tried to mold His chosen people into the evangelizing force He had envisioned for them.
Instead of showing God’s blessings to the world, they wandered from their calling, and when they were faithful, they kept their values and traditions to themselves instead of sharing with their neighbors.
So, God would punish them until they caught on to their dilemma and turned back to Him in sorrow and repented of their sins and faithlessness, begging God to hear their prayers and bless their land and give them peace.
HERE’S WHAT’S COMING
DO WE KNOW what an incoming Biden-Harris administration would mean for the Christian church? Well, we don’t “know” the future, but we can “project” the future based on statements the Democratic Party has published regarding its intentions.
In his article, “Last Call for America?” in Decision magazine’s November 2020 issue (pp 2-3), evangelist Franklin Graham wrote this:
“The Democratic platform appears now to fully represent the progressive left, whose liberal agenda seeks to dramatically remake our nation in their own radical image. It is unapologetically pro-abortion, it staunchly advocates LGBTQ rights and it is hostile toward the Biblical view of marriage as between one man and one woman.”
It’s not just evangelical Protestants who will be targeted.
A Christian website with a conservative Catholic perspective, LifeSiteNews, published an opinion piece, “How a Biden Presidency Would Unleash Christian Persecution,” opposing the so-called “Equality Act,” H.R. 5, which House Democrats have passed, that would demolish legal protections for practicing Christians.
Along party lines, Democrats defeated Republican amendments intended to weaken the draconian legislation. Among those amendments were to:
- exempt biological females from being forced to compete in spots against biological males who identify as female;
- shield healthcare workers from being compelled to affirm a patient’s subjective sense of gender identity;
- allow medical personnel to refuse to participate in abortions;
- protect parents’ legal rights to direct the medical care of their minor children.
Referring to the Equality Act, Dr. Carl J. Broggi, senior pastor of Community Bible Church in Beaufort, SC, said this in his Nov. 8, 2020 sermon: “We are living in a day of ‘sheer wickedness.’”
THE BALL’S IN OUR COURT
IF WE TRULY THINK God is calling us to reach His broken creation with words of healing and salvation, the very words that He has given us and we profess to believe, then why would we shy away from a grand fight?
If Satan’s forces are on the ascendancy in our country, then the battle lines will be drawn more sharply than the muddled lines we’ve always known. Neighbor will turn against neighbor; friend against friend; family member against family member (Matthew 10:21-22).
Even the churches will be split as the “complacent” and “complicit” Christians exit (1 John 2:19), leaving “committed” Christians to remain, carrying Christ’s banner.
It’s that sharp divide that I find so energizing.
There is very little emotion or adrenaline involved in weak battles with minimal outcomes … but once the divide becomes significant and the results are magnified, then the blood rushes through the body and the Holy Spirit invigorates the soul.
Game On!
We know that, in the end, Jesus Christ wins. We could be facing that battle now … or soon. Hear these words from (Revelation 22:20 NKJV):
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
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PRAYER
FATHER GOD, YOU told us the world would hate us if we follow You because the world hated You first. Okay, lead on, Lord Almighty. Take us where You want us to go. May we be found worthy ambassadors for Christ. May we boldly declare what the Lord has done for us, how He has redeemed us in His sight, forgiven us our sins, and washed us clean in the Lamb’s blood. May we never fear those who can only hurt our bodies but not touch our souls. To You, Lord, goes the glory! In Jesus’ name. AMEN
LoveAndGrace 