It may have happened hundreds of years ago, but the Christian population does not currently pursue inquisition, forced conversion or sweeping military movements to force “submission” to our faith.  Yes, historically, powerful men, seeking complete power, utilized, hijacked or controlled a peaceful message, spoken by God, into a dogma that justified their misuse of Holy ideals to garner, capture or ensure their continued grasp on territorial, national or global interests.  Yet, even though these obeisances and egregious hijackings of Christianity were centuries if not thousands of years in the past we are still pursued, hated, maligned and labeled as “intolerant”.  And conversely those political, religious and national entities that are “currently” killing, torturing, pursuing, raping and forcing innocent people into forced conversion at threat to life are being allowed to continue their rampage without the same labels.  Alternative lifestyles may face scrutiny and disapproval in God’s Word but they are met with slaughter by the rabid, radical and absolutely “intolerant” laws and actions currently spreading across a wide swath of global topography.  Which would you prefer, a group that loves you yet disapproves with your lifestyle choices or a group that hates you for your lifestyle choices and threatens or actually carries out on threats to kill you for those actions?

When tyrants rule the nation cries out in misery and terror.  This is the history of humanity, and I use that word loosely for we have never learned or evolved into something other than avarice, brutality and intimidation to capture wealth and power.  That was the intention of America, to create a nation that would forever be free of the strangling threat of rule by tyrants.  A nation, blessed by God intent on living by tested ideals, principles and morals, proven to foster the continued health of any nation.  A nation, born of free people, with the intention of seeing a world free from tyranny, accepting those intent on escaping its grasp.

You may see recent revisions, encroachments and intentional erosion of these freedoms as simply harmless, but those of us who understand our founding principles see them as an organized strategy to usurp the power of the people and transform this nation to tyrannical rule.  What then is worth fighting for if not for the freedom of people to make their own decisions regarding sin and redemption, freedom to speak their minds, even when their ideas are unpopular or perhaps considered ridiculous, freedom to live free of the unmerciful hands of tyrannical rule?  If we have become convinced that tyranny will simply vanish if we are pleasant and offer them convincing discussion, then we have become blind to the nature of tyranny having forgotten the cost of blood to free us from its consuming grasp.  I say these things to call us to prayer for this nation, as God alone may free us from this current movement and returned health, direction and prosperity to our faltering path.  Depend on God, Christians and Jews alike, humble yourselves and cry out to God through prayer and He shall hear our voices from heaven and heal our land.

Can you see a storm on the horizon and if so what will you do to ride it out or avoid its powerful passage?  Will you perhaps hide, hoping beyond logic that somehow you will spared?  How do you know that you will certainly not perish in the storm, who knows that you were born for such a time as this?  Would you rather possibly perish in hiding or perhaps help others to survive by taking an active stance, leading others to safety, away from thirst and hunger into peace?  We cherish stories of people who helped the threatened escape tyranny, defiantly resisting, doing the right thing when to do so would potentially cost them life, liberty or station.  Our heroes are those who stood by their God given principles and did what was right in the face of certain, absolute self destruction.

How then now have we transformed to worshiping those embracing violence, those embracing avoidance or those who through self-absorption, remain disengaged to the advances and wicked influences of tyrants?  The power of our freedom lies in the voluntary decision to potentially sacrifice our own comfort to defend the right of others to live in freedom.  This is the story of our Lord Jesus Christ who modeled for us sacrificial love, giving all for others that they might see God.  Will we emulate, emancipate, cooperate to stand for these ideals, no matter what the cost, leaving the outcome to God?  I shall not speak of the alternative for this is a story of victory beyond circumstance, where defeat is impossible.  All things are possible through Christ who strengthens me?  There is victory in Jesus.  Begin to comprehend the power of God to defend, strengthen, overcome and deliver, for this is the power of Spirit living within you.  Praise God in Jesus’ Holy and Mighty Name.

I have been convicted of my sin, but not condemned.  I have thought of the sin but never acted.  I harbor sentiments of fear, hate and ridicule deep within my heart, laying unpolished, in disrepair, waiting as an open grate, enticement to wanton burglar.  My money lay unspent, donated to no good cause as example of my piety.  My relationships lay fallow, tarnished, either broken upon the shoals or forgotten, stealing my memory of effective peace making.  I criticize the leaders whom God has lifted up, instead of offering intercessory prayer in honor of His Glorious capacity to change their hearts.  I stand motionless, speechless, my arms pinned to my pants leg as my neighbor trips and falls to his ruin.  I am silent of Good News as despair expands its empire.

What then makes me Godly?  Have I truly repented of my sin if there is no evident change?  How can one be cleansed by the redeeming power of the Blood of Christ without having been made clean?  This is contradiction and infinite calamity, especially any alternate explanation.  Do we believe that the Holy Spirit will lay powerless within us as we refuse to surrender to sanctification?  Our God is not a pacifist.  Do I truly believe that I may remain a slave to righteousness yet continue to express ultimate sovereignty by the power of my free will?  Do you know of a circumstance where inaction, bad action or disobedience has ever produced lasting reward?  What then is the definition of belief if not resultant behavior and witnessed or hidden action?  Where will I be on that glorious day when the truth is revealed in all its surgical and sterilizing Glory?

Brutal and unforgiving spirits indwell those absent God’s saving Grace.  Yet we pay them no heed, no passion, neither tear nor action taken to save their mortal souls from depravity.  Just as the hungry child is the responsibility of someone else or the sick capable of resolving their own condition.  What then is the power of my prayer, my relationship with God Almighty, the valuation of my access to the throne room of God?  How may I be called priest, ambassador, intercessory warrior is my petitions lay unused, my heraldry silent, my knees unbent to humble and honest disquiet regarding the world’s plight?  Which is truly more pitiful?  How then may I rejoice at my release from the bonding power of sin and death and not show utter joy at freedom?  Would not a freed man, by nature, wish to set other captives free?  Wouldn’t a cleansed heart and soul speak softly, purely, honestly with gentility and kindness to a still wounded population?  Don’t clean clothes require a greater diligence to avoid soil and dirtiness?  Am I to think myself aloof or special when none of the work to set me free was my own?  Isn’t my allegiance entirely due my savior?

I understand that the world hates me because I love Christ.  I understand that the unrepentant would rather hit me with rocks then listen to the voice of the convicting fire of the Holy Spirit.  I do not wish to harm, but if in speaking truth we are set aflame with grief for our predicament, if we are cast into misery powerful enough to force us to cry out to God for relief, then haven’t the words served greater purpose?  People have fallen away from the church.  Many of those reasons are personal, lack of conviction, backsliding, worldly pursuits, lack of fear or respect for God, but there are also those more effective at breaking our hearts to the dilemma of our own misunderstanding.  Because someone is dysfunctional, yet the things they tell me are entirely true regarding my own illness, may I devalue the honesty they’ve offered?  We have forgotten the indwelling POWER of the Holy Spirit.  We are disobedient, unchanged, untouched by the abominable situation of our communities, unprovoked to take immediate, precise and targeted action in remedy.  Is what this poisoned world says about the Body of Christ, true?  If not then we are free to disregard it, painting it as wantonness, envy, its intention evil, to be disregarded.  But we know the truth of our youth.  They avoid us in our hypocrisy, just as our savior would have spoken against us in His preaching outside the temple.

Lord God give us the strength to accept the cleansing of Your Righteousness and Truth.  Fill our lamps with Your baptizing Spirit, set us aflame with a heart for Your Will.  Bare bountiful and plentiful fruit in the lives of each Christian, such that they may not be criticized, libeled or avoided.  Make us a contagious antidote to a festering world.  In Jesus’ name I pray.

A saint, by God through Christ, a saint.  Tarnished by walking in a dusty world, if one looks upon the outside of my cup.  That may be washed, but how shall I be cleansed internally if not by the Blood of Christ Almighty?  They say to me that we do not see the future through the trees, for no man can foretell his future.  It is not I who have seen what shall come to pass, but my faith in the words put there by God, reveal all this or any man need know about what shall surely transpire in the coming days, weeks and years.  Those who look for holes in the story of Christ or wish for some power quest to morph its perfection, I warn you right out, Do Not Mess With God’s Word.  For again it is not with a man you must reason, but with a Holy God who does not dicker about His demands or direction.  In the end I suspect you will wish that you had been dealing with frail and fickle men.

We, Christians and Jews, who call ourselves by the name of the Lord are entirely responsible for the state of current affairs.  God has written clearly that “WE” are to humble ourselves and pray and that He will hear our words in heaven and heal this land.  He did not call unbelievers, atheists and others to prayer but His ambassadors, His children, His nations.  There is no method by which man will resolve the dilemmas that certainly will eventually threaten the entire race.  For we are an infected lot, riddled and limited by our bravado, our inaction, our judgment, avarice, covetousness and love of self-serving power and continuous glorification.  Oh, you feel that was perhaps a gratuitous, lengthy statement?  Then how about the word you will not utter for its truth and logical gravity, our SIN.  Let us forget dependence upon mortal men to cure the ills of which we are infected.  What we need is a spiritual healing, one that only may be provided by the aforementioned, internal cleansing through the Blood of Christ.

Don’t lead people astray.  If you don’t know the Word then don’t misspeak, for it is not only your eternal soul with which you are wagering.  If you don’t believe in the Bible but are still willing to speak about Christ as if you know Him, then you are likely the most dangerous type of fool, one who thinks he understands but hasn’t the foggiest idea on how to get to heaven.  If you don’t believe then go about your business of not believing, don’t do your darnedest to take others with you down the pathway of misguided self hypnosis, doubt and despair.  For the Bible says that there is one absolute truth that every man knows, the truth of God.  We see Him around us in a thousand reflection per day.  One cannot live with open eyes and avoid the majesty of God Almighty encoded in His creation.  Do not be that person who in denying truth must propagate, prop up and propagandize a self created lie in order to manifest its existence.

In counter-aspect, if you know the truth and believe the Word, most certainly keeping it to yourself is the greatest of known travesties.  The rocks would be overjoyed if God selected them to spread the Truth of Salvation.  Do I look foolish when speaking prophecy written by the hands of God’s, Holy Spirit inspired scribes?  Look, I know what God’s Word says about what is shortly to come to pass.  I will not remain silent for to do so is disobedient to my calling, my faith, my God and my specific atomically, genetically encoded purpose.  This is what I was made for.  I will not be valueless gold or worthless diamond, to be so is a mockery of God’s intention for my creation.  My only value to others is the love I show them which came from God and my only value to God is the love I show Him through my discipling for Christ.  I am not saying that all in this life is moot or wasted time, but I am saying  that life is short and the real value in it is what we do for God.

We all know tough times are coming if they haven’t already arrived.  What would each of us do if our families were threatened by men who demanded they renounce their belief in Jesus or face death?  What if your little girls or your teenage sons were threatened with decapitation or tragic immolation?  Would you stand and wonder what you should do next or would you simply take action crying out to God for deliverance, mercy and intervention?  Jesus is the lamb of God taking away the sins of the world, but He was never weak in the face of injustice or cowered at the threats of wicked men.  He stood for truth, forgave His transgressors and He always took a stand, showing up for service, protection, guidance and provision.

Jesus is our leader, our Lord, our God.  Would He want us sitting on the sidelines criticizing some political leaders inability to face relevant threat or worse yet cowering in our basement hoping that it will just go away.  We are to PRAY for our leaders, hoping that God gives them the courage to do what is right for the people that they serve, when the opportunities arise.  He spoke to us about being strong, courageous and faithful, even when it appeared impossible to be so, because we are capable of all these things through our belief in His promise to show up.  No man fears me, but they all fear God.  Even those who shake their fists at Him in mockery, do so with their running shoes tightly tied.

Israel is being threatened by the “exact” adversaries listed, for our edification, in Biblical prophecy .  The world is rapidly disintegrating to chaos, hunger, drought, war, economic famine, weather and seismological anomaly.  Leaders are no longer capable of faithfully discharging the duties in service of the people.  Good nations are turning their backs on the foundational morals, beliefs and practices that brought them continued blessings.  God has been forgotten as the center of all that is Holy, Righteous and of worthwhile pursuit in this life, being replaced by a bevy of self actualization/aggrandizement goals and mantras.

But even all this is not beyond the Hand of God.  That is why all these difficulties must occur, in order that God’s Glory Might be made manifest for all creation to see.  He will rid us of the illness we cannot overcome, He will end the hunger, war and pestilence that threatens lives daily, He will set the laws of gravity and science back in balance.  We must do our part by humbling ourselves and crying out to God through prayer for we are almost there.  The Kingdom approaches, will you be found open eyed, prepared and marching out to meet Him with arms open wide?  Heal this nation and this world Lord.  Rid us of the residual rule of sin upon humanity.  Come Lord Jesus Come and if You should tarry, give us strength, courage, hope and abundance to do the work until harvest arrives.  God be praised in the Holy and Mighty name of the King of Kings, Christ the Lord.