Yesterday a Facebook friend posted:
It is extremely sad that I have fear of what is to come after this election. Riots are already planned depending on who wins! This is pathetic.
To which I replied:
*Sad* is not my emotion. Since the mid-1990s I have had too many people tell me how *wrong* I was for trying to mix church and state. You would not believe how often I heard that opinion from so many church-goers! They were perfectly fine with the church's voice being silenced in government, compromised in education, compartmentalized when it came to entertainment, and most certainly in staying out of the nasty political stuff. *Pathetic* does fit, however. Pathetic that so many abdicated years ago.
And the friend was adamant:
this had nothing to do with church/christianity.
And since it would be extremely rude to commandeer and pursue this topic on someone else's wall, I am blogging:
The chaos has everything to do with the Church! What I find sad is the disconnect between the church and what is happening on our streets. How can one miss seeing that spiritual war has come to us?
There is no deep theology going on here. This is how I could explain it to a little kid using a simplified God's Word® Translation of John 10:10. > A thief (the devil) comes to steal, kill, and destroy. But I (Jesus) came so that my sheep (the people who trust Jesus) will have life and so that they will have everything they need.
The gospel gave us a very simple 3-point checklist for judging the rioters.
- Do they steal? Yes, looting is rampant.
- Do they kill? Yes, "Three Trump supporters have been executed, one in Portland, one in Denver, and one Milwaukee," to quote Allen West.
- Do they destroy? Yes, from graffiti to arson, the rioters specialize in destruction.
The pass the devil-inspired test in spades! Let's keep going to find out what Jesus has to do with it. Again using God's Word® simplified translation, this time 1 John 3:8. > The person who lives a sinful life belongs to the devil, because the devil has been committing sin since the beginning. The reason that the Son of God (Jesus) appeared was to destroy what the devil does.
That means: THIS IS ABOUT HIS CHURCH! Are we not His body?
The spirit realm is real. Jesus is just as much about destroying the works of the devil as He is about saving souls from the devil. It is two sides of the same coin, and it was the worldview for disciples of Bible times. Our Western Culture Worldview is lopsided in this regard; we are properly all about salvation, which is Jesus the Lamb of God, but too neglectful in balancing other aspects of Jesus, such as the Captain of the Host of warring angels and the King with the government upon His shoulders.
The pre-covid church that sticks its head in the sand will not survive 2020; its carcass will get left behind.
Mario Murillo, an evangelist from California where Governor Gavin Newsom has done everything possible to keep the Church in lockdown, says that when he began his ministry in Berkley preaching against drugs, no one ever accused him of being a pharmacist, but when the Lord changed the focus of his evangelistic ministry (roughly around the 2012 election cycle) and he began preaching against things that God calls an abomination, he was accused of being a politician! For me, that story illustrates how far off the rails society's perception of the Church has become.
Preaching biblical marriage is called hate-speech. Preaching against abortion is called misogynistic. And Covid19 has been weaponized to force the Church into a false submission to government. So, reverting back to a phrase used in the Jesus People movement of the 1960s, You Bet Your Bippie that the "sad and disappointing riots" are a full-on attack against the Christian Church.
Political Attacks ARE Spiritual. The are driven by demonic principalities and powers. During the founding of our nation the Black Robed Regiment was the name given to the clergy that recognized the spiritual component of the revolution spoke out for freedom. They were not deceived by the false teaching that has blinded so many of this era: Romans 13. That chapter starts out with verse 1 > "Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. NIV."
If you stop there, you will be deceived. Keep reading because there are multiple qualifiers included. Verse 3: Rulers that are operating in God's authority are not terrorizing people who do what is right. Ergo: Rulers who arrest, jail, and fine worshipers are operating outside of God's authority. Verse 4: Rulers who punish for no proper reason are operating outside of God's authority, and perhaps even more obviously, rulers who let criminals go free and fail to deal with the wrongdoers are operating outside of God's authority. The Church is not subject to demonic rulers who are operating outside of God's authority! Whatever is outside God's authority is demonic.
The Church that survives 2020 and flourishes in 2021 will need godly discernment. Some of our political leaders have unleashed wicked spiritual entities in America. The good news is that we have been given authority over the power of the enemy. Believers are equipped with spiritual armor and have the authority to use the Name of Jesus. Jesus blood is effective in all realms. Training never ends, but we are well supplied.
This half-hour video is well worth listening to if you want to understand more of the battle that has come to the Church. Jezebel's Daughter & the Post Election War *
Of course, it is not as is I am just letting a post-election war happen! I've been praying for peace in my precinct since last August. Last Saturday I drove to my polling place and spoke an on-premises prayer. It is important to speak with our voice over places, and cities, and territories, and nations.
* If the link does not open, you can copy & paste: https://youtu.be/OyKBVcsux2E
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