Let's set the record straight from the git-go; I am not an alarmist. I don't believe in crying wolf and I don't go around hollering that the sky is falling. I will admit this also: I don't profess to know everything or to always be right. However, I do claim that I do my homework so that I’m as well informed as is practicable. I pay attention to the current events. No; I don’t pay much attention to network and cable news! These are the least reliable of all news sources except for, perhaps, the weather report, a report on an airplane crash, who was murdered and where, and maybe how high the water is after a hurricane.
I follow patriotic and Christian (usually the two are synonymous) sources with diligence. There are many excellent and extremely well-read and articulate authors who are "telling it like it is" (largely but not exclusively on the internet). They have "dug in" and are hooked up with the campaign to eradicate the heathen "Hititites and Jebusites" who are infecting our country with their Godless and heretical religions (e.g. secular humanism and Islam) and philosophies (e.g. nihilism).
After some thirty years of paying attention to such matters, and, after almost forty years of Bible study, I have come to some very interesting conclusions. One is that the body of Christ needs to arrest their obvious backsliding into darkness and captivity (the two are the same) which is brought about by their virtual demand for ignorance and abject rebellion to the word of God. It’s time they were “doer’s of God’s word and not hearers only. They need to start waging the good fight of faith, wielding the full armor of God, conquering their flesh, and living a peaceful, fruitful, and victorious Christian life.
What do I mean by that? To do nothing in the Kingdom of God is, by default, a move away from the Kingdom of God. The default pressure of the darkness of this world will not allow any other dynamics. Either you press into the light or you are pressed out of the light and slide into darkness which is captivity. This is precisely why we see the Bible replete with “action words” like, ask, seek, knock, pray, put on, put off, walk worthy, abstain from, walk honestly, be not slothful, love one another, take heed, sin not, give, study, press toward, and so on. In other words, Christians must be Christians. They must be doers of God’s word and not hearers only (deceiving themselves – James 1:22).
One reasonably reliable new source, CNN (in 2000) related that 25% of professing Christians vote for leaders who slaughter babies in their mother's wombs and who force homosexuality on our children. They vote for leaders who prefer the feelings of homosexuals over the rights of Americans. They vote for those who are already teaching our kindergarteners that homosexuality is an acceptable and normative lifestyle. And, almost unimaginably, they vote for those who are teaching them to hate their own country and to despise their heritage and culture and even their own race. They vote for those who think that anyone who is a Christian is mentally ill. The next (small) step is a vote for these same people (this same party) who will at least make worshipping in public a crime and perhaps even imprison them.
These statements are not personal opinions that have been pulled from thin air that are used to construct a narrative. They are hold, cold, easily verifiable facts that indict an inordinate number of those who profess Christ as savior.
It isn’t an accident or even a suggestion that scripture exhorts us to, “Get wisdom and with all your getting, get understanding. Forsake it not.” (Proverbs 4:5-9). When considering forty years of ministry experience, this author can say with all confidence that there is a profound lack of wisdom and understanding in the entire body of Christ. Particularly disturbing is that there is no distinction in the utter lack of wisdom and understanding between those in the ministry and those who are not. One can only come to one (and only one) conclusion: the body of Christ is in abject rebellion to God’s word. They refuse to obey this simple commandment to seek the Kingdom of God with all of their ability.
Please note that the commandment to get wisdom and understanding is the same commandment as: “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength....” (Mark 12:30). God does not command His people to something with all of their might then command them to do some different thing with all of their might. That’s illogical and divisive. The word of the very God of peace invariably unifies and unification invariably brings peace with God.
Wisdom only comes from God’s word. In fact, God’s word made manifest in the flesh, Christ Jesus, is made unto us “wisdom” 1 Corin. 1:30). The benefits of wisdom are many and the peace that it brings is profound.
It’s solely the revelation of the word of God that brings the ability to know “what in the world is going on” around us. It’s solely the word of God that brings light into this darkened world in which lies the many traps and snares that lead to captivity and destruction.
There is a terrible and even horrific price to pay for rebelling against God’s word. We see it ever so plainly in scripture: “Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge…..” (Isaiah 5:13). But, remaining in rebellion can be even more brutal: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge…..” (Hosea 4:6). Had the Children of Israel simply obeyed God’s commandments and sought after Him and His ways, they would not have gone into captivity or been destroyed. Instead, they rejected the word, wisdom, and commandments of God (thereby rejecting Him). This rejection-that-brings-ignorance is a rebellion against God and it is a grievous matter.
Now, let’s make this observation: remaining in ignorance of word of God when all of His word is available is inexcusable. God and His word are one. To reject His commandments (all of His words are commandments because we live by every word that comes out of the mouth of the King), is to, by default, reject Christ. To reject Christ is to reject wisdom and its benefits. It is to not be able to discern the wiles of the enemy as he attempts to kill, steal, and destroy. It is to be easily snared by the Devil.
Does not scripture assure us that: “Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence” (“Psalms 91:3)? Indeed, the Bible does say this. However, are we to disregard the qualifiers of this promise? Should we cast away context and simply lift out a great-sounding promise and make it ours and be content with it? Are we not to pay attention?
Ignorance is not bliss; it’s deadly. And, it’s unnecessary. Though all start in ignorance, it’s remaining in ignorance that’s dangerous. We remain in danger when we refuse to obey the Lord’s commandment to seek Him and His Kingdom. In addition, we remain in great peril when we don’t pay attention and pretend (trusting in the doctrines of men is pretention) that “God has everything under control so there’s nothing for me to worry about”.
Freedom is only available to the vigilant who pay attention to the dynamics that are continually trying to erode and then take captive that freedom. As Thomas Jefferson (a man who paid attention) stated: “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.”
Having said these things, it is obvious that Christians are not paying attention and that they are far from vigilant in guarding their liberties. They are not studying the word of God neither are they getting wisdom and understanding. They are not submitting to God (who is good for His mercy endures forever) first then resisting evil (i.e. the Devil). This passivity leads to ignorance and ignorance leads to captivity. Understand this: God will most assuredly allow a disobedient people to march into captivity because they choose to march into darkness instead of walking in the light as He is in the light. If you think otherwise, you are not paying attention to God’s word.
It’s time to understand the wiles and deception of the enemy by knowing the truth of God’s word and the truth about politics. It is past time to have a revelation that Satan is wicked, merciless, and murderous. He is evil and cannot change and his hatred for Christians will remain unabated even as he tumbles into the Lake of Fire.
Believers must no longer be “converts” but “disciples” or expect consequences that will befall them like a snare (and that without remedy). It is only the “disciples” who will know the truth that makes free because they want that truth and are willing to pay the price of it (John 8:31-32). They are willing to pay attention.
