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Here is the funny thing about scripture, it is impossible to read it without it having an impact on you. This is not just me saying something to say something. Instead, it is what I have discovered from reading Isaiah. Specifically, Isaiah chapter 55 is where we find it proclaimed that the Lord’s words will not return void. They will accomplish the task that He has set for them to accomplish. It just may take a little while for the full impact of His words to be realized in your life. I bring this up because I’ve been reading a lot of scripture lately.
Last week I finished the prophet Isaiah and Micah in the Old Testament. The interesting thing is that these two books of the Bible are contemporary to each other. This means that Isaiah and Micah lived during the same time and were busy obeying God through their delivering his prophetic messages. I hadn’t intended to read Micah but the words from chapter 6 verse 8 were brought to my mind and I needed to read the full book for context. After this, God led me to Romans chapter 1 and back again to Isaiah. In reading these scriptures I got the impression that God is confirming the things that I spoke about last time.
Calling out the pride which the USA holds for the sins that are being committed and how they approve of those who do these things. When I spoke of Isaiah 53 and how it shows what happens when we turn away from Jesus Christ who is Immanuel which means “God with us.” When a nation turns from God they will always turn to follow their sinful nature and desires.
Paul in the second half of Romans chapter 1 gives us a list of some ways in which people have turned away from God. Yet the primary thing that ties them all together is what he says in verse 25 describing humanity.
“They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.”
There was an exchange and people gave one thing for another. They gave up the truth for a lie and the creator for the creation. And because of this, they became slaves to their sin which Paul states in Romans 6:6 it is not only the apostle Paul who says that we are slaves to sin before accepting Christ’s blood but Christ Jesus himself that declares in John 8:34 “Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.”
Now, as our society is starting to change to embrace the ways of The Lord again through the overturn of Roe V Wade there is a vast pushback. I want to remind you all of something that I often say. This is a spiritual battle manifesting the actions of humans who follow the orders of their commanding officer.
Right now the highlight is that several attacks are being carried out against Crisis Pregnancy Centers and one group has arisen to take credit for them. A group called “Jane’s Revenge” and, to my knowledge, I will be the first one to go on record and call them a domestic terrorist group. They are a group that was founded in the United States of America, making them domestic, and are taking violent acts to terrorize charities that help women raise their children. These acts of terror have included spray painting graffiti with slogans saying “If abortion isn’t safe, neither are you”, breaking windows, pouring red paint on houses and doors making it look like blood coming out of the place, and acts of arson. These are violent acts meant to scare pregnancy centers into shutting down and closing their doors permanently. Thankfully, many of these places are choosing to stay open.
Crisis pregnancy centers provide free ultrasounds, counseling, abortion pill reversal treatments, and material support for the mothers. Go to a planned parenthood clinic and ask if they will provide diapers, baby formula, and volunteers who love to work with mothers to raise their child/children. I’m willing to bet ten bucks that they will be shocked to hear you ask for that and then be told that they don’t provide those services. Now, go to a crisis pregnancy center and you will find them saying that they’ll provide what they have and work to integrate you within their network of volunteers who want to help the mother raise her child/children.
If you decided to test me in this by going to the centers and finding that I was right you can pay the ten bucks to the crisis pregnancy center as a donation.
This is what happens when we as a body of Christians stand up for what we believe and challenge head-on the forces of darkness. They get violent knowing that we can and will outlast them. Because of Satan’s limited resources, he goes the route of least resistance to extinguish us A-S-A-P. Death and violence against us. If anyone knows their history then it’s that Christians endure and overcome while making strides to redeem our enemies by exposing them to the sacrifice of Jesus so that the words of God will allow the Holy Spirit to impact them. Make no mistake more will come but it will not last forever.
Let me ask you a question that has also been on my mind. Do you think there will be a massive outcry against these terrorists? Paul has answered this action in the last part of Romans chapter 1 verse 32, and remember he is talking about those who are enslaved to sin;
“Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.”
In the first draft of this post, I had a much longer segment detailing my reasons for why I didn’t think we would see the Department of Justice making extra effort to stop these domestic terrorists.
But that longer version detracted from what I had quoted from Romans chapter 1. The short version is that the Biden Administration is pro-abortion and the office of the United States President has influence over the Department of Justice and many other departments that have seats in the President’s Cabinet. While I haven’t done enough research to determine what the President can and can’t do I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that he has some influence on them. And that influence will be used to try and bring about a result far too similar to the lack of criminal prosecutions that were seen during the George Floyd riots of 2020.
These riots were from May 26th to June 8th and caused anywhere from 1 to 2 Billion Dollars in damages.
Very little was said about these people being tracked down and prosecuted when we compare to the amount of that being said for the people involved with the January 6th riot at the Capital. One riot was used to vilify the conservatives who had a suspicion about the election integrity. Since then there have been several committees investigating the riot on January 6th and almost nothing about the Floyd riots in May and June.
Many people were posting their looting online and can easily be convicted for their actions but we have heard nothing about it being done.
Going back to Romans chapter 1 we see that people who are in rebellion against God approve of those who also practice rebellion. But I must say that the inverse of what Paul says is also true. That those who are in submission to God and obey His commands approve of those who do so and work to encourage others to live life this way.
If you have read the blog or listened to the podcast episode “Spiritual Warfare’s Forgotten Side” then you understand that Satan will work to gain influence over people in positions of authority. In the same way, God has people in positions that are meant to counter the moves of the devil. Case in point Elizabeth Warren and Josh Howley. Both of these people are US Senators and are on opposite sides of this spiritual war. Senator Warren wants to pass legislation closing down crisis pregnancy while at the same time, her spiritual and political opponent Senator Howley is working on passing legislation to help protect these vital centers of life. Right now we are seeing the fight to live out the words in Micah 6:8
“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” NIV
The way God orders His words is no accident because they order how we are to act and think. We are to act with justice and enforce it. To love mercy means that we seek to find a way to also provide mercy while seeking to do what is good in the eyes of the Lord. Humility is the antithesis of pride which caused Satan to fall from grace.
By keeping a heart of humility and acknowledging God’s position in our life we can fulfill the first two commands. Justice and mercy seem to be at odds with each other and it is only through God that we can find the right application of both virtues because He embodies them both.
He seeks to do justice by bringing forth the guilty to punish them for their crimes but He loves mercy. So God makes a way to do this but there is just one catch, it requires us to be humble. We have to admit to our sins and confess them with repentance. Once we repent we must turn away from these actions and no longer follow in their ways. Just as Paul says in Romans 6:11
“In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”
This nation is at a point where it can decide whether it wants to be dead in sin or alive in Christ. And I find it fighting to come alive again while Satan is fighting to keep us dead. As more of the sin is being brought forth it is causing revival and awakening within us. As it says in John 1:4 through 5 when talking about Jesus “In Him was life and that life was the light of man. The light shines bright in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
Until next time, keep your trust in Jesus Christ and the promises of scripture recorded in James chapter 4:7. “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”