Politics or Christ You Choose!

Here is an answer to those who would accuse me of not caring what happens in our country politically. Since my trust is in Christ alone I am not worried about what the nation is doing or which direction it takes.

I know that the world is growing darker, the entire world, not just our country. These are the end times and there is nothing that will stop it. Our words will do nothing, our anger will do nothing and even our political involvement will do nothing, it has been prophesied and is written in stone.

All born again believers will continue to the end. No one who has been changed into a new creation by Christ will lose that status, as "sealed by the Holy Spirit as a guarantee of our inheritance", it is God that said this.

Just because I am not afraid of persecution doesn't mean I want it. I want whatever God wants even if that means persecution. Our Bible says that many will be persecuted, even now around the world terrible things are happening to believers. Why would you think we will escape what God promised?

2 Timothy 3:11-13 "…11 my persecutions, and the sufferings that came upon me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. What persecutions I endured! Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. 12 Indeed, all who desire to live godly lives in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evil men and imposters go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.…"

Chris, just because you do not desire persecution for yourself and your family does not mean it will not happen. Perhaps it would be better to prepare your family spiritually to endure for Christ than fight to avoid what may be coming.

The only way we can be strong in persecution is if we are fully trusting in Christ. He will give born again believers the strength they need to endure whatever He has for them.

Because Peter denied Christ three times does not mean it was alright for him to do. He wept bitterly that he had done it and was eventually martyred. When he denied Christ he did not yet have the Holy Spirit. After Christ left this earth He sent the Holy Spirit and Peter was strong enough to be martyred without denying Christ. Peter was crucified head down because he did not want to die the same way Christ did, he did not feel worthy to die the way Christ did.

Working hard to avoid trials and persecution is a sign of lack of faith. We have no control over these things but God does. If He wants us to have trials and persecution then we will have it. The best thing to do is to trust Christ so fully that we are ready to endure whatever He has for us.

When we are fully focused on Christ we don't worry about what is now or what is coming, just the opposite, we are blessed and joyful that God is in control of everything all the time. We don't have to "make" things happen to satisfy our own desires, we can rest in Him and wait on Him.

We are living in times when things are going to get rougher, our positive thoughts and desires won't comfort us, in fact, the more we lean into them the more stressed we will be. We need to face reality, accept what has come, and give God the glory for getting us through.

The authorities can take away our freedoms and even jail us for our faith but they cannot take away the Holy Spirit or our faith.

Acts 16:22-39 "22 The crowd joined in an attack against them, and the chief magistrates tore their robes off them and proceeded to order them to be beaten with rods.

23 When they had struck them with many blows, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to guard them securely;

24 and he, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.

25 Now about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them; 26 and suddenly there was a great earthquake so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s chains were unfastened.

27 When the jailer awoke and saw the prison doors opened, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, thinking that the prisoners had escaped.

28 But Paul called out with a loud voice, saying, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here!”

29 And the jailer asked for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear, he fell down before Paul and Silas;

30 and after he brought them out, he said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

The Jailer Converted

31 They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” 32 And they spoke the word of God to him together with all who were in his house.

33 And he took them that very hour of the night and washed their wounds, and immediately he was baptized, he and all his household.

34 And he brought them into his house and set food before them, and was overjoyed, since he had become a believer in God together with his whole household.

35 Now when day came, the chief magistrates sent their officers, saying, “Release those men.”

36 And the jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, “The chief magistrates have sent word that you be released. So come out now and go in peace.”

37 But Paul said to them, “After beating us in public without due process—men who are Romans—they threw us into prison; and now they are releasing us secretly? No indeed! On the contrary, let them come in person and lead us out.”

38 The officers reported these words to the chief magistrates. And they became fearful when they heard that they were Romans,

39 and they came and pleaded with them, and when they had led them out, they repeatedly asked them to leave the city.

40 They left the prison and entered the house of Lydia, and when they saw the brothers and sisters, they encouraged them and departed.

Christ does not bail us out, He goes through with us.

Remember the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? They were thrown in the fiery furnace, but Christ was in there with them. They came out because of the testimony of the Son of God, without the smell of smoke on them, or even singed hair.

God wanted Paul and Silas and the three Hebrew men to be in those circumstances because their strength was a testimony to everyone watching, even and especially the leaders who persecuted them.

Instead of focusing on avoiding what is inevitable, that is persecution in one form or another, we ought to be preparing our families to trust so fully in the Holy Spirit that they will have the strength needed when it does come.

Also, keep in mind that Paul and Silas didn't whine and complain about how unjust it was to be beaten and thrown in jail, they praised God, sang in the jail, and converted some of the other prisoners. WOW, think about that, a positive attitude all the way along because their purpose was not for a better life but rather to glorify God and bring others into the fold. Their safety was of little concern to them.

Notice too that there is no evidence that they prayed to beg God to get them out of there. They knew that everything that happened to them had a purpose for the Kingdom of God, even their own persecution. They glorified God more by being persecuted because of their full trust in Him than if they had never been persecuted.

I fear that many Christians in our day would deny Christ if faced with death or persecution because they have been trained to fight for their rights and to never go through anything that makes them unhappy. Our modern idea of Christianity is based on happy words and big smiles, negating the authentic Christianity that endures no matter what.

Just Saying!

Words and Will of Christ

Now is the time to place our trust in Christ alone, not in government, not in ourselves, not in pastors, not in family, and not in friends.

If we have placed our trust in anyone or anything other than Christ then we have an idol and are traveling down the road to self-preservation.

God is the One Who will protect born again believers. Even if we were to die for our faith our Spirit can never be harmed. The more we trust in Christ the less we worry about what is going on in the world.

Psalm 146:3-7

"3 Do not trust in noblemen,

In [a]mortal man, in whom there is no salvation.

4 His spirit departs, he returns to [b]the earth;

On that very day his plans perish.

5 Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,

Whose hope is in the Lord his God,

6 Who made heaven and earth,

The sea and everything that is in them;

Who keeps [c]faith forever;

7 Who executes justice for the oppressed;

Who gives food to the hungry.

The Lord frees the prisoners."

Psalm 118:8

"It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man."

Micah 7:5

"Put no trust in a neighbor; have no confidence in a friend; guard the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your arms;"

Jeremiah 17:5

"Thus says the Lord: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord."

Psalm 118:9

"It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes."

Proverbs 3:5-6

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths."

So my suggestion to believers is to speak of the Lord far more than of anything else, this will place our focus back on Him. Many believers have been distracted by world events that they have no control over. But you know, God has control over everything, even those things that we don't particularly like. He may be doing work in us by showing us that we do not have control and should not pretend to have it merely by our words.

So many Christians today believe their words have power, as though as long as they say something those words will come to pass. This is a mentality based on their own words not on the Will of Christ.

Our words are nothing unless they are the Words and Will of Christ.

Wisdom From God

God will not give wisdom to those who believe they have no need for any more than they already have. He only gives wisdom to those who ask Him for His wisdom.

James 1:4-6 "…4 Allow perseverance to finish its work, so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6 But he must ask in faith, without doubting, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.…"

Many people assume they have the wisdom of God but their knowledge is based on their own thinking, not on the words of God from the Bible.

Christians today have been steeped in psychology unable to think Biblically. These people interpret the Bible in terms of psychology rather than evaluating psychology according to the Bible.

Proverbs 3:5-6

"5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart

And do not lean on your own understanding.

6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,

And He will make your paths straight."

Those who depend on their own thinking or the cultural ideas of our age will not be able to understand the words of God His way. We must depend on the words as God gave them and the Holy Spirit to interpret them for us.

John 16:13

"13 But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come."

The Holy Spirit will not be influenced by culture or human thinking, He is God. We can depend on Him if only we submit to Him.

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Returning to God's Ways

We live across the river from Oregon, the place where one in five families are depressed and hopeless according to some news sources.

The news commentator said that the children are depressed because they cannot see their teachers or their friends at school.

Think about it! The teachers and the classmates are more important to the children than their own families they live with. Perhaps this is because the school children spend more time with their teachers and classmates than they do with their own families.

Many children are not close to their siblings or their parents because they spend less time with them than those who are in their schools. It's just my opinion but I believe children bond more closely to those they spend the most time with.

In recent years the children spend five days a week with teachers and classmates and again after school in sports and other activities. In short, their parents and siblings were more distant to them than those they encounter every day at school.

Is it any wonder that children value their teachers and classmates more than they do their own parents? This was by design, the government wanted the children to be emotionally removed from their parents so they could have the child's allegiance and heart.

When I was growing up we said the "Pledge of Allegiance" every morning in class. We were required to express our loyalty to the state, not to God or to our parents but to the state.

Yes, they added "under God" to the words but only a sort of an afterthought and they never specified which God, because Jesus Christ was never mentioned. This plan to remove influence from the parents allowing the state to influence the children has been going on a long time.

The push to educate every child was a deception, justifying removing children from their parent's home emotionally while allowing them to remain living in their parent's home.

We see where this has led even though in the beginning the schools taught children to obey their parents and respected the parent's input into the school system. It only took a generation for the teachers to begin to believe they should be the authority in the child's life and the parents have no say.

This taught the children to disrespect the input of their parents. The respect for the wisdom of parents declined dramatically in the fifties and sixties and beyond because of the parent's mentality that the teachers were the authorities in the area of education.

Parents could have taught their own children. The parents could have enlisted the help of others who had more education in one area as they exchanged talents and knowledge that they were lacking. This way the parents were the authority figure in their child's life, something that is more important than the extra things the school system attempted to teach the children that they did not need.

Every parent that couldn't read could have turned to other parents who could read and the non-reading parent could teach life skills they had in exchange.

The government wanted to make people believe they could not teach their own children. They intimidated homeschoolers by making laws that the parent would be arrested if their child was not in school. There used to be such a thing as a "truant officer" who would come to the house to investigate why the child was not at school. This is a form of communism and the people didn't even recognize it. Perhaps they didn't see it because they enjoyed the absence of their children while they went about their day without having to teach and train their own children.

The break down of the family began way back in the day when the public school system was first implemented in 1635. At first, the school system was run by a board of parents who made good rules, the Bible was used as the first reader and the teachers were unmarried women to protect the children. Those women had to be moral and dress accordingly.

As the culture became more liberal and less moral the schools followed suit. That is when we began to see the teachers teaching things that parents did not approve of but had no control over.

Now the public school system keeps secrets from parents as to what they will teach and even administering approval of abortion to young people without their parent's knowledge. This is how far we have come in our socialized version of communism.

The parents often do not know what the teachers are teaching as well as what approval they are extending to the children for things with which the parents might not agree.

My suggestion to Christian parents is to go back to the Biblical standard of a mother at home teaching her own children while the husband earns the money to support what is going on at home.

Proverbs 31 is a good guideline for the family structure, God's way works well.