Yes. The message bears repeating. Especially today....
"Politics" and mere "religion" intermingled make a sour mix. This convoluted concoction brews ideas of deity orchestrated not by God but by the vain imaginings of humanity.
Let me explain.
When I say "Religion," I am not in any way speaking of the life-giving power of relationship found with Jesus Christ. Relationship with Christ Jesus is not religion. Jesus did not come to bring "religion" to the world. Indeed, Jesus had his greatest difficulties on earth with highly "religious" people. Therefore, that sour mix problem of which I refer, that of political religiosity or religious politicking, has nothing to do with the God of the Bible, the one Who ordains authority.
No. When speaking of religion, the truth is that "Religion" enslaves.
In contrast, right relationship with God through Christ Jesus sets captives free. Freedom birthed by right knowledge of our place on this earth, our value in God's design, freedom from captivation (the miscellaneous allurements), and our freedom from fear because death has no hold on us, is what the God-fearing people understood from reading the Holy Bible. Those folks with that biblically-informed understanding were the ones that set up this nation that we find ourselves citizens of today. The Constitution of the United States was drafted having Biblical underpinnings. The God-fearing currently understand as the Constitutional framers understood,
"Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is Liberty." 2 Corinthians 3:17
So, when I speak of "religion," I am not referring to relationship with God. Rather, I am speaking of the socially contrived arrangements that have been birthed from human initiative with all the social trappings that come from such arrangements--its power players, its hierarchy with rules of acceptability and forced conformity slavishly driving people into a false sense of rightness as long as other people endorse them. This religio-political slavery can be found in religious edifices and in religiously endowed corridors of secular humanism.
This "religiosity" exists anywhere where people are soulishly controlled by others. It is characteristic of those who are not self-governing, having failed to accept the freedom that only Christ can give, they become captivated by those who recognize the absence of that God-given realization, revelation of the inherent value each human being has as having been made in God's image. That is why "true" democracy [the most sophisticated system of governance on earth] only works among those who know their freedom is granted to them by God and not man. When we lose sight of God, we lose sight of self-governance. When we do not govern our individual selves---when we fail to have self control which is indeed a fruit of the Holy Spirit, we open ourselves up to the dictates of tyrants on a personal level, and in the aggregate, we open ourselves up to dictatorship and even if left unchecked, totalitarianism.
The strange fruit I now call your attention to in current mix of politics and religion has the trait of social theology where just like the "prosperity" gospel peddlers, there exists an overwhelmingly propensity to be materially earth bound.
The spiritually immature, materially earth-bound individual, who hears manmade distortions, seems to become addicted to words intended to level one's gaze to the horizontal plane--looking suspiciously at other people. Once eyes are trapped in that gaze, that hearer who now resonates with what has been said then becomes even more and more convinced that his earthly state is not a consequence of the quality of his own choices in this life. Instead, that gullible hearer begins to believe that some other human being is entirely responsible for his or her quality of life. I liken that hearer's reaction to that of an animal that gets angry at his own reflection not knowing that he is looking at himself. He thinks that he sees a trespasser.
While the news reviews words uttered today that may be best branded as social theology, what looms loudest are allegations of failings of named and/or unnamed others and/or specified authorities. They are these- "Them," "Not us," you know--- those "other" people, an appeal based on interpreted perceptions of the past.
Such error in reasoning does not come from true prayer nor right audience with God. In fact, the real proof of audience with God emerges in stark contrast to the diabolical paranoia just described.
Those who spend considerable time with God have both countenance and demeanor elevated far above such attitudes. Indeed, true audience with God ignites within a sense of divine hope, a state that supports a contagion of "holiness" that appears "full-blown" when exercised in everyday life. The trait of which I speak results in "contentment". [By contentment, I am not speaking of a ostrich "head-in-the-sand" disinterest in the events of the day. But, rather, I am talking about a sense of authentic Christian joy that infuses one's entire being with wisdom from on high that places in right perspective all the elements of this life, such that hope in God remains, unshaken by circumstance.]
Man made religious philosophies cannot generate such contentment. Contentment is God birthed.
The strange mix of notions heard today rendered quite the opposite effect and are examples of the very ideas we are warned against in Colossians 2:8 – 10:
Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; 10 and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power. [Also See: Matt. 7:15; Matt.7:16; 1John 4:1; Romans 16:17-18; 2 John1:10-11; 2 John 1:7; John 7:24; 1 Peter 5:8; and, 1 Corinthians 2:15.]
On the other hand, according to man made philosophies, we who are saved are not complete in Christ.
Folks, those man-made philosophies lie!
God, Himself, grants us all that is needed to live in agreement with Him!
We have saving knowledge through our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus.
We have guidance from the Holy Spirit.
And, we have the Holy Bible that informs us and serves as a testing ground for all spirits.
Those who would use the public square under the guise of prayer to rhetorically entrap and then propagate such demoralizing politico-religious agendas are guilty of treachery beyond excuse and are purveyors of falsehood. Real encounters with God at a community level, that which is historically referred to as "revival", brings with it transformed lives, yeilding reduced rates of divorce, abortion, crime, etc. It would mean reduced incidence of these same things within the body of believers in the area, first! Those who want to only point to numbers converted without concern for discipline, the actual root meaning of the word"discipleship," fall short of all that God has stated in His final instructions to us. Remember, Christ Jesus said,
"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." (Matthew 28:19, The Great Commission)
And, Paul says in 2 Corinthians 13:5-11,
"Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test! I hope you will find out that we have not failed the test. But we pray to God that you may not do wrong—not that we may appear to have met the test, but that you may do what is right, though we may seem to have failed. For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. For we are glad when we are weak and you are strong. Your restoration is what we pray for. For this reason I write these things while I am away from you, that when I come I may not have to be severe in my use of the authority that the Lord has given me for building up and not for tearing down.
Finally, brothers,a rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you...."
Guidance we need is presented in the Holy Bible. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent,equipped for every good work."
Beware. Wrong messages, "twists" on the truth, tend to permeate as counterfeits.
With the prosperity gospel philosophy, the argument is that God wants you rich, and all that exists really is all about you. With the social theology crowd, a similar philosophical argument is set up with a slightly different slant all the while reinforcing a sense of personal detachment from responsibility.
According to those social (socio-) theological arguments, this life is not only all about you, you who deserve it all. But there is a problem. You lack something. According to this line of reasoning, you lack something quite significant. You lack that "something" not because of any personal failings on your part. No! It is because "others" have taken from you. And, with the religious spin to it, the argument goes, "You know God doesn't want them to have what's yours." "Of course God is going to punish 'them' so that you can get what's owed you. That's what God is all about. Here it is, right here in the Bible."
With economic verses referenced to the exclusion of all else, social theologians make references to deity to add weight to their argument. The goal is to give accusations a divinely registered sense of aura and mystical legitimacy. Typically the argument of the accuser hangs on a pivotal thread of one or two biblical verses without referencing biblical context. The verses themselves are true but their truth gets strategically obscured by the nest of distorted reasoning in which those elements have been intentionally embedded. It is this a nested distortion of premises that some use to the point of mockery.
So, for we who are members of the body of Christ, the question becomes, "How are we to respond to such twisted arguments?" "Where have we seen such diabolical craftsmanship for argument before?"
Well, we can take solace in the fact these events do not take God by surprise. And, He gives a model for response in the Holy Bible.
The specific case appears in the description of what happened when Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit to be tempted of the Devil. You remember this account. Here is what happened as seen in Matthew 4:1-10 of the Holy Bible:
Yes! Jesus left us an answer to this problem of verbal assault. What is interesting to note here is that for each conversational assault made by the devil, the devil used as his primary weapon single verses of scripture. In turn, Jesus responded to the use of those single verses with reference to other verses. As students of the word of God, we are to understand that scripture provides explanation for scripture.1Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4But he answered, “It is written,
“‘Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
5Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple 6and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,
“‘He will command his angels concerning you,’
and
“‘On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”
7Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 8Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written,
“‘You shall worship the Lord your God
and him only shall you serve.’”
Holy Bible, ESV
When verbally assaulted yet another time, Jesus responded with statements that mirrored His correct understanding of God the Father that comes only from right relationship with Him. Jesus did not respond from a sense of religion. No, not religion, but rather He responded from being in right relationship with God. It is right relationship with God that leads to truth about God's character and as such results in a profound discernment about the Father's expectations as well as the wisdom needed in this world.
It was this knowledge of God that governed Jesus' behavior during the wilderness temptation because Jesus did not use His own deity to respond to the devil. Instead Jesus relied on what was and is currently available to all of us as Holy Spirit filled believers. Jesus relied on His on knowledge of the entire Word of God, and He relied on His relationship with God the Father to dictate His understanding of the True contextual meaning of His Word. So, that in the midst of temptation, Jesus' words and actions diffused the intent of the Enemy.
Fellow believers, in these perplexing and often disheartening times, we are to respond as Jesus did. Jesus provides our model. Independent of how much many may admire human counterparts, Jesus alone walked this life without error. We must know all of God's Word - Old and New Testatment as "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work". And, in obedience to His Word, we who are saved are enabled by the Holy Spirit in right relationship with our Living God. We can and we must do as Jesus modeled in the power of the Holy Spirit. Saints, to do otherwise, would give all enemies of God reason to blaspheme His name.
You and I will continue to follow Christ Jesus. As intercesors we should pray in agreement with Jesus for His Kingdom to come and His will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Independent of what others may or may not do, we owe our allegiance to the Sovereign of the universe. We have been charged with occupying until He returns!
The KING of Kings deserves no less!
Amen!
---Livvy McDonald :)<><
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