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TRUTH HAS FALLEN
Patty: Usually we give a thorough update on our travels and ministry but this month I felt compelled to write this. Why, since many who will be reading this are already on the same page? Yet, perhaps I am writing as a prophetic wake-up call. This is the first time I have weighed in with my thoughts on the political civil war taking place right now. It is not a war like the American Civil War as people are not physically dying. This is a war about who will control the narratives of what is right and what is wrong, what is moral and what is immoral. It is a war of cultures, dividing not only the liberals and conservatives but “brother against brother.” The amazing observation that I have seen is that the liberals are very united rallying around their agenda, but the conservatives are not. The liberals are united around establishing a kingdom based on their values while the conservatives cannot come to consensus about what they are fighting for. To get involved in these political debates is fruitless because those who are most vocal and violent about their views are often those who proclaim that there is no God and that there are no moral absolutes. And yet, their anger and indignation would tend to prove the opposite: that they do indeed believe in moral right and wrong. They just define morality differently from what has been traditionally accepted. In this new era even the usual meaning of words are being challenged.
Those of the liberal mindset are vehemently opposing those of a different persuasion, claiming them to be liars and bigots while they approve of their own tribes doing the same things. However, unless there is a deep core conviction of valuing truth there are no grounds for discussion. And, without a belief in God, even if one did value moral truth, moral truth would keep changing, as there would be no immovable plumb-line to measure that truth or back it up. Often people do not even care to search out the truth, as some of the responses show to these recent presidential executive orders.
Even many who call themselves believers do not hold the same worldview of God: that he is holy, sovereign, powerful, full of compassion and goodness and yes, even a God who judges. It seems that more and more Christians no longer embrace the same view of the integrity and inerrancy of God’s Word. Without these two beliefs, “truth” is slippery and eventually morphs into the litmus test of feelings. Feelings change, but the universal moral truths found in the Word do not change, though individual doctrines may be disputed. God created man male and female and said in the New Covenant Scriptures that marriage was to be between one man and one woman. He himself declares in numerous places that the practice of homosexuality is sin. He himself declares who is wicked and who is righteous. There is no confusion on his part. But we are living in a day where the message of the media has turned evil into good and good into evil. Truth has become what they say it is at the moment and facts do not matter. They do not even report the truth when their lies are uncovered. And I tremble, because one day God is coming to judge and will once again make a distinction between the righteous and the wicked.
Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name. “On the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty, “they will be my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as a father has compassion and spares his son who serves him. And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not (Malachi 3:16-18 ).
Many will be purified, made spotless and refined, but the wicked will continue to be wicked. None of the wicked will understand, but those who are wise will understand (Daniel 12:10).
Where are those who walk in the fear of the Lord? To fear the Lord is to hate evil and to love what he loves. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and wisdom is the seat from which we hopefully make decisions. Moral decisions of right and wrong cannot be made consistently without this. Walking in the fear of the Lord is not being afraid of God as you would be of a cruel father, but it is living in appropriate awe of someone who has all power and authority while being compassionate, loving and just. When we walk in the proper kind of the fear of the Lord it will cause us to run to Him when we fall short. It will even be a big deterrent from sin in the first place. To love God is to keep his commandments. And, because we love him, we care about the things he cares about. He cares about truth as without it society falls apart. We are warned that to not love the truth is to open ourselves to the great deception in the last days. This calls for great discernment.
The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12).
So justice is driven back, and righteousness stands at a distance; truth has stumbled in the streets, honesty cannot enter. Truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey. The Lord looked and was displeased that there was no justice. He saw that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to intervene; … so he will come like a pent up flood and bring judgment with a result that the nations will fear the name of the Lord and will revere his glory (Isaiah 59:14-19).
When the accepted, agreed upon truth about right and wrong from the Judeo-Christian tradition, which has held fast in Western societies for almost 1500 years, is lived and propagated by those who are labeled as conservatives or evangelicals, then those who have drunken the Kool-Aid of the leftist mindset rise up with a violent rage to suppress and oppress, trying to take away one’s freedom of conscience. Those who challenge the lies and lifestyles of the liberals become a prey. It says in Romans 1 that the wicked suppress the truth about God because of their wickedness. Thus, God gives the reprobate over to a depraved mind. This is why people can fall for the bizarre suggestion that a man can be a girl in a man’s body!
Justice is not possible without being held accountable to God-given truths. According to society’s definitions of truth, right and wrong are always moving so there can be no accountability. So I grieve and pray that once again God’s voice can be heard and once again those who call themselves “Christian” will walk the talk and become the salt and light on the earth. May we be like Yeshua, loving the sinners without condoning their sins, serving the poor, the widow and yes, the refugees. May we come out of the closet and once again be in the forefront of culture formation. May we find our voice and speak out for those who are being denied justice. It is time for the Church to wake up and take her place as a ruling, love-stricken bride.
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