Life Matters - January 15, 2025
As we connect, or reconnect, with the force of reality there are any number of other forces to make cruising downstream much easier, much more comfortable—in the temporary sense of the word. Sensual ‘pleasures’ are available as never before. American family structures are being disrupted as never before. Learning institutions are corrupted as never before. Many politicians and news outlets can no longer be trusted to present the honest unbiased truth. Laws have been twisted to attack others as never before. Useless activities are available in abundance. Bible Christianity is being challenged as never before.
Christianity has been, and will always be, going against the natural flow of fleshly wisdom and Biblically unlawful “pleasures” (in quotes because unlawful pleasures are temporary) since the founding of the church in Acts chapter 2, an extension of the Abrahamic covenant, a Spirit-filled superseding of the old covenant and the fulfillment of prophecy. It should come as no surprise, when in going against the above or below surface current of sinful affairs, that the upstream battle remains continuous despite, or at times because of, political affairs.
This past November 5th has been a huge win for America. But if we see this incredible election win, upon its own merit, as a huge win for the church, we should very possibly evaluate who or what we have been, or are, placing our trust in.
It can be a huge win for the church. But whether it proves to be a win or a loss for Bible Christianity is up to the church, not the government. God through the government can create favorable conditions for the spread of His Gospel, but let us never forget that the burden of historical record shows the church to be purified, thriving, and growing, during times of adversity. Times when persecution, both overt and covert, only served to strengthen resolve and solidify cohesion.
We cannot escape the reality that the church is made up of individuals in need of a cohesive center. Individuals from families. Individuals that attend, or have attended, schools. Individuals facing temptations. Individuals who slip downstream at times. Individuals who need a helping hand at times. At times a correction on tactical course. Individuals whose struggles are often not the overtness of obvious persecution but the covert persecution of undercurrents. Individuals needing the cohesive reality center of new Life in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior that preaches good tidings to the meek; binds up the broken-hearted, proclaims liberty to the captives, opens the prison to them that are bound. ‘’To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.’’ (Isaiah 61:1-3) The culture war against family structure, school structure, constitutional structure, every Bible-relying structure in this country we are still pleased to dwell in, is a war on truth, a covert persecution that has been surfacing here and there in many an institution and circumstance.
Here is where the government can help. While covert persecutions through undercurrents will always be a part of the very human christian experience here in this life, the overt attacks on Truth in D.C.s ‘swamp’, in the U.S. learning institutions, in way too many media outlets, have a possibility of being corrected by the second Trump administration through exposure and/or the trimming of a bloated bureaucracy. With the help and encouragement of individuals such as you and I. The government cannot legislate love for truth into existence. Nor can the church.
Where the Church of Jesus Christ really shines is through the cohesion of godly individuals who love and care for each other with a clear conscience. A conscience that needs kept functioning properly by adherence to God and His Word. By a connection, or a reconnection, with reality. A spreading out of that reality.
‘’Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.’’ (II Timothy 3:12) As long as we live in this present world there will be attempts, by the devil and his minions, to detach, to disconnect, people from reality. By any means at the devil’s disposal. A covert form of persecution.
If the outgoing administration has taught us anything it must be that the squelching of reality can be accomplished within the framework of a ‘’legal’’ system along with the dissemination of lies. ‘’Freedom,” said Ronald Reagan, ‘’is never more than one generation away from extinction.’’
A people, a nation, given over to sensual “pleasures” will not long have the fortitude to overcome the forces haplessly cruising toward bondage. It is up to us. By the grace of Almighty God, in Whom we trust, may we stay free.
Free in Jesus Christ. Free, as we are, and stay, connected to reality.
Life Matters!