"WE ARE THE CHURCH... WE DO NOT RUN FROM WAR."

"Whisper His Name," Meghan Williams, Dyed4YouArt

 

The title of this blog is "borrowed" from the subject line of an e-mail from CBN NEWS, May 14, '22. 

As you would expect, this is dealing with the invasion of Ukraine. The CBN News' story is on Grace Church in Kiev, 6 miles from the Russian tanks, where they have prayer services every four hours and gather food and necessities for those in need. They believe the prayers will save both Ukraine and Russia.

Is this unusual behavior for the church of Jesus Christ? No. I remember during the time that Assad was allegedly attacking people in his own country, Christians were staying in Syria so they could minister to those who are in need.

Christians need to remember they're in the Spiritual War Zone 24/7. After all, do you expect Satan to remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy, regardless what day you call the Sabbath? Nope. We're on war footing, as President George W. Bush said we needed to be on after 9/11.

But what about so called Culture Wars? The problem is we see the enemy as physical, not spiritual. I remember Cal Thomas, in his book Blinded by Might: Can the Religious Right Save America? mentioning that during his time with the Moral Majority, they had a flier asking "Who's the greatest enemy of American society?" The Moral Majority's answer was Norman Lear. Thomas wanted to change the "Who" into "What" and answer the question "Divorce." He was onto something.

Remember above where the Ukranian church was praying for Russia? Shouldn't we pray for the people that seem to oppose us, that God would grant them repentance and that they may come to their senses (2 Tim. 2:25-26)? On the way to work, I drive by a pair of Gentlemen's clubs, one of which advertises coming events. I use that opportunity for God to save the people working there and that those businesses fail because those involved repent.

CHRISTIAN FAKE NEWS - CAN WE DO BETTER THAN THAT?

Pandemoneum, by John Martin

 I'll confess: I got dinged on Facebook for sharing a post that Fact Checkers found inaccurate. 

Yes, I know those fact checkers can be biased. I saw other stories that failed their tests, and the ones at the top of the list were stating a Conservative quote was false. But when I kept looking, I saw others pointing out the error of the liberal side.

In this case, I will raise my hand to acknowledge I'm guilty of the foul. I have no reason to appeal the ruling of the Fact Checkers.

The post I shared was stating a large number of Disney Plus Subscribers unsubscribing in a short time after the leak of the board meeting. The fact-checkers made this point - there was no way to access that information. Disney's numbers aren't due to be released for weeks, and they may not be.

The truth is we're involved in Spiritual warfare, and that reality overflows into culture wars. But are we using the world's weapons, and undermining our cause in the process?

I've remembered several waves, sometimes years apart, talking about atheist Madeline Murray O'Hair trying to get "In God we trust" removed and urging Christians to stand up against it. Each time, I remember other Christians pointing out that propaganda was not true.

In Blinded by Might: Can the Religious Right Save America, Cal Thomas pointed out that activists love having enemies, because that helps with fundraising. We need our white hats and they need black hats. 

Naturally, this doesn't at all resemble the command to love our enemies. The Greek word used is agapao, the same verb used in Christ's commandment for us to love one another (John 13:34-35) and for husbands to love their wives (Ephesians 5:25). It means to love in action without expecting anything in return.

It is ignoring Galatians 6:1-10 on numerous levels:

• It is not done in gentleness, and we aren't on guard to keep from being tempted (Galatians 6:1).
• It is heaping burdens on others (either their opponents or those who aren't joining their "holy" Crusade) instead of helping bear them (Galatians 6:2).
• It is thinking we're something, at least enough to judge and condemn others (Galatians 6:3) or in other words building our pride by tearing others down).
• It is sowing to the flesh (Galatians 6:7-8) instead of denying our self (Matthew 16:24) by judging others (Matthew 7:1-5; Romans 14:4; James 4:11-12).
• It is not done with a heart of doing good for all (Galatians 6:10; 1 Thessalonians 5:15).

Do you know what the worst part is? It is not showing Christ to others. It is portraying a God of vengeance towards our opponents, not a God who gave Himself, who died for our opponents while they were sinners (Romans 5:8).

I need to do better fact checking, but we also need to focus on winning others to Christ rather than fighting a holy war against the world by unholy means.