Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, - Ephesians 6: 13-14 (ESV)
There is always a price to be paid when we compromise. When we look the other way and refuse to stand against what we know to wrong or untrue. The truth has died a swift and surgical death over the past year politically. For the church however, the truth has been dying a slow tortuous death for several decades now. As more and more mainstream churches shifted towards embracing absurd theologies and marketing schemes of church growth we have seen the erosion of truth eat away at the integrity of the church. Not only is truth foundational for the church but it ought to be for the believer as well. The key verses are from the Armor of God discussion and what is the first item we must put on? To be able to stand firm in these evil days we first need to put on the belt of truth. Without the absolute truth God provides, we are hopelessly lost and prey for the schemes of the devil. The armor of God is likened after a Roman Soldier's uniform and one interesting thing to note is that you cannot put on the breastplate without the belt already being in place. The breastplate is held in place by the belt. Think about that for a second beloved. Without the God's absolute truth, our righteousness falls to the ground.
The world believes in shades of grey. Within these shades the truth is malleable. It can be shaped and twisted. It can be spun. After presidential debates there are always advocates for each candidate waiting in the "spin room" to lie about how great their guy did. How absurd is that? They do not even care to hide it. Recently, false teacher Jesse Duplantis asked for 54 million dollars to buy a new jet airplane. For many in the church this was pretty low hanging fruit, as it should be. There is no way God told Jesse to believe for a 54 million dollar plane. The damage it does to the witness of Christ alone should be enough. Then there is the inconvenient fact that Duplantis preaches a false gospel of prosperity and word faith. Yet because of the erosion of truth we also saw Christians springing up to defend the absolutely indefensible. People who claim the name of Christ willing to believe and audible word from God to a charlatan over the written word of God in the Bible. THAT is how absolute truth dies.
It also dies when we refuse to stand up and be counted as being on the side of truth. When silence becomes complicity. When we are afraid of the reactions of others within the church walls. A large part of the problem is that we wrongly equate those Christians with the microphones with being the church. In most instances they are not. Franklin Graham does not speak for me or the church. Neither does Paula White. Neither do any of the faux evangelical advisory panel the White House put together for optics. Jefferson Beauregard Sessions most assuredly does not speak for me or for the church.
Sessions made a fool of himself yesterday using the Bible to defend a most unchristian policy he has been implementing. No matter how you feel about the immigration issue in this country, I would pray that like-minded Christians would agree that a policy of separating children from their mothers is not only unconscionable but most decidedly unchristian. Quite frankly it is pure evil. This should be as obvious as some huckster telling you that God audibly told him to ask for 54 million dollars to spread his false gospel is probably lying. Sessions actual quote was:
"I would cite you to the Apostle Paul and his clear and wise command in Romans 13, to obey the laws of the government because God has ordained the government for his purposes," Sessions said during a speech to law enforcement officers in Fort Wayne, Ind. "Orderly and lawful processes are good in themselves. Consistent and fair application of the law is in itself a good and moral thing, and that protects the weak and protects the lawful." -- Jeff Sessions
This is what is known as abusing Scripture to suit your political agenda. Under this absurd interpretation, whatever Hitler was doing was ok because after all, he was in power. Stalin? Better obey him because of Romans 13! Orderly and lawful processes are not inherently good in themselves! Are you serious! Slavery was once the acceptable law of the land! Application of the law is not moral on its own! Only dictators believe that nonsense! I will make a very transparent comparison to show the widespread hypocrisy on display here. Recently the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a Colorado baker who had refused to bake a cake for a gay wedding. The very same people who are using Romans 13 to defend separating families championed the lawbreaking baker. Without even providing opinion on that case, what happened to Romans 13? What about Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis who refused to do her job and sign marriage licenses? She defied a federal court order and was hailed as a hero by the apostate church. Why wasn't the application of the law moral in that instance? Because it is not beloved. Kim Davis made her stand and fought against what she felt was an unjust ruling. The Colorado baker stood for what he thought was right by defying a state law. It is too bad Sessions did not keep reading Romans 13:
For the commandments, "You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet," and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. -- Romans 13: 9-10 (ESV)
Does what we are seeing on the border love our neighbor? Is there anything remotely Christian about lying to mothers by telling them they are taking their children for baths only to never bring them back? Terrorism seeks to use fear to change behavior. One of the stated goals from our government is to deter other refugees from seeking asylum by separating their kids from them. We have become what we claim to abhor. Listen, I do not even wish to get into the immigration debate. We do not need to in order to correctly conclude that what we are doing on the border is the work of Satan.
Beloved we are supposed to be a shining city on a hill. The world is supposed to tell we are Christians by our love. Don't read me one verse from Romans torn from the overall context to justify sin! Where is the Sermon on the Mount? Do not cite Nehemiah rebuilding the walls unless you admit you are comparing the hostile enemies of Israel to toddlers. Where is the Parable of the Good Samaritan? Where is our belt of truth? Without it, our righteousness is but filthy rags. Maybe that is part of the problem. We started to confuse Christ's righteousness with our own. If you read the Gospel accounts of the life of our Lord and Savior and think He would in any way support this abomination then I fear you have made your politics into an idol. You see beloved, we can agreeably disagree about immigration policy. Agreeably disagree how asylum seekers should be processed in this country. Those are carnal, political discussions. There is however no grey area when it comes to separating children from their families. There is black and there is white. There is right and there is wrong. There is what is false and what is true. There is the work of Satan in these end days and there is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Silence is not good enough this time. It is complicity to say nothing in the face of such evil being defended with God's Holy Word. I leave you to ponder these truths in prayer with the word of the Lord through the prophet Isaiah:
Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless. What will you do on the day of reckoning, when disaster comes from afar? To whom will you run for help? Where will you leave your riches? -- Isaiah 10: 1-3 (NIV)
Rev. Anthony
