Thursday, July 30, 2020 -
Today our nation is in an uproar. A few thousand protesters/rioters have hijacked the agenda of the largest political party and the major news organizations to the point where they are supporting anarchy and Marxist revolution. Who would have thought this would happen a few years ago? And all of this is happening without the support of the majority of the country‘s citizens, while President Trump’s support among the “African American” community is at an all-time high – at approximately 40%, as attorney general William Barr asked the congressional Democrats on the judiciary committee this week, “Since when is it
OK to try to burn down a Federal Courthouse?”
All of this is going on while churches are forbidden to hold services in many if not most places. Clearly, Christians are being targeted. A friend of mine who lives in a neighboring county of ours, Albemarle, tells me that if they are caught outside of their home, even on their porch or deck, without a mask it is an automatic $1400 fine per person! Yet who are they going to infect? The squirrels? The birds? They live in the countryside but yet on a busy road.
Another friend of mine who writes each week, keeping me informed of the news, brought to my attention II Timothy 3, in conjunction with the current anarchy in the streets of many of our cities:
“But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revealers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God; holding to a form of godliness, although they deny its power, and avoid such men as these. For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. And just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected as regards the faith, for they will not make further progress; for their folly will be obvious to all, as also that of these two came to be” (2 Timothy 3:1-9).
But what should be our response as believers? In the rest of the chapter Paul tells us very clearly, “but you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra; what prosecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord delivered me! And indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. But evil man and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them; and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:10-17).
The adjectives Paul uses in the opening verses describe so perfectly the burning down of our cities and seeking to overthrow all authority. And it astonishes many pundits that the majority of these Anarchists are white, college-educated women under the age of 35. Yet it is a reflection of what they are being taught in our colleges and universities today –that they are entitled to whatever anybody else has, they are to reject all authority, morality is relative, God is a myth, it’s OK to kill your own children for convenience sake (life has no intrinsic value), and tradition is to be rejected and history rewritten. Yet right here in 2 Timothy 3:6 Paul says weak women weighed down with sin will be captivated and lead on by various impulses. Is that not exactly what is going on?
Yet we are to remain faithful to the Lord and scripture, expecting persecution during these times, conducting ourselves righteously with purpose, faith, patience, love, and perseverance. Indeed, we are to show love to the protesters/rioters in the name of Christ, and patience and perseverance! We, especially those in the communities where this is taking place, must reach out in love, not hate, in the name of Christ. And they will know we are Christians by our love.