Category: Shadows (Page 20 of 26)

Divide and Rule (Divida et Impera) said Julius Caesar. Caesar, however, was not the first emperor to use this strategy. Some 1200 years before Caesar’s birth, the Assyrian nation effectively divided and conquered the nations of Babylon, Syria, Palestine, Armenia, and Mesopotamia. Their greatest conquest was the division of the 12 tribes of Israel. Our Old Testament documents how the Jewish people were divided and conquered, their temple destroyed, and then exiled to Babylonia. Imagine, the nation of Israel destroyed from within by its own divisiveness.

Divide and conquer is still an effective strategy today. Not in war but in politics. Media commentators, and politicians, promote the differences between right and left political systems. Society becomes more divisive, and hatred between sides grows. The strategy is just as effective today in American politics as it was for Caesar’s war plans. Whether political division is just a smokescreen for maintaining economic unrest, or the result of more sinister forces at work, our nation is being subjected to “Divida et Impera.” Turn people against each other and nations collapse. Who is driving this strategy? How do we defend ourselves against it? Who is trying to divide us and rule us?

To begin with, God hates anger. Anger injures and alienates people. It hinders relationships between people and keeps us from loving our neighbors.

(Ephesians 4:26-32)¹NIV New International Version Translations – “In your anger do not sin: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold. Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.”

The Apostle Paul tells us to get rid of our anger because anger is destructive to personal relationships. Failure to get rid of anger prevents unity, only creates dysfunction, and prohibits the growth of Christ’s body. Anger destroys God’s church. Anger destroys the entire concept of “a loving family.” Perhaps no single Bible verse makes this point more forcefully:

(Luke 15:28) – “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him.” (From the Parable of the Lost Son)

Relational anger has become all too common among friends, marriage partners, parents, and children. Children raised in these dysfunctional environments only learn how to be dysfunctional! God calls us to live as His children:

(Ephesians 4:1-6) – “As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”

Another reason to manage and/or control anger is that it is bad for our health. Long before the advent of modern medicine, the Bible described the mind’s connection between sin and sickness, and between righteousness and health. Proverbs 14:29–30 declares:

(Proverbs 14:29-30) – “Whoever is patient has great understanding, but one who is quick-tempered displays folly. A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.”

Anger is often based on envy, a perceived inequality, driven by one’s perception of inferiority or some injustice. When envy goes unchecked, it becomes anger and can physically damage the body. Our God tells us over and over that we find good health in patience and peace. Most doctors would tell you that unchecked anger affects one’s blood and can result in disease, even death. There is an observed correlation between anger and physical illness, including hypertension and stroke, heart disease, gastric ulcers, and bowel diseases.

The most convincing reason not to be angry, however, is that anger is offensive to our God. The worst consequence of anger is not getting colitis or even a divorce, but a grieving God Himself! We are called to get rid of all forms of anger because they invite God’s wrath against the ungodly and because they are incompatible with the new life God has given us.

(Colossians 3:5-11) – “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.”

We must avoid anger to avoid God’s displeasure and bring honor and delight to Him.

(James 1:19-20) – “My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.”

Now back to our opening questions: Who is driving this “Divida et Impera” strategy? How do we defend ourselves against it? The Apostle Jude gives us some clues:

(Jude 1:19) – “These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.”

Jude says it is ungodly people, people who have no connection with God, Christ, or the Holy Spirit. This should make sense because Satan has been teaching our world for a long time about division and its effectiveness. Just think how easily hatred can destroy a family or a country! To defend ourselves, we must defend our faith and our God together! Paul sums it up very well:

(Romans 16:17) – “I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them.”

In Caesar’s version of the term, he does not use the word Conquer. He uses a more subtle word, Rule. God conquers, Satan rules! In a more contemporary bit of wisdom, here is a quote from Thomas Paine to ponder:

“These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated.” 

~ From “The Crisis” December 23, 1776 by Thomas Paine

Contemplations

• What are the sources of your anger?
  • Ideas to Explore: Family relationships, employment, bosses, politicians, the news media, etc.
• Now for the list you just created in your mind, answer why for each one.
  • Ideas to Explore: What exactly is the source of the anger? Is it based on a difference of opinion? What about injustice? Is there an experience that brings up an emotion? Be honest here too, is there envy, or jealousy at work?
• Ideas to Explore: For each of the items that stir up anger in you, exactly who, what, when, and how does that anger manifest itself?
  • Ideas to Explore: Listening to the news. Listening to a political speech. Dealing with someone who is not honest with you. Dealing with someone who is judgmental. Please add more!
• Now consider for a moment, the motives of the sources that are invoking your anger. 
  • Ideas to Explore: Are the motives of those causing anger in you for your benefit, for their benefit, or the benefit of others?
• Does your anger interfere with your ability to make godly decisions?
  • Ideas to Explore: The dislike (hatred) of one person can result in you supporting another ungodly person. Is prayer included in your process to understand your anger?
• Is there anything that you can think of that anger accomplishes that is good?
  • Ideas to Explore: In support of godly values. To uphold God’s justice. What truths about God does anger reveal? What truths about God do peace and goodwill reveal?

• 1
  NIV New International Version Translations

There is much to say about Jesus and His sacrifice for humanity. Adam and Eve’s legacy to us was an eternal separation from God. The Christian faith recognizes that Jesus suffered and died to bring us back, reconciled to God. Jesus removed our shame and sin. Our big holidays focus on those sacrifices. Christmas (incarnation and birth), Palm Sunday (kingship), Good Friday (suffering and death), Easter (resurrection). But have we missed a critical point? Shouldn’t part of our focus be on how Jesus lived and who Jesus was? Isn’t the reason for His life to offer humanity an example to follow? This is important because Jesus may also be the most divisive person who ever lived. Are we to become like Jesus? Exactly what does that mean?

Whenever we read a story about Jesus, He was never without influence over those He met. Every person who encountered Jesus either rose or fell under His message. No one ever left an encounter with Jesus the same. All were affected in some way. There never was a middle ground! Jesus called all to make a clear choice. The same holds true for us today! You either trust in Jesus or you’re opposed to Him. With that thought, it is time to look at Jesus as a person, the person we are called to become.

(1 John 2:6)¹NIV New International Version Translations – “Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.”

Jesus’ messages to the world were provocative. While Jesus healed the sick, He challenged the leaders of His world. Jesus made some people angry. His message, “Change!” Change to what?

(Matthew 10:34) – “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.”

(Ephesians 6:17) – “….. and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”

Yes, Jesus was a good person. We can trust in His goodness instead of our own. God provided His Son to us for our comfort, salvation, and relief. Now comes the hard part. Getting to know Jesus personally so we can live like Him. And this is not an easy task. The hatred against Him is high. Jesus offers each person a choice, either follow Him or oppose Him. But what was Jesus really like? Jesus is also God! If we are to be like Jesus, what are His human characteristics? There are many and, in that point, lies the challenge to understand who Jesus was and how Jesus lived in our world. To help with this task is a list of recognized characteristics of Jesus. It is a long list, broken into groups with opportunities for self-reflection between each group.

Jesus was loving (John 13:1); joyful (John 15:11); patient (Matthew 27:14); kind (Ephesians 4:32); good (Matthew 19:16); faithful (1 Thessalonians 5:24); gentle (Isaiah 40:11); truthful (Matthew 22:16); and disciplined (1 Thessalonians 5: 22). What in this list seems hard for you? That is quite a list to work on, but as they say, these are just drops in a bucket. There was much more to the character of Jesus!

The human side of Jesus was forgiving Ephesians 4:32); humble (Philippians 2:8); fair (Matthew 7:12); honest (Ephesians 4:25); dependable (Colossians 1:10); and always responsible (Romans 14:12). Jesus was the type of person we would love to call “friend.” These characteristics allowed those who followed Jesus to get close and personal with Him. They loved Jesus. That is the highest form of achievement any of us could hope for in our lives. To have people around us who truly love us, people who would die for us!

People found Jesus to be generous (Matthew 10:8); confident (Philippians 4:13); friendly (Proverbs 27:17); encouraging (John 14:1); compassionate (Mark 1:41); enthusiastic (Col. 3:23); attentive (Hebrews 2:1); virtuous (Colossians 3:12–17); and always optimistic (Luke 21:18). Why did Jesus always have a crowd following Him? Just look at these virtues. This is the kind of person that attracts others. No one ever forced Jesus’ followers to follow Him. They did so willingly!²“I know men and I tell you that Jesus Christ is no mere man. Between Him and every other person in the world there is no possible term of comparison. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I have founded empires. But on what did we rest the creation of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded His empire upon love; and at this hour, millions would die for Him.” ~Napoleon Bonaparte

When we compare Jesus to other people, we find Him pure and holy (1 Peter 2:22); grateful (1 Thessalonians 5:18); content (Romans 9:19–21); focused (Mark 1:17-18); wise (1 Kings 3:9); and thoughtful (Philippians 2:4). Exhausting list, isn’t it? To think that our focus should be on becoming like Jesus. But there is both good news and bad news here. The bad news, this is still just a partial list of Jesus’ attributes. The good news is that the Holy Spirit is ready and willing to help each of us achieve our goal of becoming more Christlike.

Here are just a few more characteristics to drive the point home! Jesus is available, diligent, thoughtful, discrete, obedient, reverent, a servant, successful, a teacher, agreeable, appreciative, a good example, faithful, committed, an excellent communicator, devoted to the precepts of Scripture, cooperative, creative, determined, devoted, decisive, fearless, flexible, hospitable, loyal, persuasive, tolerant, respectful and alive in our world today. 

Wouldn’t your life be better if you knew someone like we are describing here? Wouldn’t all our lives be better if we lived in a country where everyone, including our leaders were like Jesus? That was exactly what our founding father Thomas Jefferson thought too. Jefferson had spent decades of his life studying and comparing the moral teachings of dozens of history’s most famous teachers and leaders. These included Ocellus, Timaeus, Pythagoras, Aristides, Cato, Socrates, Plato, Epicurus, Cicero, Xenophon, Seneca, Epictetus, Antoninus and many others. What few know is that Jefferson compared their teachings to Jesus. He then went on in 1804 and again in 1820 to consolidate Jesus’ teachings based on Jesus’ moral character. Jefferson’s conclusions were that none were better than Jesus! Jefferson’s purpose was to translate his writings on Jesus and make them available to the indigenous population in our country. He paid for the printing and distribution himself.

Historians have inappropriately named these writings “The Jefferson Bible.” Yet, Jefferson never claimed it as a Bible. The morality of our nation was always paramount to him. His vision was to see America as a moral country with its citizenry living as Jesus lived. After Thomas Jefferson died on July 4, 1826, a handwritten draft entitled “The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth” was found at his bedside. His nightly habit was to read it. After his death, the notes were published as “The Jefferson Bible³https://uuhouston.org/files/The_Jefferson_Bible.pdf.” In 1902, Representative John Lacy of Iowa was so inspired by Jefferson’s notes that he sponsored a resolution to reprint Jefferson’s Morals of Jesus of Nazareth for use by our nation’s representatives. Nine thousand copies were printed. For the next 50 years, each senator and representative were given a copy at their swearing in. Too bad we stopped!

Can you for a moment reflect on the idea of an America where all its representatives reflected the virtues of Jesus? Can you imagine a nation where its populous exemplified the characteristics of Jesus? We can only dream!

Contemplations

• Can you tell where your own individual characteristics came from?
  • Ideas to Explore: Parents, family members, teachers, church, youth groups, education, experiences, Jesus, etc. 
• While we are all unique, which characteristics t would you consider to be your best ones responsible for setting your direction in life?
  • Ideas to Explore: Learned to work hard; have common sense; care about others; honest; responsible; reliable? You get the idea, there are those things you gained that have advanced your life forward. Where did these come from?
• Which characteristics in life have been inhibitors to you?
  • Ideas to Explore: Bad habits are one area. Where did these come from?
• From all of those experiences in life and from all of those people impacting your life, who was the one you would say was number one?
  • Ideas to Explore: The people who mentored us in our youth, a loving and functional family, an active church life as a child, are all formative. Was there one person who helped form you?
• Why do you think that the world is so fearful of citizenry and leaders who are Christlike?
  • Ideas to Explore: Did Jesus set the bar too high? Is Satan too powerful in our world? Greed and corruption, sin is too much fun?
• How would you change the leaders of our country and the people into leading Christlike lives?
  • Ideas to Explore: Bring back God in our country and schools? Hold people accountable to their actions? Change how we teach children the values of life?

• 1
  NIV New International Version Translations
• 2
  “I know men and I tell you that Jesus Christ is no mere man. Between Him and every other person in the world there is no possible term of comparison. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I have founded empires. But on what did we rest the creation of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded His empire upon love; and at this hour, millions would die for Him.” ~Napoleon Bonaparte
• 3
  https://uuhouston.org/files/The_Jefferson_Bible.pdf

We seem to be experiencing a void of leadership in our world. There plenty of leaders who want to dominate, who want rule, and those who think they are gods. Who does God call the “worst leader, the worst king?” The Bible gives us plenty of candidates. In the period after the death of King Solomon the Hebrew kingdom split into two, with the larger northern part called Israel and the southern part Judah. Both kingdoms had some horrible kings. Some of the leading candidates might be:

• King David – while he was still a hunted outlaw, he would cover his tracks by killing everyone, male and female, in the villages he raided (1 Samuel 27:9).
• Baasha of Israel (1 Kings 15: 28-29) – He killed his predecessor and the whole family of a previous king, Jeroboam, just to be on the safe side. Baasha was deposed by Zimri, who killed his family.
• Jehu of Israel was another murderer, who made two piles of the heads of 70 royal princes (2 Kings 10:8) and killed scores of other rivals.
• Manasseh of Judah built altars to foreign gods in the Temple and ‘sacrificed his own son in the fire’ (2 Kings 21:6).

The idea here is not to just look back at history as if we are creating a movie script. There were lots of leaders that were detestable to our God. There is one king, however, that God gives the Oscar to. He ‘did more to provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger than did all the kings of Israel before him‘ (1 Kings 16:33). What is it that angered God so much?

(1 Kings 16:30-33)¹NIV New International Version Translations – “Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him. He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, but he also married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and began to serve Baal and worship him. He set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he built in Samaria. Ahab also made an Asherah pole and did more to arouse the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel, than did all the kings of Israel before him.”

King Ahab was the son of Omri, who hardly gets a mention in the Bible. Some might even try to compare this biblical king to Captain Ahab, the complex antihero of Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick. Only conjecture exists as to whether the captain’s scriptural namesake suggests a storyline like that of Israel’s most evil king. The goal, however, should be to dissect the story and understand what did King Ahab do to earn such a prestigious satanic title and unconditional condemnation from God?

The journey to ruin began when Ahab married a woman named Jezebel who had a particular hatred for God’s people (1 Kings 18:4). Because of his marriage to this pagan woman, Ahab devoted himself to the worship of the false gods Baal and Asherah (1 Kings 16:31–33). Ahab fell completely under the evil influence of his queen Jezebel, a heathen princess, daughter of Ethbaal, king of Zidon. She was fierce, revengeful, and ambitious.  Jezebel was a fanatical worshipper of Baal and spread idol worship throughout Israel. She consecrated high places and built altars all over Israel upon which countless sacrifices were offered to the idols. No less than four hundred and fifty prophets of the Baal were in the capital city. Four hundred prophets of the Ashtarte²Astarte was a goddess honored in the Eastern Mediterranean area, before being renamed by the Greeks. Variants of the name “Astarte” can be found in the Phoenician, Hebrew, Egyptian and Etruscan languages. A deity of fertility and sexuality, Astarte eventually evolved into the Greek Aphrodite thanks to her role as a goddess of sexual love. sat at her table as her daily guests. Jezebel persecuted the true Hebrew prophets so fiercely that not one true prophet could speak without giving up his life.

Departing completely from the worship of God, Ahab then built a temple to Baal. To fully comprehend the significance of this, one needs to understand Baal. Baal was the name of a supreme god worshiped in ancient Canaan and Phoenicia. Baal was a fertility god who was believed to enable the earth to produce crops and people to produce children. The practice of Baal worship infiltrated Jewish religious life during the time of the Judges (Judges 3:7). Baal became widespread in Israel during the reign of Ahab (1 Kings 16:31-33) and also affected Judah (2 Chronicles 28:1-2). The word baal means “lord.” Ahab broke both the first and second commandments, “You shall have no other gods before me and  He worshiped graven images.”

Ahab also had coveted the vineyard of a man named Naboth. (This goes against the tenth commandment, “Coveting thy neighbor’s possessions.”). The king offered to buy the vineyard, but Naboth refused because the Law of Moses forbid Naboth to sell his inheritance (1 Kings 21:2–3). While Ahab sulked about, his wife Jezebel arranged for Naboth’s murder (God’s sixth commandment was broken, “Thou shall not murder”). Once the vineyard’s owner was out of the way, King Ahab took the vineyard for himself. God’s displeasure brought about a drought and famine over the land. His adversary throughout his life was the prophet Elijah, who warned him of coming judgment because he did not obey the Lord. Ahab blamed Elijah for bringing trouble on Israel (1 Kings 18:17). However, it was Ahab’s promotion of idolatry that was the true cause of the three-and-a-half-year famine (1 Kings 18:18). Elijah came to Ahab and told him the Lord would deal with him by cutting off all his descendants. Also telling Ahab that he would suffer a shameful fate:

(1 Kings 21:19) – “Say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Have you not murdered a man and seized his property?’ Then say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: In the place where dogs licked up Naboth’s blood, dogs will lick up your blood—yes, yours!’”

There were plenty of bad kings, and plenty guilty of bloodshed, but Ahab seems to have attracted the most severe condemnation. It’s likely that this was because of the brazen nature of his infidelity to God in building a temple to Baal, and the way he continually resisted God’s warnings through Elijah. Ahab’s sin before God was that he led God’s people away from the one true God! And all other sins start from there. With the true prophets of God murdered or driven from the country, the Kingdom of Israel was on the verge of a total spiritual collapse. How did it end for Ahab?

(1 Kings 22:34-38) – “A soldier shot an arrow without aiming at anyone. But he hit Ahab king of Israel. The arrow hit him in a place not covered by his armor. King Ahab said to his chariot driver, ‘Turn the chariot around. Take me out of the battle. I am hurt!’ The battle continued all day. King Ahab was in his chariot, leaning against it to hold himself up. He was facing the Arameans. His blood flowed down and covered the bottom of the chariot. That evening he died. Near sunset a cry went out through the army of Israel: ‘Each man go back to his own country and city.’ So in that way King Ahab died. His body was carried to Samaria and buried there. The men cleaned Ahab’s chariot at a pool in Samaria. This was a pool where prostitutes bathed. And the dogs licked King Ahab’s blood from the chariot. These things happened as the Lord had said they would.”

When looking at our world today, are the leaders of nations bringing people closer to God or farther away? What is most clear in Scripture is that God cares about His people. His covenant of salvation is real. It is clearest in the rearview mirror of history. We are fortunate today that we live in a country where we can still choose our leaders. But for “God’s sake,” choose wisely. Spiritual collapse may be closer than we think!

Contemplations

• Are the leaders of our country bringing us closer to God?
  • Ideas to Explore: Is there an assault on religion? Why have we taken God out of our educational systems? What has replaced God in schools?
• The termination of an unborn child is murder in God’s eyes. Do you expect God to bless a leader who supports abortion?
  • Ideas to Explore: Why is society so cavalier about killing the unborn? Is it really a personal rights issue? Why is crime, violent crime, going unpunished in our cities?
• The worship of Baal is no different than the worship of things. What has our society replaced God with?
  • Ideas to Explore: Wealth, power, lifestyle, the environment, rules and regulations?
• Do you think that a leader today who leads people away from God will succumb to God’s judgement?
  • Ideas to Explore: Name the worst contemporary leaders you can think of – How did their lives end?

• 1
  NIV New International Version Translations
• 2
  Astarte was a goddess honored in the Eastern Mediterranean area, before being renamed by the Greeks. Variants of the name “Astarte” can be found in the Phoenician, Hebrew, Egyptian and Etruscan languages. A deity of fertility and sexuality, Astarte eventually evolved into the Greek Aphrodite thanks to her role as a goddess of sexual love.

There is a curiosity about human nature worth exploring. How did people, who had been part of Jesus’ ministry for years and only days before, call Him King, turn against Him in a day? Why could the crowd chant to free a criminal named Barabbas and call for the Romans to crucify Jesus?

In one of the rare moments documented on Jesus’ life, He became angry and became an activist. Shortly before His arrest, Jesus entered the Temple precincts to shouts of “Hosanna, son of David!“. He was viewed as the Messiah by the people. Jesus then immediately proceeded to commit a violent act against the authority of the Temple. He began overthrowing the tables of the money changers. Jesus was disrupting the illicit trade of sacrificial offerings needed during the Temple’s busiest holiday, Passover. (You can find more detail in our study called “Why the Anger?”) The temple authorities moved quickly. First, bribing one of his disciples, Judas, to betray Him. Arrest followed at night in the Garden of Gethsemane. After a late-night religious inquisition at the home of Caiaphas’ father-in-law (John 18:13), the Jewish leaders decided to hand him over to Rome on capital charges of treason. The Jewish leaders wanted Jesus dead!

Barabbas was no ordinary robber. He had been a leader of a group that had acted against Roman authority. The people in Jerusalem all knew Barabbas as well as Jesus. Some scholars believe that Barabbas was even a member of the Zealots or of the sicarii (dagger-men), militant Jews that sought to overthrow the Roman occupiers of their land by force. Barabbas was being held for the crime of treason against Rome. This is the same crime for which Jesus was also convicted. The penalty for treason was death by crucifixion.

Barabbas had already been imprisoned with his fellow rebels, and now Jesus was bound and brought to the Roman governor’s residence in Jerusalem. Thus, both Barabbas and Jesus came to find themselves facing the death penalty. Their fate was in the hands of Rome’s representative, Pontius Pilate. According to Christian tradition and the Gospel writers, there was a prevailing Passover custom in Jerusalem that allowed or required Pilate to commute one prisoner’s death sentence by popular acclaim. The crowd was offered a choice of whether to have Barabbas or Jesus released from Roman custody.

The stories in the gospels of Matthew (27:15-26), Mark (15:6-15), Luke (23:13–25), and the additional information in John (18:38-19:16), tell us that “the crowd” chose Barabbas to be released and Jesus to be crucified. John’s gospel makes the political ramifications of the decision more clear. “If you let this man go,” Caiaphas’ group argued, “you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.” (John 19:12)

The question then becomes, how did the people of Jerusalem change their minds so quickly? What is this inherent flaw in humanity that could make people wish to save a criminal and murder their Savior? The answer lies in a human weakness called “Collective Phenomena.” When people are part of a crowd, they lose their individual consciousness and become more primitive and emotional. This is primarily due to the anonymity provided by being in the group. Barabbas might have been a well-known criminal at the time, most likely because of his involvement in uprisings against the ruling Romans. However, it was the Jewish religious authorities that stirred up the crowd (the group)  to demand for Barabbas’ release. The Jewish leaders were a special interest group that had been profiting from their corruption within the Temple. They held a special hatred for Jesus.

Is our society making these same errors today? Are special interests (the secular equivalent of the religious authorities), with the help of biased social media, influencing the choices made by our nation? Does the anonymity gained through social media and the diminishing visibility because of online communications, create the same group dynamics that we saw take place with Jesus?

How would you decide who to release? Here are seven rules that might be helpful to reflect upon:

1. Humans Are Not Great Decision Makers – We have bias, bigotry, and hatred, and typically suffer from a lack of information. What is your plan to be informed? Who are your groups? Who do you listen to and take advice from? Is it watching the news? God help us if it is!
2. Do You Make Decisions Quickly or Deliberately? – Time allows for a more balanced approach, acquiring greater information and using more reliable decision-making. Do you approach your choices carefully and not emotionally? Most fraud and deception that occurs today have an element of “urgency” embedded into it. Quick decisions are always risky.
3. What is your Track Record? – Do you generally make good decisions? Are your decisions aligned with your values? Do you know your values? Are your values aligned with God’s Values? Do you know God’s Values?
4. Where Do Your Facts Come From? – Our world is full of false information. Good decisions will always be consistent with God’s Truth. (See our study on What is God’s Truth) Are you a good fact-checker? Remember that on the Internet, both true and false information lives forever! 
5. What is the Impact of No Decision? – Too many people choose inaction, leaving important decisions to others. That is always a poor choice.
6. What is Going to Happen After You Decide? – The need for decisions is driven by “causes” and making decisions will have “effects.” Do you think about them in that way? Do you think about the future consequences of your decisions? Do you understand the risks and rewards?
7. Who is seeking the Decisions? Who is the group, who are their leaders? Why are the leaders pushing for the decisions, why do they want your support? Are they Impartial or Biased? Always take time to know this answer!

The Jewish people wanted a military king, to rid themselves of oppression from the Roman State. Jesus was not that kind of king. Yet through a little bit of prompting from a few corrupt Jewish religious leaders, the crowd chose Barabbas. In a passage found only in the Gospel of Matthew, the crowd says:

(Matthew 27:20-26)¹NIV New International Version Translations – “But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed. ‘Which of the two do you want me to release to you?’ asked the governor. ‘Barabbas,’ they answered. ‘What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called the Messiah?’ Pilate asked. They all answered, ‘Crucify him!’ ‘Why? What crime has he committed?’ asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, ‘Crucify him!’ When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. ‘I am innocent of this man’s blood,’ he said. ‘It is your responsibility!’ All the people answered, ‘His blood is on us and on our children!’ Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.’

The crowd not only made the wrong choice that day, but they also accepted full responsibility for it. They even made their children bear the responsibility for their decision! Like all decisions made in life, God holds us accountable. Where was God in their choice? Nowhere, only their own self-interests and the greed of the religious leaders. It was all about power and control. The people were tired of Rome and hastily chose. Need a reminder of where God should be in our decisions? Here is a study on the Ten Commandments. Let’s start here! (See: It Is All About Compromise)  God’s Truth always wins anyway, and His Truth comes out in the end!

(Luke 8:16-17) – “No one lights a lamp and hides it in a clay jar or puts it under a bed. Instead, they put it on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light. For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open.”

When people are in a group or a crowd, they have a strong tendency to conform to the norms of that group. This may be since, in many ways, groups offer protection. Groups protect people from loneliness and/or purposelessness. By conforming, people show their willingness to be a part of the group. Conformity can be a positive force if the group supports positive behaviors. But humanity’s conformity impulse is so strong that it can overwhelm better judgment.

All groups have leaders, and those leaders play a significant role in whether the group makes positive or negative decisions. Poor leaders gain personal power by exploiting people’s urge to conform. They use fear of ostracization (and worse) to motivate action. This normalizes unethical behavior to justify their own misdeeds. It stifles dissent making their opinions the only opinions. Good leaders, in contrast, can influence behavior to help group members improve themselves. Healthy groups improve an organization or society. Group behavior becomes more evident because of our growing dependence on communication technology. Anonymity is increasing. The Internet, use of social media platforms, distance learning and working at home, and even the subtle loss of visible facial expressions because of mandated surgical masks, push our populations into unintended groups. Many groups are led by leaders that we typically don’t even know.

The good news is that each of us is offered the opportunity to be part of an eternal group, Christ’s Church. Membership is open but there are membership requirements! Repentance, the hatred of sin, the love of God’s Truth, and the sharing of the Gospel are just a few of those requirements. Christ, the Incarnate God, should be the only leader we use for decisions, based on “What would Jesus Do?” All humanity has a second chance. Let’s all Choose Christ this time!

Contemplations

• Where have you experienced the group behaviors that are discussed here?
  • Ideas to Explore: Stadium sports? Political rallies? Large gatherings of some type?
• How have you seen fear used to control or influence group decisions?
  • Ideas to Explore: Pandemics, military threats, social justice, racism?
• Where have you seen the influence of hatred used in our society?
  • Ideas to Explore: Divisiveness in Politics? Media?
• Where have you seen special interests at work in controlling societal decisions?
  • Ideas to Explore: Elections? Education? Government?
• How can you protect yourself from the influences of special interests?
  • Ideas to Explore: Social media bias, search engine bias, and news media bias are all real – what is your secret to remaining open-minded? Can you change your opinion? How?
• What do you do to make sure you are not impacted by the dynamics of a group?
  • Ideas to Explore: Knowing leaders and their motives? Charters, mission statements of groups? Past track records of groups?

• 1
  NIV New International Version Translations

It has been hard to watch the recent assault on our children. If you are concerned you might have missed it, here are a few of the issues that have been reported on over the last few months.

•  In Chicago, gunfire has killed or wounded more children this year than all of the children who succumbed to COVID in the US for the year. Many other cities have similar issues.
• Our FBI, Olympic committee, and the USA Gymnastics systematically covered up sexual abuse of hundreds of young female athletes for years. What compels a society to let this occur year after year with no concern to stop it?
• Trafficking of children for exploitation in the United States, especially through our unprotected boarders of those under 18, is estimated to be over 300,000 children annually. Millions more worldwide. Drugs are used once, and they are gone. Victims of child trafficking can be used and abused over and over. They recently found a 2 year old and 3 month old child abandoned in a swamp! You should be weeping for these children.
• In some jurisdictions, schools have begun teaching children as young as 5 years old about transgender lifestyles and gender fluidity. This is being done despite parent attempts to opt out their children. Are parents still responsible for their children or have we relinquished them to the perversions of our world?
• Sports, restrooms, locker rooms have become gender neutral and open to sexual perversion. Are there really more than two sexes? What is your stand on this!
• COVID policies have forced children into remote learning and wearing non-effective face coverings. Yet politicians travel, dine and party with little regard for their own restrictive mandates. Why are we sacrificing the future education of our children for the whims of the elite?
• God is missing from most educational systems. Truth has become subjective, opinionated, biased and misleading at best. God’s Truth is nowhere to be found in schools.
• History is being mocked. Statues that offend, cancel culture are reining supreme. We are no longer teaching the mistakes of the past, just the promises of the future. Are  our children relegated to make the same mistakes of the past?
• The percent of Single parent families continue to rise. Children are being denied the experience of a father, mother, or in some cases both. Gangs have stepped in to fill that void.
• Drugs are becoming legal in more and more states. Many of these drugs are a gateway to a life of despair. Our children are watching as adults lead the way. Is this what we want for our children?
• We now have many states that have legalized the aborting of full term births. This is murder in God’s eyes. How in the world did we get here? Is life no longer of value?
• And then there is the entertainment and social media industries. Video games that promote sex and violence. Do you wonder why our society, our cities are no longer safe? People can no longer walk down the street without fear!

The most unfortunate part about the list above, is that it is only a partial list. There is no doubt that anyone could keep adding more!

(Matthew 18:6) “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.”

The disciples were gathered with Jesus when He made the above statement. Most use it to explain that the path to salvation is to have a simple faith, the faith of a child. There was an argument among disciples about the “pecking order” of heaven. Jesus might have answered the question, “who is the greatest?” by pointing to Himself. Instead, Jesus drew their attention to His nature by having them look at a child as an example. The fact that a child came when Jesus called says something about who He was. Jesus was the sort of man that children would come to willingly. Throughout Jesus’ life, children were always special to Him.

Jesus says, unless a person’s faith becomes like that of a child, they will not enter the kingdom of heaven. This was probably a great disappointment to the disciples. But then why would Jesus add a warning about hurting those with a childlike faith? Can we also assume that this would not only include adults but the children themselves?

A child was a person of no importance in Jewish society. They were subject to the authority of his elders, not taken seriously except as a responsibility. Children were the ones to be looked after, not one to be looked up to. Children were not threatening. They were not tough, intimidating like Jesus. Children were vulnerable. Jesus says, when we fulfill the humble place a child has in culture, we are finally on our way to greatness in God’s kingdom. Jesus declares that those who receive one little child in His name, they receive Jesus Himself. But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Him to sin, look out. Jesus declares, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

It is a bad thing to sin, but it is a far greater evil to lead others into sin. Jesus declares, leading the innocent into sin is the worst of the worst. Notice that the offense is described along with a millstone. The large stone, and anyone attached to it, would be sure to sink if thrown in the deepest parts of the sea. They would never come up again. Don’t miss the comparative part of Jesus’ statement. He is saying you would be “better off” if you were thrown into the sea. The sin of damaging a “childlike faith” is so heinous, so great, that it is better to undergo the worst of punishments which can only kill the body. For this sin, hell will be worse than the depth of the sea; for hell is a bottomless pit, and it is a burning lake. The depth of the sea is only killing, but hell is tormenting. In other words, judgement will be the most severe for sins against our children!

(Deuteronomy 6:6-7) – “These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.”

(1 Corinthians 8:10-11) – For if someone with a weak conscience sees you, with all your knowledge, eating in an idol’s temple, won’t that person be emboldened to eat what is sacrificed to idols? So this weak brother or sister, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. ‘

(John 17:15) – “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.”

Whether little in stature, age or faith, Jesus is someone’s only hope of salvation. The above verses in Deuteronomy, and by the Apostle Paul and John, clearly show us that our starting point must be the Truth of God. The Ten Commandments are the cornerstone to saving our children and society. Paul warns that when your children are weak in faith, they are first influenced by your actions. Then they are influence by the world at large. Leading a repentant life, avoiding the pitfalls of sin is a requirement to saving our world. What we do, how we live is paramount. And finally, we read in the Gospel of John that it is not our primary job just to “shelter” our children. Yes, we are to “protect” them, but the protection comes through educating them in God’s Truth. Children need to be prepared for the world at large. Satan is just waiting in our decaying world to gather them up. Your children, my children, our grandchildren, our friends’ children, children that we don’t even know, children that have not been born yet.

What we do know is that when children believe in Jesus, even though they are young, they are part of His Kingdom. Children who believe in Jesus, benefit from the Cross. They benefit from the forgiveness they receive from the Son of God. In God’s eyes, no matter how young some is, they should have the same opportunity for salvation as everyone else. No one should be discouraging them or prey upon them. Offending Christ’s little ones, even by omission, is also included in the dreadful sentence of the mill stone. Inaction, the sacrificing of our children to our world of sin, cannot continue. All, you and I, are called to take a stand and make a difference now.

Contemplations

• What would you add to the list of attacks on our children?
  • Ideas to Explore: Think about all of society and the problems within. Why are so many impacting innocent children? What about the breakdown of the family. Think beyond those who are single parent families. How are normal families failing their children?
• Is the church failing children?
  • Ideas to Explore: In what areas of Christian education? Are there periods of their life and development that we abandon them? Are we growing “Parents” for our children?
• Courts no longer punish the wicked, including crimes against children. Why?
  • Ideas to Explore: How is our modern society abusing children? By failing to punish crime, how does that impact our children? Why after numerous years of uncontrolled crime would a city like Chicago still have such issues? Is it that no one cares? What drives the lack of concern for children?
• Why would a government agency like the FBI totally fail to protect children?
  • Ideas to Explore: The bureaucracy of government has no accountability. Do we even know who is in charge of our country and society any more? Is it the lust for power and money?
• Would you want to relive your childhood in today’s world?
  • Ideas to Explore: If you are white, you are racist. If you are black you need the government to support your value. You may not have privacy or even sextual protections on basic things like showering for a high school sport. Your world is decreasing in human contact and increasing in social media contact. How will you hug over Facebook? How would you respond to being back in your youth?

Words combined with actions can be a powerful witness in our world. When someone says they will do something, others expect them to do what they say. Lately, our society is giving us more and more examples of people who say something that people want to hear. You guessed it; then they don’t bother to follow through. If the inconsistent behavior continues, one might conclude that such a person is untruthful. What does the Bible say about keeping our word?

(James 5:12)¹NIV New International Version Translations “Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. All you need to say is a simple “Yes” or “No.” Otherwise you will be condemned

James, Jesus’s half-brother, brings things into perspective. Don’t promise what you are not willing to do. Once promised, God considers your words an oath. Like God, His oath, our oath should mean something. Scripture has many examples to look at. One is an “in your face” example, the story of Jephthah. This story illustrates the foolishness of making vows, promises without understanding the consequences. Jephthah appears in the Book of Judges as a judge who presided over Israel for a period of six years (Judges 12:7). According to the Book of Judges, he lived in Gilead. His father’s name is also given as Gilead, and, as his mother is described as a prostitute. Jephthah was described as a mighty man of valor. Before leading the Israelites into battle against Ammon, he made a rash vow. That he would give to the Lord whoever first came out of doors to meet him if he returned home as the victor. When the Lord granted him victory over the Ammonites, the one who came out to meet him was his daughter. Jephthah remembered his vow and offered her to the Lord (Judges 11:29–40).

Ammon, also known as Ben-Ammi, was the son of an incestuous union of Lot with his younger daughter. He was the brother of Moab, who was also a child of Lot’s incestuous relationship with his eldest daughter. Both were conceived after the destruction of Sodom. Ammon became the ancestor of the Ammonites. When Jephthah’s daughter was the first to come out of the house, he immediately regretted the vow. This required him to sacrifice his daughter to God. Jephthah then carried out his vow.

The Talmud is a collection of writings that covers the full gamut of Jewish law and tradition. It was compiled and edited between the third and sixth centuries. The Talmud is Hebrew for “learning.” The Talmud characterizes Jephthah as a person of poor judgment. He was someone who made “unfitting” vows without proper consideration for consequences. If Jephthah had read the laws of vows in the Torah, he would not have lost his daughter. It is not hard to see that making a bad oath can be as wrong as honoring a bad oath. God’s advice, don’t make them without understanding the consequences!

Jesus also taught about vows:

(Matthew 5:33–37) – “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.’ But I tell you, do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No ,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one”

The religious leaders of the day advocated keeping a vow if it was a public vow using God’s name. However, if the vow was made during everyday conversation, referencing only “heaven” or “earth” or “Jerusalem,” it was not really binding. People had a loophole. They could lie or exaggerate in their conversations and lend themselves an air of credibility by saying, “I swear by heaven that this is true!” The religious leaders taught that people would not be held to account because they did not specifically swear by “God’s name” and the vow was private. Jesus countered that idea. If you swear something, it had better be true, He says. In fact, all you need to say is “yes” or “no.” Your word should be good. There’s no need for covering your tracks.

Psalm 15:4 describes a righteous person as one “who keeps an oath even when it hurts and does not change their mind.” Oaths, promises are to be binding, even when spoken in jest or privately as part of everyday conversation. A promise is a promise, and there is no loophole in God’s eyes to allow a person to renege on a promise. When we hear others make promises, whether friends, politicians, etc., our expectations should align with God’s expectations. People are to be held accountable to their promises (oaths). Why, in this age of the Internet and its army of professional and amateur fact-checkers, do people make promises they have no intention of keeping (lie)? Here are some clues that might help the next time you are listening to someone make a promise:

1. Narcissists are arrogant, self-important. They see themselves as special, need excessive admiration, have a sense of entitlement, and are exploitative. Avoid them if you can! They were crafters of the Talmud’s “Fine Print.”
2. We have a built-in bias. We hear what we want to believe. Fight the urge, fact check everything against God’s perspective.
3. Very few people want to hear the truth. Truth often hurts. Truth threatens our own beliefs, makes us uncomfortable. If we know God’s Truth, this should never be a problem.
4. The Internet never forgets. The problem is that information, true or not, lives on forever. Information lives on even in the face of contradictory evidence. Use many sources. Use common sense. Let the Holy Spirit help you.
5. Cognitive biases. We seek out information that supports our own preconceived notions. To be open-minded requires discipline.
6. If a lie is told enough times, people assume it to be true. So people hear the same untruth, over and over. Learn to spot it and then ignore it.
7. People no longer care what God thinks. This is the final thought on this point. If people don’t care about God, they don’t care about their oaths, promises!

Contemplations

• What do you do when a person has made a promise to you and then broken it?
  • Ideas to Explore: Does such an action, a lie, affect how you view the person? If it is a politician, do you change your opinion?
• How do you determine if someone is truthful?
  • Ideas to Explore: Do you use opinions of others to form your own opinion? Do you “fact check?” Where do you get your facts?
• If media and the Internet should not be viewed as reliable sources, where do you get your information?
  • Ideas to Explore: It is not about politics any more. Truth seems to be waning . How do you use the Bible and God’s Truths to sort out facts?
• What is the role of the church in all of this?
  • Ideas to Explore: Should the church address issues of truth? Should the church focus more attention on skill building such as the use of reason and revelation?
• What is the role of common sense in all of this?
  • Ideas to Explore: Common sense fails if bias is present. How is common sense practiced? How is common sense taught?

• 1
  NIV New International Version Translations

There is nothing more disturbing than having enemies pursuing your destruction. Whether they are societal, governmental, personal, or unseen, to be pursued by evil is a terrible thing. David, before he was king, was pursued by King Saul. Jonathan was the eldest son of King Saul and a close friend of David. He would warn David that his life was in danger.

(1 Samuel 19:1-3)¹NIV New International Version Translations – Saul told his son Jonathan and all the attendants to kill David. But Jonathan had taken a great liking to David and warned him, “My father Saul is looking for a chance to kill you. Be on your guard tomorrow morning; go into hiding and stay there. I will go out and stand with my father in the field where you are. I’ll speak to him about you and will tell you what I find out.”

One of the great legacies of King David is his Psalms. When all seemed to be failing in his world, David could pray like few people could pray. Psalm 35 is one of David’s prayers that offers valuable lessons. It is also an excellent prayer to use yourself as part of your prayer life. David is under a death sentence from Saul. He prays for his safety (Psalm 35:1-3). The prayer takes an interesting turn, and David prays for the confusion of his enemies (Psalm 35:4-8). His confidence in God is reinforced (Psalm 35:9-10). Most striking is that in Psalm 35:11-16, David prays for kindness to those who had rewarded him with evil for his good. His prayer then takes the form of an appeal to God against them (Psalm 35:17-26). David prays for those who befriended him and praises God for His goodness (Psalm 35:27-28).

David begins his psalm by asking God to intercede on his behalf. Plead his cause! Shield him, confuse his enemy’s skills in battle, and block the spears they use. The Psalm does not take the form of a personal attack against David’s enemies. He is asking God to do all the “blocking and tackling.” This is one of the essential lessons for all of us. We don’t have to defend ourselves alone!

Next, he does not disparage the souls of his enemies. Psalm 35 is not a personal attack against anyone as a person. Instead, David asks that God confuse their schemes and plans. The idea of a net and pit resonates with David’s sense of entrapment. David is asking God to use their own traps against them. He asks that shame and confusion be placed upon his enemy’s plans. He is not asking for their direct death or destruction.

Prayers can include the use of one’s imagination. David imagines the angels of God removing the chaff (the useless part of a grain harvest) as if an invisible wind blows his enemies away. His imagination and prayer see his enemies retreating through darkness, through a morass of thickets and bushes. Remember, thickets and bushes tear at your skin as you run through them. His enemies in their fearful retreat are being snagged by their own hidden snares (traps). This is the justice David is seeking from God.

David foresees God’s success. He shares his forthcoming joyfulness, knowing that God is going to save him. He also knew that there would be an onslaught of unfounded charges brought against him. Charges that he had never even heard of, and false witnesses who would be ready and willing to corroborate his enemy’s lies. This is much like what happened when Jesus was brought before the Jewish church and Roman state for blasphemy (See Matthew 26:59, Matthew 26:60). It still happens today in our world. Agendas, fake facts (lies), and corrupt witnesses are a few of today’s hurdles to get over. David is confident that God can handle this as well.

David does a bit of introspection. He looks at how he has treated his enemies. David re-states that when they were sick and weak, he humbled himself with fasting and prayer. What did his enemies do? They rejoiced in David’s adversity. Some of these verses seem prophetic of Christ’s treatment. In a moment of sorrow, David asks God, How long will you let this go on before you save me from destruction? It should be the prayer of every Christian today. How long, God, how long?

David closes his psalm with his promise that “many people” will hear the story of God’s victory on his behalf. In his summary, he is asking God not to give his enemies something to rejoice about. David restates that his enemies do not seek peace. They are deceitful, contemptuous. David restates his faith that a resolution is in God’s hands. “Let my friends shout for joy and be glad for me. Let my enemies be confounded.” Most of all, David praises God for his mercy and kindness to him.

Now, what would you call our enemies, the evil that attacks us today? Is it the elimination of borders that brings in drugs, trafficking of children? Is it the removal of voter integrity laws that will assure evil wins at the polls? Perhaps it is the prosecutors who send criminals back to the streets repeatedly? Do you feel like David, insecure, fearful for your safety? How about the war on our law enforcement? Want more? What about an educational system that teaches against our constitutional republic? Does printing trillions of dollars scare you? It should! What about the war on life itself, where thousands of unborn are killed daily?

It is time for all to pray like David prayed. We are being placed under a death sentence. You are being asked to adopt political, economic, and social principles and policies that your parents and grandparents fought to eliminate. Psalm 35 asks God to turn the enemy’s own nets and pits, their traps, against them. It worked for David, it will work for us today!

David never witnessed the defeat of the Israelites under Saul. The Philistines mortally wounded Saul. His sons, including Jonathan, were killed. In a last act of heroism so that he, the king of Israel, would not be captured, Saul committed suicide by falling on his own sword.

Contemplations

• What does your list of enemies against humanity, against Christianity, against you look like?
  • Ideas to Explore: Is the lack of respect for life itself being promoted by the attitudes toward abortion? What do the violent movies and war games teach our children? Has removing God from our society made it a more fearful place?
• Do you think that there is a difference between just hating your enemies and praying for them to fail in their plans?
  • Ideas to Explore: What is causing the hatred of today? Is it really all about a person’s color or religion? Does this hatred blind us in our choice of people for leadership roles? Do outside forces spread the hatred? How do we sort through the lies of a wicked world?
• Christ came in peace. They hated what He had to say. Why does Truth cause hatred?
  • Ideas to Explore: How does the world’s truth differ from God’s Truth? Is the truth different today? How do we teach our children what the truth is?
• Do you see the confusion, the incompetence of our enemies as a sign that God is working on our behalf?
  • Ideas to Explore: What changes poor behavior in people? Do you think what we are seeing today in our society is punishment from God? If not, what is causing it? The world says it is the conservative Christian views that are to blame!

• 1
  NIV New International Version Translations

There was a social media post that I received. It had a picture of two very old Civil War veterans, sitting, shaking hands as friends. The caption under the photo was: “If two enemies could forgive each other and get along following a Civil War, I don’t understand why so many Americans can’t get along following an election?” The question is good. However, our society has somehow made the argument about compromise. It has nothing to do about compromise. If you have two glasses of water, one clean and one contaminated, you will never think to mix them. The question should be about which ideas are of God and which of Satan. Are one set of beliefs godless, filled with hatred for anyone who disagrees with the ideas of the other. This is much more like the old proverb, “Oil and Water Don’t Mix.” Are we being asked to tolerate or accept godlessness? Re-read the message, it is not about getting along. It is all about forgiveness! To forgive requires repentance, a change. To forgive requires Jesus!

(Romans 12:2)¹NIV New International Version Translations – “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

To understand the question of tolerance and compromise, one must understand the idea of testing for God’s approval, God’s will. God does not have an opinion; He has a will! Whether society likes it or not, there are specific beliefs and behaviors that we must follow to be “right with God.” In other words, what is contaminating the one glass of water? What makes the other glass of water clean? Repentance is the removal of what is abhorrent to God so that we become “clean water,” pleasing to God. To answer this question, the best place to start is God’s first social media message post to humanity:

(Exodus 20:3-17) – The Ten Commandments of our God

1. “You shall have no other gods before me.

2. You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

3. You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

4. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

5. Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

6. You shall not murder.

7. You shall not commit adultery.

8. You shall not steal.

9. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

10. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

Let’s create a quick report card on how humanity, society is doing with the 10 commandments. Here is a list of ideas to contemplate, in the same order as God’s own list to us:

1. Notice in the 1st commandment that the “g” in god is lower case. The dictionaries of the world capitalize the “G.” Their definition reads: the Being perfect in power, wisdom, and goodness who is worshipped (as in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism) as creator and ruler of the universe. Yet our world has replaced our God with materialism, narcissism, the pursuit of human pleasures, power, selfishness, and the list goes on. It is hard to argue the point that our society no longer holds our one true God above all else. Our world has made God, just a lower case “g,”  god!

2. The 2nd commandment is about images, the human mind and heart. When we seek to find identity and security in something besides God, we have made it an idol. John Calvin said, “The human heart is an idol factory.” We often search for peace or identity through relationships, substances, money,  entertainment, or power. Even good things can become idols if we are not careful. Ministry, hobbies, charity work, or even family can take the place of God our lives. This commandment also contains a warning for future generations. God is saying that, if society doesn’t deal with idolatry in its generation, it will be passed down to our children and to their children.

3. The 3rd commandment is much more than cursing. Honoring our God is paramount. The entertainment industry, the media, and the educational systems no longer honor the one true God. The same can be said for many leaders, judges, businesses, etc. Rarely are children raised to consider the 3rd commandment.

4. Rest is not the only goal of the 4th commandment. The “busyness” of humanity requires that time be spent to refine a proper relationship with God. It takes time to know Him, to learn to love Him, to worship Him, and to communicate with Him. This has eternal implications. It is time well spent!

5. We often misunderstand the full meaning of the 5th commandment. Yes, honor is due to parents, the prior generations of our society. The very disciplines of life should be learned at home! It is the history of  God, life and the world that are critical to children’s relationship with God. Where do you learn to love God? To lose honor for the past generations is to lose touch with the visible proof of our Creation. It is God, who as a Father, sent his Son to us to save us. We owe Him all the honor we can muster. The war on history shows us the lack of concern for the 5th commandment.

6. If there ever was a place humanity fails, it is the 6th commandment. War, crime, drugs, abortion, human trafficking, lust, and the pursuit of physical pleasures are some of the ways society murders. Life itself is being devalued.  The hatred being spread today is not only divisive but dangerous. There is no “reset button” on life. Life is not a video game! God has given each one life, one opportunity to exist. Yet, the value of life is diminished daily. Do we really think that removing God from our country helps us with the 6th commandment?

7. Adultery is commonplace. Humanity not only accepts it, but it also encourages it. The 7th commandment was not given as a suggestion. Many families exist as single-parent homes. The idea of divorce was relegated to simple roadway signs advertising it for $99. Humanity has missed the point. Honor and commitment must be for life. This is the glue that holds a society together.

8. Theft is interesting. Many cities now have removed the penalties associated with crimes like theft. Our leaders do not hesitate to profit from insider information or bribery. Is it OK to ask why our political leaders all become wealthy after serving? Theft has evolved to include Internet fraud. The anonymity of our world has accelerated the theft of property, information, money, and even personal rights. Your information, who you are, is stolen daily. God notices! You need to notice too!

9. Bearing false witness, the 9th commandment, has become commonplace. Follow the news. There is no longer accountability for the failure to be truthful. Deceit is celebrated. Unless we all become our own “Fact Checkers,” there is no hope for God’s Truth.

10. What can be said about the 10th commandment? We are a consumer society. Every day, billions of dollars are spent telling everyone to covet what your neighbor has. This is so prevalent that even our children are being trained to covet. Do we really think that redistribution of wealth and socialism fixes this problem? God’s Truth fixes this problem!

It is hard to give us anything but a failing grade. The solution has never been to take the clean water and mix it with the contaminated water. That philosophy is based on the theory of “dilution.” If you can dilute the bad to low enough levels, it will not hurt you. Here is what Solomon says:

(Ecclesiastes 11:3) – “If clouds are full of water, they pour rain on the earth. Whether a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where it falls, there it will lie.”

Solomon points out that these are absolutes, common sense things that cannot be ignored. To think otherwise is absurd! God’s Kingdom has never been a democracy. He gave us 10 rules. Humanity cannot even get those right. The point behind the 10 commandments was to make our world worth living in, make it God’s world. Yes, we have Jesus. We are all forgiven! But to have a relationship with Jesus, we still need to be repentant. Society needs to change directions. The road we are currently on is destructive. People need to take responsibility for their actions. The photo of the two Civil War soldiers commented, why can’t we all get along? The men were old, closer to God than most. That usually happens with age. What the world told them about hate was long forgotten. It has never been about compromise. Look at God’s list, it is about changing direction and then forgiving!

Contemplations

• Who is to blame for the lack of progress toward improving society?
  • Ideas to Explore: First, look at yourself. Are you supporting ideas that lead others away from God and toward sin? Next, look at the others around you. Where do you see them abandoning God’s Truth?
• This should be a sobering assessment of humankind. What is your idea to help?
  • Ideas to Explore: Society as a whole is not fixable. What is your list of ideas to at least make it better? How do we improve our leadership? How to we instill Godly values in our children?
• Take the list of ten commandments and identify at least one area that you can help with.
  • Ideas to Explore: The Apostle Paul reminds us that we need to live and survive in our world as it is. What is your plan? How will you help the upcoming generations? 
• Jesus is quoted as replacing the Ten Commandments with only one, love one another. What do you think that means?
  • Ideas to Explore: John 13:34-35 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another.” Make a list, one through ten of one thing you can do for each commandment that will honor what Jesus is asking us to do.

• 1
  NIV New International Version Translations

Most scenes of Christ’s crucifixion include Him with a crown of thorns. The crown was meant to mock Christ. The Roman soldiers who carried out Pontius Pilate’s sentence were no different than those in our own world today. They added their own spin to the punishment. The story of the crown of thorns was recorded in all four Gospels. The crown was a symbol of disgrace. It was meant to make fun of Christ’s claim that He was the anointed King who would bring forward God’s kingdom on earth.

Contemplations

• What external evidence to you consistently see that re-enforces your belief there is a God in our world?
  • Ideas to Explore: Living things? Nature? The imperfections of humankind? The Bible?
• Do you think that Christianity can ever separate itself from the Bible?
  • Ideas to Explore: Why do so many people hate it? Why are so many people trying to re-write it? How is it that we reassure ourselves that God is the author of the Bible?
• Most open-minded people agree that humanity is flawed – Can you think of a better plan than Christ?
  • Ideas to Explore: What society without a belief in God has succeeded? Why don’t people just accept the Bible as God’s Word?
• Pick your favorite “ism.” Will any succeed forever?
  • Ideas to Explore: How long does any society last? Why do they fail? Do any current successfully societies exist that are atheistic? Of the societies that are on your  list, are people trying to get into them or out of them? Why?
• Assuming the basic needs of human survival are being met, what else would you want to see that would bring joy and happiness to your life?
  • Ideas to Explore: Does humanity need freedom to be happy? Can someone else force happiness? What does it really take to be happy? Is it all about things?
• If you are of the opinion that the world is a mess, what is your plan to fix it?
  • Ideas to Explore: Can humankind  fix it? How does humanity ignore the evidence (thorns and thistles) of a broken world.  How should our society change to stop the death, destruction, fix the poverty, end pain? 

• 1
  New International Version Translations

If you were asked, “What is eternity,” would you have a good answer? Eternity is forever or you might even say eternal life is the ultimate promise of almost every religion. Once you enter eternity, what would be like? Is there some type of instant perfection that never goes away? Will we ever get bored in eternity? What is there to keep the inquisitive mind of a human active and stimulated, forever?

Apologetics is often called the defense of the Christian faith. The word “apologetics” is derived from the Greek word apologia, which means an answer given in reply. In ancient Athens, it referred to a defense made in the courtroom as part of the normal judicial procedure. For those who are seeking eternal life, are you ready to defend the concept of eternity, timeless existence? Once time is removed, can you defend eternity without including God in the discussion? Is there or was there a Creator of our Universe and all that is in it? Is the Universe we live in everlasting?

All discussions on eternity usually include the idea of a Creator. Creationism, the idea that our universe somehow happened, is a hard concept to understand. The idea of randomness should be tested against the idea of purpose and design. Because randomness is generally chaotic, evidence of purposeful design should lead us to the idea of a masterful Creator. God, as an eternal being exists without the concept of time. To be eternal, God must be absolute. God, by human definition, always existed and always will.

(Genesis 1:1)¹NIV New International Version Translations – “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

The very first verse of the Bible that Christians subscribe to reinforces the point: God was there before our world, before us. It was God who established the boundaries and concept of time. The world subscribes to the idea that our universe is nothing more than an improbable and spontaneous set of matter and anti-matter that just happened! If that is the case, humanity is nothing more than a subset of the randomness, lacking purpose, and design. Watching today’s news may lead you to believe that yourself!

If we are to ever understand the idea of “forever,” there are two areas to consider:

• Purpose – What is the purpose of our Universe, our world? What is the purpose of God and of humanity itself?
• Design – Are our universe, our world, and our humanity on earth part of a purposeful, useful design? Is it the result of a random collision of particles in the absence of time?

Purpose

To help understand the purpose, all things should be compared against each other. Within that view, the interrelationships of dependence and service to each other become clearer. Let us take a simple example:

A single-cell amoeba exists, it moves and is a predator to bacteria, protozoa, and algae. It can eat almost any organic nutrients in its habitat. As for what eats an amoeba: they are preyed upon and eaten by small fish and crustaceans such as tiny shrimp. Larger fish, birds, and reptiles eat crustaceans and shrimp. This trend of purpose continues and creates a chain of purpose that leads right through the plant and animal kingdom. It ends with us, human beings. Is this a purposeful design or a result of randomness? Did we really evolve from the amoeba?

(Genesis 1:26-28) – Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

It would be narcissistic to think that the chain of purpose ends with humanity. It is reasonable then to ask what is the purpose of humanity. Our Bible tells us that humankind’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.²This is the first question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism asks “What is the chief end of man?” God’s purpose for humanity is then by definition, something eternal. We were conceived by God in His eternal past with the intent to create something that will remain in His eternal future. Whatever God wants, intends, and desires are His plan according to His will. God is absolute. When He wills to do something, when He resolves to do something, He will do it. God’s purpose then becomes part of God’s design, His plan. His pleasure is always good. His will is always good. His intentions are always good. God’s plan is always perfect!

(Ephesians 3:11-12) – “according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.”

Design

The world we live in may look like a world built of chance and chaos. Yet, our world began with a purpose. It is being sustained for a purpose. God has an ultimate eternal purpose for our world in mind. This is God’s world, and His rule is purposeful, not capricious, and arbitrary. An English theologian, William Paley, summarized it in 1807:

“In crossing a heath, suppose I pitched my foot against a stone and were asked how the stone came to be there: I might possibly answer, that, for anything I knew to the contrary, it had lain there forever; nor would it perhaps be very easy to show the absurdity of this answer. But suppose I had found a watch upon the ground, and it should be inquired how the watch happened to be in that place; I should hardly think of the answer which I had before given, e.g. that, for anything I knew, the watch might have always been there. Yet why should not this answer serve for the watch as well as for the stone? Why is it not as admissible in the second case, as in the first? For this reason, and for no other, viz. that when we come to inspect the watch, we perceive (what we could not discover in the stone) that its several parts are framed and put together for a purpose, e.g. that they are so formed and adjusted as to produce motion, and that motion so regulated as to point out the hour of the day; …This mechanism being observed (it requires indeed an examination of the instrument, and perhaps some previous knowledge of the subject, to perceive and understand it; but being once, as we have said, observed and understood), the inference we think is inevitable, that the watch must have had a maker: that there must have existed, at some time, and at some place or other, an artificer who formed it for the purpose which we find it actually to answer: who comprehended its construction, and designed its use.”

Humans are not the originators of the physical world. We can only be credited with discovering and copying a few parts of it. In the fields of engineering, chemistry, ballistics, and aerodynamics, and in almost every area of human endeavor, God has been there first. We observe, then create, and then seek credit. It is the Apostle Paul who states it most succinctly:

(Romans 1:20) – “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”

Eternity

Therefore, if God exists, eternity exists. Add to this thought that Christ, the Incarnate God, came to earth to show us that both God and eternity existed. Christ came to show us that humanity would be part of God’s eternal plans. What then will it be like to be in eternity with God?

(Revelations 21:2-8) – I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”

God is planning to establish a new heaven and a new earth, where Christ will spend eternity among His redeemed people in perfect and constant communion. There, we will enjoy a new heaven and a new earth, living with God. Sin and its horrible effects on humanity will be gone. Hallelujah! Our experiences will be assured by the promises of God. And the best news, we live as God’s children without the fear of a second death.

Paul reminds us in Philippians 3:20, “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,” Hebrews 12:22 affirms our eternal joy. “But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly,”

Eternity is our future home and our future hope. That ought to make a difference in our lives today. Until sin is defeated along with death, there is no way humanity will ever fully understand eternity. Our definition is limited by the temporal intellect of humanity. Your faith must tell you that eternity is true. To spend “forever” with our God and with our Savior will be better than to spend it with the sin of our world, a second death. Our limited view of the world seems to tell us that eternity is real. That being the case, it appears that the choice is not whether you will be part of it. You already are! The choice is who you will spend it with!

Contemplations

• What do you think about when discussing eternity?
  • Ideas to Explore: Finding people that we love that have died? Reuniting with our past pets? Asking God a list of questions as to why there were injustices on earth.
• Do you believe that we can ever fully conceptualize eternity?
  • Ideas to Explore: Can anything temporal ever conceive eternity?  Is a peaceful eternal existence worthy to pursue? What happens if there is no eternity? What happens if there is? What happens if you are with the wrong group forever?
• If God is eternal, if eternity and our joy are predicated on our relationship with God, why do so many people neglect their relationship with God?
  • Ideas to Explore: Is a relationship with Christ the keystone to the relationship with God? How do we get to know God and Christ better?
• How does the world lie to us about God?
  • Ideas to Explore: Creationism? Worldly pleasures? Deceit? Fear? 
• How would you explain eternity to a child?
  • Ideas to Explore: Use your personal testimony. Search for the child’s fears and try to elevate them. Be their living example of what a good relationship with God looks like. Share your hope and joy.
• As a Christian, are you already in an eternal relationship with God?
  • Ideas to Explore: Once we accept Christ as our savior, there should be no fears to be concerned with.

• 1
  NIV New International Version Translations
• 2
  This is the first question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism asks “What is the chief end of man?”