Thursday, January 14

Subtle Lies

It all started this morning on the way to work...well, no, maybe it was on facebook last night...but the real fuel came as I drove to work listening to three morning dj's arguing about Pat Robertson's comments. And I had to say something...hence, the 7:15 am blog below. And 30 minutes later the kids came into my classroom and I still felt agitated. This is the first time all week, I had felt fired up and heated...so it was noticeable to me. And I realized...I needed to calm down. But all I wanted to do was join in the argument, tell what I saw, tell people to stop arguing and come down off their high horses...and that's when I realized...

that I too had fallen prey to the enemy.

My peace was gone, I wanted to fight, wanted to prove my point...and I had gone from feeling compassion for the Haitian people to feeling the need to convince people to stop fighting and slandering.

And for the rest of the day I have had to find my way back to hearing the Lord. And so, somehow, I am going to try to convey what I feel is on my heart tonight, and I hope you will hear it and it will somehow make sense.

The way of the enemy is to take a little bit of the truth and turn it into a lie. It's how all rumors begin. It's how small misunderstandings grow into large separations. It happened in the Garden of Eden when the serpent tricked Eve and it is happening through the present day. Imagine a lie...wrapped beautifully in a truth that might seem so good and easy to swallow...and then opened by an unsuspecting person caught off guard...when the fallout happens, who gets blamed?

Why do bad things happen to good people? Why are there wars? Why are there natural disasters? Why are innocent people hurt at the hands of murderers and rapists? Why doesn't God stop them? Why doesn't He protect them from ever getting into that situation?

I submit to you this: we all have a choice.

We have a choice because there is a God who wants our love...not our blind and forced submission. Hence 2 trees in the Garden of Eden...a choice of life or death. Hence, a God who longs for a relationship with people, but who will not force it upon them. And this freedom, of choice, has given men and women everywhere free reign to do whatever they please, whenever the please. This Earth is quite a mess isn't it? But in the midst of it all, there is a God who is working to save and redeem as many people as He can. There is a God who is working to rescue the hearts of those who will choose to believe Him.

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. ~2 Peter 3:9

I admit to the fact that I and so many Christians, who have not known how to answer, who have lacked any kind of tact, who have bought into some kind of lie, and/or who have not known the true love of God and are walking in legalism and fear...have given answers that are less than perfect. But I also know this:

We have an enemy. There is a real Satan. There is a real hell. Did you know he used to live in Heaven? Did you know that he would love nothing more than to keep you and I from getting there? And so what will he do to keep us from getting there? Anything...and that includes causing us to doubt that God is loving, and kind, and good. That includes dividing friends, family, and strangers in accusation and misunderstanding as we try desperately to define God to each other.


And....

God is not waiting around to punish people. He is not waiting to use His hammer on people who don't follow Him. He created the world...He created us...He LOVES us. Why in the world would He want to curse us...destroy us...tear our lives apart because we didn't choose Him?

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ~John 3:16


Let me reiterate:
  • Because God is good and perfect, He cannot allow sin in His presence.
  • Sin can be defined as anything that brings death to our lives, to our hearts, to the lives of others...anything that destroys love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Galatians 5:22-25
  • If God allowed sin, it would be like saying that all the bad things that happen are no big deal. And is that true? NO WAY! Of course they're a big deal...why do we cry out from the depths of our hearts and say, "Why, God, why?!" Why are we so dissatisfied with the things that are broken? Because it wasn't meant to be this way.
  • God hates sins because it destroys us...and God wants us to LIVE! So He sent us a way out of death. He gave us a way not to die. He gave us a ticket out of hell. The ticket's name is Jesus. And Jesus, through His death and resurrection, destroyed the power of sin.

So, here comes Pat Robertson, telling us that in the recorded history of Haiti they made a pact with Satan in order to win a battle, and that since then, they have lived under a curse which has caused great poverty for the nation.

I have talked to people who have visited Haiti...voodoo and witchcraft are rampant in this nation. You can feel the darkness as you walk the streets...literally hear the voodoo chants in the middle of the night. Poverty has been highly visible for years and years. I listened to an interview with one of Haiti's ambassadors today...he said, "well, any pact that has been made between Haiti and the devil also affects America..because America received land out of this as well." He did not deny it.

And so here is what people think Pat Robertson is saying....that GOD has put a curse on Haiti because of their sin. But that IS NOT what he said. See the lie? Do you see it? Do you see how subtle? Everyone is going around saying, "Oh, he's saying God has cursed them? How awful! How indignant! How self-righteous!" And he did not say that at all.

He said, and please forgive me for the paraphrase here, but he said that they agreed to put themselves into the hands of the devil in order to win a battle with the French. Whoah...who in their right minds would do such a thing, right? How could this even be true? But, what if it is true? Because WHO is our enemy? Who wants to take us out? Who wants to destroy our lives? Who causes poverty and ruin? The very being and power that the historical reports are claiming they handed their lives over to. Was it these exact people who have felt the devastation of the earthquake? No, probably not. But hear me out. There is a very real spiritual world at work that we do not see with our eyes. There are dark, spiritual strongholds over nations that need to be broken. There are people still in bondage, messing with voodoo and witchcraft, playing with the dark forces. They are paying the price, and these people need to be freed. They need our prayers! They need us to stop parading around in our so-called "love" clothing...recognize that the enemy is destroying lives, get down in the dirt on our knees and pray prayers that bring healing and restoration! We need to pray from a perspective of truth.

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. ~Ephesians 6:12

And yes, we need to clothe the naked. Yes, we need to feed the hungry. We need to rebuild the broken walls. ( Isaiah 58 ) And at the same time, we need to pray...with fervor, in spirit and in truth, with the knowledge that our war is NOT against flesh and blood, but against dark spiritual forces who are working to take us out.

God DID NOT curse Haiti. And neither did Pat Robertson. He may not have all the tact in the world, but he certainly is acting out of compassion by sending millions of dollars worth of relief aid and probably praying more than you or I have even begun to. That being said, God wants to redeem the people of this country out of love for them. He wants to rescue them from the hands of the enemy that they have put themselves into. There is a war going on for them. (And by the way this can be said for every person in the world.) And just walking around saying that we Christians have enough "love" in and of ourselves by sending a $25 donation and a few water bottles is lopsided and unbalanced. We must be aware of what is really going on. We must also speak the truth in love (Colossians 1:6); the truth being that God loves them and wants to heal them and set them free so that they can really live. And of course, with tact, and of course with gentleness, and of course with the leading of the Spirit. We must fight for them both with our prayers and with our hands.

Satan wants us to blame God for the curses and the bad things that happen...he wants us to question each other's motives with pointing fingers and misguided accusations. He wants to takes our eyes off of what is really going on...he wants to destroy us.

God, help us to know your love, help us to walk in your truth...so that we can live...and lead others to find life as well.

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
~Ephesians 3:14-19

No comments: