Things That Make you Go Hmmm

By Rachael Sales  

Isn’t it funny that as times goes on, it gets darker and darker out here? I guess funny isn’t the word because the Word lets us know that it will. I mean we are promised that it will. It is written that in these last days darkness will cover the earth and gross darkness the people. (King James Version, Isaiah 60:2)

My pastor puts it this way: We’re not promised that it will get better. In fact we’re promised that it won’t. We’re told that we – the church – can and that we must shine brighter. Our world is like a contaminated body of water. We’re not told that we can clean it up, but that we can pull as many fish out as possible before it all goes down the drain.  Only the return of Christ will make for a new heaven and a new earth as stated in Revelation 21:1: And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away… (King James Version, Revelation 21:1) But only the Christ in us will make us better in order to make others better.  Having said all that, I just wanted to take a look at some of the things going on in our society and the question of What would Jesus do and  what must be done through us today?

For instance, I know that as Christians we are mandated by God to preserve life. So yes, pro-life is God’s way. The question I deal with, however, is why as Christians are we not as adamant about the adoption of children as we are saving them in the womb? For every woman that we challenge to choose life, should we not be the solution to the quality of that life once it gets here? Do the numbers of Christian adoption agencies compare to the number of pro life agencies? If not, how are we being like our Master? He speaks of the Pharisees going to great lengths to proselytize or win a soul, but when they come to the faith, the soul is made worse by a lack of care. More specifically, He states in Matthew 23: 15, Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. (King James Version, Matthew 23:15) So, no we should not stop the fight for pro-life, for we must, always, and at every cause, rally for the cause of life, winning a soul.  But there is further to go than the doors of an abortion clinic. How many of us would open the doors of our homes and our hearts to the children whose lives are spared from our protests? (On a side note, how much different is birth control from abortion? I mean we stop the conception of the life before it comes as opposed to when it’s here when God says He knew us before we were formed in the womb in Jeremiah 1:5.  Just a thought.)

Let’s look at the war in Iraq for a minute. I have heard so many of my brothers and sisters approach it as a mission to serve our country and to liberate a country that doesn’t know our God. Here is the question however. If we are going into a Muslim nation that is not under the redemptive blood of Christ, why are we rejoicing in their demise? The demise of the people and not the nation is the question. I well understand that the political responsibilities of a statesman are different from those of a religious leader and that there are decisions to protect a nation that must be made politically. However, I am not really dealing with political issues. Regarding that, let’s render unto Caesar what is due to Caesar.  I am questioning our perspective, our approach to the war. What should be the approach of the American Christian to foreign diplomacy? Are we only praying for our troops? Can we afford to put our statesmanship over our Christianity? If face to face with an Iraqi zealot, is it not better for the radical Christian to give his own life, for the sake of that soul having another shot at eternal salvation? What testimony would that give about the Christ of America? Did God not hang on the cross for the Iraqi, and the Afghan as well? Just a thought.

I believe that Jesus’ proposal of such radical views was part of the Jewish disappointment with Christ. Why wouldn’t he set up a political kingdom upon the earth? Why didn’t he overthrow the Roman government? For Jesus, the liberation of any nation and the crux of His social agenda was the overthrow of the spiritual principalities within man. That only comes through salvation. I do not propose to have the full picture. I do propose that there are areas that we’ve missed for the cause of comfortability, not the cause of Christ. As long as these issues do not affect our homes directly, there will always be those of us who support the death penalty, the advancement of war, and a plethora of other social issues without the question of eternal salvation as the first concern. What would Jesus do?  Things that make you go hmmm….

{mos_fb_discuss:30}