Sometimes, when we are praying, the Holy Spirit speaks to our hearts in a very clear manner. It may sound just like your own voice-deep, quiet, and knowing. Often, I don't realize that He spoke until much later when I reflect on it. It's like core of my very being has a voice, and in retrospect, it stands out like a beacon flashing in the foggy night sky, pointing the way home for ships at sea.
It was like that when I was praying several months ago. I heard this: "There is going to be a legalistic backlash in response to the dark, evil that has gripped the nation. You must reject it!" I want to say that the last part came more as impressions than words, and it was in reference to all of the perversion and darkness that we have experienced in the United States. I wonder if this bringing religion back is what He was talking about? Religious freedom is precious and good, but is that what Trump is meaning and intending, or could it be something else?
The law never saved anyone; it only brings death. In speaking of the difference, Paul said this:
"He has qualified us as ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life." 2 Corinthians 3:6
The Holy Spirit infilling the believer, by faith, ever day as we face various trials, brings life over time. But it is only through faith. There can be no true works without faith in Christ to fulfill His promise of life in us. That is the gift of grace. Faith is the engine room. Faith is the root, and works are the natural fruit. Anything less is self-righteousness. It is progressive. It is transformative, and it is divine. How will the United States government oversee this ministry of the Spirit, and faith in Christ? Is that what Trump means when he holds up his Bible with the constitution (that has grossed him 300,000 dollars), and proclaims that he is bringing religion back? I am concerned that the state is getting into our church, and it will defile us. It has defiled us.
"You have been severed from Christ, if you seek to be justified through the Law: you have fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit, by faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness." Galatians 5: 4-5
How can a vile man lead us spiritually. Oh, he is a "baby Christian"? You mean, this is his first love experience with Christ? If he has repented and found the joy and love of being saved from his sins, why has he not repented or even acknowledged his sordid past with people like Epstein? But we don't know anything about that. I heard my German friend's parents who were in Hitler's youth say the same thing; we didn't know. They didn't want to know. The objection is that we are not electing a pastor, but then why do you keep talking about how Trump is divine, and Trump is a Christian? Why do you promote "prophesy" about him constantly? Why does it feel like worship services are more about celebrating Trump's (and our) victory over sin than Jesus's victory over sin?
Will the placement of the 10 Commandments bring righteousness to our nation? Did the 10 Commandments in our schools bring people to repentance and salvation before? Did it cure our spiritual adultery that God is even now bringing correction for? The law was given to make us aware that we are very, very sick, and if the knowledge of the law doesn't drop us limp and helpless at the feet of Jesus, it will not help anyone. How will the student struggling with pornography and suicidal ideation find Christ by these laws hanging in school? Having a Bible handy could be a wonderful thing, and a teacher who shares Christ could be transformative, but is this what Trump is thinking when he says he will bring religion back, or is it something more legalistic, deadening, and defiling? I wonder.
The church has been laboring under the yoke of man's religion, teaching, and influence for 2,000 years, and we think our government can touch the ark of the new covenant and not taint it in some way? Men and woman driven by ambition, in positions of power, with what they feel is a divine mandate are going to become ministers of the Spirit by overseeing religion in America? It makes me think of C.S. Lewis's warning that tyranny in the name of "good" is worse than obviously evil tyranny. Come to think about it, Lewis warned about all of this. But if the church can't get it right, how many eons will it take for our government to get it right? As one friend pointed out recently, it was Constantine that killed the church.
As Erwin Lutzer said in recent book, The Eclipse of God, "You cannot legislate this gospel. You cannot save a nation. You can only save souls." (On that note, why does Trump love eclipsing the sun with his big head? Why did Elon put that campaign ad into his montage of their dynamic duo saving the world? I'm sure it means nothing. ) So, Trump will protect religious freedom for everyone. Great, if that's what he is talking about. But something feels really, really off about it all. I wonder what it is that could be creating the feeling that something is somehow, just a little off. Is it all of the furious political prophesying? Men and women with big, flashy ministries talking incessantly about a man who God has divinely appointed to save the United States who rarely, if ever, point anyone to the Lamb, or speak with the genuine power that marks a true minister of the gospel? You know that fire and hammer of the word of God in the mouth of an anointed minister that draws you to Christ even as it cuts your heart? You know, when someone is speaking, and you begin to see Christ or the Father just a little more clearly? Or sometimes more powerfully, it's like the unseen God begins to appear before your heart eyes, and you can't wait to get alone someplace to seek His face for yourself? Or maybe it's not as intense as that, but your heart is warmed and drawn up into the beauty of your Lord. I often have this response when one of our pastors speaks- He just brings the Spirit of God right into the room-and he is not even known or famous! But somehow, these big platform ministers who should really have some fire or convicting power in their words because they are supposed to be the leaders in the charismatic church- their words are dead. Dead! There is no fire, no revelation, no anointing, no conviction, no hunger, not even a little warmth that is stirred for the One who died for us. Just empty words, meaningless, powerless, and void of life. Hirelings who wouldn't dream of risking their ministries to help God's wayward sheep, or turn God's people from sin (Jeremiah 23). What good are they? So helpful to know that a portal is opening over Texas, ok, so what? We are groping in the dark, and our leaders are like dogs that won't bark because they don't want to offend anyone, and we all are complicit for being so nice and sweet while the wolf is ripping our spiritual lives to shreds.
So maybe that's why it feels off. Or maybe it's because his pastor is a woman who dresses like she is, gosh, words fail here. She just looks like she is amplifying her sexual features. Her shoes are something that I can't say what we used to call them on this Christian blog (and I wouldn't say it anyways). Let's just say her heels are very high, and very spikey and very night-club strappy, and her clothes are often exceedingly tight such that her bodily features are very noticeable. I actually wasn't thinking about her at all until I had a two second dream in which I saw her and heard, "Jezebel." I know, I know. Sounds so "religious" but it came in a dream. But it's easy to see how she truly is misleading the church into spiritual adultery. What seems good to us is not good to God who is jealous for his people, and for his name and reputation. Jesus came to reveal the Father, and the thing that Christ did, that most revealed who the Father is, was that he died for sinners. God wants to be known. God wants sinners to know that he sacrificially and willingly gave His one and only Son so that they could come home to Him. God is jealous to be known, but Trump's big, head is eclipsing God Himself.
Now people hear of Jesus and think of Donald Trump, or MAGA people in red hats screaming hysterically and pumping their fists in the air screaming, "fight! fight! fight!" God is consistent. In the OT, He didn't like this people and name to be aligned with iniquity, lies, slander, and sin. How can this be a good thing? Most Christians don't see the clips of him calling Biden a "bastard", or simulating sex with a microphone, or admiring a famous athlete's large genitalia. But the Christian leaders say that God has divinely ordained him to save us all from the woke left. It's not the woke left that has destroyed us, it is the sleeping church that got us to this place-and yes, I include myself in that indictment! We mixed our love of God with our love of the world, and now the world is in darkness because the church was not the light.
Or maybe it's that people view him as next to Jesus, or in some ways like Jesus. (Lord, truly forgive me for even repeating that.) His followers compared his arraignment to the questioning of Christ at Passover. He posts videos that speak of him as "leading his flock" to safety, drawing all kinds of scriptures out of Isaiah. Trump himself said, "I am your retribution" a divine claim almost straight out of Isaiah. Is that why something feels off? Or is it because something has felt staged about all that we have gone through since he ascended the throne? The fights, the impeachments, and now this sudden win and acquiescence from the liberal media?
So when Trump returns, seemingly divinely protected (like the Antichrist will do), and says that he is brining religion back, and he is selling Bibles, I get a little squeamish. I cannot see him bringing Christ, but religion? Law? Yes, quite possibly, and it concerns me that believers are all aboard the train to, to, to....I don't know where.
If it's just religious freedom, and protections for all, then great. But is it? Force is not used in the Kingdom of heaven that Jesus brought to earth, for God is a lover, and love cannot be forced. Further, believers are transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit through faith. It is a divine, supernatural, transformational gospel that thus far in history, has not even been grasped by the formal church world (i.e. Churchianity).
Andrew Murray wrote that the most destructive lies are the religious lies. Of course, the leaven that spoils the bread of life is the most destructive, and God means to deliver his people from it. Paul said in Galatians that the children of the slave woman (law) persecute the children of the free woman (grace and truth). Paul said that he is a minister of the Spirit that brings life, not the law that brings death. What will the Trump administration administer? I think it's an important question to ask right now. What is the plan? The Q followers say to "Trust the Plan" supposedly the plan that Trump is ordained to save America from the "deep-state", but no one know who is speaking, and that is not a good plan, at all.
Jesus warned us that the days before his return, deception would be rampant. Take heed, he said. Do not believe everyone saying that they are speaking in God's name, for many false prophets and teachers will arise. We are there, but we are not being aware. We are not taking heed. Instead, we are passively accepting every doctrine, teaching, and prophesy, and if anyone dare to speak up and question it, they are told to stop being pharisaical and judgmental....and the Lord is weeping. He is weeping, for we are like Jesus overlooking Jerusalem bemoaning the destruction that was coming because they would not heed his warnings.
I think that the American church is susceptible to this error because it doesn't know the gospel that well; it really specializes in religion. Religion is really just about self-effort. Tell me a few things to do and I can keep up the good works fairly well. No need for a Savior...I got this. The good news is only really good for those who know that they are not good at all, and that Jesus can restore them to God. Romans is so full of these promises. We have to mix the promises with faith to enter into this divine life. For, Paul tells us this amazing promise, that just as all died in Adam, because of his sin, so too, we will live because of Christ's righteousness! We have to get the hope and promise in this, for we must have Mary's faith when she said to the angel, 'May it be to me according to your word." The angel's message is no less astounding than the message that we have been given in Christ, namely, that just as sin dominated us in Adam (and boy does it dominate!) in the same way, LIFE has dominion because of Christ; this is the gift of righteousness. But can we believe? Well, that too comes by his life-giving Spirit, the Spirit of Promise, the Promise of the Father.
Selah. I want to pause there. The beauty in these words: The Promise of the Father. What is the promise of the Father? That I can get a get out of hell card by trusting Jesus and struggle along to be a "good Christian" all the days of my life. No, no, it's much greater than that, if we can believe.
Paul tells us that a rest remains for the people of God. God rested on the 7th day. This is so holy and lovely. Jesus is the seventh day, and in His sacrifice, God could finally rest! He said, "I will not strive with man forever." God found rest in Christ's atoning sacrifice for us, so that he could come and live in us, commune with us, and bring forth the fruits of righteousness in us. God rests in us when we rest fully in Christ's righteousness, by faith.
I am trying to communicate that which is not communicable. The gospel, life in Christ. And this is eternal life, to know the Father. How natural and easy is it to sin? In the same way, as we keep believing, every day going and getting that manna, chewing on those promises, looking to the Lamb, it will be just as natural to be kind, gentle, and to love others from the heart. Romans 5 says that just how we naturally sin in Adam, we will naturally be righteous by faith in Christ. Wow. Christ's life is now mine. Can we believe?
He is so patient with us in learning to live by faith in Christ, and He promises to complete what he started in us. We can't fail if we will only believe. (If you want a wonderful book on this, read Andrew Murray, Absolute Surrender). The Israelites did not take the Promised Land in one day, but town by town, and lots of ups and downs. It's the same with us. Christ in us is our rest. Christ in us is the promised land! Growing into the full stature of Christ. If we can subdue the self-life inside of us, we will be that light on a hill, but only by His Spirit by faith will it happen. It's not the woke left that is our problem. If American believers were not so lukewarm and compromised with spiritual adultery (love of the world), I don't think we would have to fight the woke agenda that hard. Politics are the fruit of the problem, not the root.
Now, can Trump help America get that? Will bringing the Bible back help us get that? Maybe it will. Maybe it won't be forced and mandated in the way that I am thinking. Maybe it will just be available so teachers can start preaching freely if they want to mention Jesus, and His Spirit will fall in the cafeteria and the kids will start prophesying to each other, but somehow, I don't think so.
Jesus warned us that our spirit may be willing to obey, like Peter, but our flesh is very weak. So, he said to watch and pray like he did. He trembled in fear at the prospect of obeying God. He did not disobey God's command, but his flesh trembled until God's spirit came and gave him power to go through it. He rebuked Peter for not doing the same. Peter thought his intentions would carry him in that dark hour. Most of us have faced commands that made us tremble deep inside. Go apologize to that person who hurt you, or say that thing that you don't want to say, or give that financial gift that you really feel that you need, or move to that city and trust Me.
God speaks, and we tremble, but if we will throw ourselves at His feet and plead for help, God will help us to obey-no matter what.
We are there.
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