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Hunker Down with Kes

A Voice Crying In The Wilderness…..

Posted
The church of God seems to be under attack today by every nation, group, organization, almost the entire movie industry, half of the politic body and the proverbial partridge in a pear tree. The naysayers love to point out that the United States is no longer a “Christian” nation.
 
I see, and hear it, on the evening news. Those TV talk shows where a group of people gather up around a table and tell you what to think are all over it. We have people elected to some of the highest offices in the land seemingly on a mission to destroy the Christian faith.
 
Good grief, even the Hallmark “family” Channel has gone over to the dark side.
 
Most all of these folks claim free choice and live and let live….everybody should have the right to do, and think, what they want. But their actions don’t always coincide with their words. I kinda get the notion they want everyone to have freedom of choice….as long as that “choice” agrees with their thinking, their beliefs, and their lifestyle.
 
If you don’t get on board immediately with them you are somehow “full of hate,” “backwards thinking,” “right wing,” (whatever that means) “old fashioned,” “out of touch”….. Well, you get the idea.    
 
I don’t really understand this obsession to put the Christian faith down. It seems unnatural. It’s almost like there are principalities and powers that nobody can see working against the church today.
 
Here is the humorous part; all this effort to “stomp out” the last remaining Christian tenets may not be necessary. Most Christians I know today are just hanging on by a thread anyway. They are not perfect and they don’t pretend to be so.
 
And understand here, I am talking about the true church. Not the pretenders. Not the “name it and claim it” guys. Not the ones led by guys wearing thousand dollars suits, shiny Rolexes and they drive away after each “uplifting and send me your money” sermon in their fire engine red Ferraris. 
 
I’m not talking about the church with the tallest steeple. Or the most stained glass windows. Or the largest congregation. I don’t give a flying hoot about what denomination they claim to be. And we are absolutely not talking “religion” today.
 
I AM talking about the humble, humble, humble and obedient church….whose cornerstone is the Wonderful Counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, the Lily of the Valley, the Rose of Sharon, the balm of Gilead….
 
 It is so amazingly simple that I’m somewhat embarrassed that the world doesn’t seem to get it. Kinda reminds me of the Pharisees of another time.
 
I am sorely dismayed by some of the anti-Christ things I see on a day to day basis. And it’s pretty hard to listen to some of the hateful rhetoric that seems to spring up from so many places today. It’s as if most everyone goes around “doing what is right in their own eyes.”
 
I am saddened by the lack of respect we have for each other, regardless of our backgrounds, beliefs, party affiliation, age group, gender or national origin. It makes it hard to convincingly sing, “Peace on Earth, Goodwill to Men.”
 
But I am not wringing my hands, putting on sack cloths and dumping ashes on my head as one with no hope.
 
And I think history is on my side.
 
The Egyptians once enslaved the whole nation of Israel. FOR FOUR HUNDRED YEARS! You talk about being despised by the world. Whipped! Beaten! Downtrodden! Israel was God’s chosen people....you can think of them as the church before it became the church.
 
I’m telling you, they were wobbling on their last legs. It looked like the end of the Israelite nation for sure. With nothing left to loose, they cried out to God. He delivered them to a land of their own, flowing with milk and honey. 
 
Of course, those Israelites, not unlike the true church today, were a stiff necked (read stubborn, dumb, thoughtless) people….with amazingly short memories! They soon drifted away from God.
 
Again. And again. And again.
 
A couple of thousand years ago God sent his only Son to straighten this mess out. The naysayers crucified him.
 
But a remnant believed!
 
I’ve heard it said, “There is nothing new under the sun.” I’m not smart enough to understand the deeper meaning of that statement. But I do know that Christians have at times down through the ages seemingly drawn the short stick.
 
And know full well, their problems are most often of their own making. It’s that stiff neck thing again. 
 
But they survive. They always survive!
 
It is a lesson every single person in America, and the world, should pay heed to this morning.
 
Respectfully,
 
Kes