Monthly Archives: November 2008

I’m not quite ready to move on to part II yet.    I have some thoughts on this post-election Thursday that I’d like to share, and, actually, they are in perfect keeping with the Righteous Judge theme.

I’ve had a lot of peace all along about the outcome of this election.  I’ve really felt that who ever the Lord wanted in the White House would be there.  He sees the bigger picture, and I trust Him.  I’m also very excited to be alive to see a black man as president of the United States.  Yesterday, while I listened to the live IHOP-KC prayer room on line feed Allen Hood (love Allen Hood) shared his memories of going to a school where black children couldn’t drink from the white children’s drinking fountain…and he’s only in his late thirties!  (I think)  So, I think the fact that Barack Obama is our new president is a wonderful testimony of how racism and prejudice are fast becoming a thing of the past.  Awesome!  

We also, now, as the body of Christ, need to pray for our new president.  Not just quote a few Bible verses about how we’re supposed to, but really  pray for him.  That he would be filled with wisdom and truth and that the spirit of revelation would be upon him.  Wow, wouldn’t it be awesome if he was convicted of his position on abortion?!

But now…for a different perspective, and you may think that these thoughts are in contradiction to what I’ve written above.  I am of a different opinion.  More often that naught, when God gave someone prophetic words in the Old Testament, they also functioned as an intercessor.  And, lest you fear I’m suffering from some allusions of grandeur, we are all  called to be prophetic voices for God.  The apostle Paul tells us to “eagerly desire” the gift of prophecy above every other gift.  (1 Cor. 14:1)  But God is not a communist in this area.  If we want more of Him, then we have to give Him more of us!

So, here goes…(oh dear, I don’t think your gonna like this).  Something else I’ve noticed in the Old Testament is that many times, as a judgement, God gave the people of Israel a king after their own hearts.  The story of how King Saul came into power is a good picture of this.  (1 Samuel 8)  The people of Israel begin to cry out for a king like the other nations, and God basically says, “Okay, you want a king like the other nations…I’ll give you a king like the other nations.”  And King Saul was a very destructive and evil king. 

The ultimate expression of this will be the Antichrist.  The first seal that Jesus removes from the scroll in Rev. 6 is the first judgement that is given to planet earth.  I looked, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.  (v.2)  As a judgement, God removes His restraining hand (for, what we may not realize, is that throughout history, when things seemed very bad, it could have been a lot worse, if not for God’s restraining hand) and allows an evil man to come into power.  Note that he is given a bow, but not an arrow, indicating that he will rise to power without bloodshed, although what happens in the wake of his “arrival” is absolutely terrifying.  In the next three judgements we read of wars, famine, pestilence…a fourth of the earths population will perish.  Wow…all this because God chooses to step back, and basically says, “Okay, have at it.  You think you can govern yourselves…go ahead.” 

So, while I am at peace that God’s man will be in the White House, I am troubled that we have put him there.  God has given us a king after our own hearts.  Yes, I said “We.”  Many of us may not have voted for and supported a man who will make it easier for a woman to have an abortion, but we make choices every day that support his position.  We’ve grown apathetic and tired of hearing about abortion.  We gorge ourselves on entertainment, and feed our covetousness, thereby dulling our spirits so that we don’t feel the need to cry out to the Lord about an end to abortion.  We choose not to let our hearts be broken about an issue that just seems too big, too far away, and “not our fault.”  Lord, have mercy on us!

I don’t believe many of us realize the gravity of the evil of abortion, of having the innocent blood of 50 million babies on our hands.  Do we know that the Lord, in His justice, demands a reckoning for the shedding of innocent blood?  (Gen. 9:5-8, Num. 35:33)  President Lincoln believed that the Civil War was a day of reckoning for the injustice of slavery and the shedding of innocent blood done in the name of economic gain and racial oppression.   He said this about the civil war,

“Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said “the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.”

If what Lincoln came to conclude was true and if 600,000 men died on the battlefields of the Civil War to pay for the bloodshed of slavery, what will it mean if God brings a day of reckoning for the shed blood of conservatively 48 million aborted babies since 1973?  I fear that this day of reckoning will come upon our children, that my sons will be fighting in bloody war in order to appease the Lord’s justice.  For this is another Old Testament principle:  an individual can have a vibrant and deep relationship with the Lord, and he can be in right-standing with Him, but the Lord’s dealings with a nation are different altogether.  Think of how Daniel, although he was a righteous man, entered into Israel’s judgement as Babylon besieged their city. 

I would like to believe that the many Christians that voted Obama into power did so believing that somehow he would stem the tide of abortions in our country (although this is beyond my comprehension).  I don’t think this is the case at all though.  Human sentiment, and not the fear of the Lord was the motivating factor for most, I fear.  (By the way, if you do have a Biblical argument for supporting Obama I would love to hear it.  I’ve yet to hear a good one)  Jesus says seven times in Revelation, “Let him who has ears hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches.”  Does the church really think that the Spirit is speaking about our economy, a war, education, ect., when a reckoning for millions of babies’ blood is required?  Oh dear, if our nation does not repent, stop abortion and ask the Lord for mercy for the shedding of innocent blood, a day of reckoning  will surely come.  For He is just…and his justice will not sleep forever.

As a bit of a prologue, I want to say that I’ve been chewing on and digesting these things that I am about to share with you for quite some time now.  Read away…

As many of you know, I’ve been spending a lot of time reading the Bible lately.  It has really been amazing.  The word of God is  alive!  The four gospels have been the main source of my delight, and I’ve fallen in love with the person of Jesus all over again.  And the Psalms…wow, so incredible!  (By the way, did you know that many of the Psalms were written in a 24/7 house of prayer?!  Yep, King David actually payed singers and musicians to minister to the Lord day and night around the Ark of the Covenant during his reign.  (1 Chr. 15:16-21) Cool, eh?) 

It’s been troubling too, though, I have to say.  The Old Testament stories, the Prophets…they seem to paint a picture of a God that is in complete contradiction to the God of the rest of the Bible.  He just seems so angry.  For the most part the Old Testament is avoided, reduced to a couple dozen stories suitable only for children’s church, and we’ve missed the overarching theme of the whole book.  God’s message is this:  “I WILL have a people for myself.  And if I can’t have you NO. ONE. WILL.”  At best, most of us just skim this portion of scripture and then breathe a sigh of relief… “Gee, I’m glad God isn’t like that  anymore.” 

I don’t know though…are we to believe that God has somehow morphed from a God who once burned with holy anger against sin and unrighteousness into one who now winks at it?  I personally don’t believe so.  The God of the Old Testament is as real today as He was back then.  This does not negate the fact that He is slow to anger, long-suffering and rich in love.  We are experiencing this side of His character right now in human history.  However, God is not  tolerant.  He is holy and just…and His justice will not sleep forever.  And as Jesus’ second coming draws neigh God will once again begin to operate as Righteous Judge of the earth in order to cleanse it and prepare it for His arrival. 

Much more troubling than this, though, is the fact that the Church at large has no comprehension of God as this Righteous Judge.  Never-mind the fact that the idea of God sending a natural disaster or military invasion – sending…not just allowing, but sending – as we read of in the book of Joel, is offensive to non-believers, it’s incredibly offensive to us as well.  Remember when hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf coast?  And when a certain televangelist spoke out that it was the judgement of God?  He was immediately shot down.  I myself remember thinking, “Oh my, what a dork.  It’s people like him who make other Christians look like losers.”  And just a couple weeks ago I found myself in a conversation with a friend about this topic and she said, with absolute certainty, “Oh, God doesn’t do stuff like that.” 

But… doesn’t he?  Now, don’t misunderstand me.  I’m not saying that Katrina was in fact a judgement from the Lord, but I am  saying that this is very much within the realm of possibility.  Even an ameteur reading of the Old Testament, as I’ve been doing, is proof that God sending a natural disaster as a judgement against sin is not  in contradiction to his character.  We think of God mostly in terms of Jesus, the meek and tender lamb, and indeed Jesus himself said that he was the likeness of the Father (John 14 :7-11), but we forget that the wrath of God which was poured out on Jesus is also very much a part of his character.  And hear this:  if Jesus does not bear the wrath of God for a person – or nation! - he will  dispense it upon them.  Isaiah 63:1-6 gives us a chilling picture of this.  As well, it is Jesus who opens the seals on the scroll in Revelation 6, thereby releasing the first set of judgements on the earth. 

So…I don’t know where you are with all of this.  Maybe (you think) you have this all figured out (if so, please share!).  Maybe you’ve wrestled with these issues in the past and have given up.  Or maybe you think I’m completely off my rocker!  Where ever you are, I encourage you to go on your own journey into this.  Prove me wrong, if you can.  I believe, just as the apostle John did in the book of Revelation, we should “eat the scroll.”  (Rev. 10:9)  We are meant to wrestle with these issues, draw near to the heart of God, and ask for wisdom and revelation into them. 

“Why?” you ask, “Why does any of this matter to me?”  It really, really does.  In the years and decades to come I believe it’s going to be absolutely essential for the Church to have clarity on this issue.  As crisis and calamity continue to esscalate (and they will) the Church will need to arise with an unclouded, prophetic voice in the midst of it.  I love the picture we are given in Isaiah 24.   This prophetic scripture obviously has an end time fulfillment (since it hasn’t happened yet) and it describes the earth as the judgements of the Lord come upon it.  And in the midst of the devestation a voice arises:

They raise their voices, they shout for joy;
         They cry out from the west concerning the majesty of the LORD. 
    Therefore glorify the LORD in the east,
         The name of the LORD, the God of Israel,
         In the coastlands of the sea. 
    From the ends of the earth we hear songs, “Glory to the Righteous One.”

We are going to need to be that voice.  In Part II of “The Righteous Judge” I will share more of what the Bible says the Church’s message should be in the hour of crisis.