I am someone who can be dogmatic in my beliefs and I am constantly seeking the Lord for help in tempering my discourse, so this probably makes me aware of the same failings in others.
One grouping, that sadly includes some precious brothers and sisters, is the far right. It is no secret that I dislike Donald Trump – intensely dislike him. I have watched him from afar for decades and his reputation has never been kept secret.
As an old school journalist, I am pedantic about facts, and to this end I do intense research, beyond the mainstream, to better equip my opinions. I listen to speeches and interviews on both sides of divides, I read their social media posts. Along the way I have found news agencies and journalists who I trust to present events as factually as is possible. In all my looking, I have seen no evidence of any change in attitude from the Trump – rather I have found evidence of him celebrating his waywardness.
I have faced a fair degree of backlash to some of what I have written in recent months, which is fair enough. I am democratic enough in nature to want to allow others their opinions, and to check that my stand is ratified. Robust discussion is always good, as long as it is edifying and there are times when my view has been changed from good argument. But, in amongst those who agree or have a slightly different take on an issue, there are those that have attacked the discourse. The tone is always the same, hectoring, bordering on the hysterical, and laced with ugly judgementalism.
Paul tells us in Ephesians 6 v 12:
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
In my understanding, when a pattern emerges in the actions of people of certain persuasions, there is a ruling principality or power at work and if the fruits coming out from there do not line up with the list in Galatians 5 v 22, then it is an un-Godly spirit.
Jesus warns of this in Mathew 7: 15-20:
Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.
You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?
Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.
A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.
Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown onto the fire.
Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
What are those fruits? Let us head to Galatians 5; 19 – 23
Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness,
Idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies,
Envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
Yoh – that is a long list! Some of those emotions and actions make me a little twitchy because they come a little close to home! I digress – let us continue from v 22:
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
Gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
A short list by comparison, but oh how powerful.
What fruits are you seeing manifest in the world right now? Is it love, gentleness, kindness or is it anger and rage, prideful and arrogant, unrepentant in the face of sin? Arguments rage back and forth, accusations are made, friendships and families are broken, precious children damaged, some beyond repair. How the devil must be rejoicing!
Jesus was clear in His instructions to us in Mathew 25: 34-36
Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world;
For I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty, and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in;
I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.
That leads me to the judgmental attitude that has pervaded the world. Before I do, let me say up front that I am pro-life, I am not woke, I find the confusion of genders crazy, but Jesus in John 3: 17-18 says:
For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved
He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God
Jesus forgave us our sins. All of them. Unconditionally. He hates sin, so should we. He loved the sinners. So should we.
Mathew 7:1 -2
Judge not, that you be not judged.
For with what judgement you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.
What I see happening in America and now extending its malicious tentacles into Southern Africa, taking us back to the 1970’s in hate and racial bigotry, breaks my heart. Abortion is horrific, but you will never stop it. I am old enough to have been a teenager pre-Roe vs Wade. The girls paid for all the sexual sins – falling pregnant being the worst of them. The boys got off scot free. Many of the girls received the consequences of falling for boys’ charms with dreadful infections in back street abortions, frequently insisted upon by their parents, and some were never able to have children. Many suffer from empty womb syndrome, but that is for another day. They paid in full for their dalliances – no one needed to say a word.
In Swazi culture girls are forced to have the children conceived during rape, so the parents can ‘claim’ support from the rapist. Seldom happens.
Then there are those instances that are indefensible. If you have never seen a child ripped from front to back, entrails hanging out from being raped, or in similar state when a barely formed young body is forced to give birth to a child, you do not get to judge in my book. Sorry!
People have been having ‘illicit sex’ since time began, and they will continue to do so until time as we know it ends. Jesus will judge them! We must love them with His love to bring them to Him. Not threaten and punish and demoralise and denigrate.
Jesus forgave these sins dramatically in two instances: the woman at the well and the woman caught in adultery. Because sin is sin, and as the only One without sin, He is the only One who may judge, and He chose to forgive and in so doing many precious lives have been saved. I confess that I do wonder what happened to the men who remain blurred in the background of these reports and have to check my thoughts!
James 4: 11-12
Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgement on it.
There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you – who are you to judge your neighbour?
Romans 2;1-3
You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.
Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth,
So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment?
May the love of God fill each of our hearts and minds in these dark and perilous times.
All scripture taken from the New King James Version,, Thomas Nelson Inc.
